What Happened?

A few months ago we erected a tabernacle for a church in a village named Matapira.  The church was meeting under a thatch roof, with only one wall, so they definitely needed a structure of some type.  A few days ago I received some bad news concerning the tabernacle.  The pastor phoned me to tell me that it had fallen.  It seems that it fell during the night when no one was close by.  We are grateful for that since there were no injuries.

When I travelled to the village to inspect the fallen tab, I discovered that four cross-pieces had been removed from the structure.  These cross-pieces are used to strengthen the structure, being removed only when a brick wall has been constructed.

No one is sure how this happened, but it did.  The cross-pieces were not stolen, and they were not damaged – indicating that they were removed before the tab fell. 

The damage was quite extensive as you might imagine.  All eight legs were destroyed, and all four trusses were damaged on each end where the legs attach.  The legs will have to be replaced and the trusses will have to be brought back into the shop where we can cut out the damaged areas, and rebuild them.  Fortunately, nothing else was damaged.

 

 

 

 

 

I have no idea as to why someone would remove the cross-pieces.  It could be that they wanted to steal them, or that they wanted to steal the bolts, or they wanted the tab to fall.  The church members are all a bit scared, because this area is known for powerful witchcraft.  I did what I could to explain what happened and encourage them to trust God.  The pastor told me that an elderly woman came to his house on Saturday before the tab fell on Monday.  She wanted him to prayer for her, but he refused to because she was not born-again, and had no desire to convert to Christianity.  He said that since her departure from his house, “nothing has worked” there.

The sad part of the story is that this church has no resources for rebuilding.  If you would like to help with the repairs and reconstruction, please contact me. 

Another Tabernacle

Msaliza, Area 47 is the site of the latest tabernacle to be built.  The church has been meeting in a classroom at the school.  Renting a room at a school is both good and bad.  It is good in the sense that a church is able to find housing.  It is bad because the classroom severely limits the number of people that can attend a service.  In other words, the growth rate of the church is hampered when it is housed in a school classroom.

Pastor Maclean Banda and the congregation of Msaliza Revival Center desperately needed to move from the classroom of the school and get their own

building.  The church was able to purchase land to build on and donors from the USA provided the funding to purchase the tabernacle.  Construction began on Monday and was completed by noon the following day.  The church will begin to mold bricks in order to brick in the walls.

Today the church held their first service under the new tabernacle!

Preaching & Teaching

This week I began teaching The Bible and Missions at AGST (Assemblies of God School of Theology), and this morning I am the speaker in the chapel service.  I will be preaching on the text 2 Samuel 6:1-11.  It is the story of King David bringing the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem.  You may remember that Uzzah put his hand out to steady the Ark when the cart it was on began to shake.  It was there that God struck Uzzah dead. 

There may be a lot of reasons for this disaster, but surely one has to be the fact that the Ark had been in Uzzah's home most all of his life.  The Ark was holy, and God had given very specific instructions as to care and handling of the Ark.  Somehow, Uzzah must have forgotten that he was not allowed to touch the Ark with his hands.  When we are around something everyday of our life, it has a tendency to become commonplace to us.  We must be very careful to not let the things of God become commonplace in our lives.  I wish you could be here for chapel this morning!

Tomorrow morning Fredna and I will be traveling about two and one half hours to the north in order to preach a revival at Mkaika trading center.  Our friends Taza & Mayamiko Biza are pastoring there, and have asked us to come show the Jesus Film and preach.  The wife, Mayamiko, is actually the pastor of the church.  We will be taking three students from the Bible school with us on this trip.  These students will be part of a practicum for the class that I am teaching.  We will show half the film on Friday evening, then preach.  Saturday morning and afternoon there will be teaching sessions.  Then on Saturday night we will show the remainder of the film and preach.  Sunday morning will be a great celebration of the efforts put forth for this revival.  Please pray with us that many will be saved, and delivered from a life of sin.  The story and pictures to follow!

Did I ever say that we LOVE weekends in Malawi?!!

Crusade Weekend

This past week I preached a crusade in the city of Blantyre.  Kanjedza Assembly of God church, pastored by Abusa George Samuel, is one of the oldest A/G churches in Malawi.  Pastor Samuel and Kanjedza A/G have planted 36 churches across the border in Mozambique.  Each year he brings those pastors, along with any of the church people that can make the trip, to Blantyre for an annual conference.  The Mozambicans make their way to the Malawi border and are then picked up by some of the church members and brought to Blantyre. 

For a week these people are fed both spiritually and physically.  They sleep in the church each night.  It is really a highlight for these believers! The ladies of the church worked very hard to prepare a good meal for the guests each day.  One cow and about 25 to 30 chickens made up the protein portion of the meals. 

The conference/crusade began on Wednesday night with Rev. Edward Chitsonga preaching.  Thursday through Saturday each day began with teaching sessions in the morning and afternoon, then the night service.  Rev. Chitsonga and I shared the preaching responsibilities with each of us preaching about 7 times in three days, and it was GREAT! 

The Mozambicans came with two different choirs.  Each did a fantastic job!  The musical instruments were all homemade and produced a wonderful sound.  I tried to buy the one-string stand-up bass, but the owner told me that he could not sell it.  He would gladly make me one, but I would have to travel to Mozambique in order to retrieve it.

Guess what, I have been invited to go to Mozambique next year to hold several crusades at the villages where the pastors live.  I can't wait!  The pastors were very excited that I would be willing to make a trip to the rural area of Mozambique to preach for them. 

The second choir's instruments were homemade and produced an amazing sound as well.  I guess it just goes to show that you don't really have to have a Fender to make good music after all!

This is a six-string guitar.  The fret board is a bent wire that sticks up about 1/8 of an inch off the board.  The calluses on this guy's fingers were incredible.  But, again, the music was wonderful!

Between each service the people would try their best to rest.  They were not particular where that was either! When you are tired, one place is as good as any. 

These are some of the babies (with their mothers) that were in attendance this past week.

I am so glad that I was invited to be part of this crusade.  It was a wonderful experience being able to minister to and to encourage these pastors, their wives, and all the others that attended.  I really am looking forward to the possibility of making a ministry trip into Mozambique next year!

Malaria

When you speak of Central Africa and missionaries, the subject of malaria will inevitably come into the conversation at some point.  Speaking of malaria someone said, "It is another rite of passage" for the African missionary.  To punctuate this point, especially in Malawi, all one has to do is travel along the shores of Lake Malawi and view the gravemarkers of missionaries that came here 100 years ago.  Most of them perished from malaria.

Malaria is a word of Italian origin. It is derived from the words male aria which means bad air.  According to the World Health Organization:

• Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by parasites that are transmitted to people through the bites of infected mosquitoes.
• A child dies of malaria every 30 seconds.
• Malaria takes the life of 3,000 children each day in Africa.
• One million people die from malaria each year.

Malaria symptoms typically appear 10 to 16 days after the infectious mosquito bite, when the infected red blood cells begin to burst. Victims experience flu-like symptoms, including chills, fever, sweating, along with nausea, headache, and vomiting.

The most virulent form of the disease – the P. falciparum malaria (found predominately in Africa) – can be fatal within a matter of hours if not treated.

Malaria can be cured with prompt diagnosis and correct drug treatment. But there is a double-burden of increased drug resistance and limited access to health care in many of the most malaria-prone areas. Prevention is the key to saving lives.

This is the drug administered to me by the doctor.  There are only three tablets, taken in a 24-hour period.  I am both fortunate and blessed, because I can afford the medicine, live in a place where I can get the medicine, and I discovered early that I was infected.  Many are not as fortunate!