Another incredible day!

We had a couple main events taking place at the same time, the Widow visits and the Passion Center kids' school celebration. 

Here's what Jill's group experienced on the widow visits:

Today was such an amazing day, it may be hard to give the description as much justification at it deserves; but I'll try.  Today was the widow visit and we divided into two groups of 8.  Joseph—the Passion Center chaplain—went with one group to interpret and Stewart—another Passion Center staffer—went with another.   When we pulled up to the village there was a group of 10 women sitting on a mat.  We introduced ourselves and were asked to share a little about our history.  Chris Weaver was first to go, and set the stage for an amazing time.   As we shared our stories, more and more people came up to hear what we were saying. I was so blessed to hear members from our church share their story.  People I see every Sunday, but didn't know how they came to the Lord.  After our stories, Joseph asked the ladies and children if anyone wanted to accept Christ...15 people raised their hand and accepted Christ!  I cannot explain to you the feeling when 15 women and children are praying the salvation prayer in their native Chichewa language.  I am so excited to see my new friends in Heaven someday.  We can reminisce and think about the incredible morning we spent in Malawi together.  Church body, God answered your prayers today so please keep praying!

While that group was on their widow visits, Sharon, Joni & I headed over to the school to watch their end of term celebration. It was so very cool! This is a time when all the students gather and their teachers announce which children passed their standard. After that the teachers call out the names of the children who were in the top of their class. For these children, if their parents were there, they would come forward and give them a small gift. One child got a small bag of candy, another received a bottle of pop. Even something as small as a bottle of pop received a lot of attention. When it came to the Passion kids who received these high marks, it was a special time for the three of us. We were able to act as their "mom" and hand out the backpacks that our church donated. I wish each of you could have been there to see what we saw. These children instantly put the backpacks on, proudly displaying them. The other children would crowd around, testing the zippers and the straps, since backpacks aren't common because these children come from homes where the parents couldn't afford such a luxury. Thank you again for the way you gave! You made these children very, very happy!!!

—Jill

After the morning activities, it was more play time and work projects. Chris & Ali Prater started their art work in the kids' dormitories, and it is going to be so cool when it is complete! They even let Jill & I splash up white paint for the cubbies on the kids' beds, since that job didn't require a lot of skill! One of the boys was showing me where he slept, and when he saw just the painted white wood, he was so happy... can't wait to see his reaction when he sees the painted walls and murals that are going up!!!! Have I mentioned how special these kids are? If it were possible to bring them home with us, believe me, we all would.

Andy, Tim Prater, Mike & Mike along with Tim—a guy from Pennsylvania our team met up with who is here working with a mission agency—were back at work on the roof and the dining area... word is they even let Jamie B. help lay bricks... she was pretty excited about that! The trusses are all up, and tomorrow they're ready for the metal work on the roof. 

During the afternoon, the soccer (boys) & netball (girls) tournaments were starting. These tournaments were something that the Passion Center started hosting a while back in order to bring attention to the AIDS outbreak in Malawi. Many of these children come from homes where their parents have already died from AIDS, and if these children continue the same practices as their parents, more than likely they'll contract it also. So the center began this sporting event so that the people who come out to watch the games (which ends up being pretty much the entire surrounding villages!) will learn about abstinence as a way to keep healthy, and also they will hear the gospel presented. It's such a cool event, and every person there, no matter their age, is caught up in the excitement. The girls this year played well, but in the last few minutes of the game lost their lead and ended up losing, but they still played really well! The boys' soccer team were the victors, and let me tell you, the crowd went CRAZY! It was exciting to be part of, save one part. Max was asked to play with the team, and he was doing great... up until he and one of the opposing players jumped for a head ball at the same time and I'm not kidding when I say that you could hear the crack of the heads halfway down the field. It was an audible gasp, and when Max hit the ground, all the kids started yelling "Azungu" (white person) and pointing at him laying on the field. He blacked out for a moment, but was back up playing in no time. It was pretty cool when he was able to assist one of the Passion Center's two goals. It was decided at halftime that it was probably best to keep Max out of the rest of the game since by that time he was sporting a large knot on his forehead. Our two nurses on the team (Sharon & Jamie H) have both agreed it would be best that he not play in tomorrow's game. He's disappointed that he doesn't get to join in, but he knows it's for the best... now we'll just see if he sticks with it!

In closing, one of the sweetest things that happened today was on the way back from the soccer game. A group of our team were walking back with some of the Passion Center kids, and as we were walking the kids started singing our church's Vacation Bible School songs. The last team had played the songs for them, and the kids were quick learners. You have no idea how sweet it was to hear these children singing the words "Hey, Jesus loves me!" It was such an amazing moment for me right then as I listened to their little voices and was reminded once again that yes, He does. The love our team feels for these children PALES in comparison to the love He has for them. Jesus loves these Malawian orphans as much as He loves any person on our team, or in our home church. It doesn't matter that we have all our needs met (and even most of our wants), and these children have next to nothing. He loves us all the same. And the fact that God calls Himself a "Father to the fatherless" speaks volumes about His heart. What struck me the most as I was listening to them sing was that our "wealth" and their "poverty" is not a sign of His love... far from it... and it was a good reminder for our team that "to whom much is given, much shall be required". We're just very grateful and humbled that He's given us this opportunity to be His hands and feet as we love on these kids and the Passion Center staff while we're here.

Thank you for all of your prayers! Please keep praying... and just to let you know, we have a HUGE answer to prayer... we have most of our missing luggage!!! Five of the six bags have made it safely to us, but we are still praying over the missing bag, since it contains some of the VBS stuff we need for Monday. 

On a side note, the brownie mixes are here, so we'll have a very satisfied team once Rob whips those up for us!!!

—Brooke