We got moved over the weekend and have cleaned and turned over the keys to the past landlord. Too bad we had to leave there because we did really like the place and the landlord. He did feel bad about having to ask us to move out. O well .... the new place is just fine and we will be comfortable here. It has a lovely yard. It seems to be secure but we still have a tall brick wall all around with electric wires on the top. We have 2 night guards and then Davie does the daytime guard/gardening. We also have our security system which we had transferred here from the other place and that is monitored. This is a pretty safe nighborhood and we are very close to the main Church building. We spent a good deal of our day organizing the house. I still need to organize a lot in the office but needed to get my May financial reports sent in to the Area office before Clive starts phoning me.
Since the devaluation of the kwacha, some prices in the stores have really gone up and some not so much. A lot of the basic items like vegetables and fruits from the local markets, rice, eggs, etc. have not gone up a lot. But some of the things we like have really gotten expensive. Real butter is about $14 a pound. Yikes!! It was expensive before but now it is atrocious! Cheese is now much higher. We will have to do without some of the things we like for a while. Might be good for us to eat more fruit and veggies anyway! :) We already do eat a lot of eggs. We eat oatmeal for breakfast often with UHT milk. Milk is about $2 or so a litre. Maybe this is just preparing us for the increase of food prices at home.
We went to Liwonde yesterday for Church. There are some problems arising there that hopefully we can deal with sooner than later. One person is stirring things up in the Group. She has decided she doesn't like the Group leader and so she is talking to others and trying to get them on her side. We trust the Group Leader completely and feel bad that he has to have this happening. We don't want to see this Group torn apart like the Branch in Kauma almost was. By the way, since December when Pretes came to Lilongwe and were able to work with the Kauma Branch and members, the Branch has gone from 30 - 40 in attendance to 100 - 120 each week. AND they all are friends and love each other again. The dissenters came to realize that they were wrong and being led astray by the adversary. We feel like the same is starting to happen in Liwonde. Satan is always trying to stop the work!!!
There are some rain showers tonight! The air today smelled very humid as the clouds rolled in. They don't usually get rain in June but it is nice.
Davie, our gardener, went home to his Village yesterday and today. His mother has found a wife (at least suggesting one) for him. She sent him a picture. He has gone to meet the girl. We made a few suggestions for him -- like: it would be good if she could speak English so that she can take the missionary lessons. It is the custom here that the wife go to the same Church as the husband. We also suggested that she should take a HIV test. It will be interesting to hear his report when he returns.
Well - we are about to head to bed and curl up in our blankets. The weather (especially nights) are cooler now that winter is about here. June, July and 1/2 of August are cool. September and October are the hottest months.
We hope all is well with everyone. We are excited that Kimberley finally had her baby girl and that it was a quick and uneventful delivery. The baby was late but that allowed them to get moved into their new home (just barely). That is grandchild #19 for us. How quickly our family is growing.
We are excited to be home with the family in about 4 months time.
We are headed to bed shortly. Love to all, President and Sister Bullock
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