Please pray for the safe and speedy transit of the first of 3 shipments expected to arrive before the end of the year (DV). This has just been sent. and contains a significant portion of our 2025 Gospel Calendars (around 500,000), 42 boxes of Gospels and around 50 boxes of prison hygiene packs.
Later this month a further consignment of Classroom packs, other practical items and literature from Everyday Publications will be sent from Toronto. We are grateful to MSC and ACCTS for the kind use of their shipping facility. The remainder of our calendars, Nthawi ya Baibulo (Bible Time) booklets and other Gospel literature should follow in the next month or two, Lord willing.
Please also pray that the Lord will richly bless this literature to the salvation of many souls.
Does network troubleshooting constitute “real missionary work”?
As always, it’s been a joy to be back in Malawi. Today is the midpoint of a short trip which has already proved to be extremely valuable. I often feel frustrated that so much of my time seems to taken up with admin and planning, and not the “real missionary work” of preaching and teaching. Then I remember that Paul wrote, “there are varieties of service, but the same Lord” (1 Corinthians 12:5) and how he often commended the tireless efforts of many who evidently laboured behind the scenes, whom he was happy to call “co-workers”.
Although my last visit was very much about the “real missionary work”, this visit has been more about necessary “behind the scenes” activity. We’ve spent a lot of time reviewing the conference in May, and how to add value to something which was evidently of great profit to many. We have also spent much time thinking about the much-anticipated launch of Nthawi Ya Baibulo (Bible Time), which gets closer with each passing week. There is already a lot of interest in NYB, and we want to make sure that we manage the roll-out carefully.
In addition to this, SALT has recently taken overall responsibility for the Emmaus work in Malawi. Although a phenomenally valuable teaching and discipleship resource, Emmaus has failed to reach its potential in Malawi due to the absence of a national coordinator for the past 7 or 8 years. Please pray for Anna who has accepted this responsibility on behalf of SALT, on top of her already-busy schedule.
Yesterday, we met with Gibson, our main literature translator. I’ve worked on and off with Gibson for many years, but he and Anna have done a fantastic job over these past 2-3 years, cooperating on the NYB translation. With less than one month’s work remaining (by his estimate) we are looking forward to letting him loose on some other important translation projects.
To be honest, although I do often feel frustrated that I’m unable to do as much of the real missionary work that I love, I am humbled, and sometimes rebuked when I think of all that the Lord has privileged me to be involved with here. The work has grown beyond recognition, and maintaining that necessarily involves a lot of tedious and “unrewarding” effort, which the Lord graciously blesses.
Mark has recently volunteered his experience
I’ve been very happy to be accompanied by Bro Mark Beach, who has recently volunteered his extensive experience in missionary literature work. Mark has been involved for many years in various aspects of Christian work, most recently leading Everday Publications Inc, highly regarded in assembly missionary circles for their helpful resources in “Everyday English”. He also brings his experience in accounting and bookkeeping, which has already lifted a great burden off my shoulders. I believe that with his help and your prayers, the work will go forward from strength to strength.
I shouldn’t forget that there was some “real missionary work” on Wednesday, when we had a visit at one of the prisons, around an hour’s drive from base. What a thrill as around 350 inmates sat attentively listening to the Word of God. Pray that the gifts of a hygiene pack left with each will be a blessing. Each pack contains a leaflet with a simple Gospel message. And, of course, I’m looking forward to being with the assembly at Saidi tomorrow, when doubtless I’ll have opportunity to share the Word of God with them.
Meet Goliat Chisowa, a gospel literature distributor from the southern region of Malawi.
Transcript:
My name is Goliat Chisowa, I stay in Mwatheta village.
I have a family. I have six children.
Calendars help us, we give them to students so they can know the date.
The tracts encourage us because not everyone has a Bible. The tracts encourage us in the Word. For example, the tract “Going to Hell is your own choice”. So, where we may not have Bibles, we make use of the tract.
Meet Cyford Chimwaza who shares how tracts help him share the gospel in the most remote areas of southern Malawi.
Transcript:
My name is Cyford Chimwaza from Phalula in Balaka district.
[Tracts] help very much because we distribute in the remotest areas where people cannot find any literature, and when we reach them it shows that we are reaching them with Jesus and the Word of God. And we very much appreciate for the tract.
[We distribute] In the district of Balaka and also in other districts, but our ministry we do very much in the remotest areas. So it’s like in the village, like in Manjawira and even in Phalula and around, even we enter into Ntcheu, Neno – around this area it’s where we distribute the calendars and also the tracts. And also we show Jesus film. So wherever we show Jesus film, we distribute the tracts. So it’s very effective in our ministry.
We would like people to pray for us, especially this year as we are going through [a] difficult time with hunger and economic challenges. So when we meet the Christians and even other people, when we are talking about the Word of God others wonder how they can understand this as they are going through the hunger problem and other things. So if God [can] help us to give us wisdom so that whatever little we have we can also share. We share the Word of God spiritually but also we could love to share other things practically, like food and even medication. So, if God can open the doors of the help so that we can also extend the help to the needy. As we show spiritual love, we show also physical love as Jesus did. So help us to pray for that.
We’ve added a new gallery! Click here to explore images from a visit to the Lower Shire to meet literature distributors and supply them with gospel calendars in January 2024.
Please pray for a good supply of water as we proceed with well drilling at the Saidi site.
Unfortunately our on-site borehole ran dry a couple of months back, causing considerably challenges there.
We commissioned an independent survey which identified three locations with the promise of good water yields. The economies of scale of drilling three wells at the same time have given us confidence that now is the right time to proceed with the first phase of our longer-term plans to irrigate the few acres of farmland at the south of the site. Please pray that the investment will yield a good supply of water.
Thereafter we will consider the timing of the next phase which will involve installing additional solar pumps and water storage facilities, as the Lord enables.
Thank you so much for praying – we recently received confirmation that the authorities have granted concessionary rates of import tax & duties, reducing the potential tax burden from almost US$50,000 (as much as the price of the vehicle) to only $12,500! We were far from certain that the concession would be granted, and the higher rate would have been an enormous drain on our resources.
The new vehicle is expected to arrive in Malawi within the next couple of weeks, God willing.
Pray for the kid’s camp at Dzaleka this week: 29 July – 1 Aug. Some of the older girls from Saidi will be joining Anna.
In previous years the camp has taken place around Christmas, but we are experimenting with alternative dates this year. Hopefully the cooler temperatures and fewer mosquitoes will be a little less troublesome.
Pray for Anna as travel to & from Dzaleka, for health, stamina & safety during the week.
Please pray for a fruitful meeting with the Emmaus International Coordinator and other key stakeholders aimed at re-energising the extremely useful Emmaus Correspondence Ministry which has been stalled for a while in Malawi.
Emmaus is a really good fit with the Gospel literature ministry which is at the core of what SALT does, and the Nthawi ya Baibulo (Bible Time) ministry which is due to come online later in the year. Particularly, we see it as a priceless tool to instruct and spiritually develop our network of literature distributors, and others by extension thorough them, so pray that a Lord will guide us and that a clear strategy will emerge as we go forward.
Angel had a follow up appointment with her surgeon last week. She said it was a positive meeting and the surgeon said she was surprised to see that the bone seems to have started growing back!
Angel’s had a couple of physiotherapy sessions over the past weeks which were quite challenging, but thanks be to God for the prayers and the positive feedback from her doctor.
