These photos were taken at the Mphonde Village, about 1 hour out of Lilongwe. The occasion was the launching of the Water Missions International water purification system for the seven villages in this area. Clean potable water will be provided to about 1000 people, who up to this point, either obtained water from the one bore hole manual pump or the creek near by for all the residents of these villages.
With the cooperation of Water Missions (WMI), World Relief, & Calvary Chapel School of Ministry, along with the local Chiefs, church leaders, & citizens of these villages, working together to bring a sense of mutual cooperation, have seen the work of the Holy Spirit to bring this project to bear.
The photos shown are at the Mphonde Village where the meeting was held in the local Catholic Church Building. Typical scenes of village children, current bore hole pump, as well as participants in the launching who included:
Sandress Msiska - Country Director for World Relief Malawi
Nixon Simyiza - Water Missions International in Malawi
Timothy Kailedzi - Children's Director for Ruth's Shawl Ministry as translator
Steedson Chisale - World Relief Community Development in Mphonde
Steve Braselton - Calvary Chapel School of Ministry in Malawi
The people shown inside the church facility were church & community leaders who have worked to bring this project into fruition.
Steve & Nora
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Malawi Outreach Update Report
A lot of activity has been happening since our last update. We have had a team from Tent Makers Ministry, led by Bill & Susan Weibel who minister in South Africa along with three young adults from the USA, & they were here for eight days of ministry. We ministered to the Ruth’s Shawl widows & orphans in Area 44, along with outreaches to Nsambeta Primary School that has 4880 students; to two separate college campuses; teaching & training of our team that minster to the Bible Clubs in the schools. We also took one day to take a field trip to a village named Dedza, where the famous Malawian Pottery factory/showroom are located, then on to Mua Mission, where we were able to get a guided tour on the history of the three major tribes in Malawi; then we drove on to Lake Malawi, the eighth largest fresh water lake in the world, where the team were able to relax on the beach, swim, sunbathe, and have an enjoyable lunch.
We were later contacted by Neal Pirolo of Emmaus Road Ministry, to see if we would be interested in participating in a week long Pastors Conference in the north of Malawi. Since we had never met the organizing Pastor before, we drove up to his center in Kande, Malawi, a five hour trip to get there. The organizing Pastor gave us a history of their ministry, along with the Pastors who will be attending. We discussed the subject matter he felt was needed by this group of Pastors. We had a quick lunch and drove back in five hours to Lilongwe.
We have also have begun a weekly Bible Study here in our residence with the staff of Water Missions International (WMI) each Monday morning. WMI is a Christian based firm out of South Carolina, who are in Malawi to provide clean potable water to remote villages that do not have good clean water to drink or wash in their respective villages. They target villages of 1-5 thousand people to provide potable water source for drinking, bathing, cooking, & etc. But first, as a prerequisite, they want to present the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Living Water, before they donate the physical water system to the villages. That is where we come in, so we conduct the spiritual aspect to each village with the full cooperation of the local churches.
We have also become very involved with a local church named Flood Church and we are very blessed to be a part of the fellowship of believers. We hold a weekly Growth Group (Home Fellowship) in our home and attend a weekly Prayer Meeting that is held each week to pray for the church & the community of Lilongwe. We have also begun a Pre-Marital Counseling for a couple in the church fellowship. Flood church is pastored by a young Malawian named, Sean Kampondeni, and he is a wonderful teacher of the whole counsel of God. He received his training from the Flood Church out of San Diego, Ca. where he received his ordination. The church is a vibrant group of people that is made up of about 65% Malawians & 35% of azundgu’s (White People). The worship is a mixture of Malawian & English contemporary Christian music. The church has a strong vision & commitment to reach the young adults in Lilongwe. They do outreaches where these young adults hang out, with music, testimonies, and sharing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We love being a part of this wonderful fellowship, and as I shared earlier, Pastor Sean is an excellent teacher of the Word of God.
This past Wednesday, I was asked to teach at the African Bible College at their Devotion Service, attended by all the students & faculty staff. This was a very exciting opportunity & the response from both the students & faculty was so very encouraging.
We have been also working with several hospital & medical clinics in Lilongwe & in very remote villages that are Missionary run facilities, which have so many needs. Things like medications of all types, surgical supplies & equipment are in such short supply! Any contributions or suggestions where to go to inquire about these types of donations would be greatly appreciated & are so vitally needed.
