Gratefulness

To all of our family & friends:

To each of you who have taken the time to write Nora & I congratulating us on our 50th Wedding Anniversary, we wanted to take this opportunity to express our sincere gratefulness for your thoughtfulness and kind expressions to us. We realize that being able to celebrate a 50th anniversary is in today's society a real milestone, but we also fully understand it has been the grace of God and His mercy that has allowed us to be where we are as a couple. We give Him all the glory and we are so thankful for His goodness towards us over these many years.

We have four wonderful children; 12 grandchildren; and 3 great-grandchildren, with one more on the way! Praise His Holy Name! He has chosen us to be His own, made a place for us with Him for eternity, and has allowed us to work with His people these past 30 years in our respective ministries. Now He has sent us to minister to our brothers and sisters in Malawi, a brand new season for us, for which we are so grateful for the blessing to do so!

So many expressions of amazement to us from people here in Malawi have been such a blessing, as most of those are from people who are not even close to 50 years of age, and cannot imagine being married that long! A dear and precious friend came with 50 roses and presented them to us along with his entire staff to celebrate our anniversary. Our room is full of long stem red and white roses. What a joy it is for us to be here in Malawi at this time of our lives and to have already made so many new friends. You can rejoice with us that our 2 year Work Permit has been approved and we are now waiting for the Immigration Dept. notification to pay our fees and officially stamp our Passports!

Thank you for all your prayers, it has been a six month process with many challanges and many opportunities to trust our Lord! But it has been a journey to date that we are delighted to have been able to travel upon as He has led us all the way! Please continue to pray for Malawi and for us. God is blessing Malawi and there is so much more He desires to do which can be accomplished through the prayers of the saints of God. "The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." (James 5:16b) God bless you!

Steve & Nora

Malawi Outreach Update Report

July 7, 2009

To all of our family & friends:

Since our last update report of June 11^th, we have been busy with a number of varied projects:

- We have finished the Book of Ephesians on Sunday mornings at CC

Lilongwe. We have begun the Book of Colossians.

- We are continuing the Book of Joshua at Wednesday night service

and we will begin Chapter 9 this week.

- Nora has begun a wonderful program of teaching the women of the

fellowship how to cook foods from different parts of the world. To

date it has been Mexican; Italian; & Israeli. They have loved it!

- Attendance has increased to 125-150 each Wednesday night.

- Bibles from the gift given previously allowed us to purchase 300 Bibles & we have begun distribution to the 29 CC Fellowships.

- Additional gift from CC Siegen Germany has allowed us to purchase 100 more Bibles.

- Jesus Video (DVD) was shown in the village in area 18B with over 700 people in attendance. We took the worship team & the borrowed sound equipment, prayed for the sick, & preached the gospel. A great outreach!

- We have also had reports from Chintheche, a large village in the north of Malawi where the Jesus movie in Chichewa was shown at the local video establishment where the people of the village go to play any videos they may get. Once the movie started, 400-450 people gathered together to watch the entire movie. At the conclusion, people were weeping, asking for prayers, confessing sin, repenting and generally seeking the Lord for their lives. We need to plant a new church in the area to nurture these new believers in the faith in Jesus.

- A team from Colorado just concluded a two week visit, ministering in several villages with Children of the Nations while two Pastors conducted a seminar on HIV/AIDS found in the church today. This was held at CC Lilongwe with Pastors and leadership from CC Lilongwe and several local churches including at least 9 Pastors from Calvary Chapel’s in the general Lilongwe area.

- We are eagerly awaiting a team coming from CC Hawaii due here on July 25^th. They will be here for two weeks with their schedule full visiting villages, orphanages, & Jesus Video outreaches.

- Leadership changes within CC Lilongwe have recently taken place by Pastor Tom Mambo to strengthen the core group in order to prepare for future growth.

- July 4^th celebration took place at the American Ambassadors residence with 300-400 in attendance. It was a fun afternoon with the opportunity to meet a number of fellow Americans serving in Malawi. We were privileged to meet our Ambassador, Peter Bodde, as well as several staff members from the African Bible College.

- The ministry to women has been one of the highlights for me (Nora) because I personally love to share God’s Word and teach women how to apply, in practical ways, what they are learning. It is such a joy to see in their eyes and smiles that that are ”getting it !” The difficulty of working thru a translator and the added time that it takes has become time for me to pray all thru the study and lean hard and completely on the Lord to keep His Promise…that His Word will go forth and accomplish what He intends and will not return to Him void….God has blessed me with His great love for the women and children. I use every moment to teach, to share, to minister and to love ….I am buying up every opportunity to declare the greatness of our God and the Truth in His Word to any one who will listen. I love to interact with the street people, the children, the women, the widows and people in their places of work. I also love the one on one conversations and that have taught me so much about speaking the truth in love. It is so wonderful to see that “Love Never Fails”. Thank you for all that your prayers are accomplishing here in Malawi !

Prayer Requests

- Our two year Temporary Work Permit application has been approved at committee level, but the new incoming Minister of Home Affairs has to sign off before it becomes official. We have had to spend approximately $1,000 in fees, getting 30 day extensions so we would not be deported. This has been going on for almost 4 months, but when it is signed off by the minister, we have to come up with $2200.00 for these permits, just to be able to stay here to serve the people of Malawi. Please pray for this matter to be finalized, including the additional fees.

- Our vehicle situation is also not resolved. Please pray that it can be resolved soon!

- That our medical team, originally scheduled for September, has been rescheduled for late October, to allow for more participants to be able to come on the mission trip. Please pray for all the details involved to make this ministry to be a huge success!

- Two Laptop computers for CC Lilongwe.

- Sound Equipment and soundboard for CC Lilongwe.

- Additional items needed for the Jesus Video outreaches. (Generator; screen, Cables, Portable speakers; micro-phones, &etc.)

- Children Ministry curriculum & educational toys, art supplies, music, Veggie Tales DVD’s, soccer balls, jump ropes, etc.

- Additional funds to finish the school rooms for the CC Pastoral Training & Discipleship School located on the church property. We need to put in the floors, windows, door, and purchase work desks for the students. It has been estimated to cost $2,500.00 to complete these two rooms.

- Our upcoming trip back to El Paso, Texas to participate in the 50^th Year Reunion of our High School, and so we may be able to share about the ministry in Malawi. We are very much honored to be asked to come to a part of this celebration and the generosity of the Committee to cover the costs to make this possible. Otherwise, we would not be able to attend.

- Nora & I are celebrating our 50^th Wedding Anniversary on July 24^th and this will be our first anniversary away from our family & friends in America. Please pray that we will be able to fully enjoy this milestone anniversary without feeling the loss of not being with all of you!

We continue to marvel at the goodness of our Lord as He leads us to the path we are to walk upon. Your prayers and support are so vital to us in order to allow us to do the work God has called us to do here in Malawi. We all work together as a team, all holding onto the same rope, and following the leading of the Holy Spirit as He directs each of us! As we have said on several occasions, we cannot adequately express our heartfelt appreciation to each of you who continue to pray and support us in so many ways!

“May our Lord bless and keep you; make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)