When one experiences & is aware of the Holy Spirit working among His people, it is an extra - ordinary blessing! Well, that is exactly what happen in our Outreach on 3/25/12 to 3/29/12 This village is located in the Ntchisi District, which is about 2 hours north of Lilongwe where we live. It is in a remote, mountain area, with dirt roads that have been destroyed by all the heavy rains we have has this year in Malawi. We just read a report that in the last storm, over two hundred homes have been ruined & washed away during the heavy rain & strong winds!
But God...... He allowed us to reach this village with some difficulty, but safely, & no automobile problems. (Thank you Lord for a 4 wheel vehicle. When we arrived, we were warmly welcomed by the church & local leaders, as well as 6 Chiefs of this village & surrounding villages. We had in attendance 175 people, 85 were women, & the rest made up of the men. There were in addition approximately 200+ children & 50 young adults of High School age.
We are attaching a photo log so you can see their faces, & the conditions associated with living in a very poor country & village. That being said, they are very gracious loving people, with joy being openly expressed upon our arrival! Our teaching was to the whole community; Men, women, children & young adults. My attention of teaching was to the churches Pastors & leaders, Nora to the women & also special time with the widows, Timothy with the Children & Youth leaders, & two other young Malawian men ministering to all the young ones!
Glorious is the one word that comes to mind regarding this outreach & this village! When the conference was over, the leaders of the communities all stood up & thank us so richly for the quality of the teachings, how we conducted ourselves among all the different churches represented, & pleaded with us to return very soon to build upon the foundation that had been laid! The Head Chief of the area, who all the other Chiefs report to for direction & leadership, then got up to share. We were amazed & blown away by his comments. He indicated that when outside people come to their villages from time to time, they are never very enthused with the content of what they have to share with them & the people. However, he, as well as all the other Chiefs came everyday because they heard the teachings which were so badly needed for all of them to hear & they learned so much! Then he indicated that we are welcome anytime in their villages, & please come back as soon as we can! He then said that he & all the Chiefs will make sure that the whole area of villages will be informed and the Chiefs will be very active in desiring to see their people being blessed with the Word of God taught by people who clearly loved the Word of God & were able to share it in a manner that they can easily understand & believe!
Then, one of the most emotional encounters we have ever experienced here in Malawi took place. As we were saying our heartfelt good-byes, they asked to wait a few minutes, they had something to present to us. All the women left the building for a couple of minutes, then returned in single file, singing their beautiful Malawian worship songs, their hands filled with produce from their gardens to bless us with out of gratitude for coming & sharing the Word of God with them! We had a large Chinese bag with us that was filled with their gifts for u; corn, pumpkins, beans of many different varieties, cumcumbers & etc. All any of us could do, with our eyes filled with tears of joy, was to look each woman as she passed by us, to hug them & say, Zikomo Kwambiri!!!!! Blown away is the term we have all used to describe our emotions!
God is so good to us & we are truly blessed by our Lord as well as the team He has has surrounded us with, to work side by side, to accomplish His will & be a blessing to His people of Malawi. Continue to pray for us, the team, the country of Malawi, & all its people, that they all may come to a real understanding of how much God truly loves them, & how important it is to know & understand the Word of God!
We have not had any petrol or diesel delivered to the entire country in two weeks. We cannot to go out to the remote villages without fuel, so please be praying that our Lord will intervene in this matter & provide us with what we need to continue His work here in Malawi. We love & appreciate your love, your prayers, & your support of the ministry. Without the leading of the Holy Spirit & your involvement, holding the rope across the ocean, half way across this earth, we cannot do His will. To God be the glory, now & forever! Amen & Amen!
