Back to real life in Malawi

We are again so grateful for the Spiritual Life conference last month. We returned home supercharged--which was what we needed since many challenges presented themselves in our first days home.


The first is an upcoming move. We have been living in and renting a house from the Baptist Mission of Malawi. We knew when we moved in that if Baptist missionaries arrived and needed the house we would have to move. We kept hoping that wouldn't happen, but we were notified that we needed to move by the end of February. God has been good and provided many options for housing, and we have found a new home that we are excited about it.





Later that week, I had to take an emergency trip to the hospital with our gardener's 2 year-old daughter. We drove the 40 minutes out to her house over horrible roads (this translates into a 2 hour bike ride for him, each way, every day). She had a seizure on the way to the hospital. Thankfully, because of our orientation at the hospital, I was able to help navigate the system a bit and she received the work-up she needed quickly and started receiving medications for presumed cerebral malaria in a very short time. Thankfully, she recovered quickly and is doing well.


A few days later we were notified that our neighbor's houseworker had been charged with witchcraft. Agnes is one of the most wonderful ladies I have met here in Malawi. She is a committed Christian and very involved in her church and she was a big help to us when we first moved here. However, there seems to be some jealous neighbors who invented a story that she was teaching withcraft to the neighborhood kids. This is an actual criminal charge and the police came and took her to jail. She was released within the day pending further investigation, but needless to say, the charges have disrupted their lives dramatically--the kids are getting picked on at school and Agnes didn't even feel safe in their home for the week following her release from jail. Witchcraft is apparently widely practiced here in Malawi, and is often under the surface of many social structures, even many churches. Even as I write this, it seems a bit crazy from my American viewpoint, but it is life here in Malawi. Please pray for Agnes, that justice would be done, and that this lie would be shown for what it is.


On a lighter note, Sydney lost her first tooth today! She's very excited for the tooth fairy to come. I'm not sure if the tooth fairy pays in US dollars or Malawian kwacha?!?

HCJB Spiritual Life Conference

The HCJB Global Sub-Saharan Africa Team

It's already been a month since we returned from a spiritual life conference with our fellow HCJB Missionaries in Sub-saharan Africa. There is one family and 2 singles working in radio in Ghana, us and Jessica McMillan working in healthcare in Malawi, and another missionary working in Cape Town. We were very happy to rondevouz in Cape Town, South Africa--probably one of the most beautiful cities in the world!
Sydney on the beach
It was a wonderful time of spiritual refreshment, and physical relaxation. Former HCJB president, Ron Cline, was in Cape Town filling in as pastor of a local church for 3 months--so he led the spiritual part of the conference. It came at such a great time for Mike and I, as the one-year mark in Malawi was a tough one for us. We kind of "hit the wall" as far as culture shock, and the "routine" of life sort of set in, sometimes making us wonder what we got ourselves into. So this week of refocus, and refreshment was perfectly timed--and we returned to Malawi with a new sense of purpose and vision.
We also got to see a side of Cape Town that most visitors don't get to see. We were able to tour many of the ministries of the local church with which HCJB initially partnered to start a Christian Radio Station. In addition to the radio station, they have many outreaches into the townships of Cape Town, and have a state-of-the-art hospice center for people suffering from late-stage AIDS and Tuberculosis.

Mike on the air, talking about HCJB Global work in Malawi
The kids highlight of the trip was getting to eat at McDonalds and play in the play-land. The McDonalds was conveniently located across the street from the church.
Sam on the beach
We so appreciate all of your support, encouragement and prayers over the last year. We know we cannot do this work out of our own strength. We are so thankful we serve a God who cares for us and provides us the strength we need.
Philippians 4:13