Harold explains why he’s so enthusiastic about MGO – it has opened so many doors
Recorded October 2023
Transcript
2023 MGO was just like any other MGO – special in such a way that MGO’s are always different but this time we think of the MGO that was with the few people that participated and we were just thinking of how I was going to try and do what we have been doing in the past with the the few of us
But like Gideon we were able to see that the Lord is not very much interested in the numbers but the commitment and the trust that we have in him
He is able to do [the same that] he can do with many people with a few people
And so 2023 MGO was such a great encouragement to to me because we saw the Lord did a lot through a few people who were committed to do the job
I was encouraged with the order we have seen especially when it came to the kids the Children’s Day there was good order and it was such an encouragement to see lots of children sitting under the Word of God and listening attentively
I think the Lord gave much help and so I was really encouraged to see that many children
MGO is a vehicle which has opened so many doors when it comes to service to the Lord we just pray that the Lord will continue to not just open these doors but we take time to fully utilize those doors
There are school programs that have been opened because of MGO
There are hospital visits and time of gospel in the hospitals that was opened because of MGO also prisons such an important place to be to preach the gospel to prisoners
The Lord through MGO has been able to open so many doors
And we pray that the Lord will help us to fully take advantage of spreading the gospel strategically in these places
I’ve had the audiobook version of The Boy who Harnessed the Wind on my Audible playlist for a long time. I eventually got around to listening to it recently on a solo road trip. I instantly wished I’d done so earlier.
The Boy who Harnessed the Wind is not a Christian book, but it is an entertaining and enlightening read (listen!!). It’s the story of William Kamkwamba, who like so many Malawian boys, had to drop out of school. Nevertheless, against all odds, he managed to teach himself to build a wind turbine and light his village home. It provides an excellent insight into Malawian culture (especially the Chewa people) and the cruel hardships of village life. Although I’m sure the narrator is not himself Malawian, the African accent added much to my enjoyment of the book. For that reason, I do recommend the audio version.
A lot of things resonated after more than 20 years’ experience of The Warm Heart of Africa. I learned a few things too! It was especially poignant as most of the serious action took place around the time we first arrived in the country. The book recounts the serious famine of late 2001, the aftermath of which we remember vividly. The Boy who Harnessed the Wind is mostly set in Kasungu district (Central Region), which I don’t know as well as the South, but I got a very pleasant surprise in the penultimate chapter when a dear personal friend from our days in Zomba was mentioned in dispatches!
I’m providing these links for your convenience – I don’t get any commission 🙂
Goodson explains how the building works at Saidi have already been so helpful. He asks brothers and sister to pray about the future needs of the Building project
Recorded October 2023
Transcript
For all the buildings here it’s encouraged me because right now we have a printing room an office now we have our stores so you’ll see the container there and also we have the Msasa
So all these houses [are] help[ing] us
People they need to pray for us because we have so many works here we are looking for the gospel hall that we plan to start the building I’m not sure if we can start this year but we plan to start the gospel hall
So people they need to pray about this myself I cannot do anything myself so I believe in the fellowship If we can work together we can manage to do something
So everyone who have a chance to help and work of the Lord here in Malawi It is a good time to take part
And I pray for other brothers and sisters who was not here in Malawi even other countries remember Malawi sometimes when you are gathered together to pray
Tomorrow Anna leaves for the Bible Educational Services (BES) conference taking place in Northern Ireland. DV. Please remember her in prayer.
The conference aims to provide attendees from all over the world with the opportunity to interact, build connections and acquire useful knowledge about training methods, safeguarding laws, and advancements in the field of children’s work.
Reflections from the team and feedback from all who took part in the recent Bible conference point to it being a time of great blessing from the Lord. Perhaps one reason that this year’s Bible conference was particularly encouraging was the way it aligned with SALT’s vision. It was incredibly fulfilling to have time together to enlighten, encourage and empower local believers to fulfill their part in the great commission.
Responses on one of the conference feedback forms
Enlightened
The conference was enlightening to those who took part as it helped to bring greater insight into God’s Word and various issues of day-to-day, ministry and church life.
“I’ve learned how we can deal with some problems that happen at church,” saysbrother Kenneth from Thyolo. “…The lessons have been helpful to my spiritual life, family, but also my ministry because now I’ll be able to understand the book of 1 Corinthians with more understanding and it’s my desire to learn more deeply the book of 2 Corinthians and other books of the Bible.”
