Big News From Malawi!

Hello Friends and Family!

Lots of updates from the Hodges. 

Firstly, we visited America in June for close friend Lindsey Thomas' (now Schmidt) wedding.  It was a beautiful ceremony with DR as ring bearer.  We spent 4th of July with my family in Nevada, enjoying time with aging grandparents and baby cousin Daniel.

We returned to Malawi in July and Donald's brother Bill came to visit for a month.  It was a wonderful time of enjoying God's beautiful creation in Malawi; seeing wild animals, hiking mountains, and swimming in the lake.  see Bill's photographs at https://goo.gl/photos/NGBQTsBV7cNv4cA97

I am really enjoying being back at work.  I'm excited to say that I have seen my first case of neurocysticercosis and the child is responding well to treatment.  Also, big news for the hospital: We have admitted our first baby to our nursery on CPAP.  I am so proud of our team at the hospital for doing such a great job caring for this baby.  All the glory to God for His healing hand upon this child, aptly named Malumbo, meaning "praise".  Thank you to everyone who has helped to support the purchase of the CPAP machines.  We are excited about the future of our nursery.  Please pray for the training of the nurses and medical professionals as more infants arrive in need of this specialized care.

Malumbo and Mommy ready to go home

The biggest news is:  We're having a boy!!  I'm due December 19th with our second son.  Due to travelling restrictions, we will be returning to the US in November in order to deliver the baby in Houston.  We are excited about this new addition to our family and ask for prayer through the transition time.  After the baby is born, we plan to return to Malawi in January for Donald to start back at school.

We feel so blessed to be able to serve here in Malawi and thank God for his constant care for our family and our ministry here.  Thank you to all our supporters who have made it possible for us to serve in this way to further God's kingdom and the healing ministry of Jesus Christ.

The Donald Update

The last time we posted an update on here was around Christmas time.  Obviously, much has happened since then.  We would like to apologize for the hiatus, it is something we will work on improving.  As mentioned in our newsletter last month, Kelly and I are going to be posting separate blog updates to catch you up on everything that is going on.  This second semester has been quite eventful for me at the ABC Academy.  After arriving back from our Christmas break, I was given another science class, Physical Science, because one of the upper school teachers did not return.  This means I am teaching all sciences from 8th - 12th grade, which has demanded a lot of my time.  That being said, I am really enjoying teaching and love it when you can see the kids start to understand topics.  One of the highlights of their year in science, so I am told, was when we made homemade ice cream in Ziploc bags.

  

During March, the Malawian National Swim Gala (Tournament) was held at the Academy, which was awesome.  Kids from all over Malawi came to race, and the Vice President made an appearance.  It was quite a stressful time for Kelly and I due to the amount of hours I had to put into preparing everything for the sound system to run properly. Below is a picture of our setup next to the pool, as well as our ABC swim team!

The latest event we did with the school was Writing Week, where we split the upper school into three groups and took them out to different missionary projects in the village to help them see how God is working in these people's lives.  It was great to hear from some of the students regarding how eye-opening these experiences were and how their passion for the Lord was revitalized.  The photo below is of some of the kids we visited in one of the villages - we are teaching them how to play Heads-Up Seven-Up!

There are two upcoming events with the school that are very demanding, but very exciting as well.  The ABC Ballet is an annual event that is highly regarded here in Lilongwe, and I will be running the lighting and sound for the event (yikes!).  Also, the first Science Fair is coming up.  As you can imagine, I was not the most popular teacher when I told all the students from 7th grade up that they would have to do a big project, including a report.  I have kind of shot myself in the foot here due to the amount of reading I am having to do for these projects!  I am really looking forward to seeing what the students have come up with, and I would like to see the Science Fair become an annual event the kids look forward to.

Everything is going very well here, and it is awesome how God is using the teachers at ABC.  My schedule has been pretty crazy this year, but I am loving it.  Please keep the students in your prayers that they can finish the school year strong and that I can do so as well!

Christmas Letter 2015

Dear Friends and Family,

 

2015 has been a new and inspiring year for the Hodges family.  We started out the year moving to Malawi, Africa to work as missionaries at African Bible College of Malawi.  The transition went pretty smoothly considering all it entailed.  We brought 6 trunks from Houston with personal belongings and Samaritan’s Purse had sent a container with housing items that we had purchased the previous June.  We both started our respective jobs as Pediatrician and teacher right away.  We were blessed with a nanny, Joyce Banda, who came to us as a daughter of a long time employee on campus.   Also, within the first week of our arrival, our long acquainted friend Wells came to us asking to work as our house help.  They have been an enormous blessing in our lives.  DR is thriving and has made many friends in our neighborhood.  He is talking and running and learning to swim.  He loves animals and balls of every sort. 

Kelly is really enjoying her work.  She is working at the ABC clinic and Children’s ward.  She sees children from many cultures; Malawian, Pakistani, Korean, Egyptian, Irish, Indian, French, Lebanese,  Afrikaans, and American.  The clinic is known for its excellent care throughout the city, so many foreign aid workers visit the clinic. The maladies range from colds and ear infections to pneumonia and severe malaria.  The hospital also has a thriving OB service that often asks Kelly to check on unwell newborns.  Her latest endeavor is to obtain several low cost bubble CPAP machines for neonates with respiratory problems.  The current system is to send these patients to the central referral hospital where these machines are available, but the nursing care ratio is something like 1:20 infants.  God has really provided a perfect time for this as Emily, a NICU nurse from Seattle, has just arrived for a year term.  Kelly really loves the Christian clinic environment and gets along well with her colleagues and nurses. 

Donald has become the ABC Mr. Do-it –all.  He is teaching Physics, Chemistry, and Math, as well as running the sound system for school functions including weekly chapel, monthly movie nights,  and the amazing Christmas program.  He is also volunteering his time to map out the water lines on campus to help with maintenance and to try to improve water supply to the campus.  The campus is now installing 4 new water tanks as a project to help with consistent water distribution on campus.  Donald is making several contacts in the civil engineering community also and hoping to have an impact in the future with projects like well rig design and hydroelectric energy production.

We have joined a church called International Bible Fellowship (IBF) that preaches God’s word.   It has been great to grow to know many of the people at the church and an inspiration to see so many people that God is using here in Malawi.  We have been blessed to be a part of the youth ministry at our pastor’s home (right next door). 

We are so thankful to God for the many blessings we have received this last year.  Special thanks to all of our supporters, both prayer and financial, we wouldn’t be able to do this ministry without you.  May God bless you and may you find Christ this Christmas!

Love,

The Hodges