Welcome back!

Welcome back to the Malawi blog. With the new year comes another new team and we'll use this site to keep you updated as best we can.

The 2010 Team Malawi is now in the final preparations for our trip, which we'll begin on July 16th. Our team has 12 members, ranging in age from 16 to 60 + and all are first timers to Malawi. Kim Songer & Stephanie Warner will lead the WACC team as we join the other Y-Malawi Hands & Feet teams from churches all over Southern California.

The team includes 2 doctors, a retired EMT, 5 teachers, 2 high school students, WACC’s short-term missions coordinator, and a apologetics teacher. We have had several training meetings, preparing ourselves not only for what we hope to accomplish, but also what to expect on our trip. For most of us, we will see and experience things that were only imagined; from the beautiful country, to overwhelming poverty, to exposure and interaction with many new people and a completely foreign culture. Many of us have never been farther from home other than short trips into Mexico so everything will be new.

We will spend most of our time in villages in the Nkhoma region working in the chiefs ministry, gardening God’s way, teaching sewing, construction to finish Louise Laubscher’s house, and assisting in kid’s clubs. Our two teens will experience it all while working with the Nkhoma youth. We will also compete in the Iron Chef dinners, preparing food for 80 people! The trip will include visits with our World Vision sponsored children, a short stay in the Mvuu Game Preserve and two nights at the African Bible College to see the Tiyamike Pedriatic Clinic. We will also get to visit some of the orphanages. As we continue our preparations, we ask that all of you who are friends, family members and otherwise supporters to lift us up in prayer. We are praying for God sized days!

The team members are (in no particular order) Kim & Kelby Songer, Steve & Gwynne Watson, Hector & Christopher Gonzalez, Diane Holzinger, Jennifer Alhandy, Lindy Clark, Art Leslie, Stephanie Warner and Phil Nugent . As opportunity arises, we will take turns posting some of our thoughts and experiences to keep you updated as we can.