Hi family!
I am safely in Malawi and completely in LOVE with Kanining’ina (the village I am staying near) and the surrounding villages of Mzuzu!
I wanted to give you an update that would let you in on what life in Malawi has been like for me the last few weeks. It’s AMAZING!
We spend many days going into the villages and sharing the gospel door-to-door. It has been a complete encouragement and honor to see how many Malawians are ready to recieve Jesus! We often start our introductions to the families by saying that we are visitors from far away with good news about Jesus Christ to share with them… then asking if we may come in. Their response, very often, is a resounding, “YES! We are ready to hear the good news. We have been waiting for you to come.” I have heard this statement more times here in Malawi than I EVER have in my life. Family!! The harvest is ready!! PRAY for God to send more workers!
[here is inside the very small house of a family that Blake and I visited]
[here is the front porch of another family that we visited-
not all of the children in the picture belong to Crishe!]
Another really amazing opportunity we have is sharing our testimonies and encouraging students in the schools. Mama Pastor and Pastor Tony have told us that the schools won’t normally let the church come in and that they’ll normally make up phony excuses for not letting them come. BUT because we are Mzungu (white people) that have come from far away, they are allowing it! Usually, we go to the schools where they will hold 1 or 2 assemblies that we will speak at… OR we will break up and go into the individual class buildings and share. We start out by introducing ourselves and what we’re doing, then I get to teach them a song (which they love!). In turn, they teach us a song and then we move onto the testimonies and gospel message. We usually end with another song and then offer the opportunity for the students to give their lives to Jesus. It is always amazing how many of the students give their lives to Jesus. For my So. Cal friends and family: it’s like a harvest crusade at every school!
[inside an empty school room]
[students waiting to enter the assembly at a boarding school]
[inside an assembly]
[the children giving their lives to Jesus!!]
And then there are just the fun, spur of the moment, VBS times! We will be going somewhere or coming from somewhere when we are suddenly surrounded by a flock of kids! We will teach them The Banana Song and the Tootie-Ta song… then tell a bible story and usually finish off by just playing with them and telling them how much we love them and that Jesus loves them, too!
[doing the Tootie-Ta song]
[trying to take a picture with a bunch of hyped-up children is always quite the experience! i am buried in the middle there, with Krystel and Heidi on the Right and Derek on the Left]
I hope this helps give insight to life as a Mzungu in Malawi! I am in the middle of writing a couple other blogs that I hope to be able to get out within the next week, so stay tuned!
