"So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering." (Romans 12:1, MSG)
After the long days spent in the mission field with the Y-Malawi ministry partners, our team boarded our bus and traveled south from Nkhoma for a retreat in Liwonde National Park to pray and dream together about how God might be calling us to join the work of Y-Malawi. On the road, I captured this through the windshield that is one of my favorite scenic shots from the trip.
We made our way to the Shire River, where a guide named Danger (yes, Danger!) took us by boat to where we were staying. Along the way we saw fishermen and caught our first glimpses of African wildlife. I struggled a bit with finding my groove shooting photographs from a speedboat but managed to capture a few shots.
Nestled along the Shire River, Liwonde National Park in Malawi offered us several incredible opportunities to observe African wildlife up close in their native surroundings.These shots are from a brief, late afternoon safari we took on our first day.
Up next, more Liwonde National Park when the wildlife photos go up a notch.
Our ninth day in the mission field of the Nkhoma/Chilenje region of Malawi was spent with World Vision.
World Vision is Y-Malawi's largest partner and the primary source of funding to the other partners. Members of Y-Malawi partner churches sponsor nearly 6,000 World Vision children in Nkhoma/Chilenje. Because of these sponsorships, entire communities are being transformed in amazing ways:
Malnutrition reduced from 51% to 26%
Positive HIV testing reduced from 55% to 21%
Access to safe water increased from 21% to 68%
A 107% increase in children enrolled in primary school
These are just a few of the statistics but they speak volumes about the way hearts and lives are being changed in Malawi every day! Glory to God!
A primary purpose for our trip to Nkhoma/Chilenje was to facilitate meetings between World Vision sponsors and their sponsored children. Two members from Trinity were able to meet their children for the first time since beginning their sponsorships more than three years ago. It was a heartwarming experience to say the least.
Every time we arrived in a village for a visit, we were welcomed by not only the sponsored family but the entire community. Nearly every greeting included singing and dancing.
Janet brought a lot of fun things for her child to enjoy.
The entire village watched as Janet gave her gifts.
Janet was given a tour of the family home.
In addition to the gifts for the child, Janet brought the family gifts of necessities like maize, rice, oil, soap, etc. Here the mother is reacting to the gift of rice. She told Janet that they eat rice only once a year as part of their Christmas celebration, making the gift of rice a very special treat.
Janet received this clay bowl as a gift from the family.
Barbara's visit was very similar to Janet. She brought gifts for her sponsored child and the same staples for his family.
One particularly moving experience of the day happened on Debbie's visit. Debbie first visited her sponsored child in October 2014 and couldn't wait to visit again.
Their happy reunion.
While visiting with the family, Debbie learned that they had lost their home (a mud hut) earlier in the year during a rainstorm. So, the child and her mother were sleeping on the kitchen floor of one of their neighbors. They literally had nothing left. The mother had expressed her sadness that she was unable to return Debbie's kindness since she had nothing to give. Hearing this part of their conversation, one of the neighbors went to their home and returned with a chicken for the mother to give to Debbie.
Now for the rest of the story...
While
petting the chicken on the bus as we made our way to the next visit,
Debbie asked the World Vision representatives traveling with us about
how much it costs to build a home for her sponsored family. The World
Vision rep said materials for a brick home with a tin roof that would
best withstand the elements cost about $300. Debbie then asked about the
labor, since her sponsored child and her single mother would not be
able to do it on their own. Labor to build the home would be about $100.
Now,
before Debbie left for Malawi, she had friends and family give her some
money to take on her trip. Debbie confessed that this bothered her
somewhat, as if they were trying to "ride on her coat-tails or
something." The amount she had been given?
$400.
Debbie
made what is known as a "Gift Notification" through World Vision,
designating the $400 specifically for the purpose of building her
sponsored child and her mother a new home.
Amazing.
So,
what about the chicken? It would have been rude for Debbie not to
accept the gift. Still, she couldn't bring it home either. At the next
village, Debbie asked the World Vision rep to find the family with the
greatest need so she could give them the chicken. Debbie also made the
family promise not to kill the chicken for one meal but to allow it to
live and become an ongoing source of sustenance for them.
It
was an incredible experience for me to see how $39 per month is truly
being used to change hearts and lives, not just for the children but
their entire communities. Before going to Malawi, my family sponsored
two World Vision children already - one in Ethiopia, the other in Malawi
(sadly, in another region so I was unable to visit). We've sponsored
the children for years but never had any personal interaction with them,
by letter or otherwise. I was so moved by how much good the
sponsorships do, that I came home wanting our family to sponsor another
child - specifically in Nkhoma/Chilenje. I also wanted to give the people of Trinity the same opportunity.
