Malawi Outreach Update Report
August 27, 2009

Since our last report in July, we have been really been very busy with a number of different ministry activities:

July 17th – We met Pastor Luka of Calvary Chapel in Area 44. It is extremely difficult to drive to these remote villages, but we are becoming more familiar & comfortable venturing out on our own without a Malawian brother going with us. These villages are unchartered and very difficult to reach.

July 20th – We got word today that our six month ordeal to get our two year Immigration Work Permit had ended, we are finally approved! PTL !!!!

July 22nd – We have been doing some preliminary work with a Christian group out of North Carolina, Water Missions International, who design & install water purification systems in disaster sights worldwide and are in Malawi to find remote villages without any fresh, clean, water sources in order to install their water purification units. We are seeking to determine if we as CC want to take on the task of being sure the systems are properly maintained & repaired as needed. We would only be involved where we currently have church plants or where we will be planting new churches. They had an extra generator which they have donated to CC Lilongwe to be used to provide power for the church as we do not have electricity there. We are so grateful for their generosity & we have put it to good use already!

July 23rd – We made arrangements to go to Pastor Luka’s home & meet his family & church leadership. We met in a three room house with no electricity, no running water, with a outdoor bathroom and the house needing a lot of deferred maintenance & repairs. But the joy of this family & the church leadership was so encouraging to us & caused us to reflect how so very much God has blessed us all in America! They have so little & yet they are full of the joy of the Lord! This church plant was started in late 2008 with 18 people, & they currently have 48 adults with lots of children. They rent a school room at the local Primary School to hold their church services.

July 24th – Celebrated our 50th Wedding Anniversary. We were blessed by a group from a local Pharmacy who came to our place of residence to deliver 50 roses to Nora & I for our anniversary. How very sweet and extremely thoughtful!

July 26th – A team from North Shore Christian Fellowship in Hawaii arrived for a two week short term mission outreach, working with us & Children of The Nations ministry, who provide a feeding program, assistance with the education of the orphans in several different orphanages in Malawi. A multi church Baptism took place while Pastor Jason & his team were here, that included 45 saints being baptized. There were 5 outreaches to village ministries where the worship & evangelism team accompanied the team to share the gospel and show the Jesus DVD movie to these communities. There were thousands of people in attendance and hundreds coming to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. This team also blessed the church with a new sound system for the church along with several other much needed items for the ministry. They were a total blessing to us and all the people they ministered to in their ministry efforts! A great big THANK YOU to all six members of NSCF, we love you all!

August 4th – We accompanied the staff from Water Missions Int’l to the village of Mphonde along with an active participant donor & his wife from Wyoming to inspect the different chosen sites chosen to potentially install the water systems. We then all attended a meeting at the Baptist Seminary of Lilongwe where the Citizens Development Network , made up of over 100 pastors from all over Malawi, where the guest from Wyoming spoke. Later that night, we attended a dinner hosted by Water Missions Int’l, where the group of attendees were from NGO’s or ministries already working all over Malawi, who in one form or another are, or could be in the water projects of Water Missions Int’l.

August 5th – Nora & I traveled to the City of Blantyre, which is a four hour trip south of Lilongwe, to have our passports stamped with the official work permit stamp which authorizes us to work in Malawi for a minimum of two years before we have to reapply. PTL !!

August 6th – Returned from Blantyre in time to host a farewell dinner for the team from Hawaii before they departed for home. A wonderful recap for all of us for what God had done over the past two weeks, a time of worship, and a time to pray & praise our Lord for what He had accomplished!

August 14-16th – The first ever CC Women’s Conference was held with 125 ladies from 13 of the CC’s fellowships in the area. The report we received from the women in attendance was that the Holy Spirit was very much in attendance and He had blessed them so much and they were so excited!

August 29th – A Marriage Seminar is scheduled for 8-29-09 at CC Lilongwe to be conducted by Nora & Myself with an all day Saturday event, from 9AM to 5PM and then a joint renewal of vows for all the attendees to be held in front of the whole church body at the Sunday morning service.

We are so grateful to our Lord who has allowed us to serve here in Malawi! He has accomplished so much since we arrived on February 9th, and yet we also know there is so much yet to be done which we cannot do unless He guides and directs us as well provides for all that can be done here to encourage and teach those who are so eager to learn!

Nora & I leave for Texas on September 4th and we do plead for your prayers for us as we share about the work here in Malawi. We return on September 19th and I begin to prepare for the first Men’s Conference to be held on September 26-27th. I have also been asked by the Pastoral Group, Citizens Development Network, to travel to Blantyre to speak to their group in the southern part of the country.

Then we will have the Calvary Chapel All African Pastors Conference in Cape Town South Africa from October 12-16th to attend and we need your prayers as we need for the Lord to assist us & Pastor Tom financially, so we can attend.

Following the Pastors Conference, we have the medical team from Calvary Chapel Monterey Bay arriving for a two week outreach. We are really excited about their return as their gifts are so needed here as poverty prevents most Malawians from getting the medical attention they so desperately need!

Then Nora & I start to prepare to wrap up all the loose ends so we can return to Monterey for the holidays with our family and for us to share with all who want to hear about the work and needs of Malawi.

One more thing, Ruth’s Shawl Ministry to widows & orphans, now has their new Web-site up and running at www.ruthsshawl.org and we would encourage all of you to check it out, it really is well done and is very informative of the ministry here in Malawi. This ministry is also part of the work Nora is doing here in Malawi besides ministering at the church; Nora is the Program Manager of Ruth’s Shawl work in Malawi.

Please be praying for all these events and ministry activities, for your prayers are the ministry to allow us to do what the Lord has called us to do. We so appreciate all of you, your faithful prayers and financial support. There are so many needs in Malawi and we really need to know, with the clarity of the Holy Spirit, what projects and people groups we are to be involved in and with whom. With God’s leading, coupled with all our prayers, we will have the wisdom and understanding we are seeking according to James 1:5.

“The 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)