New month, same country: Malawi.
Our setting this month, however, is much different than last. Mzuzu was very welcoming to Christianity. Senga Bay is a predominantly Muslim community. We are presently staying at a mission site that is beach front on Lake Malawi, right next door to the mosque. Several time a day we hear music calling the Muslims to prayer.
The mission base here has been mostly unoccupied for the last 5 years until a missionary family from South Africa arrived. They have been here since January with their 3 kids, 4 dogs, a cat and 2 guinea pigs. Today we acquired a baby monkey, but that will be short term until it can be taken to the wildlife refuge.
There is a vision for this place to be a Christian retreat center and to house 2 ministries. The first is a coffee shop with a Christian library where people can come for coffee and snacks, use the internet and read the books available. The Muslim faith encourages its followers to be knowledgeable about other religions, so the coffee shop can offer that while also serving to build relationships between the patrons and staff. The coffee shop will also serve to reach out to tourists in the area.
The other ministry vision is an outreach to the local fisherman’s villages, which in rainy season (now) would only be reachable by boat. We have a boat. And an engine for the boat. The two are separate at present. The boat also needs to have the cabin rebuilt, be resealed and painted. Once the boat is finished it would be used to do evangelism and health education in the villages.
This month we are working on getting these ministries started, designing and building the coffee shop, various projects to restore the retreat center, work on the boat. The work we are doing now will begin to establish ministries that will continue long after we leave.
