Thank You, Team Malawi!

        Malawi is still Malawi without our presence, but we’re involved now more than ever in the development of one small village and the care of ninety of its children. Your prayers, encouragement, and monetary gifts remind us that we are a team and that God is still very interested in using us all to serve these precious souls halfway around the world. Thank you for looking outside yourself and your own problems. Our world has never seen a crisis quite like the one we’re in right now, but we believe God is doling out special blessings on those who choose to trust Him with their own lives and continue to help others. 

Thanks to you, we recently bought a car for Snoden to transport the children to and from the clinic when they’re sick. Because of the government mandated quarantine in the village, he was also able to use that car to efficiently deliver food parcels directly to the kids’ homes. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have eaten every day. That car was broken into right outside Snoden’s house during the night in an attempt to steal it. Thankfully, his dog barked and the thief ran off. There’s a brick wall that has been started to surround the perimeter of the two-acre property where the preschool and Snoden’s home sit, and we’re working to finish that as soon as possible. This is a huge project for the ministry and we are still needing funds to complete it. The school has since reopened and the kids are coming back to the property—all the more reason to finish the wall and protect the children from harm. It won’t necessarily mean an end to criminal threats, but it will certainly help.

Snoden and Susan have been running the program by themselves since we left, and they’re tired and sometimes discouraged. Feeding ninety children and educating forty is a monumental task for anyone, but these two also just recovered from malaria. They’ve expressed feelings of being overwhelmed. We recognize they need encouragement, and John started planning a trip to visit them. He was going to travel alone since our kids are in school right now and desperately need a period of stability, and it would be cheaper, quicker and easier to make that trek alone. But, it doesn’t seem to be time yet. Apparently, the COVID scare has the locals spooked. Snoden believes we wouldn’t be welcomed right now. They think white people coming into their village are bringing the virus. We’ll give it more time and keep praying for discernment as Snoden tries to educate the people in the village about how the virus is actually spread and the relatively low threat it poses. 

In the meantime, many of you here have joined us in supporting the children of Malawi. It’s been amazing to watch how God puts our situation in the United States into perspective when we focus on kids on the other side of the globe. Instead of feeling sorry for ourselves, we recognize that having food to eat every day is a blessing and we are thankful. Instead of worrying about getting the virus, we recognize that we have access to clean water and medicine and we are thankful. Instead of fearing that someone will break into our home and steal from us or accost us on the street, we recognize that we are secure in our strong houses and cars, and we are thankful. Praying for others in poverty and need allows us to see clearly the many blessings we have been given. Thank you for agreeing with us that we have enough to share and don’t need to fear or hoard our resources. God bless you for your faithfulness and trust in Him. 

Ridiculous Grace

        When I consider what’s going on in the world today, I have some strong ideas about how most of it should be handled. Am I alone in thinking this way? With the internet and social media, we can see what’s happening in most parts of the world at any given moment, so it’s easy for us to criticize the way situations are being handled. We might think we have the corner on the market for making good decisions because we’re Christians and we have God’s best interest in mind. But what if God is the one making these decisions we don’t like? The news serves to highlight the great chasm between what’s taking place and what we think should be. God has a word for us in the book of Jonah—another human being who thought he understood world events and how they should be handled. 

God tells Jonah to go to Nineveh to warn people of His impending wrath. Because he hates the Assyrians for their ungodly living and doesn’t think they deserve the opportunity to repent, he ironically refuses God’s mandate and instead takes a boat in the opposite direction. A cataclysmic storm rages, causing the men on board to discuss whose god must be offended, while Jonah sleeps like a baby below deck. They wake him, and he identifies himself as a Hebrew who worships the very Lord who made the sea and the dry land. (That seems like an interesting proclamation for someone who’s directly disobeying the One he claims to serve.) After some deliberation, Jonah offers himself up to be sacrificed overboard for the greater good of the crew. The big fish comes along to swallow him, not as punishment from God as many children’s accounts portray, but as a provision of God’s sovereignty. God isn’t finished with him yet and uses the fish to preserve his life. Make no mistake about why Jonah is eventually spit up onto dry land. He doesn’t repent. That’s not the reason. Again, there’s great irony in the fact that he’s running from God because of his disdain for God’s grace towards disobedient people. He grudgingly goes to Nineveh, after all, and sounds the warning. Then God does what Jonah dreads most; He forgives the Ninevites. Not surprisingly, Jonah sulks off to a lonely place, mourning the fact that the world doesn’t make sense and God isn’t doing what He should. Even less surprisingly, God graciously causes a huge vine to grow up and cover him with shade and comfort while he feels sorry for himself. Then, in a gesture that reveals the essence of the whole quirky narrative, God takes the vine away and reveals the ugly truth about Jonah’s callous heart and our sinful human nature, namely that we tend to trust more in our own sense of justice than in what God says is right, and we tend to care more about our personal comfort than the destiny of lost people.

