Blog 1

Greetings from Malawi!

While this is technically the 2^nd day of our trip, we made a group decision that our first blog post could wait… Since we had a long day of travel. Speaking of long travel days, we are all so grateful that we made it here safe and sound. I’ll spare you all the details but we our team members were excited to get 2 new stamps in our passports as we stopped overnight in Johannesburg, South Africa and then flew to Malawi today!

Today has been a great day! We continue to get to know each other as team members, and it has been joyous. So much laughter has taken place, even during the times of security and customs. Once arriving in Malawi and through all the airport hoops, we were greeted by our Opulence Partners. From the moment they said hello we felt a tidal wave of joy, love, and fellowship. We all boarded our new ride for the week, a pink bus. The weather was beautiful, and we started our journey to our hotel with the windows open excited to greet Malawi, most of us for the first time. We took in the scenery and practice for our Safari by yelling out any animals we saw (Chickens, Goats, Sheep, dogs).

Arriving at our hotel our team immediately felt at home, thanks to their sign “Check in n’ Chill out”. We all chilled out in our rooms and did a little unpacking (or maybe a quick nap); some had hopes of checking out the pool but decided to brave the polar plunge at a later day (if ever?). Some of us watched the sunset, as you can see in the picture, wow. We then enjoyed dinner with the Opulence staff. The room was full, it was loud, and the food was good. Our team was so excited to meet the staff at Opulence that we spaced ourselves out so we could sit by as many as we could. We enjoyed getting to know each other and even went around the table one-by-one introducing ourselves. Just when the day seemed to be winding down and the Opulence super stars were headed home an impromptu ceremony took place. All of the women on our team were asked to stand in a line, and the women of the Opulence staff extended a great honor. A gift given from woman to woman, signaling friendship. They provided all the women with our very own chitenji, this is a large piece of fabric that is tied around the waist as a skirt. It is a very common thing to see in Malawi. The ceremony continued with a tutorial on how to properly wear and tie. The thoughtfulness, care, and joy of this gift produced a few tears from our team and immense gratitude for such a welcoming.

When the day was done, we realized the journey to get here was long, but so worth it. It hasn’t even been our first full day in Malawi and the team is excited to see God’s creation and be in community, as He has all of us to do.