Malawi 2024
Dear Friends,
I want to share a spectacular update with you because you deserve every single detail of our recent trip to Malawi! Thank you again for your prayers and contributions to this trip!
***** Iceland along the way *****
The tickets to Africa seem to be most affordable if you go via Iceland to the UK to Africa. As we love Iceland we always purpose to stop for a few days to enjoy the natural hot springs and such. We do not use ministry funds to cover these costs as Iceland is an island and can be quite expensive. Each person traveling with us paid the costs of their travel - the Lord brought me some editing work which I directed towards my ticket and Jacob actually recently opened his own business as an electrician. He plans to begin discipling young men while teaching them the skills of the trade!
Almost to Malawi!
After spending five amazing days in Iceland, exploring glaciers, seeing icebergs, and witnessing the eruption of a volcano, we have now headed south towards Malawi. God is good, and because our layover in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia was longer than the required time limit we were given vouchers to stay in a really posh hotel, as well as have two free meals on the airline. I think it is fair to say that we are all ready to land in Malawi! We have had quite the adventure while getting here, and I must confess my body is rather tired of toting way too many pounds of luggage.
While Alaina and I decided to stay in after eating a really flavorful and savory authentic Ethiopian meal, Wes and Jacob chose to explore Addis Ababa for a bit. I must confess that I am looking forward to tasting some of the Ethiopian coffee tomorrow morning with our breakfast before heading back to the airport for the final leg of this portion of the journey to Malawi one of our homes away from home, so to speak.
We flew to Lubumbashi (DRC) much to our surprise as there was no mention of it on our tickets. I have to say that I was a bit shocked to look out my window as we landed and see several tents with Tank muzzles protruding out of them. One was pointed away from the airstrip while the other two were aimed at the runway. Not the welcome we were hoping for. However, our brief stay was uneventful, praise the Lord!
When we finally cleared immigration and collected our bags, we made our way out of the airport. We were immediately greeted by Pastor Stanley and his son Onesmus and the driver we had hired. We had to hire a minivan in order to accommodate all of our luggage as well as us. It’s amazing how much luggage it can take and the small cars which most people drive there will definitely not fit your luggage so we had hired a minivan. Pastor Earnest and his wife, June’s Elisha, and their administrative assistant had also come to greet us at the airport so we had quite a wonderful celebration as we emerged from the airport. I’m always deeply honored by the love that is shown to us whenever we visit Africa. I believe it gives us just a small glimpse of God’s Kingdom and the celebrations we will experience for eternity!
***First Malawi Update*****
Malawi 2024
I’m happy to say that we have completed both of the conferences that we were speaking at here in Mitundu near Lilongwe Malawi. The words that the Lord brought forth were extremely powerful and stirring words. At times it was clear that we were sharing the very heart of the Lord , as the Holy Spirit took over meetings, and the urgency of how short the time is, was clearly conveyed to people. It is always wonderful to see how people who have not spoken together beforehand about what they are going to share, end up sharing, similar scriptures as well as topics.
The Lord is truly masterful as He guides us in each and every assignment. We met lots of people from different countries who were attending the annual conference - Zambia, Mozambique and Uganda. One of the other speakers was even from Australia. It is quite interesting to see how the Lord is drawing people together from all over the world to impact churches in different countries. We continue to pray that each, and every seed that was shared with others, has penetrated deeply into their hearts, where it is being fertilized, so that it will take deep root and grow, producing much fruit. Our team is incredibly adaptable and flexible and has approached each shifting challenge with happy hearts, eager to see how the adventure develops.
Today we head out Nkhotakota Village, We will have a 5 Hour drive up to where we will see what Godfrey has been doing near Lake Malawi which is one of the biggest (if not, the biggest) lakes in all of the African continent. So most of today will be sightseeing along the way with lots of pictures taken out the window while we drive.
