Malawi … Month 11. Here I am at the end of this 11 month, life-changing experience with many emotions flooding my mind. It is definitely a bittersweet feeling knowing that in less than 48 hours I will be saying goodbye to the majority of the people I have grown to love and have called my family throughout the past 11 months. However, at the same time I am looking forward to the next season that God has in store for me. Stay tuned for a future blog with details about this new season and opportunity in which God has paved the way according to His perfect plan. BUT for now, enjoy a brief recap of my month in Malawi.
I am so thankful for how God has helped me to remain present with both ministry and in loving my team even in the hard moments when I wanted to give up. This month my team and I have served alongside of a local pastor and his friend who are the founders for Total Life Campaign. Total Life Campaign vision is to ensure that people live a better standard of life in both their spiritual and physical aspects. They exist to demonstrate the love of God in a tangible way by spreading the Word of God that enriches the spirit and helps to meet the necessities of man to create a more fulfilled life.
Daily, my team and I had the opportunity to be vessels for Christ in the surrounding communities and villages by encouraging all who came in contact with us through the preaching of the Truth and sharing the testimonies of the ways God has worked in our own lives. We have spent time with widows, a soccer team, various weekday church gatherings as well as weekly church and youth group activities on Sunday.
For me personally, I’ve shared the Word of God or a testimony of God’s work in my life more times this month than I think I’ve done over the course of the previous ten months. Though, if I’m honest, this isn’t always my favorite, but being able to allow God to speak through me has been an incredible experience, time and time again. Each time I’ve shared, it has been my prayer that it would not be my own words, but the words that God desires to be shared instead.
Sharing God’s truths and love to those we come in contact with has certainly been great as we have seen hearts become stirred to go deeper and want to become more Christ-like in character. However, my favorite memories come from the few opportunities I had to serve and interact with the children at two separate orphanages. Prior to leaving American soil 11 months ago, I knew that God had given me a passion for the international, vulnerable and orphaned children around the world. This month just reconfirmed this passion of mine by filling my heart to its fullest. Being able to love on these children at the orphanages simply melted my heart. I completely fell in love.
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Please be praying for safe travel for my squad and I as we begin our travels back to the USA in just a couple hours. Also be praying for us as we are reunited with friends and family and start the process of re-entry knowing that we will all be faced with a variety of challenges along the way. Thank you!
