His Face of Love

Walk this Way

2009-07-25T06:04:00.000-07:00

For Wednesday, our last day at Adziwa, we asked James to place us where he most needed us. We felt that we weren't really contributing in construction as they were only making bricks. With previous teams and the first few days of our team, there were a lot of different chores. With the brick making, we felt like we slowed the process down. James thought it would be good for all of us to prayer walk. Mighty Richard wanted to go at brick making, so he stayed behind at the site while we forged on to Kauma. Mary we join back up with Richard at 10:00 am so that they could go to Pastor Henry's house for lunch. One thing we have observed with prayer walking is how James walks. He is so elegant and carries himself with so much dignity, yet he walks really fast. For a man of his height, he sure can take long, fast strides. We can hardly keep up with him. Well, we are stopping to shake and high five with the children. We visited with about 6 families while prayer walking. The first lady we visited with was Menus. She was a christian widow raising 3 grandchildren and 2 orphans. She asked us to pray for her son's health who is positive and for her to have long life so that she can care for the children. The next lady we visited was Teresa who cares for 2 orphans, 5 children and 3 grandchildren. Her prayer request was to have enough food for her children and for their health.
Next, we visited Nila and Kathleena who took care of 5 orphans and 4 children. They asked for prayers to get money for basic necessities such as a bucket for water.
Next, we visited Suzy and Tucker (yes that's what they said there names were but as we learned in Malawi, people change names every day sometimes. We think their names were Tuga and Suz but accents are different). They were sisters helping their mother with orphans, their children and grandchildren. In all there were 5 orphans and 2 children in their care. They asked us to pray for Suzy's store/business. As well that her husband would get a job.
Next, we visited Grace who is a widow taking care of 3 children and 2 orphans. Her prayers were for her roof to be repaired and for her children to behave. Lastly, we visited Banda and Dinah who asked that we pray blessings on their home and on their family. Going into the prayer walk, we noticed that the first day the team walked, 1 person accepted Christ. The second time, 2 people accepted Christ. The third time, 3 people accepted Christ. We laughed that 4 people were going to accept Christ this day, but everyone we visited had already accepted Jesus and declared Him as their Lord and Savior, which is amazing. To God be the glory.

After we visited with the families, we headed to the market to help get some of their basic needs such as relish, sugar, salt and soap. We even bought Nila and Kathleena enough timber to replace the old timber on their roof.
Also, we bough a huge bag of maize flour for Tucker and Suzy. We loved going to the market and taking some of the burden off their shoulders. We found that most people only ate 2 times a day, so to provide more was nice. We made sure that we explained that God provided for them through us as God laid it on our hearts to come to Malawi in the first place. We are filled to be emptied. That's what we did. We emptied our blessings to bless others.

After the walk, we headed back to the Adziwa to prepare for the woman's program. Mary was to speak today and we were nervous when we got back, and she wasn't there. No one else had prepared to speak, so we were nervous and about ready to start cramming when we saw a van with azungu pull up, it was Mary and Richard. The women started arriving shortly after 1:00. One thing that we will miss is the praise and worship of the women. They have so much joy when they sing and dance. After praise, Mary told the story of the women at the well and tied it to the women of Malawi as they go to a well everyday to get water and Jesus finds them just as important. Mary used the evange-cube once more, and offered an invitation for women to come forward and pray the prayer to accept Christ.
Three women came up, and right when we were about to start praying another woman came up. That makes the 4 that we joked about earlier. God knew what was going to happen and we couldn't help find joy and happiness in the fact that He knew.
We handed out bibles to the new believers that had received Christ that week. We said good bye to the beautiful women.

Next was the awana program with the children. We were expecting to do a lot with the children: bible story, craft, worship and games, but that wasn't the case. Our time with them was short, and it made us sad. The children sang songs and then Tucker told the story of David and Goliath.
Afterwards, the leaders had us tell the kids good bye one by one and leave them with a word of encouragement. We were fighting back tears. We said our good byes to the kids, hugging necks, shaking hands and just embracing them.
We went to the back office with the committee members so that they could distribute the items that we were leaving behind that were our own items. We were elated to give specific items to James and Joy as they had been our life line at Adziwa.
Then the committee said a prayer over us for safe travels. It was just as hard, if not harder, to say good bye to them. It wasn't good-bye to James as we would see him again.

We made plans to go to Mama Mia's for dinner, a nice quaint italian restaurant. We invited James and his wife to join us.

We picked them up at Adziwa. We ordered pizza's, pastas, desserts and cappuccino. We gorged ourselves as it was the most familiar food that we have had the entire time. James said that this was the first time that he and his wife had been out to eat since they were married last October. How we take things for granted. We enjoyed laughter and great food. We dropped James off at his house in Kauma. It was really strange driving through the small, clay roads that we had walked days before. It was really dark and quiet. Some were nervous to take out someone's house with the car. While others were nervous about breaking down or getting stuck and having to walk out of Kauma in the dark seeing we had given James our flashlights. By the grace of God, we made it out.

We our honored and blessed to have had this experience. Our lives will be forever changed by what we have seen, the people we have met and the memories we have made. God's hand is truly on Malawi. It's apparent by the way the people wake up with a smile on their face and a song in their heart. Thank you to the people of Malawi for allowing us to be a part of your life for these 2 weeks. We hope to see you all again.

Oh and to end on a funny note....one little kid gave Will a special good bye present

Babies Everywhere

2009-07-23T00:45:00.001-07:00

On Tuesday things were different. We had planned to visit some various ministries in the area, but we ended up only visiting one, the Crisis Nursery of Ministry of Hope. The nursery was established in 1999 by a family from CCBC. They found that people were abandoning babies shortly after birth. They set up the ministry as a way to take the children in, provide a safe place for the child to grow up and if the relatives are living and want the child, after 18 months they would go back to them. In some cases, the children are put on a list for foster care and some eventually adopted. (Pastor Henry of CCBC found his little girl Deborah here.) We were all a little nervous as to what to expect. We feared that the children's living conditions may not, well be, up to standard. However, that was not the case. You could tell that the staff loved and cared deeply for the babies in their care. Currently, the nursery has 15 babies. They use to take up to 27 babies, but the people helping fund their organization had to make cut backs. Where they use to get $8000 per month, they only get $6000 a month. If any of the readers have babies, you know that babies are expensive especially formula and factor in the cost of health costs as some of the children may be very sick, such as having HIV.

The first room we entered, the children were in their cribs, holding out their hands for us. As we continued with the tour, we each picked up a baby. On the final stop of the tour, we were in the play room. The kids are trained to be in their cribs as there aren't enough caretakers for 1 on 1 care, so after having them out for a while, we were nervous to send them back to their cribs. However, we didn't have to be the bad guys, the caretakers took them back. It would have been so easy for us to walk out with a few of them, if only they'd let us.

