July 19 – August 2
Open doors are how God works to get His Word to the world (Rev.3:7,8). God opened the door to Malawi, Africa, and before we could even make a public announcement about it, the word spread, and the number of people we were able to take had already stepped up! What a privilege to be a part of a church body that has that kind of heart from the world!
We worked in the Passion Center for Children in Zomba, Malawi, and out from there to the widows and other people in the Mulunguzi villages. Your prayers were greatly appreciated, and were key to the success of the trip.
August 4, 2009
Since we are traveling these days, this is going to be one last update, and hopefully there will be no travel delays and we'll be home in Columbus on Sunday!
Yesterday (Friday) was our first day "off", which started by leaving the mountain at 6am…nothing like getting to sleep-in on our day of relaxation! We picked up the Passion Center staff and headed to Mvuu, for a safari at one of the local national parks.
August 1, 2009
Today was the VBS Celebration. The children were able to recite their memory verses and put on a skit of Moses crossing the Red Sea... watching the children play the water crashing onto the Egyptians was a hoot! They sang "Pharaoh, Pharaoh" and "Father, I Adore You" (all three verses in a round... it was beautiful!) for the audience. Pastor Matt spoke, followed by one of the Passion Center staff.
July 29, 2009
Day two of VBS! Today Moses led the Israelites across the Red Sea, and the children loved it! In Malawi, churches do not offer programs for children where they would grow up hearing the Bible stories. So, for many of these children, this was the first time they had heard of the crossing of the Red Sea.
July 28, 2009
We started the day bright and early, and traveled down the mountain for the first day of VBS. Today's lesson was the baby Moses, and we focused on how God protected that baby in the basket and had a special plan for him when he grew up, just like God loves and protects us and has a plan for each of His children today. The verse we taught them was Zephaniah 3:17 "The Lord your God is with you. He is mighty to save." They loved hearing us attempt to learn it in their language, and I'm thrilled to say I've just about got it down! It doesn't help when the words "with you" is a phrase about seven syllables longer with too many "p's" and "a's"! Song time was a hoot, and the kids loved watching/teaching us how to dance…all except Pastor Mark, who was pretty much keeping up with them!
July 27, 2009
Sunday! I think each of us was looking forward to this day. We split into three groups, and headed to three churches in the area to worship with our brothers and sisters in Christ here in Malawi. It pretty much blew our minds!
July 27, 2009
It's hard to believe it's already Saturday! Today we were up early and back to the fields for the Sports Bonanza, and the Residency Center for construction (work, work, work!!) Good news: we finished all the cubicles for the bunks! We'll post pictures later, but you should see these kids now…they are so appreciative. Our men were teaching the boys to drill, and the girls didn't want to be left out, so they were put to work sanding. As soon as the last one was finished, they were all begging to have their pictures taken with their new cubicles. Have I mentioned how precious these children are?
July 25, 2009
They warned us that today would be a long one, and they weren't kidding! We crammed in work projects, a school term graduation ceremony, more work, sports bonanza, village Bible studies and a showing of the Jesus Film. Needless to say, we all fell into bed last night completely exhausted!
July 25, 2009
Today was the first day of our projects, as well as the visits to the widows in the neighboring villages. By the end of the day, we were all taxed emotionally. James 1:27 tells us that religion at its "finest" is when believers look after the orphans and the widows in their distress, and keep themselves from being polluted by the world. Today we were honored to be the hands and feet of Jesus as we split into teams and drove off the beaten path to the villages surrounding Zomba.
July 23, 2009
You know you're in Africa when you wake up to a baboon right outside your cabin! And that was just the start of the day…
July 23, 2009
We made it to Malawi! Loaded up all the baggage on a flatbed truck, and headed for the Zomba Plateau. Just in the two days of travel, we have already seen how amazingly BIG our God is. This trip has gone so smooth—all the baggage arrived in both locations—and we are now rested up and ready to go!
Videos from Malawi
Footage from this Spring
A big thank you from the children at the Passion Center—Malawi, Africa—to Northwest for providing electricity and a well project!
Footage from this Spring
Power lines are being run to the Passion Center thanks to donations from Northwest. This will allow the center to to better care for the orphaned children with basics "necessities" we take for granted—like food refrigeration and light for evening activities.