So, we contacted World Vision and secured additional sponsorship forms for children in Nkhoma/Chilenje. On World Communion Sunday,
150 of those children were sponsored at our three worship services, taking the number of children sponsored by Trinity to around 350.
Praise God!
My family chose a little boy named Promise, who happens to
share my birthday. Now, Lenora and I have our own children here at home (two daughters and a son), plus three sponsored children in Africa, two girls and a boy in honor of ours.
If
God has been piercing your heart for the people in Malawi and you are
also interested in sponsoring a child, please let me know. I have a few
forms left for children in Nkhoma/Chilenje. There are still more than
4,000 children on a waiting list so every sponsorship matters. Pray
about it!
Up next, the beauty of God's creation in Africa - I'll be sharing some shots from our time on safari before heading home!
The response to what happened in Paris on Friday, from Christians on both sides of the political spectrum, is running rampant as the dust settles. And, I am deeply saddened by the rhetoric I have seen on social media today, especially with regard to the refugee situation and what role we should or should not play here in America. Rhetoric that has become normative and far too familiar. My dearest friends, the scandal of our Christian disunity is heartbreaking. So, now more than ever, I am clinging to the words we pray during Holy Communion: "By your Spirit, make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world."
I have also been reminded of some exegetical work I did in seminary on Romans 12, verses 14 through 21. This is my own paraphrase of the passage, which I've shared on this blog before, but I feel compelled to offer these words once again for our prayerful reflection:
14 When persecution comes, be a blessing people. Pray for your persecutors, rather than curse them. 15 Do not be emotionally
detached from your neighbors, especially those who do not yet know the righteousness
of God. Celebrate with them when they are celebrating, mourn with them when
they are mourning. 16 Your life together should be permeated with
oneness. Stand in solidarity with the
lowly and disadvantaged in your midst; once again, (I cannot stress this
enough!) do not think yourselves more superior to others. 17 Do not answer evil with
evil. Instead, whenever possible, be
proactive and consider a response righteous before God and a watching world. 18I know that there will be
times when it seems impossible, but you should make every effort to live in
peace with all of your neighbors,
regardless of their race or creed. 19 My dear friends, never
play vigilante and take matters into your own hands. Leave it to God to be the
righteous judge; for it has been revealed to us in the Scriptures, ‘Vengeance
belongs to me and is mine to dish out, says the Lord.’ 20 No, if you’re going to play
any part at all, you should ‘feed your foes when they are hungry and give them
drink when they are thirsty; this lovingkindness may change their hearts and
lead them to turn away from their offensive behavior toward you.’ 21 The only way to avoid being
overcome by all the evil in the world is to always respond to it the same way
God has...with love and generous goodness.
If our witness, our Christ-like examples of everyday living, is the primary means through which people come to know the love of God through Jesus Christ, then our thoughts, words, and deeds must reflect what the apostle Paul exhorted us in these verses.
Anything less requires our confession, which we also pray during Holy Communion: "Merciful God, we confess that we have not loved you with our whole heart. We have failed to be an obedient church. We have not done your will, we have broken your law, we have rebelled against your love, we have not loved our neighbors, and we have not heard the cry of the needy. Forgive us, we pray. Free us for joyful obedience, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."
There are no easy solutions to the problems we are facing in the world today. Regardless, we Christians can and must do better with the way we witness to the love of God through Jesus Christ. The world is watching.
Therefore, I
urge you, brothers and sisters, in your thoughts, words, and deeds for these days, take these words to heart: "The only way to avoid being
overcome by all the evil in the world is to always respond to it the same way
God has...with love and generous goodness."
Day eight was our second Sunday on the ground in Nkhoma. The day began with the privilege of worshipping in a small rural church led by one of the young people from the Nkhoma Youth Department.
Taken inside the church before the service.
As always, the children gathered with great curiosity about the "mzungus," or "white persons." This is one of the few times I saw a child with a toy.
Following the service, we went to another building nearby to meet with a group of young people from the Nkhoma Youth Department. The youth gathering began with worship in song - the singing in Malawi is something I will never forget.
After the singing, some of the youth who had attended the church service put on a skit based on my sermon. I had preached on one of my life verses, the passage that is the inspiration behind this blog.
"So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you." (Romans 12:1-2, MSG)
The skit included them simply sharing what they had taken away from the sermon but with the addition of one funny element. One of the young men was portraying my father and the great pride he felt because of my preaching the Word of God.
