Sunday Blues

I want to share my love of the Temple. In church today many members of the congregation stood up and shared their love of God with the rest congregation. It is always so touching to hear their testimonies about their faith in God.

I love the people here and am so grateful that I can spend several wonderful months leaning from and teaching them. Thank you Malawi.

(Below: Andrew’s post)

Here in Malawi, Sunday is one of my favorite days of the week. Back home I felt like I had multiple things pulling for my attention, but life here is so relaxed and peaceful I find myself with time to think and reflect, and it’s during that reflection that I learn things.
This morning Kylie and I had a great walk into church as we discussed how many of the top 20 things to do in Africa we’d already tackled. From the looks of it we’ve hit ~40% of them with another 20% planned… Wow we’ve been moving fast! Everything from Kilimanjaro to the Masai Mara to lake Malawi. Each of these experiences have been memorable.

Church was special as it was fast and testimony meeting. Since the previous Sunday we had 8 baptism, we had 8 confirmations this Sunday. With that taking quite a bit of time, I expected fast and resuming meeting (where you share your beliefs and testimony) to be quite short. Instead, in the brief 20 minutes before the end of the first hour we had at least 8 people who had the opportunity to get up and share.

As I fasted this Sunday I reflected on the situation of many of those on Malawi. To have the blessing of food here really is something, and I found myself grateful for the many things I have. I also found myself reflecting on the sacrifices people are willing to make for their beliefs, again, awe inspiring.

After church I had a first for Africa, a call from the U.S.! I spoke with a young kid from BYU who is interested in consulting and wanted to learn more about my firm. We had a good chat despite bad internet. I think that’s one thing I’ll love when I start full-time in Los Angeles, the chance to reach out and help BYU students land good jobs out of school. Anyways, it was a fun experience!

After church Kylie had some more birthday tricks up her sleeves and we made a delicious dinner. It was another fusion night where we made Italian pizza crust, but with Malawian toppings of pumpkin leaves, tomato and onion. It honestly was one of the most delicious things I’ve had here, not to mention very healthy. 

I am so grateful for Kylie and all the wonderful time and energy she’s put into planning my birthday. Tomorrow I turn 25, but I find that Kylie has done so much for me and has made every moment special here. I’m so grateful for her.

After the delicious dinner we even baked a cake! We used a Malawian recipe for avocado and lemon to make a delicious cake! I was limited to 4 little pieces but I found myself wanting more it was so good!

Honestly, today has been incredible and Kylie is a large part of why that is. She’s honestly my best friend and I’m grateful for everything she does.