It is hard to believe how fast time is rushing by all of us! Life is real; good times, bad times, even the ugly times, but God............. We have been experiencing the pangs of spiritual warfare, in so many different venues, but at the same time, we have been experiencing some fantastic victories that blow our minds! We recently made visits to three separate villages:
1.Village #1 in Ntchisi District - Where we visited with the teacher who is running the Adult Literacy Classes in the village for Ruth's Shawl, who is doing such a wonderful job with 19 women, most of which are widows,who could not read or write. Now, five of these women can read & write in Chichewa, with the others coming along so very well. Our teacher anticipates that most of these women will be able to read & write, with a few of the older women will be struggling, but making slow progress.
We were also able to view a Bible Study of about 150 women in the local church building have a Bible study, using the "Proclaimer", provided by the Christian company, Faith Comes By Hearing, which we supplied to this village(s). They have fourteen stations of small churches spread out over a number of miles, at a week at a time & then they return the unit back to the main church location, along with a report of what they have studied, what were the main salient points, what was the application aspect of what they have studied, & how many attended each study. They are doing a incredible job with the teachings we have provided, the additional tools we have been able to leave for them, & taking full advantage of all that God has provided for them to grow in their knowledge of the Word of God!
2.Village # 2 in the Ntchisi District - Where we have been on several visits previously, to get an update on how they are progressing with that which has been provided to them in regards to the teachings, & other Biblical materials that was given to them to see them grow.
We were so blessed to see & hear their testimonies such as:
* One leader in the community testified that he had not been attending church regularly, was smoking & drinking heavily. After our last week long outreach, hearing the teachings, he became convicted in his heart & as a result, has given up smoking, drinking & is now attending church each week. He went on to say that his life, his attitude, & his outlook on life has been radically changed!!!
* The main leader in the village, testified that his heart had been so touched because of the tools that had been provided to them, he related to the hoe (Khasu) the farmers used in their farming is a valuble too. He compared it to the spiritual tools they now possess are to be used to till the soil for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now the whole village has benefitted and is growing together, Water Missions International has provide them with clean potable water & the lord has now provided the Living Water. He also shared that when we were there the last time & distributed Bibles, one of the receipiants was the oldest man in that area and he recentlt pass away. When they found him, he was holding his Bible to his chest. He was so thrilled he had his own Bible, even at this last stage of his life here on earth.
*Another younger man, who spoke surprisingly good English, that he also was a leader in the village & as a result of the outreaches we had provided, he too learned that the things of God that he learned through the teachings, he has begun to attend church regularly, studying the Word of God, learning what he needs to stop if he desires to grow closer to his God.
*One of the women leaders also spoke about of how she & the other women in the village are growing in their understanding of the Bible, because they now have their own Bibles to study.
*We were also able to do eye exams & distribute 25 sets of reading glasses to the Pastors & village leaders in attendance.+
* We discussed their desire to have an Adult Literacy Class set up in this area, which they were emphactically in favor of doing so.
Village #3 in Ntchisi District - Met with the Headmaster of the Government School in this village along with one of the women leaders to set a date for us to come to a week long outreach in June. We discussed the need for people in their village for reading glasses as well as the possibility of establishing Adult Literacy Classes for those who cannot read or write. In both cases, they were eager to have both of these tools to made available to them. We will give you a report of how God blessed on our next Update Report
On May 22nd, Judith Canner from Calvary Chapel Monterey Bay & her parents, Jim & Alicia of Pennsylvania arrived in Lilongwe. Jim & Alicia will be with us for about three weeks & Judith will be here until July 1st. We have had them keeping busy and we leave for Zambia for three days before we return to do two local outreaches near Lilongwe. Saturday, June 1st, is Nora's Birthday and we are having a fun night, including a UNO party with our Home Fellowship group and Birthday celebration. Then on June 3rd, we will doing a week long outreach to another remote village.
We have several additional teams due to be arriving in July, August, September, & two teams in October. We are truly blessed of God who has answered our cry to send laborers to the fields that are white unto harvest here in Malawi. We also have just harvested our maize crop and we have ended with 185 bags of 50KG each (110 lbs.)already bagged and we will be harvesting our peanuts (called ground nuts here)next week, so our Lord has blessed the work of the hands of our Malawian farmers! God is so good!
Just wanted to give you all a brief update and to ask you to continue to pray for all the teams coming to be used of God for His glory and that we can be a total blessing to those we are ptivileged to serve and minister to with the love of God.
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