Thank you for your continued prayers. They are instrumental in helping us to break through what can be some very challenging circumstances as we shift the atmosphere as well as mindsets. Without you none of this could be possible! Thank you from the depths of our hearts!
We made it to Nkhotakota after about six LONG hours of bone jarring travel. Rough roads to say the least. Part of our route crossed the National Preserve and we were eager to see what we could see. We came across a tribe of baboons and Pastor Stanley threw some of his Cassava root out the window of his car much to the delight of the baboon’s leader. He wasn’t much for sharing with his tribe though - maybe that is why we are to preach the Gospel to ALL of creation? Shortly after that, one of our team managed to spot a lone elephant. We watched her as she walked away from us, most likely heading towards the watering hole as it was sunset. The majesty of God‘s creation captivated our hearts, even though our bodies are still a little bit bruised from the bumpy road we traveled on our way to Nkhotakota.
Early the next morning, we set out to visit the youth groups that Godfrey has been discipling and teaching. He has been entrusted with the use of the Werengani Ministry buildings which were created following my first visit to Malawi (as Radical Launch with Trina Rae) with Bruce Siegmund in 2017 through the generosity of many donors along the way. Many, many children’s lives have been changed through these efforts and we give God all the glory and all the thanks. After meeting with the children and blessing their classrooms and praying over them, we took a walk on the beach along Lake Malawi, and then rested a while, eating a traditional Malawian lunch, which was truly delicious! After lunch, we gathered for a Bible study with some of the leaders from Godfrey‘s programs. It was a really really awesome opportunity to take a closer look at Ephesians 2:1-10. Afterwards, we prayed for the filling of the Holy Spirit for all of the leaders, and God’s fire showed up in the room in a mighty way! We closed out our afternoon by praying blessing over Pastor Godfrey and his wife, Brenda, and their daughter Ruth as they continue to build this work for the Lord in the village of Nkhotakota , along the shores of Lake Malawi.
***Dzaleka Refugee Camp*****
Arriving at Dzaleka
Since we approached Dzaleka Refugee Camp by coming south from Nkhotakota village, I was not sure of exactly where we would pop into the Camp. I kept looking for the big United Nations’ tent which they had set up to quarantine new arrivals during the pandemic. Finally, we saw it on our left and I knew that we should turn to the right to enter the side of the camp that Sowing Hope Ministries is now located on.
However, a truck was blocking the road that goes straight into the camp and so we were forced to bear to the left, but I was still confident that I could find the ministry. After all, I was only here this past February… It hadn’t been that long… and I had been able to find it easily in February. Well, being confident in my own ability was the beginning of my downfall… Some thing about how “pride goes before a fall”.
As we headed into the camp, we quickly found that we were not on the correct road, but I kept insisting that I knew where I was going. I have to confess that because of my insistence we wasted a good bit of time driving around when if I had just been willing to listen to others, we could have just waited for someone to come get us… but I knew exactly where I was going! Boy was I wrong!!! So, I was given the opportunity to change the way I think.
I was given the opportunity to learn humility. I was given the opportunity to allow others to lead while I follow. I was given the opportunity to learn to respect others and listen to what they have to say because they have good ideas and I don’t always know everything.
Thank you Lord for helping me to learn yet another lesson on humility as well as learning, once again, that your heart is for us to all work together for the common good. Thank you Lord, for all you are doing in us as well as through us. May we always be teachable, in Jesus name amen.
***Southern Malawi Update***
Off to Southern Malawi
Although we left our friends at Dzaleka at Nine in the morning, we only drove a short distance. We went to visit a Bible School which a friend of Pastor Stanley oversees along the road leading from Dzaleka to Dowa. We shared our hearts about the Kingdom versus Religion. We were confident in sharing the things the Lord had given us yet immediately after we had spoken about “seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you”, a student stood up with a question. He had a sound point. He said that all these things are great but what he felt they really needed was a bigger room for their studies. Our hearts were saddened - it was clear he had missed the majority of our messages.