Later that afternoon, we were to attend the funeral of a sub chief of Kauma Village. He passed away on Saturday from pneumonia and malaria. On Monday, James asked another sub chief (there are 10 total), if we could attend the funeral and he approved. We weren't sure what to expect, but we knew that we would not be able to stay for the entire funeral as it was a traditional African funeral as he was a non believer. Therefore, James and other believers leave early. When we first got there, we sat in a hard, weedy with stickers area in the back. Then, we were moved closer on the porch and front area of a house that had a mat. We were informed that we were going to meet with the chief. That four of us could go and meet with him. Richard, Mary, Kelley and Stephanie went with Moses and James to meet the chief. We were taken into a house and sat on the floor. A guy came in started speaking in chchewa and the only word we understood was Fanta. Moments later the guy came back with 6 fantas. Come to find out, the guy was the head chief. He wasn't wearing the traditional garb like we had expected. He sat with us and Richard expressed his feelings and shared Christ. The chief was gracious and listened. We hope that seeds were planted as he is a non believer as well. We gave the chief money to help with the funeral cost, 3000 kwacha. After he left the house, we drank our fantas and found out that the sub chief that passed away was actually his son. When we came back to the funeral area, we were again moved to another area. We were given seats of honor in chairs in the front row along with the chief. Talk about feeling awkward. We felt as if we were on display. As we were walking to our new seats, every eye was on us. I asked Joy what they people were saying, and she said that they were honored that azungu had come to the funeral and that they were pleased. That eased some of our fears. The area filled in. All you could see where people. If we had to guess, there were at least 2000 people if not more. There were kids climbing the tree to see what they could see. We have never seen so many people packed in so tight. There were a few times when it seemed so chaotic that we feared for the children on mothers' backs as it seemed that they could get pushed over and trampled. Here we are at this funeral with 2000+ Africans, 7 azungu oh and 2 chickens. Somehow 2 chickens got trapped in the open circle surrounded by people. We pray that this was an accident and not done on purpose for some ritual that we missed when we left early. First several men stood up and spoke. While they were speaking, men would come up and give money. We found out that when someone shared memories and met their expectations, they would give money to thank them for sharing. Then, the men in mask (forgot the chchwa word but it means animals) came out, it was an unusual sight and some were a little nervous. The first set danced with their ponga knives. Next, men on stilts performed. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience. We were honored that they allowed us to be there and experience it.

in the trees

the masses

the men in masks

Unfortunately, we did not get to see the children today since the funeral took up most the afternoon. Our hearts would have to wait until Wednesday.

We shared our last dinner at Kuka Lodge. Wednesday night, we would go out to eat. It's been great staying here and we hope that other teams will stay here going forward. We have fallen in love with the staff: Felix, Hartley and Enock.

Monday, Monday

2009-07-21T08:30:00.000-07:00

It has been a long weekend, and we are anxious to see what Monday held in store for us. We have missed the children so much and cannot wait to see their smiling faces.

Arriving on site was special. Richard, one of the awana leaders, was blowing up balloons and hanging them all over the multi purpose building along with signs declaring Happy Birthday Mary!!! Mary officially made this the best birthday ever.

We divided up into 2 teams today as we are short 2 men. One team, Suzy, Kelley, Tucker and Will stayed on site to work construction. While, Mary, Richard and Stephanie went into the village to prayer walk. James, our guide, translator and Eddie Murphy look a like, informed us that many of the families had inquired as to why we have not been by their house to meet with them. He told them that we were a small team and have not made it too far into the village. He told them that there was no way that we could visit everyone but there would be other teams in the future. On the prayer walk, we met with the Gomad family. The Grandfather and Grandmother were christians and knew Christ. We asked their grandson, Lex, and he did not have Jesus in his heart, but wanted Him there. Richard explained sin and how Jesus washes it away as He died for us, to take our place. He used the evanga-cube for illustration. It was awesome to see Lex, a 17 year old young man, to pronounce Jesus as Lord and Savior. Their prayer request was to see all of the children in their care to live so they could see them grow. They have lost 6 children of their own and only have 2 still alive.

Another visit was with Rose and her neighbor Loveness. Initially, we were just speaking with Rose and Loveness came over and sat down. Both of them asked Jesus in their heart. God is good. Mary used the cube once again, to make sure they understood what it meant and how Jesus fits into it all....well how He is the ALL. Their prayer request was for the children to obey and some of them have been giving them trouble. Another family we met with, the caregiver's name was Maria. She had 1 child and 6 orphans in her care. While visiting with them, we were able to see how cakes were made in Malawi. The people of Malawi are really resourceful. We asked to take pictures and she said yes. We showed her the picture and like all Malawians, she smiled and laughed after seeing it. She wasn't expecting it to come out so quick.

here Maria is dipping batter into tin cans. Her son in the background puts them into an oven

We talked to them and their relationship with Christ. The older son requested a bible in English, and Maria, one in chchewa. Her prayer request was for wisdom on more small businesses for income for the family. After leaving the families, we headed to the market to fulfill some needs for the people we visited. There we picked up fish, tomato and onion to make relish for the maize.

buying the fish

As well, we purchased sugar, soap, lotion, shampoo and bread. For Lex, he requested some shoes and school supplies so we picked them up as well. On the way back to the houses, we asked James if other teams had purchased things like our team has (this was a daily thing for us to by the people we visited some groceries as it was Scott's idea from day 1). He said no the others haven't. We asked if it set a bad example. He assured us that it didn't as if we have the means to help those in need then it was a good thing. We pray that the teams that come after us follow suit if they have the means as we believe that it's an encouragement for the people in Kauma and to Adziwa and us being in the village. As always, the recipients of the items and groceries were grateful.

Samson (James' pastor at his church, whom we met on the walk)

Back on site, the construction team was not having such a good day. They were exhausted mentally and physically. It seems that things were not business as usual at the site and many of the men whom we have worked beside in previous days were working on other things. As a result, in opened a door that was really awkward and made things really uncomfortable. On top of that, Will was making a brick and the bar snapped back suddenly and hit him in the face. By the grace of God, other than making him dizzy and the pain, he was okay. It really could have caused damage if it had hit him in the mouth. By the time the prayer walking team had got back to site, the construction team had hit their wall physically and emotionally.

After our lunch break, the children arrived for their awana program. We are still amazed by the energy of the children and the leaders of the program. WIthout these leaders, we would not be able to do the program. They are so passionate about the program and you can see that in their eyes and their smiles. They find it pure joy to be there.