The skit.
Two of the youth who were part of our group, Will and Kylie, then shared their testimonies with the Nkhoma Youth.
After the gathering, we played with the local children while we waited for the bus to pick us up and reconnect us with the rest of our group.
Like everywhere else, there was a child watching from the sidelines.
From here we traveled to another village where the Chiefs Ministry had gathered for worship. They honored us with a lunch of chicken, vegetables, and nsima (maize) in the home of the group village leader.
After lunch, we spent time with the villagers. We watched the men play football (soccer) and the women play net ball (basketball). Some walked to the nearby market while others simply shared fellowship with our hosts.
Knowing I had only a couple more days left to shoot photographs in Nkhoma, I explored a bit.
I shot this behind the long drops, or outhouses, of all places. It is a good representation of the terrain.
This is how they fire their homemade bricks.
Another young man on the sidelines.
I loved seeing the excitement of this toddler about the buzz of activity going on in the village.
Something I found quite touching was the display of affection between the boys in Malawi. You would often see them unashamedly holding hands, like the boys pictured here, as a sign of their brotherly love.
One of the last shots of the day from the bus. This man is laboriously pushing a load of charcoal on his bike uphill so he can sell it at market.
Up next, World Vision!
Mulungu akhale nanu (God be with you), Aaron PS - At the beginning of last month, we had three amazing worship services where we were joined by John and Lori Gash from Y-Malawi for a reunion of the Florida team and together we lifted up the work God is doing in Nkhoma/Chilenje. Here's the best part - 150 additional children were sponsored through World Vision that very morning! Thanks be to God! If God has been piercing your heart for the people in Malawi and you are also interested in sponsoring a child, please let me know. I have a few forms left for children in Nkhoma/Chilenje. There are still more than 4,000 children on a waiting list so every sponsorship matters. Pray about it!
Day seven was a Saturday and we began the day by hiking up Nkhoma Mountain.
Near the beginning of our hike.
This was taken at a location not far from the peak. Left to right - Will Berger, Ted Grueser, Jason Lopez, and me.
Will and a dog that belongs to one of the doctors at Nkhoma Hospital. He joined the hike at its very beginning and led our group all the way to the top.
Being quite afraid of heights (and not in the best of shape either), this is where I stopped. It is approximately 5,000 feet above sea level. If you look toward the center of the picture, you can see one of the main roads that run through Nkhoma.
This is the view of the peak of Nkhoma Mountain from where I stopped. Thankfully, another member from the team wanted to stop, too, and we enjoyed some really great conversation. So, how does the saying go? I was "sorry, not sorry" I didn't climb the whole way.
The members of our group that did make it to the peak.
An amazing photograph! Our fearless Missions Director, Ted, standing atop a monument at the peak. There is no way I could have posed for such a shot!
After our incredible morning hike, we boarded the bus and traveled to meet another Y-Malawi ministry partner - the Chiefs Ministry.
One of the things that I will always treasure, is the way we were often greeted upon arrival into the villages.
See what I mean?
The Chiefs Ministry focuses on evangelizing and discipling the chiefs and other tribal leaders of each village. These are the most influential members of a community, so if they can be reached for God's Kingdom, then others will surely follow their lead. In 2005, there were only five Chiefs Bible Studies in Nkhoma/ Chilenje. Today, due to their partnership with Y-Malawi, there are 21. More than 3,000 chiefs have been reached with the gospel and hearts and lives are being changed every day.
The Chiefs and tribal leaders seated together, with the children to their right and their wives to their left.
On this particular day, we were given the opportunity to witness the chiefs, their wives, and their children participate in a Bible study on Genesis 1:26-30.
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our
likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the
sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures
that move along the ground.”
27 So God
created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to
them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule
over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living
creature that moves on the ground.
29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on
the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They
will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds
in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has
the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
As I heard the passage read aloud, I thought to myself that their understanding would likely be very different from ours because of their patriarchal, tribal culture. I was wrong. Their was something quite beautiful about their conversation and it showed the depth of their discipleship.
At one point, one of the chiefs stood to speak and shared with the group what he heard in the passage - that God created us, male and female, not so that one would be superior to the other but so that we can be partners. I'm sure it comes as no surprise that his response was very popular among the women!
I also appreciated hearing the leader share with the group the need for them to be good stewards over their land, that over harvesting has caused a lot of damage.
Imagine that! In Malawi, where Bibles are a luxury most cannot afford, amazing discipleship is happening and people are growing in their faith. It was a heartwarming experience to witness their holy conversation.