Another area is in the Primary School where we minister each Friday, there is a “Special Needs” class that is so woefully needful of any & all supplies as well as teaching materials. This class has 12 severely handicapped children, being taught by a wonderful woman teacher who is teaching these students with hardly any help or adequate materials or assistance. Any assistance would mean so much to these young children & their Christian teacher.
Please forgive this somewhat long report, but we had so much to tell all of you about and believe me, I have left a lot out of this report. We love & appreciate each one of you who pray for the ministry here in Malawi, for your financial assistance for the ministry, and for your love you continue to shower upon us. We have stated many times before, but we desire to always remember, we could not do what God has called us to minister without each of you. So we say, Zikomo Kwambiri, to one & all. We truly do recognize that it is a team effort, us here in Malawi and all of you wherever you are located in this world we temporarily occupy. This world is not our home, and Jesus Christ is coming back for us real soon, we may not know the day & time of His return, but until that glorious day, let’s be about His agenda together, at home, & all over this earth!
We were later contacted by Neal Pirolo of Emmaus Road Ministry, to see if we would be interested in participating in a week long Pastors Conference in the north of Malawi. Since we had never met the organizing Pastor before, we drove up to his center in Kande, Malawi, a five hour trip to get there. The organizing Pastor gave us a history of their ministry, along with the Pastors who will be attending. We discussed the subject matter he felt was needed by this group of Pastors. We had a quick lunch and drove back in five hours to Lilongwe.
We have also have begun a weekly Bible Study here in our residence with the staff of Water Missions International (WMI) each Monday morning. WMI is a Christian based firm out of South Carolina, who are in Malawi to provide clean potable water to remote villages that do not have good clean water to drink or wash in their respective villages. They target villages of 1-5 thousand people to provide potable water source for drinking, bathing, cooking, & etc. But first, as a prerequisite, they want to present the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Living Water, before they donate the physical water system to the villages. That is where we come in, so we conduct the spiritual aspect to each village with the full cooperation of the local churches.
We have also become very involved with a local church named Flood Church and we are very blessed to be a part of the fellowship of believers. We hold a weekly Growth Group (Home Fellowship) in our home and attend a weekly Prayer Meeting that is held each week to pray for the church & the community of Lilongwe. We have also begun a Pre-Marital Counseling for a couple in the church fellowship. Flood church is pastored by a young Malawian named, Sean Kampondeni, and he is a wonderful teacher of the whole counsel of God. He received his training from the Flood Church out of San Diego, Ca. where he received his ordination. The church is a vibrant group of people that is made up of about 65% Malawians & 35% of azundgu’s (White People). The worship is a mixture of Malawian & English contemporary Christian music. The church has a strong vision & commitment to reach the young adults in Lilongwe. They do outreaches where these young adults hang out, with music, testimonies, and sharing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We love being a part of this wonderful fellowship, and as I shared earlier, Pastor Sean is an excellent teacher of the Word of God.
This past Wednesday, I was asked to teach at the African Bible College at their Devotion Service, attended by all the students & faculty staff. This was a very exciting opportunity & the response from both the students & faculty was so very encouraging.
We have been also working with several hospital & medical clinics in Lilongwe & in very remote villages that are Missionary run facilities, which have so many needs. Things like medications of all types, surgical supplies & equipment are in such short supply! Any contributions or suggestions where to go to inquire about these types of donations would be greatly appreciated & are so vitally needed.
Another area is in the Primary School where we minister each Friday, there is a “Special Needs” class that is so woefully needful of any & all supplies as well as teaching materials. This class has 12 severely handicapped children, being taught by a wonderful woman teacher who is teaching these students with hardly any help or adequate materials or assistance. Any assistance would mean so much to these young children & their Christian teacher.
Please forgive this somewhat long report, but we had so much to tell all of you about and believe me, I have left a lot out of this report. We love & appreciate each one of you who pray for the ministry here in Malawi, for your financial assistance for the ministry, and for your love you continue to shower upon us. We have stated many times before, but we desire to always remember, we could not do what God has called us to minister without each of you. So we say, Zikomo Kwambiri, to one & all. We truly do recognize that it is a team effort, us here in Malawi and all of you wherever you are located in this world we temporarily occupy. This world is not our home, and Jesus Christ is coming back for us real soon, we may not know the day & time of His return, but until that glorious day, let’s be about His agenda together, at home, & all over this earth!