All over the continent of Africa, religion has come with money and building supplies to do for others what they should be learning how to do on their own. What I mean by that is that we would do far better to teach others how to fish than just give them fish. One of the biggest strongholds that I have witnessed here is the poverty mindset… The victim mentality… And I feel that if money or building things for other people would have fixed their problems, we would have solved their problems a long time ago.
We need to get to the heart of the matter. We need to get to the root cause. We need to stop only addressing the symptoms, and instead go deep with the Lord to seek out to solution the same way Jesus did. Please forgive me if this offends you but this is a serious issue which I have been trying to address each place I go. I am NOT anyone’s solution… Jesus is.
I am very clear to always tell people that it doesn’t matter what I tell them, they need to take it back to God and see what He would have them know. I also tell them that once they receive Jesus Christ in their heart as their Lord and Savior, anything they see me doing, they can do as well: Praying for healing, giving words of encouragement, giving words of knowledge, sharing the wisdom of the Lord… The list goes on. I always tell them that my goal is to help equip them because they will have to fight the battle on their own when I leave. That is the heart of ministry. That is what Jesus did. He trained, and he equipped people so that they could continue forward, expanding His kingdom when He was no longer with them.
*****Final Update****
Final Malawi 2024 Update
Our final week in Malawi we spent down south in the Machinga area, near Zomba and Blantyre. The crazy thing about Malawi is that no matter how nearby things are, it takes a lot of time to travel between two places because the roads have been eaten up by truck traffic across them, as well as the heat and other environmental factors. When you look at one of the roads, it catches your attention because it is as if somebody simply poured asphalt and spread it out and there are no straight lines along the sides of the road; it’s this crazy uneven pour of asphalt which almost mimics the sides of a river flowing in and out and there’s no straight line involved anywhere. The roads also have numerous blockades along them where the local officials stop random cars depending on their mood and come up with bizarre requirements that are simply a means of extorting itty-bitty tiny amounts of money here and there while impeding your forward progress.
We made our way from Dzaleka refugee camp down to the Machinga area and when we checked into the hotel, it was not what we had hoped it would be. The drive from Dzaleka, which is up by Lilongwe, down to the Machinga area took the vast majority of the day and rattled our bones along the way. When we got to the hotel, we were extremely disappointed to learn that there was no hot water on demand, however, the man running the hotel would boil water for us as we asked. At this point in the trip, it was almost too much… so we opted to stay there for the one night because it was too late to really do anything else and to look for a more suitable place the following day.
We got an early start the next day as we were speaking to a group of Pastors and church leaders. I always love how the Lord weaves His theme throughout each speaker’s words when we follow His lead and haven’t even discussed what we are each speaking on. He is so Good and when we are faithful, not a single word drops to the ground; All the seeds He gives are planted in good soil. The Pastors and church leaders enjoyed learning about the Kingdom of God and many later said that they were given a whole new way of thinking about the Lord and their lives as Christians. Yay God.
After a nice lunch at a roadside stopping place, we drove to the area where Pastor Stanley has bought land and begun construction on the Kingdom Building Centre. We drove right into the middle of a small collection of houses which had narrow dirt paths between them that the van barely fit down. What an adventure. We attracted the attention of all of the children and glances from the women who were hanging around by their houses as we wove our way over to the house Pastor Stanley has been working on building since 2017. Malawi is a “cash run” country ~ they do not do things on credit so it is completely normal to see partially constructed buildings which are just waiting for the next influx of money to complete the next step of the building process.
We parked next to his shell of a house - the walls and roof are on but no windows or doors or even floors (piles of uneven dirt here and there) have been done. It was a short walk over to the Kingdom Building Centre plot. The Chief of the village had approved Pastor Stanley’s purchase of the property even though the area is predominantly Muslim and they know he is a Christian Pastor. He has cultivated a strong relationship with everyone in the area by taking the time to interact with them and blessing them with bags of maize this past February when there was a significant food shortage due to drought and crop failure immediately after Cyclone Freddy. Love never fails.
