Chilota Assembly of God

                  

 

Today Fredna and I enjoyed ministering at Chilota Assembly of God church.  Pastor McDonald Mbale and his wife, Kathleen, made us feel very welcome!  The picture above is the entire Mbale family.  After church we went to their house for a traditional Malawi lunch.  A traditional Malawi meal may include nsima, rice, chicken, some greens and a sauce that is poured over the rice.  Dessert is usually a soda pop of some kind.  Most pastors have taken us home for the noon meal after a morning service, and this is the meal that is served.

 

We arrived at the appointed time and found the pastor and a few men praying before the service.  When it was time to begin Sunday school, the pastor announced that I would be teaching the class.  Surprise!  I suppose that I had misunderstood the invitation to preach - it included teaching Sunday school.  The scripture teaches that we should be instant in season and out of season.  If today was my test, I trust I passed.

 

I had been teaching/preaching for what seemed to be an hour when I asked the pastor what time I should quit, so they could start the main service.  He said that I should go to 10:15 - thirty more minutes!  I had fun, but I don't know about anyone else.

 

 

There were not many people in the service because there was a funeral that was taking place in the village.  Pastor Mbale explained that although the chief of the village had given permission to have the service, many were not going to be in attendance.  Sometimes the chief of the village will not allow a church service to take place if there is a funeral.  We are invited back to preach so everyone in church will be able to attend.

 

 

In spite of the small crowd we enjoyed the fulfillment of the the scripture that states where there are two or three people gathered in His name, He will be there.  It was a wonderful time, and the Lord really ministered to many.  The ones in the picture above came at the altar call to receive Jesus as savior.

 

             

Kathleen Mbale is teaching Fredna how to wrap a tjatinji.  A tjatinji is a cloth wrap that most women wear around their clothes.  It is an extremely versatile tool.  It can keep your dress clean, carry a baby, keep you a bit warm, be laid out on the ground to lay things on, wrap a large amount of small items in order to carry to name just a few uses.

 

Our container has arrived in Lilongwe, Malawi, and has cleared customs.  It is scheduled to be delivered to our house tomorrow.  I will share more on this in the next post.  Happy Father's Day!

Area 49 Assembly of God

                       

Today Fredna and I ministered at the Area 49 Assembly of God.  This thriving church is pastored by Abusa Reuben & Flora Jerry.  The word Abusa is the Chichewa word for Pastor.

 

There were somewhere between 300 and 400 worshipers in the service today.  There is so much energy in a service like this, and it is so easy to preach!  The people respond to the Word of God, and are ready to allow Him to minister in their lives.

 

The ladies group of the church performed a special that depicted different people with all kinds of illness, deformities, blindness, and lameness coming to Jesus for healing.  It was wonderful!

 

 

 

I preached about God's desire to heal broken lives.  When I gave the altar call for this purpose, there were at least 150 that came forward.  It was a tremendous altar service with God touching so many lives and bringing restoration.

 

At the end of each service the Pastor, his wife, Fredna, and myself stand at the door and shake everybody's hand.  This seems to be a very special time for the individuals that are present, and they don't get in any hurry.  Malawi is called, "The Warm Heart of Africa" - and we know why!

Mwalandiridwa Assembly of God

 

 

Fredna and I preached at Mwalandiridwa Assembly of God church.  Arnold and Violet Banda are the pastors of this growing church in a very poor area of Lilongwe, Malawi.

 

Sunday, God's day!  A day to sing His praises, worship Him, bring our offering before Him and hear His Word.  Thinking about it, wouldn't it be interesting to be able to look in on every service around the world!  Can you imagine the differences you would see?  High church, low church and everything in between.

 

Most of the services we have been in Africa have been very different to most services in the States, especially when it comes to offering time.  Today was no exception.  During the offering there were three baskets placed on a table.  The first basket was for the morning offering, the second was for faith promises & tithes, and the third was for missions.  Another offering was taken at the end of the service - this one was for special projects.  Today's special project was electricity.  It will cost about MK12,000.00 ($86.33 in US dollars) to have an electrical meter installed at the church.  They take this offering on the first Sunday of every month, and it is a very special time!  The special project changes when the needed funds are collected.  I am not sure how many first Sunday's this project has been active, but today they raised about MK8,500.00 ($61.15) - short the needed MK12,000.00.  It was heart-lifting to see this offering.  People danced as they gave, and several made a real production of laying several bills on the table.  One guy put about 25 MK20.00 bills on the table - laying them on edge all around the table.

 

                        

 

This church has a vibrant Children's Church program, and all kids love to have their picture taken!

 

I have always heard that no matter how far you go into the bush around the world you will most always find two things: Assembly of God missionaries and Coca Cola.  Today I saw something new... a Fort Hood tee shirt with a Texas flag!  I told this gentleman that I had to have my picture taken with him since he was wearing the flag of my tribe!

                        

Mitundu Praise Holiness Temple

This morning brought our first opportunity to preach in one of our Assembly of God churches, Praise Holiness Temple in the town of Mitundu. 

 

                

 

Pastor Reuben Mdala and his wife Beverly are leading this growing, rural congregation both spiritually and numerically.  There were 200 or more in attendance this morning.  I was told by one of our missionary colleagues that this church had some of the best worship in the country.  This is only the third national church we have been in, but I can't imagine that any others would or could be better.  The singers in this church were outstanding! 

It was very easy to preach this morning, the people were hungry for the Word of God.  Many came to receive Christ as Savior at the end of the service, and most of the church came forward to be prayed for to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

 

 

Pastor Reuben and his wife Beverly invited Fredna and me to their home for lunch.  We had a wonderful time of fellowship and great food!  This church will always hold a special place in our hearts because we preached here first!  As one person said, "We have found a home in Mitundu!"  What a beautiful day.

Arrival in Malawi, The Warm Heart of Africa!

Have you ever been flooded with emotions - good or bad?  We were when we landed in Malawi, The Warm Heart of Africa!

One emotion was that of surprise when we got off our plane and saw the plane sitting next to us.  It was a Zimbabwean airliner with four flat tires!  We found out that the day before, the plane had tried to take off - only to have a few blowouts along the way.  It is always good to be on solid terra firma!

We were greeted by our missionary colleagues, John & Cheryl Easter and Bill & Sharon Johnston.  Customs cleared, and luggage in hand, we were off to our new temporary home.  We will move into our permanent, temporary home after June 3.  Presently, we are staying in a guest house on the missions compound in Lilongwe.

Shortly after arrival we were welcomed to a semi-regular event - a power outage!  Several nights a week the electricity goes off about 6 PM and stays off for a couple of hours.  At first the event was extremely annoying!  After all, how could one do what he was supposed to be doing when there was no electricity?  It wasn't long until I began to look forward to this event.  You go into forced shut-down for a couple of hours.  If you roll with the punches, it can be quite nice - a little R&R without the guilt of being lazy.  So... let the lights go out!

We have been extremely busy since our arrival.  Not much time to take a breathe, except when the lights are out.  We have visited two national churches, hosted two different groups of partners from the USA, been in several meetings with national officials, and traveled to one of the crusade sites in the northern part of the country.  You might say that we have hit the ground running!