The program started as usual with songs of praise. As well, the children sang Happy Birthday to Mary. (I think she cried again)

Mary (Joy's mother) gave our Mary a gift for her birthday

After worship, Kelley read a bible story to the children about Joseph. This session was a little different as at the end of the bible story, if the children answered the questions correctly, they got a goody bag of stuff. Surprisingly, the children were not upset if they didn't get it right or if they weren't called on. That's on thing that's different here than in the US. Our children feel entitled to things sometimes or we as teachers, say oh nice try, if they get it wrong. Here they say, no and move on to the next kid. They keep it real here and it works. After bible story, the children broke up into 3 groups: singing, craft and games. For craft, they made hand puppets out of paper plates. A nice simple craft that wouldn't take as long as face painting. The kids enjoyed them. At the end, we tried to hand out pictures of the kids that we had taken last week. This did not go so well as the kids were shoving and crowding to get to the pictures trying to see it or help identify the kid in the picture. This was truly chaotic. Finally, the awana leaders had to make the children go home, and they will try and hand out the rest later.

We are truly blessed to be here and are sad to think about Wednesday when we say good-bye to the children. We count it an honor to serve with the awana leaders and it a pleasure to love on the children.

Filled with His Goodness, Lost in His Love

2009-07-20T22:05:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, we attended church at Capital City Baptist Church (CCBC).

We had a time of worship and praise where the 3 songs were in English. Pastor Henry spoke on 1 Peter 2:9. His main theme to the service was that everyone was to be a priest. Also, he talked about 4 changes that would occur if we rediscover God Holy Spirit.

- Life ministry would shift from simple life ethical standards to an experience of an in dwelling Christ.

- The church would shift from an institution of passing on historical facts to becoming the body of Christ

- Worship would shift from a performance to people's hearts being encouraged giving honor and reverence to His name.

- We will stop giving the devil glory by talking and spreading the word what he has done. Which was really eye opening, because I have never really thought about it that way, gossip as the devil's glory. It really puts things in a new perspective.

To tie it all in, he used a visual prop. He talked about how we as christians have the right tools as God gives it to us. All week long, Satan tries to break our backs. Then on Sunday, we come to church smiling. As soon as we leave, the devil is beating us again. Even though we have the tools to defend ourselves against him, we can't because we aren't plug into the power source, God. He demonstrated this by using a power saw.

After church, we said good bye to Scott and Brandon, as they were leaving for the airport. They were sad to leave and I am sure they left a piece of them, here in Malawi. The rest of the team went to Pastor Henry and Deborah's house for lunch. While lunch was being prepared, Will, Stephanie and Mary attempted to put together the play house that was donated for their 5 year old daughter.

The lady whom made it wanted to donate it to Adziwa, but after being there and seeing how things works and how many kids there were, we knew that wouldn't be possible. As a team, we decided she would be the best candidate for it. Now, we weren't sure what we were doing as Scott had watched it put together in Franklin, and he just left for the airport. We tried following the numbers but that didn't work. After about 45 minutes, we tried to use logical. We made it further than before, but it was still not quite right. We broke for lunch. We enjoyed fellowship and the americanized meal of spaghetti, salad and bread. For dessert, Deborah made carrot cake. After lunch, we returned to our play house construction. We made it happen as best as we could. She loved it and that's all that matter.

Later in the day, T.K., came to our lodge to pick us up. We would follow him to his house for coffee and appetizers before going out to dinner. We got to meet his wife, Florence, and their children. I cannot spell their names, but their names mean, Jesus Reigns, Jesus is King, Jesus is Good and Jesus is enough (the last one may not be exactly right). WIll and Tucker thoroughly enjoyed this time, as they devoured the bowl of fritos.

While there, we experienced another blackout. If I haven't mentioned earlier, they frequently have blackouts for 2-3 hours at a time to help conserve electricity. It's broken out in sectors and the sectors at least experience this 2 times a week (except the area we stay in as a lot of diplomats live in this sector). After our appetizers, we drove to dinner, T.K. and his wife, Florence, joined us. We ate at a quaint italian restaurant, Al Fresco, managed by a friend. We dined on pizza and had great conversation. Of course, we ended the night with some cards.

We are sad that this is our last week and that we have only 3 more days. We pray that God makes this time memorable and that we can witness all His wonderful glory.

and on the 6th day we rested

2009-07-20T09:01:00.000-07:00

Even though Saturday was technically a free day, we got up early to start a day as our travels would take us a few hours away from our lodge. After breakfast, Tom, our driver, was here to pick us up. Coming along, with our team on the trip, was Jimmy and his wife Wezzie.

Jimmy and Wezzie

Some of us were dreading the drive ahead, but the time went by fast as we played games. The first stop of the day was the market to do a little souvenir shopping. This in itself was almost like a game. We were told by others that if you come to the market and purchase an item at the first cost quoted to you, then you are ruining it for everyone else. The objective is to "do business" and barter with them. You have to be willing to walk away and do business with someone else as they basically have all the same merchandise maybe with slight differences. Some people like it, some people didn't do so well under these conditions. Especially considering that we were under a time crunch. Originally, we were given 30 minutes to do our shopping, but the group consisted of four women, so you know that wasn't happening. We ended up extending our time to 45 minutes. We all managed to make out with a few souvenirs for ourselves and loved ones or so we thought.

The market

After that, we continued on in our journey to Lake Malawi. It wasn't too far away. Once at the hotel, we went to the restaurant for lunch. The hotel had a buffet. There on it was fish, chicken and goat along with nice cooked vegetables and potatoes. On another side, there were salads, fried bananas and dessert, but we didn't need any dessert. We had our own special dessert as it was Mary's birthday. The staff came out singing happy birthday with a chocolate birthday cake. Richard said the sweetest things to Mary, and of course, she cried. He gave to her a book about Africa to remind her of this birthday.

Lake Malawi was beautiful. It was nothing like a lake, it was like a beach and an ocean. We ventured down the shore line to where the rocks stopped us. Some of us ventured further and climbed a brick wall to see the "really cool" things that Will told us about. (Don't tell him but it was a bunch of big rocks and a tree that you could see from the other side of the brick wall.)

Beyond the brick wall (the wall was about 10 feet)

Before going through the gates of the hotel, we noticed a little market a.k.a souvenir shop. Will thought of some other people for whom he needed to buy somethings for. He found some things, but we soon discovered that this market was expensive. Where we would have paid 500 kwacha for something, it was 1500 kwacha here. Collectively, we decided it wasn't worth it, checked our watches, and decided we had some time that if we left the lake early, we could hit up the other market again. Thus, we loaded up.