We made our way from where we had parked next to his house to the plot of land which he was able to purchase close to the center of the cluster of houses which make up the village. It was a real treat to see the foundation which Pastor Stanley has built for the Kingdom Building Centre. In addition to the foundation for the Centre, he was able to buy numerous additional bricks this past February when many people were selling whatever they could to buy what little food was available. Two huge piles of bricks are staged and ready to be added to the foundation as soon as Pastor Stanley can get the additional items he needs for construction (cement and wood framing, etc.). As we meandered around the site, a growing clump of curious little ones followed us, wide eyed and giggling as they watched these people who looked so different from them. The word “mazunga” was heard often as they referred to our lack of color by calling us ghosts. If any of us moved too quickly, they would break ranks and scatter to a safer distance, laughing all the while - it almost became a game of sorts. (Personally, I have no problem with being the “mazunga” until I detect the wrong spirit is leading the one referring to me as such. For example, while we were at the Bible School on our way out of Dzaleka, the students who were mostly in their early twenties, all wanted pictures with us which was fine until I heard a certain tone in their voices as they said “Mazunga” which conveyed malintent so I immediately shut down the photos by getting into the van , out of sight.) However these little ones were pure of heart for the most part and so we played an impromptu game of sorts with them as we made our way back to Pastor Stanley’s house.
When we arrived back at the house, many women and children from the village were already gathered there waiting for us. We entered the shell of a house and found several chairs and a couple of benches had been placed there for our comfort while the women and children happily sat on the ground which made up the floor of the main room of the house, facing us. Pastor Stanley introduced a younger woman who he told us is the village Chief and she welcomed us warmly. I could immediately sense that she has a true desire to serve her village and work towards the best circumstances for the people entrusted to her. She thanked me for the generosity which had been shown to her village when I blessed them with bags of maize last February when there was no food or crop harvest for them to live on.
Here is where I get to be completely transparent with you ~ at the time, in February, when Pastor Stanley sent me pictures of him giving them bags of food, I have to confess I was not happy about it because that was not what I had intended when I met with him in February in Malawi to give him financial support in order to build the Kingdom Building Centre. The reason I was not happy is because my heart has always been to teach people how they can support themselves, rather than simply paying to buy food for them. I fully believe in the idea that it’s far better to teach a person how to fish than to simply give them a fish. Anyway, I have to say that I was extremely humbled to hear firsthand from the village Chief that Pastor Stanley had turned the tide for them by actually giving them what they needed at the time rather than standing firm on what Edith thought… I think you get it.
The Village Chief then led us in singing some songs in worship of the Lord. It was truly delightful to be a part of worshipping the Lord by joining our voices to theirs. After worship we each had a chance to share what the Lord put on our hearts. To be honest I really am not able to recall exactly what the Lord impressed upon me to share but I do know it was about one of the Lord’s Kingdom of God parables which I find Him directing me to more and more frequently whenever I speak to others on His behalf while trying to expand His Kingdom. After we each shared what was on our hearts, Pastor Stanley offered them the opportunity to invite Jesus into their hearts to be their savior and the Lord of their lives. To our great delight, over fifty women and children including the village chief came forward to receive salvation! We all celebrated together and then prayed for each one wanting personal prayer. It was a great time especially since we were in a predominantly Muslim area. I am excited to hear the continuing testimonies as Pastor Stanley holds Bible studies and disciples them. I believe the Kingdom Building Centre will be pivotal to the expansion of the Kingdom of God in this area. After the festivities, we headed back to the area we had stayed and then continued on to the area where there was another hotel which would be a better place for us to stay. The new location was at the bottom of Lake Malawi, in a place called Liwonde Malawi. The hotel was definitely an upgrade, however the new location meant it would take three plus hours to reach Chiradzulu where Pastor Stanley’s church is located.
