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Please remember Anna’s mom, Heidi Vallance, who will be travelling to Malawi this week. It’s a very long journey and she will appreciate our prayers for safe and trouble-free travel.

It’s almost exactly one month since the robbery and assault. As well as remembering Heidi as she travels, please continue to pray:

  1. For Anna’s physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing as she continues her recovery. She will have follow up medical consultations and tests later this week.
  2. For safety as Anna and Wati will be travelling south today (Monday). Anna will stay with a Christian family in their home in Blantyre.
  3. That the Lord will bless Heidi’s visit
    • That the time with her mom will be helpful for Anna and
    • That being with Anna will give Heidi and their wider family peace of mind knowing that she is in good company as she recovers.

It was lovely to have Gail’s company in Malawi for a couple of weeks

I love Malawi. I’ll take every opportunity to visit Malawi. But I hope I never have to visit again in the circumstances that made this present trip necessary.

As regular readers know, sister Anna recently suffered a very traumatic burglary and assault at her home. The trustees agreed unanimously that Gail and I should travel to Malawi at the earliest opportunity to support her through this crisis. We also felt it appropriate to review and improve the security of our people and property in Malawi in light of what had happened.

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Please continue to pray for resolution of our vehicle-related issues.

We are very thankful that the Land Cruiser has not given any serious trouble on this trip. However, there have been some electrical issues which need sorted.

More importantly, we still need to complete legal formalities following our purchase of the vehicle, almost 3 years ago. Harold has been trying to liaise with “S”, the mechanic we bought the car from, but so far has not managed to complete the transaction.

“S” is the same mechanic who has been dragging his heels regarding the repair of Stephen’s Isuzu pickup. It has been off the road for a similar length of time.

Harold has an arrangement to meet “S” on Monday morning – please pray that he will keep his word.

Please pray for Harold, Egly & their family who have just suffered an attempted burglary at the new home Harold is constructing.

Although the thieves did not manage to enter the house, they did damage a window frame in the process. Harold has not yet managed to install electricity so it remains vulnerable to thieves during the hours of darkness.

It’s ironic that this has happened while Stephen is in Malawi to, among other things, review security of SALT’s people and property there.

Deteriorating economic conditions have caused an upsurge in theft recently. This further incident highlights the need for us constantly to keep the safety and security of the work and workers in our prayers.

Please continue to pray for Anna as she continues her recovery after her break-in and assault earlier this month.

Stephen & Gail spent several days with Anna over the past couple of weeks, including two nights at Cape Maclear on Lake Malawi. They were able to discuss various short and medium-term options. We give thanks for the kindness of lovely believers who allowed us to stay at their resort completely free of charge.

Please pray:

  1. For Anna’s personal safety (and the rest of the team of course). It is particularly important that she does not have any further trauma during this period of her recovery
  2. That Anna will be able to thoroughly de-stress after the severe trauma of the robbery and assault.
  3. That she will be preserved from depression and ongoing symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  4. That she will have relief from the nausea and extreme fatigue she is experiencing. Some of which may be due to the prophylactic medication she must take.
  5. For the follow-up medical tests to be taken at the end of the month
  6. That she will be able to discern how and when to begin to return to the work she misses so much
  7. That the SALT team and Christians around Anna will know how best to give the care and support she needs.

The first group of ladies in the 6-month skills training program at Dzaleka Refugee Camp will graduate on 30 April, Lord willing.

We established the program to help foster mothers and vulnerable women at Dzaleka learn sewing, embroidery and knitting skills. As a result, we hope that the women will manage to provide for themselves and their families. Extreme poverty means that many women in the camp resort to prostitution to survive.

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We are thankful that the Land Cruiser has proved fairly reliable for Stephen & Gail’s trip, with only some relatively minor electrical problems to deal with. After successive mechanical problems with the car, this is a real blessing, especially as they have travelled almost 2000Km already on this trip.

On Friday morning it passed a major milestone when the odometer clocked half a million (hard!!) kilometers.

Please pray for Stephen & Gail Harper who are nearing the end of their unscheduled 2-week trip to Malawi. The purpose of their visit was to give support to Anna following her recent trauma and to review security at the site at Saidi.

Pray:

  1. That the remainder of their time will be profitable (there are a number of activities to pack into the short time remaining.
  2. For safe an uneventful travel as they return home on Wednesday, Lord willing
  3. That the time they have spent in Malawi will prove to have been profitable.

ENLIGHTEN | ENCOURAGE | EMPOWER