Busy first few days!!

Mousahili everyone! (Hello)

Sorry for not posting last night it has been a very busy few days in Mongu! I will start with yesterday's activities, then today's, what we have learned, and the great people we have met along the way!


    We had the blessing of the Malomo family (Elijah, Betha, George, and Precious) cooking a WONDERFUL dinner insisting on seconds and thirds! It is a great sacrifice for people in Mongu to invite us over and cook for 5-6 more people than they usually do. The hospitality we received was unexplainable and completely incredible. It's amazing to see people that always have a genuine smile on their face. At the end of our stay we gave the house gifts of kitchen utensils as well as soap, candy, map of Michigan, and bandanas for the ladies of the house. Lastly Jill, Ali, and Alexis received chatangas (skirts) as a gift. They will be wearing them for our Sunday mass tomorrow!
   We met so many people just in the short time we have been here! Staying at the Oblate house we met Fr. Singini and Fr. Valentine who are great to have here at 5 in the morning to wake you up! These Fathers run the Oblate Radio Liseli in Mongu. They cover the whole Western Province which is the entire western area of Zambia, so these Fathers are very well known! George Malomo, son of Elijah and Betha who had us over for dinner, is the announcer of the radio and recorded all of our voices to be on the radio! Ali also gets the chance to do an interview with the radio crew about her stories and experiences to tell the youth of Zambia!
     The group had coffee and tea with the Bishop of Mongu as well as his colleagues Fr. James, Fr. Gregor, and the Sisters! Fr. Bob spoke with the Bishop about the schooling in Zambia and was very impressed with exams grades and the progress Zambia is making!

And today we had the opportunity to meet the youth of  the parishes of Mongu Dioscese and they had it all so organized and planned hour by hour it was so incredible to see them take the time and put on such a wonderful presentation. We had Sunday mass at the cathedral for Silozi mass. On our way back to the oblate house, Joe, Ali, Jill, and Alexis helped push a car out of the sand. Joe waved down a humbvee who pulled the car as we shoveled the sand. Everyone in the village gave us a shovel and a helping hand. It was completely amazing to see such great team work from the village of Mongu to see someone in need and not be hesitate to help. Such amazing people overwhelm us all with such warm smiles. And lastly we we are on our way to the bishops house to have dinner that he is hosting! Day by day we all learn so much from everyone and have so much to bring back to the states. Jill told a man that she was so impressed by the amount of happiness Zambians have with having almost nothing and his response was "we don't have nothing.. We have each other" and I think we can all learn from this non chalant statement that no matter what situation God hands us that "nothing" is non existent we will always have each other as brothers and sisters of Christ. And that in and of itself is all we need.