We got to the market in time, as they said they were closing in 30 minutes. There were a few of us who wanted some more things, so we got out of the van, picked 1 of 35 shops and started doing business. We each picked up 2 or 3 things, since we were all buying from the same store, we really needed to get a good deal. He started at 1000 kwacha for each item. WHAT!!! That is way too much, we countered with 500.

-No, no 900.

-500.

-No, no 700.

-No 500 is fair for you and us look at all this stuff we are buying from you

- 600 is the best I can do

- 500 is fair

-700

-wait you just said 600

-ok 600

-can we both agree on 550 thats an extra 500 for all these items, that's a lot of money

-okay 550

That my friend is how you do business in Malawi :)

Along the ride home we saw many interesting things farmers markets, Heaven Bound Funeral home, mice on a stick being sold on the side of the road and real tribal men in leave skirts and masks. It was quite a journey.

For dinner, we stopped at Kumbali VIllage where our youth group who came before us stayed. It's truly roughing it. Open showers where you get your own water and huts to sleep in. Dinner was served in the dining area under the stairs. For dinner we ate chicken, beef, fries and nsima (prounced see-ma which is the local staple) with relish.

It was a long day and we looked forward to our beds, but not before we play some take'em.

Faithful Friday

2009-07-19T06:51:00.000-07:00

The teams that have worked on construction up until this point has complained of fatigue and sore muscles, so this team (Suzy, Stephanie, Mary and Richard) was prepared for a day of hard labor. The first few pulls on the brick machine were tough but manageable. Then as the day progressed, it took more and more people to pull the lever to make the brick or pop the brick out. Again, we were throughly impressed with the efficiency of the team. This team won over the "brick chicks". Before this team, the brick chicks have been reserved, but we were so impressed with their skills of carrying water and the bricks on their head. We took video of the bricks chicks dancing with the bricks on their heads and showed them, and they loved it. However, we don't doubt that they laughed at us and our lack of skills at making bricks. What can we do, we tried.

George the machine working hard

On prayer walking (Kelley, Will and Tucker) had some pretty amazing and unique experiences. One of the families they prayed with, the care giver and the sister, accepted Christ and WIll got to pray over them. The team went into the market and purchased some fabric for Dorothy who had accepted Christ with the you team, as she is trying to find alternative income so that she can quit her job at the bar as she knows that it's not right for her to be there. Also, while at the market, the team bought some basic grocery staples for families who were dyer need such as the family who's dad lost his job that week. Once again, the prayer walking team had their little groupies following them through the village until James told them to scatter. The team also got to stop by Jame's wife's bakery.

Brandon and Scott went to the school and were able to sit in on some life skills education with the standard 5 and 6 classes. Steve, the school head master, educated the kids on preventing malaria by keeping grass around the house low, emptying pots that may have water and using nets to sleep. Then they proceeded to educate the children about STD's. After school, Brandon and Scott met up with Felix (our server from the Kuka Lodge, who teaches in Kauma). Felix took the guys back to his house, met his fiance and gave Felix marriage advice at his request. As well, they presented to Felix a collection of money that the team put together as a wedding gift as he is to be married on August 8th. He was very appreciative.

After lunch, we had a full schedule of activities for the kids. Well maybe not a full schedule, but it took up the entire time. After a few songs of worship, Scott led bible study and he told about Joshua, including the back story of Moses and the Israelites, and he became the leader over them to carry them into the promise land. He did a amazing job of tying it all back to trusting God and taking down walls of trust and sin. He was a natural.

After bible story, awana leaders led the kids in more worship while we painted their faces. We started off by giving the kids 6 different things to choose from. Then, as we noticed it was taking forever, Steve insisted that we only do a cross or a heart. Then we realized that the kids were rubbing off the paintings and coming back for another. In all there was probably 100 kids, but we probably painted 160 kids. Oh well, it was totally worth it. We wouldn't change a thing, okay maybe we would, less choices :)

After the program we went to the soccer...ahem I mean football field to let Scott and Brandon say good-bye to the kids as they would be leaving on Sunday and would not be back to Adziwa. The children said good bye with a song and promised to watch over Kelley for Brandon.

Once the kids were sent home, we went back to the adziwa offices to sort through the donations and bag them so that they could be distributed to the community. It was amazing to see how many families were going to benefit from the donations of our family and friends.

At night, we have taken up a nasty habit. After dinner, we sit around and play what we refer to as "Take' em" I am sure you have probably heard of this game know as something else. Basically you try and get rid of your cards by saying, I have 2 fours and laying them down face down. If someone thinks they are lying, they say take'em. If they are lying they have to pick up the whole stack. If they aren't lying, then the person who called them out, picks up the cards. We have great laughs over Tucker's inability to lie and how people get called out.

Writings of Love

2009-07-18T13:05:00.000-07:00

From Thursday....

Sorry we are so behind on the blog, but we have been enjoying each other's company. As a result, today's writing will be condensed as I am running low on battery.

The day started out with a contract on a new house. All parties involved: the contractor, the Kauma committee, Adziwa, and The People's Church were there to sign off on papers. A new house will cost roughly around $11k with the cost of steel and cement being very expensive to import because of gas prices and the fact that the World Cup will be in South Africa next year. Therefore, they are using lot of the cement they usually export themselves.

Richard representing The People's Church

committee signing off on the contracts

Steve Bowler and James after the signing

Teaching, were Mary and Richard, they spent the morning helping out in the classrooms grading papers and leading songs with the kids.

On construction, Tucker, Kelley and Brandon were left to make bricks. Apparently, the brick chicks (the girls who carry the bricks) liked Brandon and were impressed by his brick making skills. It is hard labor. We are so impressed with the guys and girls who work as they work 7 days a week from 7am to 5pm. Imagine doing this in 105 degrees for an entire summer for years and years. They make 450 bricks a day. WOW!

Brandon and Tucker stirring the mixture with Felix

Scott, Will, Suzy and Stephanie prayer walked. They visited several homes and even 2 special guests. The first lady they visited accepted Christ and Stephanie got to pray over her. James, our guide, took them by his parents house but didn't tell them right away until everyone settled in. Then lastly, James took them by his house to meet his lovely bride. It's amazing how kind and humble everyone is in Kauma as they give you their chairs or their mat while they sit on the floor. As you pray for them, they bow at your feet to show respect.

