Outreach to the village of Msambiamfa

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!

Please be praying for us as we embark on a heavy schedule of village outreaches beginning next week as follows:

3/13/12 -Initial visit to the village of Msambaimfa to meet with church leaders & chiefs to clarify what we are coming to share & to gain their committed participation in the process.

3/14/12 - Follow up visit to the village of Chorwe to meet with church leaders & chiefs to determine what they have done with the teachings, bibles, & other tools we left them with since our outreach back in late 2011. Also to set the stage for our next session with them later this year.

3/20/12 - Initial meeting to the village of Chisanga to the meet with church leaders & chiefs to clarify our what we are coming to share & gained their committed participation in the process.

3/21/12 - Follow up visit with the village of Chipolopolo to meet with church leaders & chiefs to determine what they have done with the teachings, bibles, & other tools we left with them in our outreach in 2011. In addition, to set the stage for our next session with them later this year.

3/25/12 - Begin our 5 day village outreach in the village of Msambaimfa.

4/8/12 - Begin our 5 day outreach to the village of Chisanja.

4/18/12 - Initial visit in the village of Chiphazi

4/22/12 = Begin our 5 day outreach to the village of Chiphazi.

5/9/12 - Initial visit to the village of Tembwe to meet with church leaders & chiefs to clarify what we are coming to share & gain their committed participation in the process.

5/14/12 - Arrival of the team from So. Carolina led by Pastor Brad Wright.

5/15/12 - Ministry at the Onesimus Homeless Boys Home.

5/16/12 - Kodoko village with Pastor Brad's team & the Pempo Widow Group in Area 36.

5/17/12 - Ministry at the Nsambeta Primary School with the Special Needs class. Leadership team dinner with RS team at our house with Pastor Brad leading a teaching about servant hood later that evening.

5/18/12 - Nsambeta for Bible Club Ministry. In addition, we will be again at the Special Needs Class.

5/19/12 - Area 44 widows & orphans ministry, then travel to the village of Tembwe to begin our outreach for 5 days with Pastor Brad's team.

5/24/12 - Pastor Brad's teams leaves for States.

6/12/12 - Judith Canner from CC Monterey Bay will arrive for 5 weeks of ministry.

6/18/12 - Dr. Chris Hansen & team arrive from CHOMP in Monterey for three weeks working first in Blantyre & then in Lilongwe.

8/15/12 - We also have a team from Flood Church in San Diego arriving in mid August

* On September 24-28th we will be attending the Annual CC African Pastors Conference in Cape Town South Africa.

* We will have another team from CC Foresthill due to arrive in the first week of October.

* In between all these dates we have additional Outreaches to the villages which have as yet been set within the calendar.Villages are Chapulapula & Mlesi are picked with WMI, but waiting until their work is complete before we set the exact dates for us to go.

So, as can be plainly seen, we have a full schedule ahead of ourselves which brings us much anticipated joy, but we need the prayers of all the saints of God praying for the Lord Jesus to be uplifted & glorified in all we do in His name; for safe travel, & that all the dirt roads will be passable for us to arrive at each destination on time & safely.

In Him,

Steve & Nora

Time to teach, train, & disciple

We have been back "home" in Malawi now for three weeks, busy getting over jet lag, catching up with loose ends after being gone for 2 1/2 months, reintroducing ourselves to our church body at Flood Church Malawi, just generally getting back in the feel of life of an "Asungu"(White foreigner) here in Malawi. Gasoline & diesel is still very hard to find & when we do, it is $12.00 a gallon. But God, as usual has provided fuel for us so we can minister the way He has called us to do.

We have begun our weekly Bible studies with the staff of Water Missions International here in our home each Monday morning from 8:15AM to 9:30AM, which has been such a blessing for all of us. This week ahead, we will be laying out the new schedule of villages to minister in with the Country Director of WMI as they will have 20-25 new villages where they will be installing new water purification systems in remote villages in 2012.These are in addition to the 17 villages set up in 2011. So, we have our work cut out for us. As we have stated previously, they (WMI) provide the physical water & we provide the Living Water.And we continue to pray for the Lord of the harvest to send His called saints to come to Malawi to assist us in this wonderful work before us. "God is able to handle anything that comes our way & to make us what He wants us to be." Great words of a song we sang at Calvary Chapel Monterey Bay,& the words are so true of His nature & character!

We are in need of a Projector, speakers, generator, & a screen to be able to take to these villages to show the Jesus Film. It has been so very effective to draw the entire village(s) population on the first night we arrive, as most of these precious people have never seen a movie of any kind & then able to see the story of Jesus as told in the Book of Luke. This Jesus they have heard of, but do not really know Him. We then base our teachings at every level around the true story of Jesus, how He loves us, wants to help us, the value to know Him personally, & to receive all His blessings as revealed in His Holy Bible. So, if you might be looking for a place to help in this ministry financially, here is an opportunity to do so at a time needed the most to reach as many people as possible for Christ. We have been renting the equipment to date I you have an interest in participating, please direct any gifts to Calvary Chapel Monterey, Attention Kelly Wotherspoon with a note as to purpose of gift.

The team made up of the young Malawians from various churches & the African Bible College are again ready to fully participate in all the outreaches to be planned. We are geared up & ready to put into full operation the steady flow of ministry in 2012. Please be praying for us as we embark on this journey ahead of us in 2012, that we will be used of of God, with the power of His Holy Spirit working in & through us.