My step-mom, Jeannine, holding a precious baby during the Bible study.
Another photograph of a child on the sidelines.
My last photograph of the day, shot from the bus, of a family sitting outside a typical village home in Nkhoma.
Up next, another Sunday worship experience and more time with Nkhoma Youth Department and the Chiefs Ministry.
Mulungu akhale nanu (God be with you), Aaron
PS - A couple weeks ago, we had three amazing worship services where we were joined by John and Lori Gash from Y-Malawi for a reunion of the Florida team and together we lifted up the work God is doing in Nkhoma/Chilenje. Here's the best part - 150 additional children were sponsored through World Vision that very morning! Thanks be to God! If God has been piercing your heart for the people in Malawi and you are also interested in sponsoring a child, please let me know. I have a few forms left for children in Nkhoma/Chilenje. There are still more than 4,000 children on a waiting list so every sponsorship matters. Pray about it!
This day in the field was spent with Opportunity International Bank Malawi (OIBM) and included two very memorable moments for me. More on those in a bit.
When the Y-Malawi partnership began there was no easy access to a financial institution in the Nkhoma/Chilenje area. Due to support from the Y-Malawi partnership, a mobile OIBM van from Lilongwe visits the area once a week to serve their clients.
Customers lined up on the withdrawal side of OIBM's mobile bank.
Some of the activities during each mobile bank visit include: account opening, deposits, and withdrawals. On average, 110 customers are served during each visit and deposits collected range from MK1.5 to MK2 million off-peak season ($3,409 to $4,547) and MK2.5 to MK3 million peak season ($5,684 to $6,822). OIBM has a deposit book of MK23 million ($52,300) for the Nkhoma/Chilenje area.
A bank employee performing an account verification for withdrawal.
A client receiving his withdrawal from the teller at the mobile bank window.
After observing the mobile banking operations, we accompanied OIBM employees to a nearby village where we listened to the testimonies of some farmers who had formed a co-op in order to take out a microfinance loan from OIBM to purchase fertilizer for their crops. This was where the two memorable moments occurred. Here is a photograph to establish a visual for the scene.
We were gathered under the shade of this tree to listen to the bank employees and the farmers share. I was standing off to the side when one of the bank employees walked up and asked, "Abusa (the word in Chichewa for 'pastor'), would it be alright if I stood next to you?" I replied, "Of course!" What he said next, and the sincere manner in which he said it, I will never forget. "I feel closer to heaven when I stand next to an abusa." As you might imagine, I was surprised by his words but quickly said, "My friend, you are very kind. But, please, let me tell you...I have never felt closer to heaven than I have being with God's people in Malawi." It was a moving exchange for us both, I think.
A short while later, when our time together had reached its end, the bank employees brought out a very special treat for the children - a couple of cases of soda. At first I was very concerned because there were more children than there were bottles. My concern soon left, however, when we witnessed the children's selfless sharing - they passed the bottles around so that no child went without. It was really something to see.
Of course, no day was complete without capturing some photographs of the children who were "on the sidelines."
Up next, the Chiefs Ministry.
Mulungu akhale nanu (God be with you),
Aaron
PS - On World Communion Sunday (October 4th), we had three amazing worship services where we were joined by John and Lori Gash from Y-Malawi for a reunion of the Florida team and together we lifted up the work God is doing in Nkhoma/Chilenje. Here's the best part - 150 additional children were sponsored through World Vision that very morning! Thanks be to God! If God has been piercing your heart for the people in Malawi and you are also interested in sponsoring a child, please let me know. I have a few forms left for children in Nkhoma/Chilenje. There are still more than 4,000 children on a waiting list so every sponsorship matters. Pray about it!
In the wake of yet another mass shooting on a school campus, this time at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, I offer this prayer - hymn lyrics written by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette in response to the Columbine massacre in 1999.
A Prayer for Our Children
God, we have heard it, sounding in the silence:
News of the children lost to this world's violence.
Children of promise!
Then, without a warning, loved ones are mourning.
Jesus, you came to bear our human sorrow;
You came to give us hope for each tomorrow.
You are our life, Lord, God's own love revealing.
We need your healing.
Heal us from giving weapons any glory;
Help us O Prince of Peace, to hear your story;
Help us resist the evil all around here;
May love abound here!
By your own Spirit, give your church a clear voice;
In this world's violence, help us make a new choice.
Help us to witness to the joy your peace brings,
Until your world sings!
How long, O Lord? How long? Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Amen.
