Leaving Malawi

With heavy, yet hopeful hearts, LeAnne and I want to inform you, our dear supporters, that this will be our last year at African Bible College in Malawi. We are pursuing a call to serve Christ nearer home. Our decision has two branches, specific and general.

First, specifically, as only children, LeAnne and I want to be available to our parents as they age. We believe this to be a Biblical value. In particular, we have been deeply concerned about my mother whose neurologist suggests that she has symptoms indicative of Parkinson’s disease. Though she by no means has been diagnosed as such, the possibility behooves our presence! Having lost my brother and father in temporal proximity, the inability to care directly for my mother has long clouded my service abroad.

Second, and more generally, the Lord calls us to preach and pastor at home in order to open opportunity here. We love Africa and are amazed at all the Lord has been able to do through us; but we also recognize that many of our graduates are aching at the chance to fill in spaces that we occupy. I feel a certain privilege in giving them a chance. We will be in a better position, with you, to allow them to make more substantive strides for the Kingdom of Christ within their own culture than we could dream. So, my call to regularly preach and shepherd, combined with our graduates’ eager grab for the baton, makes our decision not only palatable, but also, beautifully, ‘missionary’.

Our plan now, will be to move back to the States mid-April. We long for your prayers as we leave not only work, but also the only home our children have ever known and the many friends we have made. The transition will be complex, but confident that the Covenant Lord has forged this path, He will straighten the twists.

Thank you for your continued support, much more to us than mere money, which binds our hearts together in Christ Jesus and is now a great comfort for us. And as He is apt to do, may Christ secure all glory in this matter for Himself!

This post is long overdue and I apologize. This year has gotten off to a busy start and we are enjoying it.

Here are some pictures of the first day of school:

The girls and LeAnne before school.

Amber Elizabeth (8th Grade)

Molly Grace (6th Grade)

Sarah Rose (1st Grade)

Amber Elizabeth with Mrs. Scharlie Carlisle (she is also married to our head master, Brian.) They are from South Carolina

Molly Grace with Mrs. Iris McFarland (aka Grandma Iris) She is from Washington.

Sarah Rose with Miss Christy Herbst. She is from Germany, the east coast, and the west coast.

We are all enjoying this year so much. I have a great group of kids and I am also able to teach Math to both 4th Grade classes and Jill Kyser is teaching Language/Literature to both classes. This is working out real well. We have nine different countries represented in our classroom.

Leaving Home to Go Home

In one week (June 21) our family will return to our home and work in Malawi to continue doing what the Lord has called us to do - sharing in his amazing work in Africa!

We want to take this opportunity to thank you all for the visits, encouragement, food, support and prayer during this year of furlough. We thank you all for your continued, relentless, pursuing commitment to what the Lord is up to in Africa through us. Thanks for your investing your lives with our lives. Just like Paul when he departed his friends at Ephesus, we too embrace you all with tears and kisses (Acts 20). If we were unable to see you this year, we apologize - somehow, furlough is anything but rest!

Please pray for us as we travel, readjust, reassume duties (Sam will be acting mission director this year), separate from family, drive on the other side of the road, encounter issues foreign to our Western experiences, work with those from other cultures, worldview, religions, ethno-linguistic groups and values, give up instant internet, consistent electricity, clean water, available fuel and other amenities we so wholeheartedly embraced during this year in the States!

We love you all. We hope to hear from you when you are able to write. Our blog site, www.5slams.blogspot.com is a great source. Sign up on it and you will automatically receive our updates. Otherwise, we will write you when able and internet cooperates.

Thanks for this year. To quote the Apostle Paul, "We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us." (I Thessalonians 2:8)

Your servants in Christ,

Sam, LeAnne, Amber Elizabeth, Molly Grace, and Sarah Rose McDonald

African Bible College - Malawi

Things...

Things we will miss about America

(In no particular order)

Sam:

Milk

Central AC & Heating

Friends & Family

Faith Presbyterian Church

Little Debbie

LeAnne:

Law & Order Marathons on USA

Friends & Family

Faith Presbyterian Church

Reliable cell phone service

Central AC & Heat

Blue Bell ice cream

Amber Elizabeth:

Friends & Family

Good ice cream

Molly Grace:

Friends & Family

Sarah Rose:

Friends & Family

FPK

McDonald’s

Dairy Queen Blizzards

Things we look forward to in Malawi

(Again, in no particular order)

Sam:

Friends

Preaching in the village

Teaching

Hearing Africans sing

Sunsets

LeAnne:

Lucy (our dog)

Old friends & new ones

Teaching again

Cheaper cell phone service

Low humidity

Ethiopian Food

Amber Elizabeth:

Lucy

Friends

Freedom to play outside all day

Molly Grace:

Lucy

Mama Mia’s

Friends

Playing outdoors

Sarah Rose:

Lucy

Ethiopian Food

Friends

I’m sure both lists could go on and on for all of us, but this is a good start.

Kool-Aid Stand

Here is a picture of Molly Grace and her Kool-Aid stand.

