Car problems

Do the best traits about your significant other sometimes bother you? Kossi meticulously takes care of his car. If he hears the slightest sound he will have his mechanic over before the sun sets-because yes, in Malawi mechanics come to the house. Sometimes taking care of a car in Malawi feels like a part time and at times full time job.

And while I know it shouldn’t annoy me, but it does because so much of our budget & Kossi’s time goes to fixing that dang car. It’s a good strong car though, and until yesterday, I had never been stranded by the side of the road, although Kossi has had several breakdowns in the last few months.

Ever since Decent started ramping up his campaign for member of parliament for his district and Kossi essentially became his driver, in our car, our car has taken a down hill decline. It’s nothing Decent has done, except for to have the audacity to go up against the powers and principalities that rule over his district. Dire poverty, animism, domestic abuse, greed, hunger and mismanagement of funds.

We can either believe in the spiritual realm around us, or chalk it up to being on rougher roads & driving longer distances. It’s probably a bit of both, but we see that our move to the village has stirred up the spiritual realm as we nourish the elderly and love the neglected and Decent runs to create systemic change in his community.

All that to say, yesterday, an hour+ into our drive to the Agabu, the engine gave out and we found ourselves stranded on the side of the road. It’s frustrating because our mechanic practically lives at our house, and it seems like any time Kossi has been in Blantyre the last 2-3 months, he’s been fixing his car.

Needless to say, despite being broken down on the side of the road for 3.5 hours, we made memories sitting under trees, breaking into our box of food for sugar cane & pineapple. Our Malawian colleagues came to save the day, and to say they went above and beyond to help us is an understatement.

We are at a point where we aren’t really sure what our next step should be. It’s the crankshaft that is broken, and the shops in Blantyre don’t have any in stock.

Please join us in prayer, as obviously our car is a very vital part of our ministry here taking us to and from the city.