Anna writes, “It’s encouraging to see a small group consistently coming to Bible study and asking good questions. Please pray for discernment to know where they are spiritually and teach accordingly.”
As we phase out of emergency relief work, pray for wisdom to know how to continue helping in light of overwhelming and long-term need. Continue to pray for the gospel that we have been privileged to share as a result of the storm.
Note: The Government has understandably been concerned to reopen many of the schools formerly being used as temporary accommodation for people displaced by the cyclone. Sadly this means that hundreds of thousands of people are being forced out of the camps without any alternative solutions being offered. This makes it almost impossible to reach many with needed food aid.
Stephen sustained a nasty injury to his thumb last week, when a glass coffee pot broke as he was cleaning it.
Give thanks that he was able to quickly access help at the Seventh Day Adventist hospital in Blantyre. The injury required 7 stitches, but give thanks that the wound seems to be healing acceptably, and so far there does not appear to be any infection or indication of long-term damage to nerves or tendons.
Jim & Stephen are joining the team today for an extended monthly team meeting. Together, they plan to review the events of the year so far, and to take stock and plan for the remainder of the year. Much help is needed.
Please pray for blessing on last week’s activities with Jim, David & Stephen and the rest of the SALT team. Each afternoon, we had Bible studies and Gospel outreach at Saidi, with mornings occupied with a prison visit and a couple of visits to evacuation camps.
At Bvumbwe prison, several hundred juvenile prisoners received hygiene packs and heard the Gospel preached, and at the evacuation camps we distributed food and other relief items, and preached the Gospel. Pray for blessing on each activity.
Wati says, “The numbers in evacuation camps have reduced as people are being encouraged to return home. The reopening of schools has also added pressure as many camps are at schools (which are themselves overcrowded).
“We can pray for Cyclone Freddy survivors who have left camps very little support as they are looking to return home and rebuild their livelihoods.”
Please remember Stephen, who will be travelling to Malawi on Tuesday, and Jim & David who follow on Friday and Saturday respectively.
Pray they will have travelling mercies and have a safe and profitable time ministering among the people at the evacuation camps. They also plan to have a short series of Gospel Meetings at Saidi.
Although it’s barely 3 weeks since Stephen returned for his son’s wedding, he is preparing for the next trip to Malawi, next week, God willing.
Stephen will be joined by Jim McMaster and David Williamson (on his first visit to Malawi). This visit was to have been for a week of Bible teaching conferences, but that has been cancelled in view of the present crisis in Malawi. In lieu of that, they will visit some of the evacuation camps for Gospel outreach.
Please pray for them as they prepare, particularly in view of the simultaneous preparations for the Seed Sowers’ distribution in Londonderry, this weekend.
Please pray for the hundreds of thousands of Malawians who continue to experience extreme hardship as a result of the Cyclone Freddy.
According to the latest reports, around 659,000 of the 2,267,000 people affected are still living in 767 evacuation camps. Over 500 people are still missing.
Women and children are particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation, especially as they are hungry and living in unlit, unsegregated spaces. There are real problems concerning proliferation of Malaria and Malawi’s worst Cholera outbreak, which was already well established before the cyclone.
Anna writes:
-We have the privilege through the relief work to reach some with the gospel that we never would otherwise. Please pray for their hearts to be opened.
