malawi

In May we took a little break and flew to Lilongwe, Malawi, to spend some time with one of the other senior couples, Lynn and Sharee Birrell.  We had a wonderful time.  We are not sure we have every flown in such a small commercial plane.  It held about 18 people and there was no cockpit door so we could see right out the front windshield.  It was pretty cool when we flew home at night to see the lights on the runway and to see how the pilot navigated by the lights to land.

The house on the right is the travel flat we stayed in.  It was very nice and is located on a large property that has animals, walking trails and two swimming pools.  It was a little too cool for me to venture into the pool, but Alan and Lynn went swimming several times.   The place is Eden Estates and is really about as close to the garden for a place to live as we have seen while here


If i had a place like this to walk, I would do it multiple times a day.  It took about 15 minutes to make the loop and it was beautiful.  These are some of the children from the neighboring compound.  Black children really have the most beautiful smiles.  They are amazing kids!
 
The property had goats, chickens, horses, a donkey and multiple dogs.  It was beautiful!




We went to church at the Lilongwe Branch.  They recently got this beautiful new building.  There many converts there so we hope that branch will soon grow to many branches and contribute to a stake in Malawi. 
We visited a Catholic Mission which was very interesting.  The architecture was definitely spanish and it had some pretty cool statues.


This is the museum on the property.  There was also a nice gift shop where we bought a very nice nativity set.  It's much larger than the small ones we had previously purchased.

The grounds were beautiful, and it had a jungle like feeling to it.  There were trails and paths with lots of greenery and flowers.

 
We drove to Lake Malawi and on the way saw some  very interesting granite rock formations.  We also stopped at the pottery factory and had lunch.  I bought a special "Gramma" plate for special occasions when we get home.  It was very nice.
 
This is probably the biggest geranium I have ever seen!  It was more like a bush and it was beautiful.  These women are taking the kernels off maize.  They will then take the kernels to the mill and have it ground into a fine powder to make Nshima.  This is the basic of everyone in Malawi and Zambia.  It is pretty tasteless, but when a relish of some sort is added, it's not too bad.  Zambians don't feel like they have eaten unless they have their Nshima at least twice a day!
 
We stopped along the road again to visit one of these tourist traps where the artisans sell their wares. This one was really cool.  They made bikes, planes, cars, jeeps and other cool things out of wood. WE bought a bike which had wheels that turn by pedals that actually work.  It was neat.  We later had one of the other couples bring us back a jeep because we didn't get one while we were there.  They are very talented in their skill of making this cute things.
                   
We finally arrived at Lake Malawi.  It was gorgeous.  It was also a little cool so we didn't get in the water much or go out in their rickety paddle boats or ancient kayaks.  But we sure did enjoy the beauty of the lake and the leisure relaxation.
 
We did a little wading on the one day that was warmer and has less wind.  The sunsets there were pretty spectacular.
                    
There were some big rocks where the monkeys enjoyed sunning themselves.  The one day the weather was nice was absolutely beautiful.  We can sure understand why this is one of the bragging points of Malawi.
              

Malawi has something we had not seen in Zambia.  Kabazas or bike taxis.  They were everywhere!  And people use them as a major form of transportation.  Alan had to take a short ride for the photo op.  Actually, one of the new sisters who went to Malawi for her first transfer was riding one of these bikes with her companion on a different one.  They got separated with one going one way and the other a different way.  We understand it was a little tense when we thought we had a missing missionary.  She was found safely on a curb reading her scriptures....so it turned out well.

                                                                                                      I think this is our first "selfie,"
              
It was great to eat our meals out on the beach and listen to the sound of waves on the shore!

Again, there were beautiful sunsets!  It really felt like being in Hawaii!