His name is Blessings Mtete.
He is married, has 4 wonderful children, and has dedicated his life to ministry.
His story is shocking.
Had he lived in Bible times, I honestly believe his name would be found in the Hall of faith found in Hebrews 11.
This incredible man has been my host for the last two months. I have grown such a love for him and his family and they have an incredibly special place in my heart. His wife, Grace, looked at me the other day and said, “Kate, you are my daughter”. And I know she 100% meant it.
During these last two months, I have had the opportunity to hear much of Blessing’s story. It is heart wrenching to say the least. I find myself in tears every time He tells me a different part of his life.
If it’s okay with you, I’d like to share a little bit of his story.
He is currently the Pastor of a church in Lilongwe, Malawi. He has also planted several churches in remote villages.
The church he pastors is unable to financially support him. They are unable to even pay for the rent of the building they meet in, let alone to put food upon his table. There have been many days over the last few years that his family goes to bed hungry because there is no food in the house. Several times they have been kicked out of their house, forced to live on the street or to live without windows/doors, because they were unable to pay their rent. Mind you, with 4 children.
YET, he loves the people in his church unconditionally. He gives to them in their time of need, even when he has nothing for himself.
At one point in time, desperate to feed his family, Blessings began to try to work a job as well as do ministry. After a year of working, He basically lost his entire church. So, he quit his job knowing that he was called to minster, and he had to follow that calling.
This man pursues the Lord with his entire heart and life. He literally depends on the Lord just to survive and feed his family. No matter what has befallen him, he remains completely confident in the Lord’s goodness and faithfulness.
I could go on for pages about the hardships he has faced in more than 20 years of ministry.
With no money, he travels incredibly long distances on foot to minister. At one point he was walking 2 to 3 hours one way back and forth to town for a volunteer position at Campus Crusades.
He walks for hours and hours to reach the churches he planted in the villages, which was almost a 3 hour bus ride for us. Once he is there, he is unable to sleep because of the amount of bed bugs which eat at him all night long. But still he goes, knowing that those people need the word of God.
While he cannot provide for his own family, he is still expected to provide for his parents who are over a 100 years old. The most depressing part being that his older brothers are more than capable of financially supporting their parents, yet they are unwilling. So they call on Blessings to financially support their parents, knowing full well there isn’t food in his house.
During Christmas time, my team was sharing our favorite Christmas memories. I asked Blessing what his favorite memory was. He looked at me with all seriousness and said “I do not have a single good memory of Christmas. There has never been any money in the house, and we were never able to experience Christmas. My daughters would come to me asking why all the other girls were getting new clothes while they got nothing. So I have no good memories.”
At one point in his life, there was a pastor that hated and despised Blessing. So, he sent men to brutally beat him up and unlawfully throw him in prison. Blessing has 100% forgiven these men.
I have never heard Blessings complain. I have never heard a single bit of bitterness in his voice towards his church or his brothers.
One time I asked him how he could keep faith in the Lord with how hard his life has been. I asked how he could still believe in the Lord’s goodness. He looked at me like I was the silliest girl in the world. He simply replied saying the Lord has always been good and faithful, no matter what happens in life. I honestly don’t think he has ever doubted that the Lord was any different.
I hate writing this blog because I feel like I can’t get across to you the man Blessings is. I wish you could see the Joy in his heart and all over his face. I wish you could hear him speak of how the Lord has always provided. I wish you could see how he lives and how content he is. I wish you could see and experience the way he loves people.
He has gone his entire life unnoticed and unappreciated. There isn’t any outside person or church who supports him financially. He has gone most of his life sacrificing so much to spread the word of God with no blessing in return. He has only known struggle and hardship. He has only known coming before the Lord everyday praying that the Lord would provide.
Yet, he has so much love and joy and peace. I honestly don’t understand it.
If I have even a fraction of the faith in the Lord that this man has, I could move mountains.
The Lord has laid it on my heart to bless this man. So, I am asking if you would partner with me and partner with the Lord to help make a huge difference in this man’s life. I asked Blessings what his biggest needs were. He said number one was a brick face. This is basically a brick fence that goes around his plot to keep his family safe. He has been praying and believing that the Lord will provide this for them. The second was a vehicle to allow him to be able to visit the villages that are far away in order to minister to them.
A Brick face is $2000 American dollars. It serves a couple purposes. The first is to keep his family safe, but also their possessions safe as the house can’t lock from the outside. It would also allow them to keep the vehicle safe. As it is very hot in Malawi, having the fence would also allow them to keep their windows open at night in order to let cool air flow in their house.
The vehicle that Blessings wants is a 15 passenger van that costs only $6000. This van would be the biggest possible blessing to this family that you could ever imagine. First off, and most importantly, this van would provide the transportation that Blessings, his family, and his friends, need to go to the villages to preach the world of God. It would also ease ministry for future world race team that he hosts. Transportation would be much cheaper and would therefore allow them to do more ministry. Not only this, but this van would give Blessings a way to raise money for his church and his family. When he is not hosting teams, he would be able to use it to make money transporting others.
So, my team and I are looking to raise $8000. Please pray and consider giving to not only just plain bless this man, but also to further the Kingdom of God. Blessing’s has such an influential voice and could do so much for the kingdom if he simply had the resources to back him. You can go to http://give.adventures.org/campaign.asp?campaignid=1084 to give.
I’d also encourage you to pray about partnering with Blessings on a more regular basis. Whether that’s being able to send him a monthly donation or being able to pray for him regularly.
Thank you all for listening to this man’s story that means so much to me. I love you all and hope you will keep him in your prayers for the strength to continue doing ministry.
