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Pray

October promises to be a busy month of visits to Malawi (DV).

Jeff Gratias (OR) and Cameron McCrindle (WA) are planning to overhaul of one our Isuzu pickup trucks, and do other mechanical servicing jobs, no doubt. Tom Turnbull (MI) has also volunteered to come (with Debbie, his wife) and install our roller doors and some some other maintenance and related work. Plus we are really looking forward to a visit from Samuel and John from Every Home Crusade to see the literature work they have been supporting with their literature donations. We are so grateful for the interest of each one to come and help us in the work. It’s such an encouragement.

Please pray for each as they make practical preparations for these visits, and for brother Stephen who will coordinate their itineraries and guide them while in Malawi. Pray too, that the time in Malawi will be a real blessing to our visitors and the team on the ground, and be a means by which the work becomes known to a wider audience for their valuable prayer support.

Pray

Please pray about the upcoming Presidential election, now a little over 1 week away. Specifically pray for:

  1. Peaceful atmosphere before, during, and after voting — that communities would be spared violence, intimidation, or unrest.
  2. Stability after results — that whichever leaders are chosen, Malawi would know peace, unity, and social stability, rather than division.
  3. Relief from hardship — with ongoing struggles of soaring inflation, food insecurity, and economic instability, pray that political change would not deepen suffering but instead open opportunities for wise stewardship of resources
  4. Safety of workers and volunteers — especially during large events or travels around the country.

Pray

Please give thanks and pray as work re-starts on the dormitory construction project at Saidi. We had expected to be much further along at this stage, but an order of 30 Tons of cement was delayed by over a month due to the ongoing economic problems in Malawi. This meant the work of pouring foundations was delayed by several weeks.

Pray for the Lord’s hand in every detail of this project – not least that He will richly bless this step of faith to the spiritual upbuilding of many future Malawian evangelists, elders and Bible teachers.

We’re glad to share the latest edition of SALTbites, our regular newsletter bringing encouragement and updates from the work of Southern Africa Literature Trust in Malawi.

We trust these reports will encourage you to pray, give thanks, and continue standing with us in the Gospel.

Click the link below to download a copy.

Pray

The work of revising and relaunching our Chichewa Emmaus Course offering is complete, and we are placing an initial order for 12,000 new booklets.

In future, we hope to keep costs down by printing most of these booklets in-house, however we simply don’t have the time and manpower to do that at present, so we are using a local printing company. Pray that they will complete the job in good time, and to a high standard.

There is a great appetite for these materials in Malawi. Please pray that the Lord will use them for the spiritual blessing of many.

Pray

Please pray for the project to construct a 80-bed dormitory at Saidi – now underway.

Site clearance and levelling was substantially completed during Stephen’s recent visit, and the architect and builders are marking out the site today (Monday) to begin digging the footings.

We are very enthusiastic as we take this step of faith, as the dormitory will greatly enhance our ability to hold larger and more frequent Bible teaching events.

Pray for Jackson (Architect) and Goodson, who has the burden of responsibility to oversee the construction team.

(You can read about the project here.)

Pray

Please pray concerning the upcoming Presidential elections in Malawi, scheduled for 16 September.

Campaigning is now well underway, with opposing sides vying for attention with large, loud public gatherings happening across the country. Sadly this makes open-air outreach extremely difficult, and we felt we had no option but to cancel MGO this year.

Please pray for a peaceful campaign season – there have been incidents of intimidation and violence. Please also pray that the Lord would raise up leaders with the integrity and ability to lead the nation of Malawi out of the extreme crisis it finds itself in.


“Despite significant progress in reducing child mortality and fertility rates, hunger remains a critical concern due to successive weak harvests since 2022. This has hindered human capital development, with the rate of stunted children under five stagnant at 38% since 2015. Foreign exchange constraints have also limited imports to compensate for the food supply deficit.

“The number of people living in poverty is expected to increase in 2025 amidst this challenging economic environment and rising food insecurity, with an additional 417,000 people falling below the $2.15 per day threshold, bringing the total number of people living in poverty to 15.8 million.

The share of people failing to consume a minimum caloric intake of 2215 calories a day (or national poverty rate) is 51 percent, the same as in 2010. Inequality has decreased over the last decade (the Gini index changed from 45 percent in 2010 to 39 percent in 2019), mainly due to better-off households worsening their economic situation

Source: World Bank

Things really began to move at pace when the tipper arrived on Thursday morning. That was until the digger got a puncture at lunch time – 3 hours lost!

ENLIGHTEN | ENCOURAGE | EMPOWER