She only sold two cups (besides family members), but she enjoyed herself. She initially thought she would send the money to Japan, but now she’s not sure where she wants to send it due to all the tornado victims right here in the US.

Happy Birthday, Molly Grace!

Happy 11^th Birthday

Molly Grace!

We Q you!

Daddy, Mommy,

Amber Elizabeth, & Sarah Rose

Our "Giving" Child

Molly Grace is truly our “giving” child.

She had 10 inches of her hair cut off for Locks of Love. Here are some pictures and a video.

She is also having a Kook-Aid stand tomorrow and will donate the money she makes to needy people in Japan. I will post those pictures later.

Here are a couple of videos of Amber Elizabeth and Molly Grace playing in the Hymn Festival at Frist Baptist Church in McComb, MS. We are so proud of them. They have only been taking piano for about four months. You will want to mute the music at the bottom of the page before playing the videos.

Amber Elizabeth

Molly Grace

new post

Well, since we have arrived in the US, we have been busy and on the go. Our first week back, we were in Oregon for the wedding of two very special people, Megan Miller (now Passwater) and Andy Passwater. It was a beautiful wedding. Here are some pictures.

While in Oregon we got to see a lot of ABC families. We saw Michelle Halemeier; Lisa Kowalski; Annie Williams; Steve, Marion, and some of the Spencer kids; Jack and Nell Chinchen; Jay, Laura, Clara, Katherine, and Lauren Stoms; Dan, Bethany, and Eli Robbins;; Chuck and Joanne Wilson;; Jake Bray;; and Charisa Chinchen Haase. It was great being able to see so many of our friends from Malawi here in the US.

The next week, we spent three days in Denver with my brother, Tony. It was great to see him and Pil. They took us to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and to the Pedestrian Mall in downtown Denver. They also introduced us to Buca di Beppo. If you ever get a chance to eat there, you must do so. It’s wonderful. We got to sit at the kitchen table, which was a great experience. They brought by every dish that was ordered so we could see what it looked like.

We then drove to Lander, WY, for the rest of that week for another wedding. The daughter of our neighbors in Malawi, the Dehnerts, got married. It was also a beautiful wedding. Here are some pictures.



We then headed to San Diego for a week to visit some friends. We were able to see Bob, Amy Louise, Nya, and Analise Stauffacher;; Josh and Emily Ketchum; Lisa Kowalski; Michelle Halemeier;; Derek, Jeannette, and Dylan Breuninger; and Tina Kamkosi (an ABC 2010 graduate). Emily was kind enough to show us all the sights of San Diego. We went to the San Diego Zoo , Old Town, Fashion Valley Mall, and Seaport Village. Amy Louise took us to the beach at La Jolla. It was a cold day, but the girls enjoyed swimming in the Pacific Ocean. Here are some pictures.

We finally arrived in Mississippi, July 12. We enjoyed visiting and spending time with friends, but were glad to finally be home. We spent two nights in Terry with my mom and then headed to Brookhaven to Sam’s mom’s (where we will be living for the year).

On Friday, my mom fell and twisted her ankle and thought it was okay until she tried to walk again. She lost her balance and fell on her right side and ended up fracturing her hip. She had surgery on Sunday and had to have a complete hip replacement. Surgery went well and she is doing well. She started walking, with a walker, on Tuesday and the doctors and physical therapists said she was doing well that soon after surgery.

They told her it would be about three months before she was back to the way she was before the fall. That seems really quick to me. I have always thought that breaking your hip would mean you are bed ridden for a long, long time and then have a long rehab. I guess medicine is much more advanced than I thought.

She is now at home and doing well. Please continue to pray that her recovery continues to progress.

Our first conference that we will be attending is August 13-15 in Kosciusko, MS, at First Presbyterian Church. The Ebbers will also be there. They are home until September from Romania.

If you would like to catch up (and we would love to), send us a message and we will make a plan. You can reach us at 5slams@gmail.com or post a comment and we will get back in touch with you.

Thank you for all the prayers and support. We look forward to seeing as many of you as we can while we are home on furlough.

Q

LeAnne (for all 5 of us)

Happy 10^th Birthday Molly Grace!

Wow, double digits.

We Q you,

Dad, Mom, Amber Elizabeth, & Sarah Rose

Let the Countdown Begin

Well, we are in countdown mode here in Malawi. Only 41 more days of school and 61 more days until we leave for the T. We are all getting really excited. There are some exciting things happening next year that we will get to be a part of. We will actually spend the first three weeks in the T in the western part of the country.