We have been gifted with a complete Puppet ministry outfit, including all the puppets, stage, recordings, teachings, a total system ready for usage in the villages to share the gospel. While we were home on furlough, at one of the churches where we shared, there is a couple who are on staff there who have had a puppet ministry for many years. They have expressed a keen interest to come to Malawi to both minister & train our staff how to operate this ministry. So, please be praying that they will be able to come as planned to work with us. There is always so many details to deal with in making a commitment of this nature. But, we would be so blessed if they were able to come!

More details along with photos coming soon as we get out into the villages so you can all enter into the joy of seeing God at work with people who need to know Him much more than they do at present! God bless all of you who keep us in your prayers, for we so depend upon the prayers of His saints! If at any time you have questions about any aspect of the ministry activities, please do not hesitate to contact through this blog spot or at snb1959@gmail.com We would welcome to hear from you.

May our Lord bless & keep you firmly in His grip as we eagerly await the return of our Lord Jesus. Keep looking up, our redemption draws nigh.

In Him,

Steve & Nora
Matthew 28:18-20

February Update

To all of our family & friends, we made it back to Malawi safe & sound. A two day trip, 27 hours in the air & 3 hours of layover in Atlanta, 17 hours in Johannesburg & then on to Lilongwe, arriving at 1:30PM Malawi time. Worn out, but grateful for the wonderful trip & all of the experiences we enjoyed with our family & good friends at a number of churches, where we got to share about God's work in Malawi. God has been so good to us & we are so happy to be back in our new home of Lilongwe, doing what God has called to do in His name.

There is so much available for us to be involved with in this year of 2012 and we continue to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into the fields of Malawi. We have been blessed by a number of people who have expressed an interest & are now seeking the Lord for His direction about coming to Malawi, some short term, others considering long term stays to minister here. So, please join us as we prayed for these wonderful people, so they hear God's voice clearly! We also know a trip of this size takes resources to come half away around the earth, so let's all pray that the necessary funds will be available for them to do so. Where God guides, He provides!!

We will be posting a more detailed report within the next couple of weeks outlining our schedule as we know it as of this time, so you can be praying for specific projects that lay ahead of us. To all of you back home in California & Washington State, Zikomo Kwambiri! May our God watch over & keep you in His loving arms! Keep praying for Malawi, its people & for us, so we can be obedient to His calling.

Jesus is coming back soon, so let's all of us keep moving forward to share with as many people as possible before that glorious day comes upon us. We love & appreciate all of you so much.

Merry Christmas

We have been back in California now since 11/19/11, enjoying our family & our extended church families in Monterey, Hollister, Santa Cruz, & Visalia where we have been invited to come share about God's ministry in Malawi. We will spending additional time with some our other children & families through Christmas, then back to Monterey/Salinas area for more meetings, then off to Calvary Chapel Forest Hills on 1/1/12, with our friend Pastor Jeff Jones. Then off to Murietta for the Annual Missions Conference from 1/2/12 thru 1/6/12.

Then we are privileged to attend the wedding of our friend, Katie Dinwiddie, our sweet sister whom we met in Malawi when she taught at the African Bible College on Saturday the 7th & then we will be at Flood Church in San Diego on Sunday the 8th to meet our brothers & sisters there along reuniting with our precious "interns" whom we fell in love with while they ministered in Malawi.(Annie, Sarah, Brock & Cameron)

We will be returning to the Monterey/Salinas area to speak at two additional churches and then we will fly to Seattle Washington to spend a week with our daughter Kelly & her family in Arlington, before heading back to our "family" in Malawi.

It has been & continues to be such a blessing to be home with our families & friends. However, we have really experienced some reverse cultural shock being back in the States. Going into grocery stores fully stocked shelves with reasonable prices, & when we went to a Super Wal-Mart, we almost lost it! (lol) We are truly blessed in America beyond measure! Cost of living in Malawi is comparable to the to the Monterey area, Gasoline at $12.00 per gallon, monthly water bill runs as high as $225 per month, Internet at $355.00 per month & the list goes on & on.

But the very outstanding news is that the ministry in Malawi is "exceeding abundantly above all that we could ask or imagine", so just to clarify for those reading this blog, we LOVE living & ministering in Malaw! Why, because we are where God has sent us, doing what He has called us to do, & we are experiencing the joy of watching God work in the lives of our brothers & sisters of Malawi. God desires to bless the country & the people of Malawi, & we are witnessing Him doing just that!

Our prayers these past six months has been for the Lord of the harvest to send more laborers into the fields of Malawi, which are white unto harvest. Please join us as we continue to pray for this to happen as soon as possible, as we have so much more ministry opportunities than we can possibly handle by ourselves. What a great problem, more ministry than we can handle!

We are overwhelmed for the prayer support and at the faithful financial support we have received over the past three years. Without all of you holding the rope on this side of the ocean for us, we could not do what God has called us to do for His people of Malawi. We praise our Lord Jesus for allowing us to work in His fields, to teach, train, & disciple His saints in Malawi.God bless all of you as we "occupy" until the soon return of our Lord Jesus! We love & appreciate each one of you!!!

Merry Christmas & a wonderful New Year to one & all!

CC African Pastors Conference; CC Cape Town & Aquarium Visit

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Chipolopolo Outreach