The kids that followed us on our prayer walk

James with his Mom and Dad

James and his lovely bride

After lunch, we did the Awana children's program were Will lead the bible story about Paul and his life. How he became a christian after murdering christians and about the letters he wrote to the church. For craft, we let the kids make pencil pouches and supplied them with pencils. While craft was going on, other areas were doing worship, playing games and coloring sheets. Also, we took pictures of all the kids and are working to put them on a foam frame to give to the kids as we come back and print them off.

As always it was sad to leave the children.

Smiles, Smiles and more Smiles

2009-07-16T12:48:00.001-07:00

Today was our first full day of work, we felt like it was a long time coming and looked forward to it. We loaded up the truck after breakfast with all of the donations that were made. As we drove through town, lots of the people looked at the duffel bags in the back of the truck with curiosity.

Once there, we divided up in our teams to start the day. Stephanie and Suzy were off to help at the school. Brandon, Mary and Kelley were prayer walking. Scott, Tucker and Will were left behind to do the hard labor at the construction site. While Richard went off with Jimmy to help get some shirts for the Awana program. Also, we presented Joy and James with a gift that our children, back in Franklin, made at VBS.

The people who left the site, had to walk into the Kauma Village which is just right outside of the Adziwa area. On our walk, we got to visit with children for a few seconds as we passed by. As well, we got to try out our chichewa by telling everyone “madzooka bwanji” (that spelling is probably wrong) which means good morning. Our favorite moment of the morning, was when we passed by 2 little girls about 3 years old, playing in the dirt. When they saw us, their eyes lit up and they stood up, jumped up and down and repeated adzungu (probably misspelled as well) which means white people. They repeated it over and over again, with the same enthusiasm, jumping up and down. It was the sweetest thing ever. (Video to come later)

We passed by the secondary school, and all these kids started following us. We were thinking that they were leaving school and that they were going to get in trouble, but James, our guide, said it was okay that they were walking with us to primary school and that they were just there playing. Whew....we didn’t get them in trouble as they were trying to follow the adzungu. (we kind of know how celebrities feel being stared at and followed :)

Once at the school, Suzy and Stephanie were paired with teachers. Suzy helped Tandy with the smaller children ages 3-5. Stephanie was paired with Homeless and taught standard 3. They were amazed by the children’s enthusiasm to be at school, their discipline and their drive. See the school house is divided into separate buildings. The room Stephanie was in was about the size of a single car garage. In that building, standard 3 had one half, while standard 4 had the other. Standard 3 was learning English were they read a story and did comprehension. A part of the comprehension was acting out the story which was called a celebration, where there was a party. While on the other side, standard 4 was taking a test. How any kid could take a test in that kind of chaos, is beyond us. One thing we have all observed, is how obedient and well behaved the kids are. They know their boundaries and do not dare cross them. Suzy sang songs with the children and played games with them.

At the construction site, Tucker, Will and Scott did all the manual labor. We heard about it all night how they worked the hardest, and we all agreed. They leveled the ground around the new “community center” removing large rocks, breaking up dirt clumps and moving broken bricks (which weigh 11 lbs when whole) to help level out the foundation. I just asked Tucker if there was anything more to add to this section and he said, “yea that it was hard.”

On the prayer walk, Mary, Kelley and Brandon had an amazing experience visiting with the various families that James had chosen. Once at the house, they would pull all the chairs they could gather or lay out a mat outside to sit on. During the visits, they would ask what the family dynamic was like, how many orphans were in their care, if they worked, went to church and what their needs were. At the end, the care giver/ parent(s) would come and kneel at their feet to be prayed over. They even had the opportunity to go to the market in Kauma. What an experience!

Kelley and Brandon helping with a mat

Before the children’s program, Awana, the group ate lunch and enjoyed some sugar cane that was picked up at the market. The malawians love it and say it makes their teeth really strong. Some of us really struggled with it.
 

Brandon told the bible story of Noah’s Ark for the children.

The children loved the special game where we had them recreate the sound of rain, by making various sounds with their hands, rubbing together, snapping, hitting legs and then stomping feet. They really seemed to enjoy it. Mary led the craft which was painting squares to make a quilt to take back to Franklin, so that Franklin can have a piece of Malawi, like Malawi has a piece of Franklin. Stephanie led worship and praise for the English songs, while some kids did the craft.

While Scott organized the games played like hot potato. They were so excited, and we love the time we get to have loving on them. Afterwards, they hit the soccer, ahem, football fields to kick the ball around. The children are so good at football. The girls had their own game with the ball, keep away. Brandon was a trooper playing with the kids, head butting the ball and loosing his glasses a few times.

The school, which is under construction, and the playing field

Mary and the kids

As we pulled out of the village the kids waved bye and followed us. We learned to say teewoanana mawa (spelling, yet again, probably not even close). Which means, see you tomorrow. Yes we will!!!!

Diving In

2009-07-15T08:40:00.000-07:00

We all joined each other for breakfast. We had a surprised guest, T.K. Iliesanmi, who is the director of African Leadership in Malawi. He is a funny guy and delights in making people smile as such his name sake. After breakfast, we had our orientation day, and we got a deep baptism. We went out to the Adziwa project site in Kauma village. The Adziwa committee greeted us and together with Steve Bowler, Adziwa project coordinator, gave us a great orientation to the project itself as well as Malawi and it’s culture. We met James, who is the local point person for the project, and he is a great leader. We learned that the women need to wear some skirts even at the work site. We needed to buy tachingi (sorry Pastor Henry if we butchered that one) which are basically wraps...off to the local market. That was an interesting, cultural experience. Joy, an Adziwa committee member, was kind enough to be our guide at the market. It was so nice to have a Malawian with us. We purchased out “wraps” and went to CCBC for lunch where Joy then showed us the proper way to wear them.

After lunch, we headed back to Adziwa where some of us were dropped off while some made an airport run to check on Tucker’s lost luggage. When we pulled up, there was a group of kids awaiting our arrival.

Those of us who were at the project site, were greeted in song and praise by the women in the community. Talk about tears filling your eyes. It was such a humbling experience. We continued to have praise for several minutes in their native language. It was a taste of heaven, worshipping and praising in pure adoration as one body of Christ. While praising, Mary was getting all into it, so much so, that she didn’t even realize her wrap had come undone. Whoopsies. Luckily, we still had on our pants from earlier in the day. The women chuckled. After praise, Mary shared her story of coming to know the Lord and her trials and tribulations along the way, and how she remains faithful and trust Him always. It’s a constant learning experience. Kelley, as well, shared her trials with the women as well. James encouraged to share our trials so that the women would know that they are not alone. That it’s not just a Malawi thing. After sharing, we took prayer requests, several women came forward and knelt before us, so that we could pray for them. Mary, Kelley and Stephanie prayed for the women. It was a blessing and joyous time together with the women and their small children. On the other front, the bag was a no show. The other team members came back to the site to join us once again.

