MOM’S MEMOIRS – IRENE LOUISE (NEE KUCKKAN) MUELLER
(Continued)

Mom’s Autobiography – Chapter 53 – In Book, Page 127

Fortieth Anniversary Celebration in Malawi, Visit to a Cashew Factory, Confirmand Pearson Chafuli, Ululating Woman, Visiting Blantyre (Swimming Pool, Sunnyside, Kabula Hill, Main Street), Visit with Andrea in Johannesburg, South Africa, Back to the States, Settling in at 1520 Lakeside Terrace, Watertown, Wisconsin, Becoming Members at St. Mark’s, Grand Opening of the ROC

THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH OF CENTRAL AFRICA, IN MALAWI, AFRICA, ON OCTOBER 18, 2003

“And now”, as Paul Harvey used to say, “for the rest of the story. We landed in Blantyre, Malawi (Nyasaland), where Dick and Missionary Ray Cox had started the mission there 40 years ago. Thinking of everything now seems like a dream – but a dream come true! To fill in the time until the anniversary celebration, a missionary’s wife took us to a building in the bush where women sat at long tables taking cashews out of their shells by hand. It was amazing to see. Nature called and I asked where the “chimbuzi” was. They pointed to an “outhut”. Okayyyyyy – away I went. Watch out for that hole in the ground, Irene!

The day came for the celebration. There we were with all our Malawian friends again – after 31 years! Some had gone to their eternal home in heaven, but their descendants were there, some who remembered us! There were many singing, happy, people who came. Again Dick preached to the people in Chinyanja, astounding all of them. After the service, (according to Dick’s words in our Christmas letter of 2003), “a very short, well-dressed man came up to us, asking that his picture be taken with us. We were happy to comply with his request – but we wondered why. It did not take long before we found out. He had been confirmed in the Blantyre Lutheran Church – and had brought his Confirmation Certificate to prove it. It had been issued to him on the 1st day of August, 1965. It bore the signature, R. W. Mueller, and it was in the same condition as it was on the day it was given to him. What joy was ours to be with him thirty-eight years after he had publicly professed his faith in His – and our Savior, Christ Jesus.

AT BUSH CHURCH HIGH OVERLOOKING THE GREAT RIFT VALLEY

We stayed with Missionary John (Jack) Janosek and his wife, Yvonne, in Blantyre. One Sunday they took us to a bush church high above the great Rift Valley. Dick and Jack preached to the people from the altar area, and Yvonne and I sat in the front row, Yvonne on one side of me and an African lady on the other side of me. I’ll never forget the high “ululating” of her voice. Her lips did not move, and yet the high and loud sounds came out of her throat. I had heard it before, but I was never so close to a person actually doing it. I couldn’t keep myself from looking at her. It was fascinating – awesome!

SIGHTSEEING TOUR OF BLANTYRE, MALAWI

Yvonne took us on a sight-seeing tour of Blantyre, especially to houses and places we remembered from living there years ago. We went swimming in the Country Club (we had to join the Country Club just so we could swim) swimming pool, where we had taken our children to swim. Now there is a skyscraper overlooking the scene. Otherwise the pool hasn’t changed. The building which is at the deep end of the pool is still there. Gary Nelson, our neighbor boy (his father was an executive with the Peace Corps), had jumped from it and one foot landed on a spigot without a handle and it penetrated his foot. We arrived just at the moment to hear poor Gary screaming. The ambulance came and took him to the hospital. His foot did heal, and now he is a policeman in Washington, D.C.

Yvonne also took us to see a house in which we lived in a suburb in Blantyre called Sunnyside. We lived there when our daughter, Stephanie, was born. In Malawi all the houses are surrounded by walls and gates just as in Zambia. This gate we could look through, and saw that the house looked pretty much the same. Now we asked her to take us to the Kabula Hill house overlooking the Rift Valley where we had also lived when we first moved to Malawi. (Please refer to MOM’S MEMOIRS, PAGES 28 AND 29). How strange it was to be in the very place where thieves had burglarized us so many years ago. An African man had bought the house which was in disrepair and was remodeling it. He welcomed us and even took us through the house. We could not go into Dick and Tim’s bedroom which had been the scene of a burglary because now the house was a hotel and someone was staying there. The kitchen was remodeled and we were told that food and drink was served on a patio the man had built. Our missionaries and wives even came there!!!!! Changes!!!!!

