It Is Well With My Soul

On Sunday morning, a group of us walked down the hill from Annie’s Lodge to visit the CCAP church service. CCAP is a Presbyterian church and they always welcome us each year. Several choirs performed. Some songs were new and clearly African in nature. Others were familiar hymns. One young man started singing in Chichewa, but I readily recognized the song – It is Well with My Soul. It was beautiful. They also sang Let It Shine, a song I am well familiar with from my childhood in the First Church of God. We were recognized as visitors, and they said a beautiful prayer for us. The minister thanked God that we can all be One through Christ, beyond the borders of Malawi, to all the ends of the earth. The message was about forgiveness and came from Matthew, using Jesus’ parable as well as the Lord’s Prayer as the scripture. It was an excellent and important message.


This afternoon, Annie invited us to her home. She had prepared a delicious and plentiful Malawian meal for us. I ate pinto beans that tasted just like home, as well as peas and rice. There was also meat pie, which tasted like a cross between a quiche and a casserole. There was chocolate cake for dessert. It felt like a Sunday meal with the family. She really out-did herself. After lunch, Annie took us to a village to see how “real people” live in Malawi. It was touching. Children, as always, seemed to almost boil out of the bush to greet us. “Azungas” they chanted , which means “white people”. They smiled and waved and stared, seeming to take notice of every detail on our faces, clothing, and skin. One boy struggled to get his brother in a wheel chair out to see us as well. I took his picture and showed it to him. He smiled and laughed. I wanted to connect with him and include him in the excitement. The other children also squealed upon seeing their images in the cameras. A woman from the village shared with us about her daily life, how they cook, bathe, wash dishes, etc. It is a difficult life, void of the many luxuries I know in my day to day routines. Seeing all of the children and the smiles on their faces evoked a lot of emotion in me. They are so joyous, yet they have so few of the comforts I know in my life. I wanted to just love on all of them, for them to know they’re special, to give them my jacket, my food, my comforts in life. The life they know is different, and it all leaves me with much to ponder about the genuine source of joy in life...I think I know what it is, and they do, too. :)