Malawi Outreach Ministries

It has been much too long since we have posted to our blog, but wait until you read this blog posting to have a better understanding of why! Gary Guthrie from CC Napa & SF arrived April 12th to begin work on some of Ruth's Shawl widows houses in Area 44. Gary was with us for two months doing reconstruction of mad & brick house that was ready to fall down before his arrival.This project alone took almost 5 weeks of hard work. He also travel with us as we went out to remote villages to do week long outreaches with a team of 7-10 people where I ministered to Pastors, Elders, church leaders, Nora ministered to the women & widows of the villages, Timothy ministered to the Children & Youth leaders from the villages, & the rest of the team ministered to the children with games, activities & the Word of God. These villages included:

* Chisanja, Chipolopolo, Chipahzi, Tembwe, Mlesi, Nsambiamfa,& Nsambeta Primary School Special Needs Classes with severely handicapped children.

These outreaches are for a week a a time where we stay in the area the length of the outreach. Our initial visit is to lay a foundation based upon we find the depth of their Biblical knowledge. Then we teach on subjects that we find where their biggest needs may exist. If the village(s) are cooperative, well attended & we find that they truly interested in growing more, then we make a date to come back to build upon this foundation that has been laid.

Then a team from North Carolina led by Pastor Brad Wright of the Glennview Baptist Church arrived on May 15th for 10 days where we ministered at:

Nsambeta Primary School at the Special Needs Classes as well as the Bible Club Ministry we conduct every Friday at this school with a student population now at 5110 students. Pastor Brad also spoke at the African Bible College at the Evangelism Explosion Building to a large group of students & he also conducted the morning devotion for the entire student body along with the ABC staff & faculty. On the next Saturday this team went to minister to the Ruth's Shawl widows & orphans in Area 44. On Sunday following church services at Flood Church Malawi, we & the entire team headed to Tembwe, a village near Lake Malawi to do a four day outreach, using the same format as described above. The outreach was a total success as Pastor Brad & I shared teaching, & one of the team was a medical assistant, who was able to treat men, women & children everyday we were there as there is always medical needs that so evident in each village we get to visit! The rest of the team conducted a VBS for the all the children from 12 villages that attended the conference. Nora, Timothy & the remainder of our Malawian team ministered to the same type of audience as noted earlier.

On June 7th, Gary Guthrie left after spending two months with us & Robin Hughes, Chair of the Ruth's Shawl Ministry arrived that same day. Robin was here for 20 days on her first visit to Malawi in person. Her visit was to see the ministry in operation and to coordinate with Nora the ongoing ministry of Ruth's Shawl here in Malawi On June 12th Professor Judith Canner of Cal State University Monterey Bay & CC Monterey Bay, our home church, arrive for a 5 week visit. Judith's time with us with filled to the brim as the day she arrived, we had her out in Area 44 to minister & the following day we made a 1 day Preliminary trip to the village of Mlesi to set up the week long conference later that month. One of the Ruth's Shawl widows has had a medical condition, two days later, Judith was on her way with us to take our widow to a Hospital that is located 2 hours from Lilongwe to have a Biopsy performed. That next Sunday, we were off to teach at a church location about 45 minutes from our house at one of the Pastor's Church who attended my first School of Ministry classes in 2010. Great little church & a wonderful group of believers.

Judith was also privileged to to be able to speak at the African Bible College Campus to students on the role of a "Christian student in Academics", at the Evangelism Explosion Building on the ABC Campus & a wonderful response from those students in attendance. Then then conducted a series of classes at the Nsambeta Primary School for all the teachers on how to teach Math to primary students here in Malawi. Math is a much neglected subject here, & this is a subject that they requested assistance which Judith was able to provide for them! She also accompanied the team to another week long outreach to the village of Mlesi, where she assisted Nora in the teaching of the women & the widows.

On June 28th, Dr. Chris Hansen arrived from Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula to work at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Blantyre for two weeks & then here in Lilongwe for 10 days. We were able to visit a number of hospitals together & we also gather the doctors for evening at our home for dinner & a round table of discussions of what the major needs are in each of the medical sites and how we might work together to assist one another in accessing more meds & equipment for the very needy hospitals & medical clinics here in Malawi. A very fruitful time together & with a basic plan to move forward on the plan of action.

Then we were excited to see Lana Lynn & Sarah LeWarne arrive for the dedication of the Elizabeth Tolhurst Library for Hope Home Ministry. This was both a glorious time & yet, a very sad occasion. The glorious time of seeing a special event being dedicated to the life of a very special young woman, Elizabeth Tolhurst, who went home to be with our Lord in 2011, but the extremely tragic & completely unexpected death of Elizabeth's father, Mark Tolhurst, just before he & his wife Robyn were to depart for Malawi for this occasion. I was able to attend this very special event, as both Nora & I were extremely close to Elizabeth & her parents!! It will a day of great remembrance in my life to have been there & see this dedication of a special library in honor of a extremely godly young woman who lived her entire life praising her Lord & Savior Jesus Christ!

Then to cap all this off, our Malawian son Timothy & his bride to be, Maureen, exchanged wedding vows on July 28th, followed by a reception attended by 300+ people. If you have never attended a Malawian Reception, you have not experienced an event like no other you have ever seen. We have seen many unusual celebrations, including being in a number of foreign countries over the past 36 years. Absolutely nothing compares to this event, it is a wild experience to say the very least!! We were blessed also to have John & Pam Lane form the U.K. here with us for a week so they could attend Timothy's wedding. Great to getting to know them in person as they have been friends of Timothy's since 2007.

So, this last week, we have try to calm down the running around, get paper work done that has been left undone, & at the same time re-cooperate our very tired bodies & minds! On August 13th, Nora & I are taking off a week to go get some real R & R as well as celebrate our 53rd wedding anniversary which was on July 24th. We are really looking forward to getting away for a short time!!

Prayer requests:


Please pray for our get away, that we can truly experience some restful days & enjoy the beauty of Lake Malawi, a gorgeous lake, 365 miles long & 50 miles wide, with one of the largest species of fresh water fish, over 400 species of birds, and abundance of wild life in & around the lake.

Funds needed to assist a wonderful Malawian young woman to finish her college this coming school year as there has been a 50% devaluation the currency here & school fees are now prohibitive for so many students. ($800 per semester)

Funds needed to purchase Bibles for the village outreaches.(Bibles are $9.00 per)

Funds needed to purchase the Proclaimer, a unit manufactured by "Faith Comes By Hearing" in the USA, that has the audible Bible, solar powered, in the Chichewa language, as so many of the villagers cannot read or write. It has proven to be wonderful addition to the work we do in the villages. Each unit is $100.

Prayer for our next team arriving on September 11th from cc Forest Hill Ca., Pastor Mike, his wife Stephanie, & their three children. They have had a ministry of puppets for many years & they have been encouraged of God to come to Malawi to minister & to train our Malawian team of the ministry of puppets, which will be so valuable to village ministry!!!!

Our heartfelt thanks to all of you who love us, pray for the work in Malawi & those who help support the work here financially. Without each of you, there would be no ministry here in Malawi. God bless & keep you all in His loving arms!

In Him,

Steve & Nora