I am deeply impressed by the strength of people’s souls in this place. Jon and I are have settled down enough, that we interact with Malawians on a daily basis and are developing many friendships along the way. We have noticed that as we get more and more integrated into the community, death seems to take a stronger and stronger presence. Just the other day we realized that it had been more than 2 days since hearing about the death of one person or another connected in some way to our friends or colleagues. Learning to deal with death on a daily bases is hard, but what I find more challenging is learning to grasp how my Malawian friends go on living life with such joy, such strong spirits, always so helpful, always with a smile.

The strength of souls in this place is produced by faith and is testament to God’s presence. For me, the strength of souls convicts me of my own often wavering faith.

Life and death walk hand in hand here. I do believe that this is one of the reasons God brought me to Africa…to face one of my biggest fears…to accept death as part of life and to truly have faith that God promises us an eternity to rejoice with our loved ones.