We headed out at six the next morning in order to be at Church in time. We had a really great welcome from everyone - I had spoken there six years ago and had been hoping to return on each subsequent trip I made to Malawi however, as you are beginning to grasp, travel in Malawi has a unique set of challenges associated with it. It was great to finally make it back to Chiradzulu which is truly in the bush bush of Malawi… far off the beaten path to be sure. Pastor Stanley declared us to be members of his church and even promoted me to be his associate pastor - that’s how much fun we were having. We all celebrated the goodness of God through singing and dancing and the shared Word of God for over three and a half hours. Finally we took leave of our new friends and went to Pastor Stanley’s house where his wonderful wife, Effie and her children had prepared us a great lunch.
After Lunch we headed over to the Futbol (soccer) pitch for a championship game which Pastor Stanley had organized to draw the youth so we could share with them about Jesus and His Kingdom. Wesley had volunteered to serve as the Goalkeeper for one of the teams. As the music played over the loudspeakers before the event, more and more people arrived.
Finally game time arrived! This was serious futbol with lots of energy being applied by both teams as they each tried to score the first goal. After about half an hour and a number of great saves on the part of Wesley, his team swapped him out for their real goalkeeper. My hat is off to Wesley for his superb performance in the goal. During halftime, he was given a chance to share his testimony of how despite being a successful athlete nothing really satisfied him and he chased after all the wrong things until he met Jesus and his whole life changed. I think it really impacted the players, especially since he had actually played for about half of the first half of the game. Wesley and his wife, Alaina had also donated the brand new soccer ball which would be awarded to the winning team. After Wesley spoke, the game continued. Unfortunately, due to a late start, the game would not be able to be completely played before it got dark. We also ended up having to leave before it got dark because it’s really not safe to be driving on the roads in Malawi after dark… There are no street lights, and when cars break down, they don’t use flares like we do, instead, they’ll pull a large branch off of a tree and put it in the road to let you know that there’s a car ahead that is dead. Crazy. As we were driving, someone had the brilliant idea of actually phoning the hotel ahead of time in order to place orders for dinner so that it would be cooked and ready by the time we got there… Pure genius. We got in late and I decided to forgo dinner and just go straight to bed. I really wanted to spend some time with the Lord and be refreshed. Fortunately, nothing was planned for early the next morning so we got up and had some breakfast and then found out that Pastor Stanley had decided it would be best to rearrange the schedule to give us some time to rest. We were all in complete agreement that it would be good to rest. That afternoon, some members of our team went over to the National Preserve in order to find out what the cost would be for us to visit on the following day. We decided that it would be well worth the cost of hiring a driver and a jeep to take us through the preserve to show us the particular spots of interest as they are far more familiar with it than Pastor Stanley is. We also decided that it would be great fun to take a boat ride, in order to see hippos and such.
We got a super early start the next day in order to be at the gate of the preserve shortly after 6 AM. We wanted to catch the animals before it got too hot and they all went to whatever places they could in order to find shade. We had a great adventure… We did not see the cheetah or the lions, however, we did see a giant footprint of a lion. My own personal heart cry to see the zebras was answered as a large herd of about 20 to 30 zebras crossed the road right in front of us Shortly after we sit out on our adventure. I was so excited! Thank you Lord. Finally, on my third national preserve adventure in Malawi, I managed to see zebras, and then even elephants and hippos! Our boating adventure was a complete blessing from the Lord, even though it did not appear that way in the very beginning. Our engine kept conking out, and finally when we were out in the middle of the river, pretty close to a family of hippos I might add, they actually took the engine off of our boat, and transported it by canoe to the shore, and then brought a fresh engine out to us. This did the trick and soon we were off again in full control of our little boat. Praise Jesus! We saw several different families of hippos and watched them submerging, and re-emerging as they took breaths of fresh air between whatever it was, they were doing down on the bottom of the river. They were quite interesting looking, funny faces looking at us intently. Fortunately, it seemed that they were rather familiar with boats, and were not concerned about us, simply watching them from about 10 feet away. Finally, we headed farther up river to where we had actually seen elephants crossing the river earlier while we were in the jeep. We thought maybe will have a chance to see some elephants, but the shallow river prevented us from getting close to where we thought they might be so we were a little bit disappointed.
