A VERY short synopsis of the entire trip

From August 1-3, we were flying to Malawi. It takes about 22 hours of flying to get there. We flew from LAX to Dulles, Washington D.C. From there we went to Johannesburg, South Africa, with a fuel stop in Dakar, Senegal, which was a 16 hour flight. After spending the night in a casino (nice missions trip, huh?), we had our last 2 and 1/2 hour flight to Lilongwe, Malawi! From there the Spencers, the missionaries that we went to visit, picked us up.

The Spencer family consists of Steve and Marion, the parents, and 7 1/2 kids(she's pregnant with number 8):
David(19)
JonJon(17)
Nell(14)
Caleb(12)
Sam(9)
Charlotte(4)
Stephen(2)
???(Due in October)

So we kinda just hung out and got used to the campus, unpacked, got ready for everything, and met people until Tuesday, August 5, when we started VBS. We did VBS for the missionary kids instead of the village kids, which ended up being such a great blessing to them, their families, and us. Every other team comes to work with the village kids, and we were the first to ever consider the MKs. We learned that we can't forget that the kids who left their homes to live in Africa need to learn about God too. VBS went from Tuesday until Friday, August 8. We would end VBS, have lunch, and then go work somewhere else every day. The first day we helped an ABC staff member move. The second day the guys helped them paint, then dug a ditch instead while the girls went to a crisis nursery and held babies. The day after that, Thursday, we all went to the crisis nursery because it had been such a good experience. And then on Friday after the last day of VBS we went to a village for a few hours to take a tour of a feeding program and hang out with the African children.

On Saturday, August 9, we left for Dzuwa Village(pronounced without the "D", so like Zoo Wha) where Steve, Nell, and Caleb Spencer came along. We spent the night there. During our short stay there we did a craft with the children, had a soccer match(our guys vs. their guys, guess who won...), went to a long church service, and showed the Jesus Film in Chichewa, the language there. We had some interesting experiences during that village trip. Our bathroom was a hole in the ground, and one of our meals was a goat that we saw being slaughtered, skinned, and have all it's insides pulled out before we ate it. Fun times.

We left again on Monday, August 11, to go to Zomba to visit Dick and Charlotte Day. Zomba was a few hours away, and we were in a big bus and on bumpy dirt roads. But Zomba was gorgeous and very green whereas Lilongwe was mostly dirt. And Dick and Charlotte are such great people to be around. We enjoyed spending time with them just as we did with the Spencer family. We went around to villages where they have the GoGo Grandmothers program which is Charlotte Day's project for orphaned child whose parents have died from like AIDS, and their caretakers. And we also went to a school where they use the Why Wait? curriculum written by Dick Day, which talks about abstinence and God in public schools! They have been blessed to have their curriculum allowed in the public schools there. It was great to visit the Days and see all the things that they have going on.

On Wednesday we left them and arrived at the safari. We went in a car around the park on a land safari from 3:30-7:00. We saw elephants, warthogs, hippos, so many impalas that you kinda just wanted to kill some after awhile so there would be less, and some other stuff. The elephants and hippos would walk around the huts that we slept in at night. The next morning, some of the team woke up for a 5:30 AM safari in the Rhino Enclosure for $5 extra and saw a zebra and it's baby, wildebeests, sable antelopes, and two African buffaloes, but no rhino in the Rhino Enclosure. From 8-10, we had a boat safari, kinda like the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland. We saw huge crocodiles and hippos, and two elephants fighting on the shore and we got right up beside all of those animals. It was great to witness God's great creation up close and personal.

Right after that ended, we left for Lilongwe again to go to ABC for one last day with the Spencers. The kids had a movie night, boys watched I Am Legend, and girls watched Uptown Girls. Then at 12:30 the next day, Friday, August 15, we left for the airport.

We flew from Lilongwe to Johannesburg. We had a delay in Johannesburg for a few hours, so we got a free dinner from the airport. Then we went from Johannesburg to New York, with a stop in Dakar again. Then from New York to LAX! This time it only took two days instead of three to get to our destination.

Wow, that was alot, and that basically told nothing about the trip. There are so many other things that happened, so many other feelings felt. We all have so much to say, but everything would take days to actually say it! And some things just can't be explained. We would be happy to tell you anything else that you are wondering about. Just come up and ask any one of the team!

:)

May God bless you!