News

Anna writes: Goodson and I are planning to go to Lilongwe on Monday, God willing, to pick up two guard dogs and also distribute some of the literature that’s been on hold for a while now.

Please pray for safety. Please pray for a miracle in terms of peacefully transporting the dogs, who I’ve just learned have never even left their compound let alone been in a car.

Note: The dogs have been inherited from a German missionary couple who have sadly returned to Germany as the wife has been suffering from PTSD since an attempted break-in at their home in Lilongwe area. Please pray for the entire family who have been traumatised by this. It is yet another example of the deteriorating security situation in Malawi.

Regular prayer supporters are well aware of our frequently recurring vehicle reliability problems, and the debilitating effect this has on the work, particularly literature distribution. Road conditions, lack of spare parts and poor workmanship all conspire against us and the cost of replacing vehicles is generally prohibitive. Surtax, Excise & Duty frequently double or triple the on-the-road cost of new vehicles.

Recently, we have become aware that SALT is eligible to import cut-price vehicles from a special division of Toyota set up to supply registered NGOs working in the third world. We have obtained a quotation from them for an ideal 4×4 Land Cruiser utility vehicle, which is substantially less than what we would pay for a comparable vehicle in Malawi. We are exploring the possibility of a duty-free waiver with the Malawi Revenue Authority.

Please pray that we will have clear guidance about this purchase. Although much cheaper than alternative options, it still involves a significant outlay of resources, which impacts our ability in other important areas of the work.

Please pray for Brother Harold & his family, who earlier this week had a very traumatic burglary at their home.

The home was surrounded by a gang of around 15 thieves, two of whom were armed with guns. When they were unable to break down the doors, they took time to break down a wall to get in.

The thieves were looking for money and were very disappointed to find mainly tracts and Bibles, although their phones were taken.

Harold, Egly, and their boys are all very traumatised, especially on the back of the frightening events of the weekend of 12 March when they feared they would be swept away by the mudslides. They are not eating or sleeping, and the children have been crying out in the night.

Please pray for them all. There is NO DOUBT that their association with the work (especially white people) has made them vulnerable, and we need to further review our security as the increasing hardships in Malawi bite even deeper, making crime more and more likely. However, above all, this is yet opposition is another proof that that God is mightily at work in Saidi.

Please pray for Angel, who started work with us last Monday to help with bookkeeping and admin.

It was certainly an unusual first week on a new job for her, as we were head and ears into MGO, but pray that she will not only be able to relieve an admin burden for us, but that we will be a spiritual blessing to her.

It seems that mechanical / vehicle trouble is never far away!

The saga of the repairs to Stephen’s old Isuzu truck continues. After ignoring my calls all week, S*, the mechanic promises that the car will be ready this week, but we’ve lost count of how many times we’ve heard that. We really need a resolution to this situation as it’s inhibiting our literature distribution capability.

Meanwhile, the second-hand Mitsubishi two-tonner we imported a couple of years back has also been in the workshop for repairs for the last couple of weeks. Fortunately building work has more-or-less come to a standstill during MGO, but we will be needing it again soon.

Finally, we are still trying to resolve a complication with the paperwork for the other second-hand Isuzu we were gifted last year. Somewhere along the way the ownership was incorrectly transferred prior to us receiving the vehicle, and it’s proving difficult to resolve. The vehicle’s suspension and steering also need maintenance as the poor road conditions have taken a heavy toll. Obviously, we need to get the ownership issue straightened out if investing more money into the vehicle’s upkeep.