Day 8 - 3rd Advance Team YC Malawi (06 May)

We began the day with a visit to the Village of Hope where we met Tyler and Angela Woods and were treated with a wonderful tour of the facility and met the staff and children. The many connections with Newfoundland and Labrador are evident with houses named after churches, communities, families and of course YC! Our teams will be reminded of home right there in the middle of Malawi! On the way out I gave Angela a big can of Tims explaining it was for her and not Tyler! Pastor Mike and I met Pastor David Chigamba, Cheepo and Matthew at Silver Stadium. We surveyed the grounds and considered again the possibilities for stage location, seating and crowd control. We then all went downtown to Nandos- a restaurant specializing in fried chicken with a taste of Portugal! The extra spicy was very good!

Leaving the restaurant we travelled to the centre of the city to visit Maula Prison, a maximum security facility. Approaching the front gate Mike took a photo. The quick and rather belligerent guard demanded the camera and was about to break it before we demonstrated our deletion of the pictures. In the end he still took the camera and placed it in the guard house until we left. Our tour included watching prisoners play soccer (football in Malawi), conversations with the warden, and a general walk-about outside the inmate fence. If a team is considering ministry at the prison I would strongly suggest visiting a prison in Newfoundland at least once before leaving for Africa.

We travelled out of the city through a number of area settlements before entering another village market area. Once again we scouted a location for an outdoor service and visited a small Pentecostal church. After we dropped our friends off we met with Lifeline Malawi (http://www.lifelinemalawi.com/) administrator Pat Laforet to discuss the role our medical team would play at their mission in Ngodzi. Lifeline is dedicated to providing clinic, HIV/AIDS, and maternity ministry to Malawians. We enjoyed wonderful conversation over delicious cuisine at an Italian restaurant. Yummy! Following supper and a well-needed clean-up we met with hotel management to discuss various aspects our booking including the leasing of rooms, conference halls, a theatre, internet, meals, laundry, shuttle service and of course the swimming pool!