After the women’s study, it was time to love on some children. Many children came running in with smiles on their faces, staring deep into our eyes. Joy led a time of song and praise in their language. After a few songs, Mary and Stephanie led worship in English. It was such a joy to see the faces of the kids as they sang and looked adoringly in our eyes.

Once again, we fought tears as our hearts filled with joy and love. After praise, Stephanie told a bible story on Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. We shared how God is faithful to those who are faithful to Him and how he protects his people. That in all circumstances, we should worship Him and him only. Followed by a round of questions relating to the stories, the children were able to answer all questions. After the story, we played games with the kids. Mary shared a new game with them that they seemed to really enjoy. As several of us sat and loved on the children. We could spend every day this way for a long time. It so amazing how the children warm up to you so fast, all wanting to touch us and hold our hands. Some even fighting over who gets to hold our hand. Oh and we should mention, that we were not prepared for any of this, we had no idea we would be responsible to lead women’s and children’s study time. Amazing how God gives us the words to say when we weren’t even prepared to share scripture, tell a bible story, lead worship or share our stories.

After a long day, we left the village. Our hands were so tired after waving bye so much. We cannot wait to go back tomorrow. We came back to the hotel, were as soon as we pulled in the electricity went out. The group tomorrow will be divided, Will, Tucker and Scott will have construction duty, Suzy and Stephanie will be teaching at the school and Kelley, Brandon, Mary and Richard will prayer walk.

Tucker and Innocent

End of the Day

Travel Buddies

2009-07-14T12:37:00.000-07:00

Saturday was a hard day for most of us, as we left behind husbands, children and parents, but we knew that we would meet more of our family in Malawi. Thank you to Damien, Stephanie’s husband, for giving us a great send off prayer.

We had some snafus along the way. Our first flight out of Nashville was delayed by 2 hours which would make an impossible connection in Atlanta to Johannesburg. We sent out a prayer request on twitter, and God was good. We were able to get on an earlier flight to Atlanta and had 45 minutes to make our connection, and we did! Scott sat beside someone of Hindu faith and was able to share his story. The flight to Joburg wasn’t as bad as we had expected. We arrived on time. However, we had another snafu. We expected to pick up our bags and store them overnight, but the airline had checked them all the way to Lilongwe. We had a wonderful hotel and a great first dinner together at a quaint little Italian restaurant. We weren’t roughing it yet.

 Everyone had okay sleep, and we were off to breakfast at the hotel before heading to the airport. In the shuttle, we met a lady from D.C. who was going to Malawi to work in the healthcare administration. She was very helpful and we appreciated all her insights. Once at the airport, we ran into another snafu. As you know, Jim and Betty had to cancel, last minute, due to him breaking his knee cap. Their airline tickets had to be cancelled and for some reason, South African airways cancelled Suzy, Tucker and Stephanie’s reservations as well. The flight was overbooked and things weren’t looking so good. We said a little prayer, got in line at the ticket counter and worked with the agent. Praise God, we got on the flight. Praise God again!

It was surprising how many people were on the plane who were mission workers of some sort. It’s great to know that Malawi has not been forgotten and that people are coming alongside God to help him love on the people here. Once here, yet another snafu. Everyone’s luggage made it with the exception of Tucker’s personal checked bag. One out of seventeen bags isn’t bad, but for Tucker, not so great. However through our donated items, we were able to help him have some clean clothes and we can still donate those items when we leave. We are still waiting on his bag, as I type this.

Once we passed immigration and picked up our bags, we were honored by a huge welcome committee of CCBC leaders and Pastor Henry. While at the airport we got to see a trace of God’s hand on Malawi.

We got to the Kuka Lodge in good shape.

We organized our donations, gifts, school supplies and crafts. We had a good first dinner in Malawi. The food at the lodge is delicious and they are very generous with their portions. We had a good debriefing time and prayer time. We were blessed to have Jimmy, CCBC’s youth pastor, and his wife, Wazy, join us. We were thankful that Jimmy shared his story with coming to know Christ with us and how he came to serve at CCBC. After dinner, we turned in to bed for what we hoped would be a good night sleep.

Don't forget to follow us on twitter

Packing Night

2009-07-09T19:10:00.000-07:00

Tonight, we met as a team to gather and pack all the things that we purchased or that was donated by church members, family and friends. We learned of some sad news tonight, that Jim and Betty will not be making the journey with us in body, but will be with us in spirit. Jim fell and broke his knee cap and will be immobile for 3 weeks. Betty, his wife, will be staying at home with him. While we will miss them terribly, we know that God has a plan in all of this. Jim and Betty came out help us, Jim with crutches and all.

These are the duffle bags that each one of us will be checking in as our own. We cracked jokes tonight about the normal questions you asked by the agents at the ticket counter, "did you pack your own bags" and "have your bags been in your possession at all times". While the answers may be no, I think we are a pretty trustworthy bunch :)

What's in the bags you ask?

a wall hanging, cotton squares, ribbon, 3 pkg markers, 84 t - shirts, 12 hats, 1 target, 24 rolls of stickers, 13 bean bags, 10 soccer balls, 3 volleyballs, 3 pumps, 53 shorts, 13 dresses , 5 women's skirts, 27 blankets, 8 spiral notebooks, 37 shoes, 19 jeans, 58 shirts, 19 sweatshirt, 67 packs of girls underwear, 55 packs of boys underwear, 25 school bags, 298 pencil pouches, 10 pkgs foam stickers, 19 dresses, 6 skirts, 7 sweatpants, 9 womens underwear, 5 mens underwear, 4 pkgs t-shirts, 3 shorts/shirts sets, 20 flip flops, 6 women's shirts, 3 water bottles and 1 bag of coloring sheets

One lady (sorry I don't know your name if you are reading) was kind enough to drop by this little playhouse that she made out of PVC pipes.

We leave in less that 48 hours!!!

Arrival

2009-07-05T13:54:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone! This time next week, we will be landing in South Africa. It will be here before we know it. Our student team just returned and Shelia, one of the adults that went on the trip, was so kind to share her photo albums and first thoughts with Facebook friends. I asked if it would be okay to share them with our readers and our team. She said absolutely. Here they are...

First Thoughts

Photo Album 1

Photo Album 2

Thanks for letting us share Shelia!

Praise and Prayers

2009-07-01T12:38:00.000-07:00

Suitcases are being packed. Toiletries and other necessities are being purchased. Underwear, blankets and clothes for the people of Malawi are pouring in.

