Africa Pictures...

Well I know i've been back for 3 weeks without an update...but between recovering from jet lague, time change, Thanksgiving, finishing up my grad school class, and getting back to work...it has been a busy three weeks to say the least!  I have just today started going through my over 600 pictures from Africa and thought I would post a few while I have a chance to do so! 

I have talked to many of you since I have been back to share stories, etc and look forward to talking to many more!  Africa was a life changing experience to say the least and I know that I will never be the same again which is SUCH a good thing!  I truly have learned to thank my God every day for the things that he has given me in my life and I can't wait to see what is to come!  Here are a few pictures from the beginning of the trip to start things off and I will post more again soon!

 Above is the view from our plane of the sunset when we were flying over seas.  Our trip started at 2:45am when we met at the church and then drove to the airport to leave at 6:10am.  We flew from Charlotte to DC and then went from DC to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with a stop in Rome to fuel up (about 17hrs) and then we went from Addis Ababa to Lilongwe with a stop in Lambashi (about 6hrs) for a total travel of about 25 hours when you include layovers...WOW!!

 This is a picture of the mountain we saw from the plane when we landed in Ethiopia.  I'd say one of the highlights of the flight had to be seeing the Nile river from the plane which unfortunately the light wasn't good for me to get a picture.

 Below is a picture of the group we were greeted by when we got to Malawi.  I had never been greeted with such love and warmth by people that I had never met before and looking back now I never knew how much I too would grow to love these people over the next few weeks!

 This is the "coaster" (named by the bumpy ride) which we used to travel in while we were there.

 A picture of the view of the lake...Kamuzu Dam...where we were staying at the first week that we were there.

 A picture of my bed the first week we were there...mosquito net and all!  The accomodations were better then I had thought to begin with and although the showers we took were definitely cold...we were thankful just to feel clean!

 The outside of the building that we slept in the first week in Nsanje (Na-sin-ja).

 A picture of some of the houses we saw the first day that we went out into the villages...most houses were built of brick with straw rooves and dirt floors.

 Baby Angel...pastor Jackson & his wife Mary's precious baby girl that we got to spend some time with while we were there!

 These are pictures of the church that Pastor Jackson is with and where we went to church the first two Sundays that we were in town. 

OK I think that's a good start...more pictures of some of the work that we did while we were there will be coming soon!