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!