We get to do a lot of awesome ministry here in Nkhata Bay. We stay at this little paradise called Butterfly Space, kind of a hippy lodge where there are a lot of volunteer opportunities. We have a host that we absolutely love, a lady from England who lives here with her 2 adorable children. 3 days a week we run the youth club here at Butterfly for local children who want to come. We teach them Bible stories, do crafts, teach them songs, and play. Friday we help with the disabled club; we go round and pick them up, which is fun because we get to ride in the back of the truck. It’s a great time for them to be in community with a group of their peers and have a time to learn a lesson and have someone spend time with them. There aren’t any special needs programs in schools here, so these kids don’t get to go to school. AJ, our host, organizes this group, does the lessons, and provides them lunch when they come. There are a lot of these kids and they can be overwhelming at times, so it’s been good to be able to help her out with that. Kate and Ashley go and teach at the nursery school a couple times a week as well and that has been great because they are both teachers at home and they have been able to help the teachers here who don’t have any training and just kind of do what they do.
My favorite ministry is what we call “ATL” or “ask the Lord.” Every morning before we leave, we ask God where He wants us to go and who He wants us to meet, to guide our day and put people in our path. It has been absolutely amazing. Through this we have made friends with all of the street vendors who work down the street from us, who are so wonderful that I’m going to have to write a separate blog about them. We have met these 2 little angels who come and hang out with us and do ATL with us every Sunday. God provided a way for us to go into the prison and meet with the prisoners, who also have an awesome story so they will get their own blog as well! There have been countless people in the market and in the street that we’ve met and encouraged and prayed for. And we’ve made friends with all of the travelers here at Butterfly Space, which has been truly awesome to see God work in because you wouldn’t think these would be people interested in us knowing we are Christian missionaries. Our team prayed before we came here to Nkhata that God would send us people and that we would be Jesus everywhere we went, and people have been literally flocking to us asking about what we are doing and about Jesus and in depth questions about the Bible – workers, travelers, locals, etc. And all we have to do is make ourselves available and interruptible. That’s it, and people just come up to us and hang out with us and ask us all sorts of things. Through this Jacquie and I have been doing Bible study every night with one of the night watchmen…another one of my favorite things. We have to stay up later than we would like, but it is so worth it. This man, Sinkoma, loves learning about the Bible so much and he would literally stay up with us all night reading if we weren’t tired and needing to sleep. We’re going through the book of John with him and I’ve been surprised at how much I enjoy teaching the Bible. It’s been good for Jacquie and I too because we’re also learning.
I love this place so much. I love the beauty that God created here in Malawi. This lake that we are privileged to wake up to, swim in, look at, and go to sleep to the sound of the waves, is maybe the world’s most beautiful lake. It looks like an ocean surrounded by lush, green mountains and has crystal clear water with tropical fish. I love the community here at Butterfly and the friendliness of the Malawi people. Most of all I LOVE that God is so evidently moving here and our group was chosen to come here. I don’t want to leave here, but am so thankful to have had this little time.
