Reflection

New Year's Eve, sitting in South Korea waiting on Jenny to get ready to go to Seoul to shop, tour and celebrate.  Hopefully, tonight will be a good night, it's my next to last night here and I don't want to leave.  But it's back to Malawi on Wednesday.  It's been an incredible year and I couldn't be more thankful for the blessings and favor that God has given me.  It's odd, working at a christian hospital in Africa, hosting a small group bible study and reading through John with a friend, it seems as though my faith would be strengthening.  But I've found it's harder to spend alone time in reflection and prayer.  I want to do anything but that and it's been a real struggle.  When I titled this blog, I was a fairly new christian and really didn't know the sin and temptation that would be thrown my way this last year.  It's come from all angles and it's a serious force.  Even things that seem small and trivial pull me away from praise, worship and prayer.  It's not the big, blatant temptations that get me down, it's the small stuff.  Stuff that seems innocent.

When I look at the title of this blog, it has more meaning than it ever did.  The fight has been won and we are victors in Christ.  But our lives will always be a battlefield, because sin floods our lives and causes us to lose sight of the cross.  God pulls us back in, regardless of how long we've been away.  I feel like I've been away the last couple months.  Just focusing on the moment, not living outside of it.  But as a christian, I can't shake conviction and can't shake the anxiety and stress caused by sin.  I can't simply get by without God.  He is a faithful pursuer and I would be lost without him.  So today I look ahead and want to be close to him again.  Looking at my life from the outside, it may seem like I have it together.  And that's probably the case for lots of christians.  We worry about the thoughts of fellow christians and disregard the approval of the one that matters.  But I'm not going to dwell on the last couple of months, God loves me no less for it.  He is always waiting.  He is always loving.

I thank God for the work in progress that I am, I thank him for his infinite love and wisdom.  I thank him for his perfect plan.  I thank him for forgiveness and peace.  I thank him for meaning and purpose.  I thank him for selfless love and compassion.  I thank him for the people in this world and the relationships that I cherish.  I thank him for pulling me back when I've been away.  I thank him for encouragement through song, scripture, books and advice from others.  I thank him for being so involved with my life.  I thank him for a new year.  I thank him for his Kingdom, all over the world.  I thank him for opening my eyes.  I thank him for giving me hope and faith.  I thank him for the CROSS.

CURE Christmas party for the kids!

Thanksgiving

The first holiday away from the family.  Thought it was going to be tough.  But then I realized Malawi doesn't know or care about Thanksgiving.  Ah, much easier.  It's just a normal day.  But keeping in tradition over the past few years, the McGraths did a traditional Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday night with most traditional dishes sans turkey.  It was a great time of worship and the food was incredible.  Pictures below.

On Saturday, another group of friends were doing Thanksgiving dinner as well.  So, I doubled up.  I sucked it up like a true american and shoveled down another incredible meal complete with multiple desserts.  It was a smaller and more intimate dinner - I don't have pics, we ate outside with candlelight which my camera doesn't like.  

On Sunday, I finally ate at the KFC.  I ordered the only sandwich combo on the menu - complete with coke and fries.  A really expensive meal for Malawi - about $7 USD.  The sandwich was really good, and the fries were better than the fries anywhere else in Blantyre....which are all the same.  It felt good to eat there.  I needed a comfort meal.  I found it unique that the Malawi staple - nsima is included on the menu.  An apparent attempt to lure Malawians in there, but the nsima meal is still far more expensive than any other place in Blantyre.  SO not sure how much nsima is sold there, but I can guarantee no malawians from CURE have eaten there.

The children's Christmas party (Dec 7) is in the planning stages.  I'm working with the hospital marketing director to develop a program for the kiddies.  Also, working on a staff Christmas program for the following week - that fell on my plate as well.  It's all good fun though.  I can't wait to party with the kids.  

Small group meets for the 2nd time this Tuesday.  At my house, the CURE guest house.  Attendance was only 7 for the first meeting.  We hope to have a few more people as we discuss what the gospel means and the early church in Acts.  Pray for this group, I desperately want it to grow and not become a boring, stuffy study with the same few people leading the discussion.

I'm going with my translator, Lawrence to his home village two weeks from now.  It will be my first time seeing his childhood stomping grounds.  I'm helping him create a blog and post info about a project to help children and the elderly in his village.  I will have a paypal link up soon.  If anyone is interested in donating money in order to purchase supplies/essentials for the village.

Thanks for following, always.

