The Rains are Coming!

Hello to all of you from Malawi. This morning I'm sitting on the back porch watching Aisha play and looking up at the sky which is full of swollen clouds. After several weeks of blistering blue skies we began to see the promise of a few fluffy clouds which have increased in size and number daily - it looks like the rainy season is only a few days away.

Rachel and I are in our fourth month here - this is about the time when we figure out that we don't have it figured out. We are learning, learning, learning. Learning Chichewa, learning what to say and what not to say (it is extremely taboo here to acknowledge that a woman is pregnant until she actually gives birth. She will work hard to hide her pregnancy - even from her children!). Learning that "I'll be there in 5 minutes" means "I'll be there next week if I can make it". Learning that roasted bird and rat kabobs are something of a delicacy and that the people we have come here to reach are desperately poor in the natural but rich in the spirit. Their kids would whoop any of ours in a Bible quiz.

We have been working hard to one end, and that is to strengthen the local church and enable it to reach its own people in a sustainable way. Here in Blantyre I'm speaking regularly at the "mother church". I'm also immensely privileged to be training several young men in leadership and ministry. As part of their training, we've started a weekly kids outreach which has so far been super successful and a lot of fun. Over 350 are coming every week for music, games, and the Word of God. Pray for us that this will be an effective way to draw entire families into a relationship with Jesus. One of the kids' favorite things: the name tags. You'd be amazed how much that small recognition can mean to a child who lives in a culture that largely ignores and undervalues kids. We've seen kids wearing their name tags around town several days after the outreach! We plan to use the experience and knowledge we are gaining here to train more congregations around Malawi and Mozambique to minister to children effectively. Rach recently returned from a 3 day women's conference down south in Nchalo. Over 1,000 women got together for three days of fellowship and ministry. I'm looking forward to the first ever men's conference about two weeks from now.

We are also celebrating the construction of 5 more wells - a donation from a church near Gothenburg, Sweden. Two have been completed and one is in progress. The beneficiaries are villages in the Mulanje district - probably one of the most beautiful places in Malawi with a few mountains so high they are usually shrouded in the mist. One village sent us home with a gift; a chicken. The poor girl didn't cluck around the yard for too long, though. She made for a great lunch yesterday.

Our beautiful Aisha at a Malawian wedding reception

Having fun at the kids' outreach!

Isaac's mom teaching at the women's conference - notice it is so full there are ladies sitting on the stage behind the speaker!

Us in the gorgeous city of Zomba - Rach is working on teaching Aisha to smile better for pictures :)

We don't have a kiddie pool - so we improvised!