Next Thursday, our team is meeting at the church to bring together all the items that we have purchased or had donated to the church for the people of Malawi. As mentioned in the previous post, they had a wish list of underwear for boys and girls, blankets and clothes. That we know of, we have 29 blankets and somewhere between 100-120 underwear for the boys and girls each. We have secured several duffles that we can pack these items in. Someone mentioned that Delta may waive the fees on these if we tell them our situation and that we will not be returning home with them, hopefully someone has called. If not, I am willing to get on the phone. Any money we save, is money that can go towards supplies and gifts to love on the people of Malawi. Can we get an AMEN!

As we get closer to our departure date, we need prayer more and more. Here are a few things, our leader, Richard, sent out in an email to the team. The more people we have praying for our team and for God's will, the better. Wouldn't you say?

Please continue to ask the Lord to give us:
* wisdom for packing and supplies to take;
* continued health as we prepare to leave, travel, and while in Malawi;
* travel mercies as we depart from Nashville on Saturday, July 11;
* divine encounters as we travel and while there;
* changed lives in Malawi and in us; and
* laughter (Mary's favorite prayer request)

While we are in Malawi, we will try and update the People's Church global outreach twitter account. This account is used by various mission teams and hopefully if we have internet access, we will use it as well. Click here to go to the twitter account and mark it as one of your favorites.

3 weeks, 21 days or 30,240 minutes

2009-06-20T20:09:00.000-07:00

However you want to look at it, our depature to the warm heart of Africa, is coming up fast. This time, in 3 weeks, we will be on our way to South Africa via Atlanta.

Tonight, we had our final team meeting. Richard and Mary, our leaders, were our gracious hosts. They opened up their home, and with our families, we shared a meal with each other. It was a great time of fellowship, as well as informational. We discussed our itinerary, what to pack, prayed, etc. We were honored to have, in our presence, 3 people who have made the same journey that we are about to embark on. Thank you to Eric, Ruthann and Karen for coming to the meeting, answering our questions and sharing scripture and stories of inspiration. We will take all of it to heart. Thank you.

listening

reviewing

Richard, our host & leader (aka Grill master) & Betty (cheesing it up, the hamburgers that is)

Prayer warriors, please continue to lift the people of Malawi and our team up in prayers. We know that there is an amazing journey ahead of us and we pray that we experience it the way God wants us to. Pray that Satan is bound. We know that he has plans to, but we know our Father is greater than he.

Also, we are wanting to take some things to the children that were on their needs list. We will be taking these things with us, but if you feel led to help us accumulate these things, please contact one of us. If you don't have our contact info, please leave a comment with your email and we will contact you. The items needed are:

underwear for children: boys and girls all sizes
blankets
shorts/shirts for boys (with elastic waist band much like athletic shorts. Old soccer uniforms work great)
dresses for the girls

Jeremiah 29:11 - For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

A tourist's insight

2009-06-13T12:10:00.001-07:00

A friend sent an interesting article on the tourism of Malawi. Thought it was an interesting read to share with everyone. Not too found of the idea of not many crocs being around Lake Malawi anymore. I am thinking there better not be any.

Click here to read

Ouch!

2009-06-08T19:33:00.000-07:00

Tonight, most of the team went to the Global Outreach clinic to get vaccinations. A few of the team had to get all of them, while the others only had to get one. Most, needed 5 shots:

- Adult MMR

- Adult Polio booster

- DTaP

- Typhoid

- Hep A

Since it was first come, first serve, we tried to get there ASAP to get in and out as there are larger numbers of missionaries in the summer time, thus longer lines.

Yes, I was cruel enough to take pictures. Unfortunately, I didn't get pics of Richard and Scott as they were further back in the line, and I had to get back home.

Suzy advising everyone how many she shots she had to get.

Nurses are the worst patients

Tucker's a better patient than his mom.
Betty taking it like a champ

Jim asking is this what you call a shot?

Getting Closer

2009-05-31T15:26:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, we start a new month. This means that we are another month closer to leaving for our journey. As the time draws near, there are mixed emotions flowing through our minds and hearts. We are anxious, nervous, joyful, hopeful, fearful and thankful. We think the one word that can describe it best though, is BLESSED. We have been afforded an opportunity that not many people will ever have the chance to do. We have received monetary donations. We have had many people pray for us. We have the support of our loved ones. Pretty soon, we will be able to truly know what the warm heart of Africa is all about. We hope that we are able to come back and put into words all that we experience and feel. Thank you for sharing our journey with us.

Photos by Caleb Magnino, posted with permission. For more of his photos and stories of Malawi, go to his site.

Some Facts on Malawi

2009-05-17T21:35:00.001-07:00

If you were to ask the average Amercian where Malawi is, you could venture to say that most people would not know that it's a country in Africa. (This based on how many times we get asked, "where is that?" when we say we are going to Malawi.) If they have heard of Malawi, you could also venture to guess it may be because a certain pop star has put it on the map, so to say, as a result of her recent successful adoption and even more recent attempted adoption that was declined.

Malawi is so much more than a place to adopt a child or a place on the map. As we mentioned in an earlier blog, it's the warm heart of Africa. We have been told that if you visit there, you come back with a hole in your heart, as you leave a little behind. Even though, it ranks as one of the least developed countries and according to some sites/agencies, as the poorest country, the people of Malawi are still warm and friendly. In our monthly team meetings, we are learning more and more about Malawi. Tonight, we met with Bobby M., former CCBC pastor from South Africa who now resides in Franklin, TN and is on staff at TPC and African Leadership. He is a wealth of knowledge and we enjoyed him filling us in on the cultural aspects of Malawi. For example, Malawians are non confrontational, very formal and conservative and are very relational. Their way of life is communal not individual driven. It wouldn't be uncommon for someone in the village to spank your child if they were out of line.

Team meeting with Bobby

Malawi is about 558 miles long and 93 miles wide which is slightly smaller than Pennsylvania. In this small country lives just over 13 million people. They are very religious/spiritual. We were told tonight, by Bobby, that it would be rare to run into an atheist. People believe in a god or the God. Their breakdown in religion is Christian 80%, Muslim 12% and other religion as 8%.

Malawi's climate is subtropical. A rainy season runs from November through April. There is little to no rainfall throughout most of the country from May to October. It is hot and humid from October to April. From June through August, the lake areas and far south are comfortably warm, but the rest of Malawi can be chilly at night, with temperatures ranging from 41°–57°F.

The facts so far have been informational, but what about the more alarming statistics?

Life expectancy is 43 years.
16% of the people have HIV.
70% of hospital deaths are related to HIV/AIDS.
Nearly a third of expectant mothers pass the virus on to the baby.
Literacy rate is 63 %.
34% of children ages 4-14 are a part of some sort of modern day slavery.
Minimum wage is under $1 per day.

