prayer requests and praises

just a little update to let you know we are here and are doing great. i LOVE teaching literature and history! although i did just give a killer history test...oh well. i have a couple of prayer requests and praises to share with you.

praises:

we have to hire a gardener now that we are on campus. we immediately began thinking about Lucius. he worked at our old apartment complex, and we had formed a relationship with him. we pay him to wash our car each week, and we actually gave him a couple months salary ahead of time so he could buy fertilizer for his land (alot of malawians have a little plot of land they farm for maize and vegetables for their family). he's a great guy, very trustworthy. we wanted to offer him the job, but we weren't sure we could match what he was getting paid. also we are very worried about what happens when we leave. but we thought and prayed about it, and talked to other people on campus about it. and we asked him to come to ABC to work for us...he said yes! we are so thankful because we would definitely have missed him. i think he will enjoy working here alot.

also, praise again that we are on campus.

prayer requests:

you can begin praying that Lucius will be offered a job by one of the other families when we leave. there will be a family in our house when we leave, so they might want to hire him, or even just one of the other new people coming next year. we just don't want to leave him high and dry.

also, you can pray for Lucius in another way. we don't know the whole story (Malawians are very private about pregnancy, so we heard the story from another man at the old apartment complex), but Lucius' wife went into the hospital last week because she was sick. she was pregnant and she lost her baby. we haven't talked to Lucius yet about it...pray that we will know what to say to him and how we can help him. also pray that he will be comforted.

one last thing...this isn't a prayer request, just a question...there is a man here named charles. we like to call him "charles the tailor." he is a really sweet, soft spoken man. he does odd sewing jobs here on campus. he is supporting his brothers children as well as his own, and is always looking for any extra job he can have. if any of you want some african print napkins or placemats, anything, just let me know! we can pick it all out and send it home with my sister or bech's parents for you! i got 16 napkins made and it cost about $11.50 (thats including the fabric). i also ordered 6 really cute aprons (900 kwacha which is about $6.50) to put with a cookbook for wedding presents next year. i will take a picture of these things, and try to take a picture of his placemats (we don't have any, but the robbins do) for you all. oh yeah, and he also makes the cutest stockings! anyway, if you are interested just let me know...and i will put up some pictures of his work on here...he is coming by today so maybe i will get a picture of him to show you :)