As we started making our way back, Pastor Stanley asked the boat driver what was on the other side of the river and he told us that there was a thin strip of land and most animals don’t go there. Oddly enough, the driver suddenly said, maybe we should go over and take a look. We were all quite happy with that because it extended our boat ride. When we got over there, we were stunned to encounter two herds of elephants! The first herd was right at the river’s edge and they were all getting ready to cross back to the other side of the river. Our guide told us how they would go partway across and stop at one of the reed, islands and pull reeds to eat as a snack before they continued on. As we watched from about 10 feet away, these huge elephants began crossing the river. The guide was so excited. He said this was totally rare- “it never happens. People never get to see this. You are so lucky.” We told him luck at nothing to do with it. It was the favor of God. All in all we probably spent about 30 minutes to 45 minutes watching these wonderful elephants, making their way over to their snack stop. We were simply in awe. What a great day!
The next day had us packing our suitcases, so that we could make the drive to Blantyre in order to spend the night closer to the airport, rather than risk having to make a three hour drive on the day of our flight out. One of the things that we’ve learned in international travel is always allow extra time when you are trying to make a flight as well as if it’s at all possible to get closer to the airport, Wisdom says do it because you never know what can happen on that final drive. We have had flat tires on the way to the airport. On this trip, the evening before our flight out the CV joint on Pastor Stanley‘s car completely disintegrated. The good news is in Malawi. The auto mechanic actually comes to your location to repair your vehicle… The things you learn.
I’m pleased to say that we finally arrived back on US soil after a total of two days travel. We left Malawi on September 12 and flew to South Africa where we had a long layover, long enough to allow us to get a hotel and spend part of the day exploring the outskirts of Johannesburg. We did not make it into Johannesburg proper, however, we took a little time and did some shopping at one of the larger malls close to the hotel. Some day maybe we will return and actually do some ministry there. Who knows?
In the early evening of the 13th of September, we boarded a plane and flew to Istanbul, Turkey, on a 10 hour flight. Fortunately, these days they have pretty good selections of movies to watch as well as different TV shows and documentaries which you can watch to pass the time. The meals were actually quite good on Turkish airlines, however the flight itself was exceedingly turbulent.
When we finally reached Istanbul we had a five hour layover, which seemed to stretch to eternity. We used some of our time to seek out a restaurant which we felt might offer some authentic Turkish food. We ended up having omelettes, which were quite good… Breakfast is always good no matter what time of day.
Finally the time came and we boarded our next flight which was another 10 hour flight all the way to Washington DC Dulles airport. Customs went quite smoothly and we collected our luggage and then rented a car to drive up to Baltimore, knowing that we were going to have to return it the next day… One-way rentals cost way too much. While in Baltimore, we were offered the opportunity to attend a conference hosted by a good friend in order to promote unity within the Bride of Christ. We were surprised that not very many people attended. However, the ones who did were quite hungry for the Lord. The presence of the Lord crashed in on us several times over the course of the conference and we were left feeling as if we had actually attended a small kingdom celebration up in heaven, hosted by Lord Jesus. What a great way to end an amazing month in pursuit of the Lord!
I really want to thank you for coming along with us on the journey. Your prayer support made all the difference, and I believe that the Kingdom has truly been expanded because we all worked together, following the promptings of the Lord. Thank you again… We love you and hold you dear to us, lifting you up in prayer that the Lord would meet all of your needs and bring forth your deepest dreams and desires as well, in Jesus mighty name. Amen.
May God always meet you in your moment!