Our hearts yearn already for these people, and we haven't even met them. Please continue to pray for our mission trip, as we expect that we will encounter spiritual warfare as soon as we step off the plane. Thank you and God bless!

The Inspiration

2009-05-10T11:35:00.000-07:00

First of, Happy Mothers Day to our fellow mom readers. You are special and celebrated. We thank you for taking on the toughest job ever :)

If you wondered where our blog title came from, it's inspired by a Sanctus Real Song, The Face of Love. It tells how we are to be the face of Christ and show people who He is by our actions and love for one another. The line, no one is too lost for you to love, no one is too low for you to serve is so amazing because it's so true. Why can't we all strive to be that? We can. Let us be your face!

"The Face Of Love"

Clean Water

2009-05-02T19:17:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Living Water International (LWI), residents of a village in Malawi, the Mulanje District, now have a clean water source that's easily accessible. LWI dug a new well to ensure that villagers no longer have to wonder if the water is safe to drink. Did you know that over 20 percent of children in Malawi die before the age of five from drinking contaminated water? Malawi. It's hard to imagine such a statistic because we, as Americans, probably take it for granted every day. Please pray for clean water to be provided to more villages in Malawi as well as all of Africa.

Click HERE for the full story

FUNdraising

2009-04-26T18:57:00.000-07:00

There are some many ways to raise funds to go on a missions trip. Sometimes you have to get creative and other times, well you just have to clean out your house and ask others to do the same. Kelley and I decided to have a yard sale. We figured we had some junk to get rid of and that any money we made would help fund our trip. We thought, maybe people would like to donate their junk and help us out as well. Considering the economy, maybe people are in a better situation to give stuff than money. We were so blessed as many of our friends made donations to our sale.

The sale started bright and early last Saturday. I said to Kelley, I will be happy if we make $600. Kelley said, between the two of us? and I said, yea. She was like, oh yea. Our plan, was to set up as much as we could in the garage, so we could open the doors and drag out minimal things as we knew people would try and early shop. Our sale was no exception. About 6:45, we opened the garage doors and no sooner than we did, a van pulled up. He said mind if I go ahead and look around. I said sure, but we won't be able to give you much attention. He said I am use to that. He began looking. Within 10 minutes, he left with $235 worth of merchandise. He bought our invisible dog fence and bose stereo system. I was hoping this was an indication on how the day was going to go.

Some people noticed that our sale was for a mission trip and spoke to us about it. While some people were just there to shop. At the end of the day, God blessed us in so many ways...through the people we were able to share our hearts with, the friends that stopped by to show us support and He showed us the money. Drum Roll please! Our total was $1656! A far cry from our $600 dream. We are amazed and humbled.

If you have any ideas on fundraising suggestions. Let us know!

Adziwa

2009-04-18T19:26:00.000-07:00

For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope - Jeremiah 29:11

As mentioned in our first post, our church has partnered with the Capital City Baptist Church (CCBC) in Lilongwe, Malawi. Their project, affectionately known as Adziwa, which is translated in their language as He knows, is a positive expression of hope in God for the future of orphans. The project has many objectives, and we are honored to be a part of this huge task that God has laid on their hearts and ours. Their overall goal is to improve the welfare of orphans and their families in the peri-urban and rural communities of the nation of Malawi. Recognizing that a child is the product of his/her environment, the vision of the ADZIWA CCBC Ministry is to provide comprehensive integrated community based care for the orphaned children by influencing their total environment; thus enhancing their potential to fulfill their lifes God-ordained purpose and make their contribution to society. How are we going to help them reach their goal? The People's Church (TPC) has committed to partnering with CCBC for 3 years. During those 3 years, as a team (TPC and CCBC) and with the help of hired local workers, we hope to give a key to 15 or more families, which will open the door to their new house, so that they have a safe place for the orphan(s) they have taken in as well as their family. In addition, to the houses, a school is in the works, as over half of the children in Malawi do not receive formal education. While our team is there, we will hopefully be able to give a key to one deserving family.

brick making process - sifting the clay

School's progress

However, it's not all work and no play. Who can go to Malawi without sitting and spending time with a sweet face like this?

We will have be opportunities to sit, play, sing and talk with the kids, women and men of Malawi including taking part in bible study and church services. One thing we would like to take as a gift to the children are pictures. Yes, we want to take them pictures of people who have came on previous trips and take polaroid pictures of the children and let them keep them. We are guessing that some kids may not even know what they look like. How fun would it be to see their face when they see their beauty. If you would like to help us, you may purchase polaroid film and drop it off at the church with a note saying for the the July Malawi team.

Please continue to pray for the 3 TPC teams that are going this year. The people of the Lilongwe and those dealing and living with AIDS. Pastor Henry of the CCBC in Malawi and the rest of the staff and that their vision is fulfilled.

God is Love,

TPC - Malawi July Team

Photos by Caleb Magnino, posted with permission. For more of his photos and stories of Malawi, go to his site.

The Warm Heart of Africa

2009-04-10T19:00:00.000-07:00

For the readers who have been to the warm heart of Africa, you know that we are referring to Malawi. Our leadership, at The People's Church, embarked on a search for a global ministry a few years ago. A number of things, that we like to call divine appointments, led our pastors to Malawi. After coming across the Capital City Baptist Church and speaking with their pastor, our pastors truly felt that God was calling our church to partner with them and help them with their vision (which we will discuss in a later post). Our church has sent numerous teams over the past 2 years, and we are grateful, that God has called us to help with His vision. We are a team of 10. Some of us are individuals, husband and wife, mother and daughter, father and daughter, mother and son, and even grandparents, daughter, and grandson, but we are all uniting to encourage, give hope and show love to a community who is hurting. Through all the hardships, they are able to find joy.

We feel that God has called each one of us, as we each bring something unique to His table. We would like to share with you what God has equipped us with for this journey.

Scott: administration, labor, relating to kids
Suzy: nursing, compassion, nurture
Tucker: building and working
Stephanie: photography, blogging, children's worship, service
Jim: kindness, building
Betty: compassion, arise to the need and serve
Kelley: teaching and working with children, faith, love to talk to people and hear their stories
Brandon: soccer, service
Mary: working with children, crafts, discipling
Richard: prayer walking, organizing, building, witnessing, teaching

We are excited about this opportunity and we cannot wait for July! We ask that you keep us in your prayers and continue to come back to the site. Will you be a part of our journey?

Photos by Caleb Magnino, posted with permission. For more of his photos and stories of Malawi, go to his site.