All month long I have avoided going to the market here in Lilongwe. This is month eleven on the world race so I’ve seen markets in eleven different countries in all eleven months. Everybody hassles you when you just want to look without being bothered. They always say the prices are much higher than it should be. They will not take no for an answer. So unless I have money, I know exactly what I want and know exactly what the fair price is, I now choose not to go to the market. But I’ve heard that a few of my friends had success with trading their things for paintings and such so I decided to give it a try. What God had in store for me there was more than I could imagine.
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory…” Ephesians 3:20-21
As I arrived, I quickly discovered that nobody wanted to trade me for my things and was even told to “Put away your clothes, they are ugly!” Unfortunately these have been the clothes that I’ve worn all year and added it onto my list; “You know you’ve been on the World Race for eleven months when Africans tell you your clothes are ugly.”
I decided I obviously wasn’t going to win and didn’t want to spend any money. So I gave up and started to distract these men by talking to them about their lives instead of things that I’m not going to buy. As I started to do this, I felt the Lord encouraging me to do some ministry. My heart went from the defensive hardened heart against the sellers to a heart of love and joy who just wanted to spend time with them and know them better. I spent time with George, who teared up while talking about his financial hardship to provide for his family. I spent time with Alfred (pictured below) and his two sons Gift and Jon who are a family of Rastas and have had bad experiences with Christians which resulted in disbelief. I spent time with Frank who is a Christian man and loved my dancing and singing to their traditional Malawian Christian song. I spent time with Happy who I found out was also a singer and rapper just like my Ugandan friend named Happy. I ended up being at the market for hours with my teammates who also were spending time with people and ministering to them.
The Lord has blessed me by helping me figure out how to minister for fun. I loved these men and laughed so much for hours, all on my day off when we were supposed to be relaxing. I’ve heard people say “The best days of ministry are on off days”, and I now agree.
After I got home, I started unpacking my backpack and found my pair of African shaped wooden ear rings that I bought for my grandma and put in the side pocket. I then looked in my front pocket where my wallet was and found another pair of African shaped wooden earrings. I couldn’t and still can’t believe that one of my friends (I still don’t know who) put some earrings in my backpack without me noticing. They could have easily reached in and grabbed my wallet with all of my money and debit cards, but they didn’t. Instead they gave me a gift.
The next day I returned to the market to say goodbye to my friends and give Jon some carabineers which he told me he loved. I was able to minister to a Rasta man who knew bible verses better than I did, but wasn’t right on a few things. As I was finishing speaking to him, Jon arrived with a beautiful wooden carving of an adult with two children. My heart melted as I took this carving that I would have had to pay about ten dollars for. These men minister to me just as much and if not more as much as I try to minister to them
Malawi has been such a wonderful experience and as we say “Finish strong!” with the World Race ending, Malawi has made that be true. Malawi has made it easy to want to continue doing ministry, or even ministry when its not required.
Dear Malawi,
You are truly the “Warm Heart of Africa!” You have made my heart warm and I will miss you. As much as I loved Uganda, I must admit that this month was my favorite month of Africa. I pray blessings over you. I pray that you will love the Lord more and more and allow him to work in your lives. Thank you for helping me finish strong. Thank you for helping me leave the World Race on such a good note. I hope to see you again someday, but as Pastor Moses says, “If not now, then in Heaven!”