We will fly into Portland, Oregon, for a very special event. I think we are most excited about this one because it is the wedding of Miss Megan and Mr. Pass-Andy-Water (that’s what Sarah Rose calls Andy). Sam will marry them and all three girls will be flower girls. It’s exciting because we actually got to see their relationship blossom. It took a while, but it finally happened. She is from Oregon and he is from Alabama. They had to move all the way to Malawi to meet each other. Isn’t God 0? A

Here’s the cute couple:

Another exciting event that we will get to be a part of is the wedding of the daughter of our dear friends at ABC, Kelly and Connie Dehnert. Molly Grace is a flower girl in this wedding too. So after being in Oregon for a week, we will fly to Wyoming. Britney, the daughter getting married is from Wyoming and the Patrick, the guy she is marrying is from Arizona. Again, they had to move all the way to Malawi to meet each other. A

Here’s the cute couple:

After being in Wyoming for a week, we will then fly to San Diego, and visit some dear friends that we worked with at ABC. We will get to see Derek & Jeannette Breuninger (and hopefully their new baby), Josh & Emily Ketchum, Bob, Amy Louise, Nya, & Analise Stauffacher, Kellen & Becca Hiroto, and Lisa Kowalski. Emily keeps telling us about all the food places they are going to take us. And I keep telling her that we are going to gain 20 pounds in our week there. A Jeannette is going to take us into Mexico to her family’s house and have some REAL Mexican food. I can’t wait. We plan to visit the beach, the zoo, some museums, etc. I told them I don’t care what we do, we just want to do stuff and eat at places that we cannot do in Mississippi or near Mississippi.

We will finally arrive in Mississippi, on July 12, but then we will leave that Friday for Gulf Shores for the reception of Megan and Andy. They will be having another reception in Alabama for his side of family and friends who were unable to attend the wedding in Oregon. I guess you could say we are going to be pretty busy for the first month we are back in the States. Whew!

After we get back from Gulf Shores, we will be able to rest a little before having to start school in August. I will home schooling Amber Elizabeth (7^th Grade) and Molly Grace (5^th Grade) and Sarah Rose will go to kindergarten (K5) at Faith. Sam may be working on his DMin. at RTS.

We would love to do more traveling while we are in the T, so please contact us and we will do our best to make a trip and visit.

On a side note, there is an update from Holli. She was able to get her last drain out, and now will have a port put in for chemo. She will start chemo April 27, and will have to have it for 6 months. Please continue to keep her in your prayers as she goes through this not-so-fun stage of life.

I would also like for you to keep the children, Chad, Wes, and Ashley, in your prayers. They are going through a lot too. They not only have to watch their mother go through this, but they had to be uprooted so quickly from their home here in Malawi and leave some good friends behind. Pray that they will be comforted in the knowledge that God will get them through this and one day, they will see the good that will come out of all this.

Please continue to pray for James as well. He has to see his wife go through this, as well as his children. Pray for endurance for him as he now has to be father and mother when Holli is not feeling her best. Pray that he will continue to look to God for all he needs and help him to also be comforted by God.

I thank you for praying for this dear family.

Q

LeAnne (for all 5 of us)

ABCGF

Happy Birthday Sam!

We wanted to wish you a wonderful birthday. You are the best daddy and the best husband ever! Have a GREAT day.

We love you,

Sarah Rose, Molly Grace, Amber Elizabeth, & LeAnne

Molly Grace - Christmas Morning 2009

This is of Molly Grace as she waits patiently for her sisters to wake up. She is staring at her "goodies" from Santa Clause.

This is what she got from Santa Clause: a Nintendo DS Lite in red (her favorite color).

This is her Hannah Montana DS game. She was so excited. I think she is one of the biggest Hannah Montana fans out there.

And finally, her jar of Nutella from her daddy.

These are collages of the girls I made. They are growing up too fast.

LeAnne (for all 5 of us)

Reading Day & International Day

Reading Day at the academy is a day where the students and teachers dress up as a book character. This was started by our First Headmaster, Dan Linsz, and has continued as a tradition each year at the Academy. We emphasize reading and the importance of reading by inviting special guests to read to the class. Each teacher plans a fun day of reading to the children, sharing books, silent reading, reading theater, or whatever other creative ideas a teacher has.

Here are a few pictures from this year:

This is a picture of the three award winners in my 4th grade class. Renier Veitch (from South Africa) received most original, Molly Grace received cutest (yes, I am biased, but you do have to admit she is cute), and Ryan Saywood (from Zimbabwe) received best homemade.

This is Sarah Rose in the school-wide parade.

This is my 4th grade class.

This is a picture of the two Snow Whites, Sarah Rose and Michelle Halemeier (Sarah Rose's teacher).

This is a picture of the girls and me. Sarah Rose is Snow White, Molly Grace is Raggedy Ann, Amber Elizabeth is someone from a book she was reading at the time, and I am Little Red Riding Hood.

International Day is our version of American Thanksgiving Day. We get together as a school and everyone brings their favorite dish of eats from their home country to share with the school. We emphasize how thankful we are for our homes and cultures. All the children and staff dress up in their native costume or dress.

Here are a few pictures from this year:

This is a picture of my class. I have students from America, Malawi, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lebanon, Russia, Italy, England, and New Zealand.

This is Sarah Rose's Kindergarten class.

This is Sarah Rose and Megan. Megan is from Malawi.

This was just a sampling of all the WONDERFUL food that we were able to enjoy.

Levi Chinchen is a baseball player from America, Molly Grace is Brett Favre (when he played for USM), and Maziko Theu from Malawi.

Thank y'all for all your love and support. We love y'all.

LeAnne (for all 5 of us)