One of the things we will be doing here in Malawi are each week going on 3 day crusades around Malawi, traveling to different areas sharing the love of God, the gospel testimonies, and encouragement with people all over this country. I just got back from my first crusade (we arrived Friday night from the travel week and left sat morning for a crusade) and WOW WOW WOW is all I can say….I will try to paint a picture of this whole thing but all I can say is I truly thought I must be playing a role in some movie…
We headed out to a village 2 hours away from where we are staying…to get there we traveled through the mountains and on dirt roads to arrive at a field in the middle of many mountains…first the women cooked us lunch on fires they built on the ground…we had rice, boiled eggs, with tomatoes and onions…so good! Then the kids arrived with their parents, some by themselves…and as many of them saw us they
Ran in fear and horror away from us…
I did not understand this at all…I have never had a child run away from me with terror in their eyes screaming…what was going on!?…then I realized and confirmed it with people from the ministry…THESE CHILDREN AND MANY ADULTS HAD NEVER SEEN A WHITE PERSON BEFORE!!!! This was why the kids starred at us, ran from us, and were painfully shy in the beginning. I was shocked beyond belief and could not even fathom that we were the first white people they had ever encountered here…but as I looked around and realized we were in the middle of no where I started to understand more and more…
They pump water from a well in the middle of a wide open field, carry the water back to their homes with buckets on their heads, even the 3 year olds carry tiny buckets on their heads too…we played all sorts of games with the kids and slowly but surely they warmed up to us and by the end were comfortable with white people J
We had two sessions in the middle of this field surrounded by mountains where 2 of my teammates (we are paired up with another team this month too) preached and we worshipped God for hours and hours…my eyes could not fully process what I was seeing as I watched people pour out from the mountains to come hear the word of God (about 200)…people too poor to own a bible, people that had never been into town before, and many never having seen a white person before…people listened for hours about God and soaked it up, they were moved by the Holy spirit that day and many many hands were raised high to accept Christ (well over 100)…people lined up for prayers of healing (remember there is no hospital here where they live and they would not have the money to go even if there was) after the service and we laid hands on their heads and bodies and asked for healing in the name of Jesus…it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life as words poured out of my mouth not from me at all and people were moved by God’s spirit…
We slept in tents Saturday night (as we will be doing on all of our crusades) in the middle of the mountains with a cool breeze blowing using awesome squatty potties…woke up at 5 am to watch the sunrise (WOW Africa may beat everywhere for sunrises and sunsets) then had a sweet potato and bread for breakfast then headed out to do home visits…
HUT TO HUT…yes home visits sharing God’s word hut to hut through the mountains!!! I have never felt more like one of Jesus’ disciples ever in my life as we went place to place sharing God’s word with people without access to the word of God, watching families gather together and people come out from other huts to hear the word of God being spoken…they all would sit around you quietly listening to what you had to bring them about Jesus…as we sat among the children at one house visit my eyes were filled with tears as I thanked God for allowing me to be a part of this and watching these children bow their heads to pray to God…
It has been a full year since the ministry we are working with has been able to get back to this village (yes they have a chief! Cool huh?! And my teammates got to meet him!) because they travel to many villages…and see it is not like there are many missionaries coming in to these places, so it may have been a full year since many of these people have heard God’s word being read…its is hard for me to even completely fathom it all even after seeing it with my own eyes…
These crusades are going to be amazing…we have another one this coming weekend and I am SO excited!! This week we are going to buy some sarongs (the long printed fabric skirts the women all wear here) so we fit in a little more with the culture here…women typically do not wear pants here. The other things we are doing that I know of right now are we are going into schools to teach about Jesus! Yes you can do that here in Malawi! So different from America!
I won’t have internet access hardly at all this month and probably the next 3 months so I won’t be writing personal emails but just posting blogs J Just wanted to let everyone know so no one was offended why I didn’t write them back J I will read your emails by copying and pasting them but I probably cant write back! Love you mucho!!! -Em
