Life is what is happening here. I'm thankful to be able to share life with my family for some time this summer. My Mom and I spent about a week together and traveled to Arizona. We rented a car and drove up to Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon the day before the ASI convention started in Phoenix. The drive was unique and HOT but the canyon was amazing. It was something neither one of us had seen so even though we were only there a short time it was well worth it. The majesty and beauty of that place is incredible. I hope to go back again sometime and explore it some more – maybe even take a pack mule trip into the bottom. The rest of the week we spent at ASI where it was nice to see Cristy and her family (which are like a second family to me). There were many interesting people to connect with and some good meetings. Loma Linda had a booth so I spent some time there and also did a couple of short presentations during the seminars. On Sabbath Dr Hart did an afternoon presentation about Loma Linda for Alumni and interested people and asked Cristy, Greg, Audrey, & I to talk about our respective projects. It was really interesting for me to learn what is happening at Loma Linda as well. They have some exciting plans for the future and have an amazing focus on mission with AHI being a big part of that.
After ASI I flew out to Orlando to see some friends. I stayed with Allen and Tangie in their new house. Braelyn is 2 yo now and quite talkative. They invited a few friends over for dinner Monday night so it was good to see everyone. I also got to meet up with Jason & Becki from Chicago on for lunch one day. It was amazing that it worked out that they were down for a wedding the same weekend. Mostly my visit there was just relaxing. I spent time at the pool (working on my tan), read a book, watched a couple of movies and generally just relaxed. On Thursday morning I did a short presentation at Adventist Health System for their staff meeting. It was so nice to see all of my former co-workers and share with them some of what I'm doing now. I really miss having that community of people to work with and to give guidance. Thank you to Phyllis, Amy and all of the employees for their interest and support.
Loma Linda School of Public Health has been working on a proposal to the Presidential Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (www.pepfar.gov) for Malawi related specifically to lab equipment and training related to AIDS. This is an extremely large grant in conjunction with John's Hopkins and University of North Carolina. At ASI Dr. Hart told us that the grant had been approved! This will impact Malamulo significantly as it will be a CHAM center of training for the southern part of Malawi. This coincides with the coming of a husband and wife team from the Philippines who are lab technicians. They will be coming to Malawi in October and will be key in implementing the grant and the upgrades to the lab at Malamulo. I don't know all of the details yet but I am going to be helping to manage and implement the grant in Malawi so I'm sure I will learn all about it soon.
Speaking of which I will be going down to Loma Linda next week to meet with the people at LLU School of Public Health to discuss and learn about this grant. Because of this my time has been extended. I will be heading back to Malawi on the 6th of September. I am stopping along the way in London to see a friend for a couple of days. If any of you have recommendations of things to do in the London area let me know!
So this week is basically my last week of "hanging out" before I leave. I'm enjoying being with my nephews and all of the adventures that we have. Today they discovered a dead animal in the nearby field and then they saw the vultures circling and had to go and investigate again. Last night Nicole and I slept out on the deck and barely survived the cold and damp night. Maybe next time I'll try a tent. J On Friday I went with the two older boys to OMSI in Portland with Randy and his class. We went hiking up to Abiqua falls where the boys caught lots of big crawdads. I've been able to see several friends and also spend time with my parents while I've been home. I was up in Kelso on Monday and we went to the farmer's market and we had lunch with one of my Aunts. I think I'm up to my limit of clothes and other goodies to take back to Malawi although the stores are still tempting me!
Since I don't want to bore you with more measly details – suffice it to say that this break has been good – no better than good – it's been relaxing, restful, adventuresome, challenging, affirming, and encouraging. I'm so thankful to be in a family and a situation to be able to live and work in Malawi. I don't think I have all of the answers and in some ways going back to Malawi is more intimidating then going the first time: now I know what lies ahead and what kinds of challenges I am facing. One thing I forgot to mention is that I've been asked to be the director of finance for the Malamulo College of Health Sciences as well. They have been struggling over the past couple of years and are in the process of coming under the umbrella of AHI. I need prayer in this area because I don't know quite how I will manage everything…
As I was saying – sometimes it's even more challenging to go back… Something that is encouraging though is to re-read some of my journaling from last year and to see how God led me to make the decision to go. My family was and is so supportive and that is a big part of me being able to work effectively. I have so much to be thankful for – I can't even list them all. My heart is overwhelmed with blessings and thankfulness.
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