My heart has never been so genuinely happy in my life. Malawi has made such a huge impact on me and my faith and we have only been here for three weeks so far. I have experienced so many spectacular things that our Lord has done through me and my teammates in the villages we have been visiting. There are things happening here that I have only ever read about in the bible.
I want to explain two stories that have definitely impacted me and shown me the power of our Heavenly Father.
A couple days ago our team went out on our free day to the local town. While there, most of our team decided that they were going to get pizza for dinner; however, Ethan and I did not have enough money. So instead of buying pizza, Ethan and I walked a little ways to the grocery store near by. (F.Y.I. It gets dark here around 5pm so it was pitch black outside at this point). We spent maybe 20 minutes inside until we found food that we both wanted. After I checked out at the cashier I waited outside for Ethan, but while I was waiting an obviously intoxicated man approached me. My first thoughts were definitely not positive of this man because it was very dark outside, he was very drunk and carrying a new beer bottle he had just bought, and when he spoke to me he was within three inches of my face. I thought he was asking for money at first so I told him, “hey man, I’m sorry I seriously just spent all the money I have on this 6-pack of yogurt.” Then I offered him one but he responded differently than I expected. The man (Thoko) replied “That’s not why I’m here. I saw the cross on your necklace and I thought you might be able to save me.” At this point Ethan had joined the conversation. Ethan, Thoko, and I probably spent nearly 30 minutes talking outside of that grocery store. We told him all about the love that the Lord has for him in every moment of his life, even while he is sinning. But he asked “How can I be saved and feel that love?” So we told him that he had to choose the Lord first over everything. Beer can’t be the first thing he turns to when he is sad or distraught, it needs to be our Father. After hearing that Thoko took his new beer, opened it, and poured it all in the trash. Then he repeated after us in prayer “Lord I am standing here with open arms ready to accept you and your love! You are now first over everything in my life!” Then once we all finished praying he turned to both of us on the verge of crying, gave us both a huge hug, and said “I am saved! Thank you both so much for showing up in my life!”
This story really spoke to me. Everyone needs to be shown the love of Christ. Even the people high and drunk wandering the street who approach you in a dark parking lot. Everyone DESERVES the love of our Father, and a lot of times Christ will use us as his messengers to these people. So don’t be afraid to speak the gospel to people because they need to hear it!
The second story happened a couple days earlier. My team and I went to one of the far away villages to do door to door evangelism. We were split up into two groups so that we could speak to more people. So my group went off and stopped in front of this man’s hut. The man had a very bad posture and could barely walk without his can. We asked him if he went to church and he said “No, because I haven’t been able to walk that far in a long time.” We then shared the gospel with this man. We really emphasized the idea that just because we are Christians does not mean that we are exempt from struggling. Afterwards, we prayed a very simple prayer over this man asking the Lord to heal him. Immediately after, the man stood up. His back was now perfectly straight. We asked him to try to walk without his cane and he did so no problem. I have never seen some one smile as big as this man was. He praised God and said that he hadn’t been able to stand up straight in years. It was so exciting to see the Lord do something so powerful right in front of my eyes! The next day some of our team went back to that village to attend church, and guess who was sitting in one of the chairs. The man had made the 1/2 mile walk uphill to the church without his cane and gave his testimony to the church about the healing that he had received from God.
Overall, my time in Malawi has been incredible! I am learning more about my faith everyday. It is crazy to see how the Lord works in different places and in different cultures. I am always falling deeper in love with our God and his ways.