Saturday, April 9, 2011
April 10, 2011
It has been a crazy two months since we arrived back in Lilongwe after our annual furlough! Getting back into life in Malawi, things like not having fuel for our car, no electricity for extended periods of time, Internet being extremely non-dependable, finding out we have bats living in our ceiling, and being told we have at least two feet of bat dung sitting in our ceiling panels, our hot water going completely off in the kitchen & bathroom, a power surge occurring shortly after our arrival, knocking out our complete security system, all our power cords to our laptops,our sensor for our outside lighting which comes on automatically at night, and yesterday, during a heavy rain storm, we lost two large trees in our own yard, which by the grace of God, fell away from the house. Other than these things, all is normal! Welcome back to Malawi!!!!
We began almost immediately to get back into the swing of daily & weekly ministry, with the ministry of Ruth's Shawl to the widows & orphans, weekly Bible Clubs at the Primary School, outreaches to the outlining villages, outreaches to local colleges in Lilongwe with our church, wrapping up the final details of the four community Special Chicken & Sewing Projects that have been started last May, waiting for clear direction from the Lord on the restart of the School of Ministry and choosing the participants for the next semester has kept us very busy.
We also were blessed by a team from Tent Makers Ministry, Bill & Susan Weibel who minister in South Africa, along with three short term missionaries, Joe, Aurel, & Jenn from Pennsylvania, interns with Tent Makers. We enjoyed the whole week of ministry with them, their fellowship, and their love of Jesus Christ which was expressed so clearly to all. They left on April 5th and we are now back into our regular routine and at the same time trying to get some much needed rest!
We have not sold our Mitsubishi Pajero as of this moment, but we had a man come today who seems very interested in purchasing. Please pray that the Lord will allow this sale to consummate in order that we can purchase a Mini-Bus that we need so badly for transporting all our people back & forth to the villages & outreaches. We also are need of some additional money to add on to what has already been raised to purchase the vehicle we need.
We are always in need of supplies for internal usage as well as the needs represented in the villages. The pastors attending the School of Ministry (SOM) are very poor, so transportation costs, food costs, medical cost assistance, & some financial assistance for their families while they are attending classes is another need.
So, one can easily see, the need of financial aid is a key component to maintain & expand the open door ministry opportunities that are available to us, right now! If Jesus is returning for His bride soon, and I firmly believe He is coming soon, then we all need to extend ourselves as God has called us to do, so we can reach as many as possible for the kingdom before He returns! We have had several individuals indicate their desire to come to Malawi & use their God given talents here ministering to the people of Malawi. We can only say, Praise His Holy Name! But not all can come to Malawi, but God can use us in so many different ways to accomplish His will. Let's all of us pray for wisdom according to James 1:5.
Thank all of you who pray for us and for the work here in Malawi. Without all of your prayers, the work here cannot grow and for those of you who give of your finances sacrificially, know that this work cannot happen without you generosity. We give our Lord Jesus all the praise, honor & glory for what He is doing in & through the ministry of Malawi Outreach Ministries!!
May the Lord bless you all and surround you in His loving arms, & may the Holy Spirit that dwells within us be allowed to "guide us into all truth". We love and appreciate all of you.
In Him,
Steve & Nora
It has been a crazy two months since we arrived back in Lilongwe after our annual furlough! Getting back into life in Malawi, things like not having fuel for our car, no electricity for extended periods of time, Internet being extremely non-dependable, finding out we have bats living in our ceiling, and being told we have at least two feet of bat dung sitting in our ceiling panels, our hot water going completely off in the kitchen & bathroom, a power surge occurring shortly after our arrival, knocking out our complete security system, all our power cords to our laptops,our sensor for our outside lighting which comes on automatically at night, and yesterday, during a heavy rain storm, we lost two large trees in our own yard, which by the grace of God, fell away from the house. Other than these things, all is normal! Welcome back to Malawi!!!!
We began almost immediately to get back into the swing of daily & weekly ministry, with the ministry of Ruth's Shawl to the widows & orphans, weekly Bible Clubs at the Primary School, outreaches to the outlining villages, outreaches to local colleges in Lilongwe with our church, wrapping up the final details of the four community Special Chicken & Sewing Projects that have been started last May, waiting for clear direction from the Lord on the restart of the School of Ministry and choosing the participants for the next semester has kept us very busy.
