Lunch with Friends

This morning we went to church at the church of St. Michael and All Angels in Blantyre. The church itself is a National Monument, built by Scottish Presbyterian missionaries in 1891. It is quite an impressive building. Did I think to bring my camera to church? NOT! Ugh. However, I someone else did and posted the picture on the web. (Phew) http://www.panoramio.com/photo/9619171

We went to the 8:30 English service which was a 'quickie' -- only two hours. They had all the visitors come up front for introductions. (And here we are reluctant to wear a red ribbon to coffee hour. . .)

I really liked what the Pastor did with the children's time. I don't particularly remember the content, but they children took their own offering, and then one of the older children (say 9 or 10) gave the prayer of dedication. I was very impressed.

I am always impressed with the ease with which my African brothers and sisters pray in front of the congregation. Now I see why. They are trained early. I'm always amused at how reluctant some of us are to pray aloud in front of other people. (That includes me.) There we sit, a room full of clergy no less and someone says, "who'll pray," and nobody responds. Eventually the prayer gets said, but there's a lot of foot gazing between the question and response.

Anyway . . . for lunch we went to the top of Zomba Mountain. The mountain rises 7,000 ft. We were pretty far up there.

We ate at the buffet at Sunbird Ku Chawe Inn. Fortunately the weather warmed up and we ate outside. I had my first taste of Chambo, the National fish. Ummm. It takes just like fish. The most amuzing part of the lunch were the monkeys. They were everywhere. If a couple abandoned their table for the buffet, anything left on the table was fair game. It was a hoot. The hotel actually has a guy with a sling shot on staff to chase them away. They're not phased in the least. Sling-shot guy turns his attention to another task and the monkeys are back at it. These monkeys just sit and wait to pounce. They're not shy at all!

On the way back from lunch we stopped at Williams Falls. Let's just say I was happier on the drive back since we were on the side closest to the mountain. The scenery was beautiful; the drops were STEEP! I'm not particulary afraid of heights, but his was a bit much -- particularly right after lunch.


Sandy on Mt. Zomba

Scenery from Mt. Zomba


Williams Falls