There’s a real buzz in the air today as we have just received the very first complete Nthawi ya Baibilo (Chichewa, Bible Time) series back from the designer.
This represents months of long, often tedious work by Anna, Wati and the whole translation team, and is another massive step forward in the work of the Lord in Malawi.
Our 2023 Calendar is in the final design stages. We thank Brian Chalmers Design for their help another year. We think Brian has done a very nice job, don’t you?
We’ve also just heard from Revival Movement (RM) that they have already printed 3 pallets of tracts for us, and are able to help further with our Calendar print this year. What an encouragement! We estimate the commercial value of their last shipment to be £80-90,000. We do not rely exclusively on RM for our printing needs, and always try to make a meaningful contribution towards their costs. Nevertheless, such generous support frees up tens of thousands of pounds for use elsewhere. We have considerable other costs in Malawi: printing, maintaining vehicles, hosting conferences, relief programs, and of course our ongoing building project, so we cannot overstate how big a blessing this help is.
The Reserve Bank of Malawi just announced a massive 25% overnight currency devaluation. The Malawi Kwacha has lost 90% of its value in two decades!
“I keep moving forward”. So says Bro Harrison Saidi (coincidentally, the name of our village) who called by today. He came to collect Gospel Literature for meetings taking place at Mayaka, some 2-3 hours away by bicycle.
Give thanks with us for some progress towards resolving our long-standing vehicle troubles.
We were recently given a gift an Isuzu Double Cab Pick-up truck, almost identical to the one which has been in the repair shop for over three years. The gifted vehicle is 20 years old but had been laid up for the last 5 years. Rodents had done a lot of damage to the electrical wiring, but it was otherwise very well maintained. We give thanks that Joel has been able to repair this damage. He’s also given the clutch and brakes an overhaul and reports that the car is working well. This has involved yet further spending on vehicle maintenance, but we are very hopeful that we will have a good, working vehicle.
Please pray for our next major literature distribution which will take place shortly. As demand for Gospel Literature has grown, so the logistics of meeting the demand have become more complicated. This typically involves several thousand KM and a couple of weeks on the road.
Anna’s mom, Heidi Vallance, is spending her last few days in Malawi. Please pray that her remaining time will be a blessing to both her and Anna, and for journeying mercies as she starts the long journey home on Wednesday.
“I’ll appreciate the saints’ prayers for paper work for the trailer.”
He also has an upcoming trip to Kasungu about the container and requests prayer for that.
Brother Goodson says: “There is a lot happening here at the site. Also, there is also the work with Anna and the Bible studies. We need to be praying for these things so that this work for the Lord will go well.”
Note: Brother Goodson is kept very busy supervising the ongoing building project as well as construction of a house for Anna nearby. He does this work faithfully and diligently while also managing to keep several Bible studies going on site.
We have much to thank the Lord for as we review progress of the building work at Saidi so far. Thanks to the hard work of the building team, and brother Goodson’s diligent oversight, a lot has been accomplished since we started less than two years ago.