We also were blessed by a team from Tent Makers Ministry, Bill & Susan Weibel who minister in South Africa, along with three short term missionaries, Joe, Aurel, & Jenn from Pennsylvania, interns with Tent Makers. We enjoyed the whole week of ministry with them, their fellowship, and their love of Jesus Christ which was expressed so clearly to all. They left on April 5th and we are now back into our regular routine and at the same time trying to get some much needed rest!
We have not sold our Mitsubishi Pajero as of this moment, but we had a man come today who seems very interested in purchasing. Please pray that the Lord will allow this sale to consummate in order that we can purchase a Mini-Bus that we need so badly for transporting all our people back & forth to the villages & outreaches. We also are need of some additional money to add on to what has already been raised to purchase the vehicle we need.
We are always in need of supplies for internal usage as well as the needs represented in the villages. The pastors attending the School of Ministry (SOM) are very poor, so transportation costs, food costs, medical cost assistance, & some financial assistance for their families while they are attending classes is another need.
So, one can easily see, the need of financial aid is a key component to maintain & expand the open door ministry opportunities that are available to us, right now! If Jesus is returning for His bride soon, and I firmly believe He is coming soon, then we all need to extend ourselves as God has called us to do, so we can reach as many as possible for the kingdom before He returns! We have had several individuals indicate their desire to come to Malawi & use their God given talents here ministering to the people of Malawi. We can only say, Praise His Holy Name! But not all can come to Malawi, but God can use us in so many different ways to accomplish His will. Let's all of us pray for wisdom according to James 1:5.
Thank all of you who pray for us and for the work here in Malawi. Without all of your prayers, the work here cannot grow and for those of you who give of your finances sacrificially, know that this work cannot happen without you generosity. We give our Lord Jesus all the praise, honor & glory for what He is doing in & through the ministry of Malawi Outreach Ministries!!
May the Lord bless you all and surround you in His loving arms, & may the Holy Spirit that dwells within us be allowed to "guide us into all truth". We love and appreciate all of you.
In Him,
Steve & Nora
Monday, February 14, 2011
Back To Malawi
After 8 weeks of being back in the States, speaking at a number of churches, visiting family & friends, taking care of medical visits & check ups, attending the Calvary Chapel Missions Conference, wrapping as many loose ends as possible, we headed back to Malawi on January 17th. Flew from S.F. to Atlanta; then Atlanta to Johannesburg South Africa where Pastor Chad & Heather picked us & we spent three days recovering from our travels. We were so tired when we arrived in Jo'Burg, we slept for 36 hours straight through from Tuesday night to Thursday morning! Wow, were we worn out or what!!
We arrived back "home" in Lilongwe on 1-21-11 & have spent the last three weeks getting geared up again with all the things here so we can get the School of Ministry started again, Nora has been with the Widows & Orphans in Area 44,& getting back in the swing of things at our church fellowship activities.
As we look forward at what is before us in 2011, we would ask for your prayers:
1. Sale of our current vehicle as soon as possible.
2. Purchase of a newer 4x4 vehicle for usage in remote village outreaches.
3. Wisdom the student enrollment for the School of Ministry.
4. Prayer for the success of the four Micro-Business projects currently being operated in two locations in association with Water Missions International.( Chicken Farming & Sewing Projects)
5. Prayer for Ruth's Shawl activities with widows & orphans (www.Ruthsshawl.org)
6. Prayer for continue good health.
7. Prayer for continued financial provision for current & future ministry activities.
God has opened so many doors for us & we are so very grateful for His goodness to us. Please also pray that the Lord of the Harvest will send more laborers, as the fields are white unto harvest. There are so many opportunities than we can possibly handle, we need the people God has ordained to come join His work here.
Thank you for your love, prayers, & support! We truly appreciate all of them!! May our Lord Jesus continue to bless & keep you in His loving arms.
In Him,
Steve & Nora
We arrived back "home" in Lilongwe on 1-21-11 & have spent the last three weeks getting geared up again with all the things here so we can get the School of Ministry started again, Nora has been with the Widows & Orphans in Area 44,& getting back in the swing of things at our church fellowship activities.
As we look forward at what is before us in 2011, we would ask for your prayers:
1. Sale of our current vehicle as soon as possible.
2. Purchase of a newer 4x4 vehicle for usage in remote village outreaches.
3. Wisdom the student enrollment for the School of Ministry.
4. Prayer for the success of the four Micro-Business projects currently being operated in two locations in association with Water Missions International.( Chicken Farming & Sewing Projects)
5. Prayer for Ruth's Shawl activities with widows & orphans (www.Ruthsshawl.org)
6. Prayer for continue good health.
7. Prayer for continued financial provision for current & future ministry activities.
God has opened so many doors for us & we are so very grateful for His goodness to us. Please also pray that the Lord of the Harvest will send more laborers, as the fields are white unto harvest. There are so many opportunities than we can possibly handle, we need the people God has ordained to come join His work here.
