Here’s a few funny things we’ve run into lately:

What would you do?  We interpreted it as a green light.  Apparently we weren’t the only ones with a green light, but we all made it through the intersection ok.  Another dilemma we frequently face is traffic lights that don’t work at all.  The first few times, we waited for a very long time. Now, we have a rule of thumb for broken stoplights: “Black is the new green.”

This beetle was kicking around on our front steps the other morning.  Abi really wanted to play with it, but she still studies most things with her mouth, so we just watched it from a distance.

Monkey Gland Sauce, no thank you!  We’ve heard it’s pretty good and that it doesn’t come from monkeys, but we still don’t keep it as a staple in our pantry.  Apparently in this regard we are still very American!

And finally, borax.  Right next to the meat spices.  Not even close to the laundry supplies.  Um, folks, let’s just hope no one gets confused about their spices!

We’re going on vacation tomorrow!  After our trip to Zomba last February, we decided that we need to get away for a few days once a year.  There’s a lot of Malawi that we haven’t seen yet, so we’re headed north this time: a rain forest, a lakeshore stop, and the best national park in Malawi.

There was only one problem.  Diesel.  We’re in the middle of a fuel shortage again, and without diesel, we weren’t going anywhere.  So this morning, Rachel woke up determined to get fuel.

The search started at 7:15am.  No diesel anywhere along the main road through town.  By 10:20, we’d gotten a tip that cars were starting to line up outside one of the gas stations on our side of town.  Matt was busy studying to teach in Sunday School, so Rachel grabbed Abigail and they took off for the diesel adventure.

This cute little munchkin waited so patiently!  We parked our car in line and sat in the shade in front of the BP convenience store, and she played for about an hour and a half, then fell asleep for about an hour.

Finally!  The fuel truck pulls in.  Unfortunately there were so many cars waiting to get fuel that the fuel truck couldn’t get through the parking lot!  That took a bit of sorting out…

And we don’t have a picture of actually getting fuel, because Rachel and Abigail were rescued by our friend Kondi who traded us cars so that Abigail could finish her nap in her own bed.  He waiting another hour and a half while the fuel truck unloaded and the cars in front of us filled up.  What a friend!

So we’re off on vacation!  We have a full tank of diesel and a full 30 liter jerry can as backup.  We don’t know if we’ll find fuel up north, but we’re going to try and see how far we can get!

When we arrived at the African Bible College student center to set up for the adult Sunday School a couple weeks ago, we had to chase an unexpected visitor out of the building before we could start.

From our Sunday School to your dining room table – Happy Thanksgiving!