So, I ask myself, “Do I really trust God to do what’s right with this world, with this country, and with my family, or do I believe I know better?” Also, “Am I willing to let Him use my life to reach the lost, or do I feel entitled to the comforts and routines I’ve established for myself?” And, possibly the most difficult question, “Do I identify myself as one who serves God even when there’s a limit to what I’m willing to do for Him?” The good news—and there’s always good news when we’re talking about God—is that the theme of the Jonah story is God’s enduring patience and ridiculous grace for mankind. We may not be able to understand why things are the way they are or what God is doing about it all, but we can be sure that it certainly comes from a place of love. God has a plan for this world, and He is perfectly capable of achieving it. 

Malawi 2021

        The work in Malawi continues to thrive, though our family will have been away for a year in March. With help from friends and real-time video, we moved out of our rental in Lilongwe and sold or donated most of our things. It was an emotional process. We stored several trunks we expect to eventually retrieve. I’d like to say we’ve rolled with the changes, but much of the past year has been spent grieving the abrupt transition forced on us when the borders closed. Malawi was our home, and we had planned to stay to see the work through to the end—whenever that might be. 

In the meantime, we’ve been communicating with Snoden and his family, who are amazed at what God continues to do to improve their lives and the lives of the kids in the program. Snoden, Susan, and their two children live on the property we acquired before we left. They currently feed ninety children every day from their own kitchen. That’s almost twice the number we had when we were there. Forty of those kids stay after breakfast for preschool, and Susan teaches them all with the help of one other lady. We’re happy to report that the city has piped water out to the village, meaning the kids can wash their hands more often and stay hydrated. Before, it was a thirty-minute walk to the nearest well. They also now have solar powered lights, so they’re not completely dependent on the sun for visibility. There is even a wall under construction to surround the entire property, which will protect the children and the ministry’s assets. Most recently, Snoden purchased a car to transport sick children to and from the hospital. We were concerned when the borders closed that the ministry would suffer in our absence. Quite the contrary! God has blessed our initial efforts and your generous donations incrementally. 

We’re so very thankful that you’re partnering in this effort with us. We’re constantly encouraged by your care and generosity towards this mission, and we believe God wants to not only continue it but also to develop and expand it. While we’re happy that ninety kids are being fed every day, we want them to eat more often and a wider variety of foods. They currently eat a nutritional porridge once a day. We’re also happy that forty kids are being educated, but that ends with preschool. We want to teach more children, and we want to be able to educate them past preschool with a quality education from a godly perspective. We don’t want to just do some good, we want to do the best we can for these kids. Our prayers are focused on growth and development. We believe God has more blessings in store for the children of Malawi, and we believe He delights in our working together towards the goal. 

Please join us in praying for development and expansion for 2021. This is not something we can do on our own and certainly not from halfway around the world. This is also not something Snoden and Susan can do without help. This is going to take a miracle, and that’s exactly what we’re asking for. If you’re up to the challenge of joining us in this endeavor—or continuing, as the case may be—the rewards will certainly outweigh the sacrifices. We expect to see great things from the small work we all started together just a few years ago. We believe God can and wants to use our faithfulness to not only change the lives of a few kids, but also the fate of their village and their country. We won’t quit this effort just because we’ve been moved to a new location, and we certainly expect to make a visit as soon as possible. Thank you, on behalf of the forgotten children of Malawi, for staying in it with us this year. God bless you!