Thank you for your love, prayers, & support! We truly appreciate all of them!! May our Lord Jesus continue to bless & keep you in His loving arms.
In Him,
Steve & Nora
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Happy New Year
We are already well into the first half of January 2011 & we are wrapping up our furlough time back in the States as we leave on Monday January 17th to head back to Malawi! Our time with our children, grandchildren & great grand children has been so wonderful along with our visit with our extended church family. We were able also to attend the Missions Conference in Southern California, which was outstanding! God has been so gracious to us & we are so very blessed by all we have been able to experience while being home!
But, it is time to head back to Lilongwe to begin our third year of service to the nation & people of Malawi, we thank our Lord for allowing us the privilege of being used in His desire to bless Malawi! We love the nation, its people, & the ministry God has called us to do in His name!! We have been able to speak in several different churches while being in California to share what God is doing in Malawi & the things we see He desires to do in 2011. We have been so warmly received by all & those in attendance seem genuinely excited about the ministry in Malawi!
So, here are a few items you can be praying for us as we wind down here in Monterey:
1. Pray for traveling mercies for us as we travel from S.F. to Atlanta; Atlanta to Johannesburg South Africa & then on to Malawi.
2. That our jet lag will not not last long, as we hit the road to the villages on 1-22-11.
3. Pray for the Lord of the Harvest to send laborer's into the Malawi Mission fields!
4. That we are able to sell our Mitsubishi Pajero quickly so we may purchase a newer & more reliable vehicle to use in the village ministries.
5. That there will be additional teams coming in 2011 on short term mission trips to bless the people of Malawi (Medical teams, construction teams, Puppet Ministry teams, Biblical teaching teams, & any other team who wants to serve in any capacity!!)
6. That God will supply the needed financial resources to accommodate all He desires to do in Malawi for 2011.
7. That we are able to stay close to the Holy Spirit so we may hear His voice to know what, when & where we are to minister.
8. Whatever the Holy Spirit puts on your heart to pray for us about!!!!!!!
Continue to occupy, be about His calling in your lives, & keep looking up as our redemption draws near! Jesus is coming back soon, so lets be His instruments, soft, pliable, & very flexible in His hands! May our Lord bless you all "real good" in 2011 & you be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit, then be obedient to His calling!
We love & appreciate you all!
In Him,
Steve & Nora
But, it is time to head back to Lilongwe to begin our third year of service to the nation & people of Malawi, we thank our Lord for allowing us the privilege of being used in His desire to bless Malawi! We love the nation, its people, & the ministry God has called us to do in His name!! We have been able to speak in several different churches while being in California to share what God is doing in Malawi & the things we see He desires to do in 2011. We have been so warmly received by all & those in attendance seem genuinely excited about the ministry in Malawi!
So, here are a few items you can be praying for us as we wind down here in Monterey:
1. Pray for traveling mercies for us as we travel from S.F. to Atlanta; Atlanta to Johannesburg South Africa & then on to Malawi.
2. That our jet lag will not not last long, as we hit the road to the villages on 1-22-11.
3. Pray for the Lord of the Harvest to send laborer's into the Malawi Mission fields!
4. That we are able to sell our Mitsubishi Pajero quickly so we may purchase a newer & more reliable vehicle to use in the village ministries.
5. That there will be additional teams coming in 2011 on short term mission trips to bless the people of Malawi (Medical teams, construction teams, Puppet Ministry teams, Biblical teaching teams, & any other team who wants to serve in any capacity!!)
6. That God will supply the needed financial resources to accommodate all He desires to do in Malawi for 2011.
7. That we are able to stay close to the Holy Spirit so we may hear His voice to know what, when & where we are to minister.
8. Whatever the Holy Spirit puts on your heart to pray for us about!!!!!!!
Continue to occupy, be about His calling in your lives, & keep looking up as our redemption draws near! Jesus is coming back soon, so lets be His instruments, soft, pliable, & very flexible in His hands! May our Lord bless you all "real good" in 2011 & you be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit, then be obedient to His calling!
We love & appreciate you all!
In Him,
Steve & Nora
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