We went to downtown Blantyre, and walked the streets where many Africans were displaying beautiful hand carved curios. What a joy it was to do that again, and bargaining with them – just like I had years ago. The sellers expect it, and enjoy it just like the buyers do.

VISITING ANDREA (DE WET) DAVEL AND HER BROTHER, PHILLIPE, IN JOBURG, S. A.

We had a wonderful time with Yvonne and Jack about the “good old days”, and then it was time to leave Malawi and go to Johannesburg, South Africa. We wanted to visit Andrea (De Wet) Davel and her brother, Phillipe. Andrea is a good friend of our daughter, Debbie, and almost lived in our home, when they were children. She calls us “Dad” and “Mom”. They met us at the airport, and we visited with them at a hotel, renewing the “good old days”. What a blessing it was to be with and talk with Andrea, who is now a wife, mother, and grandmother just like our daughter, Debbie. Phillipe, at the time, flew freight airplanes all over the world. It was interesting talking to both of them. (Our daughter, Sue, had not gone with us to South Africa. She had flown with WELS President Karl Gurgel, his wife, Barbara, and the Central African Administrative Committee members and their wives back to the States after the Zambian 50th Anniversary and the Malawian 40th Anniversary celebrations). How sad it was to leave Andrea and Phillipe. We are so blessed to have corresponded with them all these years, and are still corresponding with them.

BACK IN THE STATES – OCTOBER 25, 2003

We thank God for blessing us so richly – for taking us to Africa to relive everything we did when we lived there from 1957-1972, and bringing us back safe and sound with so many more memories of all of our friends in Zambia, Malawi, and South Africa. Now it all, as I am writing this on September 11, 2009, seems like a dream. We are so thankful that the work of spreading the Gospel is being carried on by the Central African Lutheran Mission, and is being taught in all of its truth and purity to blood-bought souls.

SETTLING IN AT 1520 LAKESIDE TERRACE, WATERTOWN, WISCONSIN

Do you remember when I wrote that we had PARTLY moved into the beautiful condo because we were invited to the Zambia mission’s 50th anniversary and Malawi’s 40th anniversary of the Lutheran Church of Central Africa Mission in Africa? Thanks to Mr. Jerry Keeser, the builder’s generosity, we were allowed to store all our belongings in the double garage. Now, after coming back from Africa, we moved into our condo, again with the help of our children, spouses, families, and Joanne and Jerry Brandt.

Tim, Sue, and family, and we joined St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, Watertown, Wisconsin (Sue’s and my home church, and where Sue, Tim, and we had been married). There was a beautiful Christmas tree in the church, but not at all as amazing as the huge never-to-be-forgotten Christmas trees which dominated the altar area when I was a child (there are pictures of those trees in the narthex of the church). But, the wonderful CHRIST-mas story of the birth of Jesus was again sung and recited by the children, and the pastors preached inspirational sermons, giving everyone a warm going-home feeling. We also had a lovely Christmas tree in the window of our new home. We went to Sue and Tim’s home for a happy family get-together. Now Joshua (Poston), who was ten months old, looked at everything with wide open eyes.

JANUARY 24, 2004 – THE GRAND OPENING OF THE ROC (RECREATION & OUTREACH CENTER FOR YOUTH)

Tim was called by the four WELS churches in Watertown as the Pastor/Director of the ROC. What was left of the huge old Globe mill (which burned) on South Water Street was a psychedelically-painted building. Quoted from the Watertown Daily Times – “it was transformed by many willing hands into a large, clean, well-lit, room for high school age youths, and supplied with table tennis, a billiard table, video games, a bank of computers, and a quiet board game area. It also has a television/video watching area. It also offers quiet study space and has adults available to offer tutoring assistance on a regularly scheduled basis.”

More than 250 visitors of all ages filed into the ROC home on January 24, 2004. Quoted from the Watertown Daily Times – “the Rev. Tim Mueller, ROC director, said Saturday he was thrilled at the number of people who attended the opening. Many people (who came) I have never met before in the community. All the comments received were supportive and positive.” What a wonderful blessing the ROC is not only for the teens, but for everyone living not only in Watertown, but everywhere!!!!