Ministry in Nkhota-kota.
From Lwadzi we traveled an hour down the road to Nkhata-bay for the next week of ministry. Unfortunately I was unable to participate in ministry this week due to some happenings within our team, which have since been resolved, and which will be disclosed at a later date.
After finishing up our ministry in Nkhata-bay, we traveled back to our original location in Nkhota-kota, where we arrived at first. We took our day of rest to wash clothes, get fed, nap, repack, get internet, buy ant killer so ants wouldn’t eat us night, chased out some mice, you know the typical african experience. The next day our contact took us out for a treat: a historical tour of Nkhota-kota, on foot. There’s not much, but what did happen here in the 19th century (1800’s) changed the face of Malawi.
We hiked a short way down into the muslim villages of Nkhota-kota. Islam was established here before Christianity, and this town was a major hub of the arab slave trade. The center of the slave trade was small port on Lake Malawi marked by an Islamic mosque, through which the slave trade was conducted. All this was happening sometime in the middle of the 1800’s. Around that same time, a Dr. David Livingstone was sailing by on the lake and saw huge numbers of slaves on shore and being packed in ships. His spirit was so stirred by the sight that he immediately sailed into the port, found one of the three brothers who operated the business and proceeded to rebuke him, telling him that what he did was wrong, that these people were human beings made in the image of God, and that he would be called to judgment. The man was convicted that what he was doing was wrong, and an agreement was made in short order to abolish the slave trade at that site. So Dr. Livingstone, a Christian, stuck around and began sowing the seeds of Christianity in Malawi and Nkhota-kota. Now the Islamic influence is mostly confined to pocket areas, such as the small village around the old mosque site at the lake. All that remains of that mosque is a wall, though there is an other nearby.
As we toured around the area, we felt a distinct difference between the atmosphere elsewhere in Nkhota-kota and inside the village. In other areas, people are mostly warm and friendly, almost annoyingly so. Inside the village, there were only suspicious glancing looks. Oppression was definitely on the people. I asked our tour guide about Islam, since back in the 80’s he was studying to be an Islamic priest. He says that the holy language in Islam is Arabic, and unless one prays in Arabic then Allah doesn’t hear you. The Qu’ran is only read in Arabic, though few people here speak it. As well, there are two books associated with Islam: the Qu’ran and the Haddith. The Qu’ran is analogous to Christianity’s Bible, while the Haddith narrates the life of Muhammed. Most Islamic teachings, he says, are from the Haddith, which is why so many muslims believe that if they kill a Christian they get a free ticket to heaven. Yet in the Qu’ran, it says that to know the way to eternal life to find a person of The Book, meaning the Bible, meaning a Christian. Yet this is often obscured and hidden because the common layperson is denied access to the Qu’ran. And even if they have one, most are in Arabic, so one can’t understand unless one studies Arabic as well. Yet our tour guide, Eddie, was fortunate enough to come across an English Qu’ran. He wasn’t able to fully understand it because he was having to learn Arabic at the same time. But when he found in the Qu’ran that he should find a person of the Book, he quickly converted.
Most muslims, though hungry for the Word, fear retribution from their parents, which is why many don’t profess Jesus. In fact, he says that often the Islamic teachers in the mosques distort the Qu’ran out of disdain for Christians. In spite of this, Eddie and other local Christian pastors are asked by muslims to visit their house secretly at night and pray for them for healing or whatever. “But keep your voice down,” they request, “so the neighbors don’t hear.” And when they leave they say, “Thank you, man of God!” So this is all very interesting, and I would like to do some more research about these things.
We end our tour at the first Christian church in Malawi, and go back home, preparing to evangelize the muslim village the next day.
Thank you to those who have been obedient to the call to support this ministry! You’re not just supporting me, you’re also supporting the many ministries we work with and sharing in the work being done in all these countries. As far as support goes, our final deadline to have all of our support in is January 4th! I still need $4,203 to be fully funded so pray about supporting me and do whatever seems best to you, because God’s will will be done no matter what! Nonetheless, the holidays are coming and the best way to bless me would be to support me, if you feel called to do so; I can’t receive packages anyways! I barely made it to the last support deadline of $10,000, so now it really is going to be in God’s hands to bring in support. In all things, though, may name the name of the Lord be praised!
