Wow, where do I start to try to share with all of you what we have seen God do since our last update August 5th. With all the wonderful activity & the teams that have come to minister with us since April, in whom we have been so blessed, Nora & I took off 6 days for some R & R. We did not truly realize how very tired we were until we got to the Safari Beach Lodge at Lake Malawi & started to relax. It was a beautiful location above the lake on a large hill overlooking so much of the Senga Bay. It was so restful & relaxing, doing a whole lot of nothing except for praying, reading & eating. It was exactly what we needed & what the good Lord provided for us! Except for the attack of a very large Baboon, who decided he wanted one of our coffee mugs. I started to chase him, then quickly realized that was not really the smartest thing I could do, so decided to allow him to keep the mug, so he can proudly show all his fans how smart & clever he was to outfox an old “Asungu”! (White skinned person) But the time there it was perfect for us as we celebrated our 53rd wedding anniversary! (July 24, 1959)
We then proceeded to leave the lodge on Monday the 20th, for a four day outreach to a village named Mlesi, not too far from where we were staying at the Lodge. We were blessed with another great opportunity of being able to teach pastors, elders, youth leaders, women, & of course, all the multitude of children. In Malawi, 51% of the entire population of Malawi is under the age of 14. So, there are literally hundreds of children in every village, with little, to no supervision! They flock to our activities, for many have never seen a white person, never seen a movie of any kind, & the puppet ministry by the Guthrie family was a total new experience for them!!
We then return home to Lilongwe and the next evening had our monthly UNO Championship card game night, along with some outstandingly good food, with our team of volunteers & helpers. Great evening of fun, food, & relaxation! We are totally blessed with the team God has surrounded us with here in Malawi. Smart, trainable, dedicated, easy to work with, hard workers, and the best part, is that each one of them loves our Lord Jesus with their whole heart! Thank you Jesus for your goodness!!!!
The next week we returned to the village of Nsambiafa for a one day follow up visit to see how they were doing with the Word they had been taught as well as how they are applying the Word to their daily lives. We were pleased to find them doing well, happy, & encouraged by the things they had learned from us on our earlier week long outreach. Then the following week we traveled to the village of Chisanja to meet with Pastor Mphatso to set up a meeting to begin Adult Literacy Classes in this village for those widows & other women who cannot read or write. Nora will be hiring a Credentialed school teacher from that area to teach the class for 12 week Pilot Program, then RS will evaluate the progress of the attendee’s & if things are progressing well, RS will rewrite a contract for an additional 12 weeks. We also discussed setting dates to hold a Youth Conference, Pastors Conference, & a Women’s Conference in the months of October and November. Pastor Mphatso is the lead Pastor for 14 other churches in the region and is well known & respected by all the other churches in the Ntcihsi area.
We were so excited to welcome the Guthrie family on September 11th from CC Foresthill, Ca. The family consisted of Pastor Mike, his wife Stephanie, & their three daughters, Michaela, Jenna, & Rebecca. And we left no moss growing under their feet as we had them out the very next morning at 6AM setting up for the Chapel Service at the African Bible College, where I taught & they need a mini presentation of their outstanding puppet ministry. These are college age men & women, but they were so impressed with the ministry using puppets! We then had them ministering at the ABC campus for the purpose of training any interested students at the college for the puppet ministry; they taught at the ABC Primary Academy on campus; recorded 5 shows for the new ABC T.V. station, taught at Nsambeta Primary School with a student population of 5110 students & on another date taught at the Special Needs class at Nsambeta School with about 30 students who went wild with the puppets! We also took them to three remote villages, having them ministering with their gifts using their puppet ministry. All in all, we were totally blessed with their hearts to go anywhere at any time,, being flexible, & being the servants God has called them to be. All of us say to the Guthrie family, Zikomo Kwambiri, & may the good Lord continue to bless & use you all for His kingdom purposes! Come back soon to Malawi & follow up on what you have planted here, we will water, & tend the garden in your absence! Until then, Dovajana! (Until we meet again) We love and appreciate all five of you mucho!
The month of October is scheduled to be a catch up time on all the projects we have not been able to get to during the last few months. We will see how that goes, as in Malawi, the phrase, blessed are the flexible, is an often used phrase here! In the later part of October, Pastor Demitri from CC Cape Town, South Africa, is coming to minister with us along with one other pastor. Our plans are to conduct a Pastors Conference in Chisanja, which will allow approximately 20 churches with their pastors & church leaders to be taught over a three day time period. We are very excited to see this come into fruition, Lord willing, of course!
Ruth’s Shawl has just signed the legal papers and had them recorded in Blantyre, to allow them to purchase 3.308 hectares of land where the Ruth’s Shawl Pavilion Training Centre will be built. This Centre will provide a place where special training can be administered, and allow expanded knowledge of God’s Word to be taught as well as to disciple & mentor Malawians. Malawi Outreach, Ruth’s Shawl, & Water Missions International ministries continue to work in concert with three different focused ministries, but yet able to complement one another.
These three separate ministries, with different Board Members, & supporters, yet, working well in meeting the very many & diverse needs found in Malawi. The Body of Christ working together for the benefit & wellbeing of others!
Please be praying for all areas of ministries, that we may accomplish what our Lord desires us to complete before we head back to Ca. for our annual furlough in December. There are so many areas of needs that exist and we need your prayers for our Jehovah Jireh to provide all the necessary funding for the projects at hand as well as those we know not of as yet! He has been so faithful to provide for all our needs, and we will trust Him to continue to do so. So, please pray with us, so that the people here in Malawi may grow stronger in their faith & their knowledge of God’s Word.
Thank you one and all for your faithful support in love, prayers, & financially. We cannot do this ministry God has called us to without each of you doing that which God places on your heart to be co-laborers here in Malawi! The Lord bless & keep you all in His loving arms!
Zikomo Kwambiri,
Steve & Nora Braselton
Malawi Outreach Ministry
www.theroadtomalawi.blogspot.com
Ruth’s Shawl Ministry
www.ruthsshawl.org
