After
58 hours in a van, 3
stolen packs and 1 stolen guitar, countless traffic
tickets, 3 border
crossings, and an attempted
assassination on the Zimbabwean Prime Minister, we arrived in
Lilongwe, Malawi. (read more about that journey
here, and
here )
We were greeted
by Pastor Harvey, the Central Malawi Coordinator for HIM (Harvesters
International Ministries). Our team was to travel around Central Malawi
and plant churches over the next 10 days.
We drove around Central Malawi in the “Love Bug” (praying the door didn’t fall off again) to the villages where pastors were awaiting our arrival to start planting new churches.
Each day we would put on at least one “program” during which there was LOTS of songs and dancing. Someone from our team shared a testimony and another person would preach each time, sharing about Jesus’ love.
We then split into small groups by ages and spent time praying with people, answering questions, and encouraging new believers. We were also able to spend time with the children singing, acting out Bible stories, and playing games.
Every day in Malawi I woke up and was ready to leave. Every day I was finished trying so hard, because Malawi was hard.
We were stuck in the mud for 5 hours in the middle of the night, in the rain. We moved a lot, spent a lot of time in the van and met countless obstacles.
But every day, through God’s strength, we all got out of our tents, drank our instant coffee and experienced what happens when we reach the end of ourselves. That where we end, Jesus is only beginning. That in our inadequacies we find His strength and in our moments of weakenss He still uses us to call people to Him. He still works in us and through us.
We all returned from Malawi tired. Drained. But confident that the work we started is going to be completed, that we lived and worked in the faithfulness of Christ, and that we impacted the Kingdom through the strength of God.
Blog & Photography by Jenn Crane