No House

When we decided to return to Malawi, we bought our tickets believing that the Lord would order our steps as it says in Proverbs, "A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps" and "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." We believe that when God calls, He will also provide.

We contacted our dear friend Jodi McGill who was a huge help in getting settled in Mzuzu when we moved there in 2006. She was in the middle of getting her family ready for a yearlong furlough in the states but still agreed to help us find a house to stay in for 2 months. Since there are 8 of us going, we can't just stay in an extra bedroom. As a minimum, we needed a house with enough beds for us to sleep in or at least share. After much searching, Jodi found a Malawian woman who would move out of her house and let us rent her house for our time there. It was small but we should be able to all squeeze in. Before Jodi left Malawi, she confirmed that all was settled. I also emailed the woman and was assured that all was in order for us.

In addition to a house, we wanted to rent a car which Jodi also was able to find for us. We had been unable to communicate via email with the man who was going to rent us his car so we asked Augustine, who helps run the nursery, to contact him for us. He found that the car deal as in order and just as we had agreed. Augustine then asked if he could look into our rental house for us. We thought it would be nice to know if we would have enough beds, blankets, etc. so we told him to go ahead and contact the woman. The next day he told us that there was no house. They had been told that Jodi had found another house and we didn't need theirs. There was much confusion about what had really transpired. Regardless of what was communicated or not, we have no house to stay in at this time. Andy jokes that we should just throw in a tent and some sleeping bags and we'll be set. The rest of us don't see the humor in it.

Thankfully, dear Augustine is now looking into finding something for us. Mzuzu has a housing shortage as it is the fastest growing city in Malawi so finding a house is no easy task. Since God is on our side we are confident that we will find a place to stay. We still have 2 ½ weeks until we leave and then another week until we will be in Mzuzu so this is far from a crisis even though some days it feels like it. God has proven himself faithful time and time again and He alone is trustworthy.

As we were talking over our predicament, we were reminded of how the Lord provided a place for us to stay after our two robberies. Our house was being fixed after being broken into and in both situations he provided for our needs. This is another opportunity to see God work miraculously in our lives and how good is that?

Please keep Augustine and his house search in your prayers as God works mightily when we pray.

"Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD."

"I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust."

Sarah’s Thoughts on Returning

I have had a few people ask me, Sarah, how it feels to finally return to Africa after 4 years of absence. To tell the truth I am quite, well…… I don't exactly know how to say it. It is a very mixed emotion, one part of my body says, this is crazy, think about this! You are going back to a place where you got very sick! The other part of my body is jumping for joy with anticipation, excitement, and the thought that I will be able to see the nursery staff and the friends I made in school.

Malawi is basically a second home to me. I can remember driving away with my parents and siblings and asking God, why are we going away? I was just getting settled into the normal way of living in Mzuzu! But after we returned to the States, I realized why. We needed to rest (even if it meant for 4 years), see the need for us to minister to people here, and also to come back together as a family.

And now as we pack, practice our puppet skits, do spring cleaning and regular house and farm chores, I know that we are actually ready to return, and Mom doesn't even get that frustrated with us kids. Maybe it is because we have finally learned to cooperate with each otherJ. But we are slowly getting ready! This Psalm is a good one to meditate on:    

Why
leap ye, ye high hills? This is the hill which God desireth to dwell in; yea, the LORD will dwell in it for ever. Psalm 68:16

 

How God Lead Us

We were given a book titled, "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" about a young man from Malawi who built a windmill that generated enough electricity to power his home. He didn't have enough money to attend school so instead went to a library and checked out books on electricity and used odds and ends to build his windmill. Although the book portrays a great accomplishment against incredible odds, it still discussed many stories about witchcraft that still permeate Malawian culture. His father was saved from a rough life years before and was a practicing Christian but still recounted stories about "ghost trucks" and "witch planes" to his children. Even though they professed Christianity, they were still afraid of the demonic forces that exist in Malawi.

A lot of the Malawian Christians have one foot in Christianity and one foot in the occult. It's as if they want to make sure they have all their bases covered. Demonic activity is real to them as they have witnessed curses placed on people and seen the forces of darkness in action. This book put a desire in our hearts to return to Malawi and somehow encourage them that they don't need to fear the enemy when God is on their side. This will not be an easy task and only through the power of God and the Holy Spirit can we hope to make a difference.

Now that the seed was planted to return, how could we turn this into a family ministry? My children came up with the idea of using puppets. We could have the kids perform a skit based on a biblical principal and Andy could follow with more detailed teaching. We developed 7 skits that attempt to portray the contrast between the infinite power of the Almighty God against the power of Satan. They begin with the creation of the world and all that we know and work through biblical truths about conversion, angels working on our behalf, and culminate with a real life story of a Malawian Christian family who refused to use witchcraft to keep away evil, but instead relied on God.

So, we have been busy writing and rewriting scripts, making costumes & backgrounds and practicing. We are very excited about what God has in store for us and yet understand that we are going into the enemy's territory.

"Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." 1Jo 4:4

Why So Long To Return?

Our return to Malawi has been a long time coming. It hasn't been due to an unwillingness to return. The biggest hurdle has been Bridget's citizenship. She was officially adopted in Malawi but not a US citizen. We started the paperwork before we left in Aug. 2007 and it took over a year to be approved. Normally, it takes 3-4 months for approval.

You have to return to the originating country to finalize the process for an I-600. We tried to return two different times but were stopped due to complications. Since it took over a year to be approved her visitor's visa had expired. When we tried to board our plane in Seattle they told us that London would not allow her to even change planes since she had an expired visa. They took our luggage off the plane and we had to go home and regroup. Two months later we tried again but this time we would avoid London and fly through Johannesburg. Two days before we were to leave, the US Embassy in Malawi told us that our fingerprints had expired. FYI, fingerprints are only good for 15 months as you may have committed a crime and they need to check again. After some scrambling, we decided to not go.

There is another process for citizenship with an adopted child and that is to wait for two years so you can prove that you really are their parent and that is what we opted to do. She was still here on an expired visa but that didn't seem to be a problem. Her citizenship was approved in January of this year so that gave us the ability to travel out of the country.

Even though we can travel out of the country, Andy wasn't convinced that we needed to return. Taking a family this size to Africa is not a cheap prospect. He didn't want to return just to say hello to the nursery but wanted it to have a purpose and include our whole family. It was time to pray for God to guide us and show us His will in this endeavor. Obviously, He did.

We're Back

This blog was used previously by our children while we were in Malawi. All the old posts were written by the kids during 2006 and 2007 and view Malawi through their eyes. We are returning to Malawi in June and will use this blog as a vehicle for our family to communicate our ministry activities. We will do our best to update it when we can.

The nursery in Mzuzu is running well and we aren't returning to direct it but encourage and reconnect with the staff and old friends in Malawi. Our primary purpose in returning is to teach the Gospel and encourage the Malawian Christians to grow in their walk with the Lord. My children will perform puppet skits that have a particular message and Andy will follow with teaching after.

Our first performance is in Lilongwe, the capital city, for all the children in the church of a friend. After we happily agreed, he told us that there will be 300 children watching. That made the kids a little anxious but also excited.

Plese pray for God's blessing and that many would hear His truth and be changed.