Oh, Malawi!
I was at a loss for words when I arrived in Malawi, and I find myself again at a loss for words upon leaving. I couldn’t tell what our ministry was truly going to be like for several days and I felt in somewhat of a spiritual fog for a large portion of it. This was extremely surprising to me, given what I knew and had heard about Africa—spiritually receptive and open. But by the end (and I mean truly our penultimate day), the Lord gave me such a clear picture of why we were in Baluti.
You know when you’re having a terrible day and someone shows up and brings you a donut? Or you’re studying/working for several hours in a row at a coffee shop, getting very weary and bored, and then a great friend walks in and sits with you for a while? Maybe they even happen to have taken a few classes on what you’re studying, and they can help you. Or they buy your next coffee. I think our presence in Malawi was a larger scale, body-of-Christ, version of this.
There’s a World Race term called “lift” and you’re supposed to bring it to your ministry host. I started understanding this after month 1 a little bit, but I really understand it now. Yes, we helped teach a large amount of small brains, and we interceded, we had bible study, and we preached a bit. But just like Malawi was a breath of fresh air to me when I arrived, I think we were a breath of fresh air to the ministry we came alongside. Just imagine: you’re in a small village in the poorest country in the nation, trying to corral, teach, and love 50+ rowdy little energy balls every day. Meanwhile, you’re going to school to get teacher certification because you didn’t actually intend to do this but you needed a job. Meanwhile again, you’re either trying to figure out how to disciple or be discipled by people in your ministry, and take care of your child, and facilitate steps toward your long-term dreams of becoming self-sufficient. THEN, a group of people you think are very cool and regard highly (because of culture and media and not one thing they have done to deserve such esteem) show up from across the world to live with you. They want to pray for you, help you, teach you, learn from you, hang out with you, and hear about your life. We did this! And I only saw at the end how refreshing that was for them. We brought lift.
The best part is that it wasn’t us at all—it was all the Holy Spirit. We did NOTHING in Baluti that the Holy Spirit didn’t begin and empower. As a missionary, you can have this “Give. Serve. Do. Pray. Help. Impact.” mentality going on in the background, and on our last day I was doing some self-evaluation on whether or not I had really helped Moyo preschool. What did we really do for them? What is my list of “successful events in Malawi”? Does something I did matter? Then, our pastor gave his concluding remarks, including how grateful they were for us, how we had truly left a legacy, and how much they loved us. There were tears. I saw fruit of the spirit. It was so not about what we accomplished; it was about us being there with them, unified by the Spirit (details on the stuff we “did” later). We jumped in alongside them and reminded them that their ministry is important for the Kingdom of God. We obeyed the Spirit, and the Lord used us to encourage his kids.
This is the beauty of the Body of Christ. Us seven kids of the King showed up at the coffee shop as this group of teachers—ours siblings—sat weary at a table, working. We brought them lattes and americanos (pun intended), sat and chatted the whole day, heard their struggles, finished some of what they were working on, prayed, and sent them on, reminding them they walk in the power of Christ. It wasn’t fancy, but it was exactly what the Lord wanted. And don’t doubt for a second that we left equally encouraged. Moyo preschool taught and/or exemplified incredible truth and love to me while I visited Malawi (that for another blog as well). I’m not going to go fully into the power and importance of short-term missions right now, but if you are wondering why just a month on mission in a community matters, ask me about Baluti.
I don’t think lift has to come from across the world. Maybe glance around you today and see who’s weary. Holy Spirit probably wants to use you too!
Much love,
Jenna
