Tuesday - Bvumbe Parish

After a breakfast of a mushroom omelet, papaya juice, chips ( fries to you in the US), a frankfurter type sausage and baked beans, Mphtso and Chief picked us up and we headed to the Internet store to post the blog. Mphatso was upset that his hotel didn't have electricity last night so he wasn't able to charge of his 3 phones. If you know Mphatso, you know that as Communication Director for the ELCM he is constantly on the phone. But he left his phones to charge at our hotel and off we went to visit the villages. We found out that Chimvu parish (Chamoswa's parish) has, due to growth, been split into two parishes. The new parish is called Bvumbwe parish. I'm not sure if it is named for Bishop Bvumbe, or that is a common name and just a coincidence. Our first stop was at Gambia. This is a church that is considered to be a preaching station because even thought they have more than 50 members, they don't have 50 confirmed members. While the walls are up and were completed 6 months ago, there is no roof. They are hoping to have one within a couple of years-meanwhile they worship with their eyes open to the sky. This maybe another opportunity for Glen Cary to partner in Malawi. Their pastor, Pastor Dave was ordained just a few moths ago. He speaks great English and is very enthusiastic. I really liked him. We then went to the Bvumbe parish headquarters. This church is running out of room. There are 500 members in a very small area. The pastor said that people look in through the windows and doors because there isn't enough room to sit inside. There is no room for a parsonage on the land, so the pastor has to rent a house some distance from the church. Their hope is to buy land that is big enough and build a new church and a parsonage. We went to the home of one of the elders for lunch. This was the first home that we visited that had electricity; they even had a TV. We were served the food that has become familiar, chicken, sima, rice, and a cabbage, onion, and celery medley. The women work hard to cook and the men sit around and chat- not much different than at home, I guess:-). We drove back to the hotel past many open air markets selling everything from tires to pineapples to grilled goat. We are back at City Supreme tonight.