Alex - friend

Dave Burgess, medical director and ortho surgeon at CURE

we made dessert bowls since there were too many choices

Aysha, physiotherapist at CURE, Amina (daughter) & Nadine McGrath

Konde decorated for Thanksgiving 

Nina, german volunteer at CURE

Francie, german missionary

Roy Miller, anesthesiologist at CURE and Maxi (local NGO)

John McGrath. most gracious host ever

Humphries, friend/pastor/radio program host

Greg and Afton (american missionaries)

My top 5 favorite meals in Malawi

1.  Rice with Mince Meat and Salad.....only about .35 at the canteen at the hospital.  Tasty, cheap and the hottest freaking hot sauce ever is readily available.  I eat this meal multiple times weekly.

2.  Chicken and chips at the gym.  The gym that I frequent is part of the Malawi College of Medicine that is right next door to CURE.  After a workout or squash match, I order chicken/chips and a Fanta orange.  The chicken is breaded and fried, french fries are called chips here.  It's fantastic, some of the best chicken I've eaten in Malawi.  Only about $4 and there are tables outside to sit and relax in a nice breeze.


3.  Chicken pot pie/coke/chocolate cake at the Cafe at CURE, which runs about $4.  A little more upscale dining at the hospital, and a little more western.  Safina, an indian lady that runs the cafe, makes AWESOME cakes. My favorite is chocolate on chocolate.  She knows how much I love her cakes now so I get hooked up sometimes.  She makes a mean chocolate milkshake too.


4.  Nsima with soy pieces and salad.  Nsima is ground maize which looks like masked potatoes but has no taste.  It's the staple here - it's dirt cheap.  Malawians roll the nsima into balls with their hands and then dip the nsima into salad or spinach and add a piece of chicken/soy/beef/goat and then eat in one bite.  I don't really care for the beef or chicken with nsima - it has bones and is usually tough.  The soy pieces are good though.  I don't like using my hands though.  It's offensive but I have to use a fork, discreetly.  About .35 at the canteen or other small restaurants everywhere in Blantyre.  Malawians eat nsima for every meal with different sides.


5.  Cereal or oatmeal at my house.  Yep, when I'm tired of everything else, I resort to my comfort food - american cereal.  The milk isnt the best here, but it works.  I've found corn flakes, honey nut cheerios and granola with fruit here.  However, the cereal varies every week - so you don't know what's in stock ever.  There is always flavored oatmeal at the grocery store - currently on a strawberry yoghurt flavored oatmeal kick.  I ate chocolate flavored oatmeal for the first two months and got tired of it.


That rounds out the top 5.  As you can see, I'm eating well here.  Lots of good food.  But also watching the budget and not eating american food out every night, which you could do here.  I'm adjusting to preparing meals for myself here, which I'm starting to enjoy.  Pic of nsima below with chicken and spinach as the sides & the infamous chocolate cake as well.

and the sickness creeps in....

It happened.  I got sick.  Almost two months down, thinking my immune system is awesome and I can handle anything in Malawi, reality hit my square in the face.  Mother's Day was Monday and CURE hosted a golf tournament on a game reserve/lodge.  The course is decent, but the cool thing about the place was the game roaming around.  Sabel, zebras, kudus, giraffes around the 500+ acres.  I managed to spot a zebra, kudu and sable.  No luck with the giraffes.  The kudu are massive and a pack stared me down for a solid 3 minutes before I turned and walked away.  I'm not messing with animals bigger and faster than me.  I don't care about a photograph that much.  

During the tournament, I started to feel sick.  Stomach felt really weird and I started having hot flashes. For the next 5 hours, I sat in pain on a couch wanting the tournament to end badly.  I couldn't wait to get home.  When I finally did get home, I went straight to bed with a pounding headache, backache and an empty stomach that felt like it was going to explode.  I had trouble staying asleep with the throbbing headache to managed to fall asleep several hours.  The next morning, my alarm went off and I turned it off completely.  My stomach felt the same and my head was still throbbing.  I wanted to cry.  Seriously.  I hate headaches, but accompanied with stomach pain, its torture.  I slept most the day.

Remember the episode of Saved By The Bell when Zack skipped the first day of class and stayed home?  Mr. Belding sends the gang to convince him to come to school but they just end up rehashing the summer and Zack remained at home.  Well, that's what it felt like, a few people dropped by sporadically to check on me.  I woke up several times and there was someone knocking on my bedroom door.  It showed me what great friends that I've already made here, it's amazing.   

Well, the sickness started to fade later that night and by the next morning, I was back to 100%.  But I now know that getting sick here is no joke.  I dont know what caused the sickness but I tested negative for malaria.  It could have been anything - water, food, patients, village kids.  Who knows?  

Well, I leave you with a few pics of our 10th anniversary baseball game.  Played with a tennis ball.  I organized and pitched for both teams.  I had several strike-outs pitching underhand.  It was tons of fun.