Here is a photo of the primary school Michelle was teaching "Standard 6" English at.
A photo of JMTI where the boys were teaching at. The two schools are just down the street from each other.
The shirts aren't exactly the same, but close enough where Steve Roberts decided to dress like Mark one day.
A little walk from the Guest House there were some trees that contained a family of Vervet Monkeys! Michelle and I watched them jump around in the trees and stare back at us for a while.
The Mkokamasa family.
On a beautiful Saturday we decided to go up to the Mountain Hut and try and climb Mount Mbalabala. Mount Nkhoma is ahead of us.
Mount Mbalabala. For a long time we thought this was Mt. Nkhoma, but then after talking to some people and seeing the mountains from a distance (this pointy peak isn't the tallest) we realized we were mistaken. We were trying to climb this peak, but had to turn around because we were running out of time. Steve Roberts eventually made it to the top at the end of our trip.
The Mountain Hut from above. If you want to carry all your stuff (including firewood) you can stay up here for a night. We were thinking about it, but those plans never materialized.
Mark and Michelle with Mount Mbalabala in the background.
On a couple of occasions going up and down the mountain we saw Yellow Baboons in the trees and on the rocks! It is amazing to see animals that we have seen only in zoos out in the wild!!
Another baboon.
This is Rev. Mnthambala and his wife who had all of us over for dinner. Rev. Mnthambala is the principle of the theological school, and his wife teaches at the school for the wives (they go to school as well!)
The four of us seminarians were "assigned" to different forth year students to go with them to their prayer houses on Sundays. A quick word about the churches in Malawi - each congregation has a network of prayer houses in its region (usually around 10-20). Because the distances can be great this allows people to worship every Lord's Day without making the long trip (usually by foot) to the main congregation. The minsiter of that congregation is responsible for those prayer houses and visits them on a somewhat regular basis. I was to join up with Mr. Tamale, but our first week with the students, he was busy someplace else, therefore Michelle and I went with Steve Roberts and the Siwinda family to their prayer house in the photo above.
Obviously this is not normal! Last year the roof caved in and then there was a big rain and one of the walls collapsed as well. Their current plans are to tear down this building and rebuild. They were already collecting bricks and they had a fundraising offering that Sunday so that they could build a kiln to fire their own bricks.
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