Goodson requests that we pray for protection for the team at Saidi and the work there. During the wet season, the standing maize provides excellent cover for thieves, who also take advantage of the heavy rain storms to pursue their criminal activity. We had a couple of attacks during last raining season.
Give thanks for the improvement in Goodson’s son’s health. Many have enquired after we requested prayer when he was taken unwell with cerebral malaria. Goodson reports that he is doing very well, but the doctor has warned that his case was so serious that he should waste no time in seeking attention if he starts to feel unwell.
Goodson wishes to thank everyone for their prayers.
Brother Stephen will value your prayers as he begins to make plans for his next Malawi trip in February.
The fuel crisis seems to have abated for the time being, making a further visit viable. There are a lot of practical matters to take care of in connection with the ongoing development at Saidi, and plans to be made regarding our Bible Teaching Conference which we hope to resume in May, Lord willing.
God willing, Stephen hopes to be able to help with any Calendar distribution that remains outstanding, and have some Gospel meetings at Saidi.
We are very excited about the possibility in May (DV) of resuming our annual Bible Teaching Conference which have not taken place for 4 years now, most recently due to Covid, and for 2 years prior to that due to the Presidential election in May 2018 and re-run in 2019. In the past these have proved invaluable.
We plan to change the format slightly and to have a single 4 or 5 day conference at the new facility at Saidi, rather than two 2-day conferences at rented locations in Blantyre and Lilongwe as we did before. We hope the new format will allow us to get to know the attendees better, and to take more time to work through and discuss the topics under consideration.
For now, please pray about the practicalities of providing food and accommodation for those who come. As we don’t yet have any dormitory accommodation, we plan to try to finish the vehicle workshop currently under construction, for temporary use as a dormitory along with the block-making workshop built earlier this year.
We hope that with sufficient notice (almost 4 months) many of our literature distributors will be able to save the £8 / $10 or so they will need for public transport costs from neighbouring cities. As the Lord enables, we will try to assist those coming longer distances with the cost of their fare home if they can make it to Saidi.
Harold asks us to pray about the practicalities of the impending Calendar Distribution. We are printing 100,000 calendars in Malawi, and expecting 500,000 to arrive by container in the next couple of weeks, Lord willing.
As the annual rains are now at full strength, it is impossible to use our open-back 2-Ton truck to supply the regional distributors, and our other vehicles are of insufficient capacity for such large volumes. We are investigating some possible solutions, but all are less than ideal.
Harold ask us to pray for the Schools work in the coming months. They have more invitations than they can possibly respond to and need wisdom to know which schools to prioritise.
The school visits made during MGO were very encouraging – 1000s of youngsters heard the Gospel and received Gospel Literature. There is a wide-open door in schools.
Although a consignment of 500,000 Gospel calendars is en route to Malawi from N. Ireland, we ordered a further run of our 2023 Calendar to be printed in Malawi. The increasing costs of materials meant we could only manage an extra 100,000, so we expect to have a shortfall of around 400,000 calendars compared to last year. Please pray (1) that the printer in Malawi will complete the order in good time (it has already been delayed due to power supply problems) and (2) that we will have wisdom to use the reduced number of calendars to best effect.
Please remember Anna & Wati who are presently busy with the Children’s Outreach at Dzaleka. Due to increasing numbers, they will run two 2-day camps, the first of which started on Sunday.
Each day, the children will take part in various activities and learn about the “Christmas story”. Most of these children come from very disturbed backgrounds, and it is a great opprtunity to be able to reach them with the Gospel.
Pray that Anna & Wati will be preserved in body & spirit, and that they will have the stamina for what will be a truly exhausting week.
Wati shared the following pics from the kids’ Christmas program at Dzaleka.
Goodson asks for urgent prayer for his son (27 years) who has been taken to hospital with suspected cerebral malaria.
He is presently unresponsive and on a drip.
Please pray for him, especially during the next few critical hours.