“To me, every lesson was helpful to my calling. My spiritual eyes have been opened to understand the Corinthian church/ the problem in the church today” – brother Liston, Lilongwe
“I’ve learned the evil of worshipping idols.” – brother Amos, Machinga
Encouraged
Brother Mark teaches during the conference
The conference allowed fellow workers to meet and be encouraged in faith, while learning from the faith of Paul and the experience of the church at Corinth:
“Bringing us together has allowed us to know each other and learn from one another.” – McOwen Thawani from Zomba
“I’ll be leaving more courageous, like Paul”. – Peter Mpumira, Zomba
It was also a chance to be reminded of and more deeply rooted in foundational truths:
“Truly we don’t need to build another foundation because the foundation is Christ.” – Wonderson Kapinda, Zomba
“Thank you for coming, next time do the same. We benefitted a lot …You just reminded us of what brother Goodson [said] a couple of months ago about salvation. Thank you.” – Robert Sawali, Zomba
Empowered
Some shared that they were empowered with greater knowledge for sharing the good news.
“The lessons have given me power especially regarding how I can reach people with the good news.” – Miles Namakhwa, Mulanje
Anna presents the Nthawi Ya Baibulo resources
During one of the recesses, Anna also introduced distributors to the Nthawi Ya Baibulo (Bible Time) resources for children’s ministry.
“Yes, we are thankful for the ministry of Southern Africa Literature Trust for the lessons they have provided to ministers from different churches. These lessons have helped us to know more about our role. The conference has also helped us regarding children’s ministry because we lacked resources we could use. Thank you for this. – Precious Namukhonde, Thyolo
Costly, but free
The privilege of sitting under God’s Word free of charge for a week with believers from all over the country (and the world) make brother Green’s words especially poignant:
“These are expensive teachings, if there was a price, we wouldn’t have been able to pay.” – Brother George Green, Zomba
We thank the Lord for His hand of blessing and for the prayers, support and effort of His people which made this time of enlightenment, encouragement and empowerment possible.
Anna shares progress on the Bible Time Chichewa Translation Project
Recorded October 2023
Transcript
We’re continuing with translation and revision of the Bible time curriculum and we’ve just about completed the first year. We need to do some revisions now. We’ve been testing it out with the kids here and found some activities work some don’t.
We’re also about halfway through the second year’s worth of material.
There’s still some things that need to be tweaked and adjusted but overall I see it has a lot of potential for use in teaching children the gospel.
So I think it’s a good tool that can be really useful in reaching children throughout Malawi.
Pray for continued help with the translation and revision and just wisdom and direction to know how to take this area of the work forward.
Dave & Kari share their thoughts on their visit to Malawi in March 2024.
Dave is from a farming background. He has an interest in sustainable farming and how simple techniques can be used to improve yields and thereby food security.
Transcript
Hey, everyone
Stephen had asked us if we would just put a short video together for you all to be able to, just hear our thoughts and our first impression of our visit to Malawi
I think for, for both of us when we first arrived in the country, the one of the first things we noticed was the beauty of the country, mountainous, hilly
We would call them mountains, from from where we live in Ontario. a beautiful country. it’s densely populated
That’s the one thing that we both felt. having lots of people, lots of opportunities also to be able to share the gospel. we got to go to, a couple of schools and, and share the gospel with, with the kids there
We handed out some literature there as well. then some calendars calendars. yeah
The kids are pretty excited about that. when we arrived, the container with, Christian literature, had arrived yet and I know Stephen was, disappointed because he wanted us to be able to experience that. seeing the logistics of how everything works with, handing, the literature out throughout the country and to be a part of that would have been, would have been pretty neat. it was nice to be able to first take in salt and go to the facilities and see the buildings and, and the layout of the land and the farm and, what your hoping to, to do there. and of course, with my farming background that was, neat to kind of get the wheels turning and, and see the opportunities that, are before you there with, being able to grow food for people
I think there’s, a lot of potential with, with what you’ve got there for a layout on your property and, use that for, for the Lord’s work. we we had a chance to go up to Lilongwe and to the, refugee camp
We able to take that and and tour around a wee bit just to see what it’s like
I’ve never been both of us have never been to a refugee camp before
I really enjoyed, having the opportunity to see the ladies and at their sewing machines when we first went in, and, and, they quickly brought it bags of things that they had sewn
And that was really cool
I just felt like I really made a connection there with some of those ladies, and, it was really special, a really neat opportunity
It’s neat how you can connect, so quickly, I find with, with people. when you come down to their level and, and, you take an interest in what they’re doing, the kids feeding program, that was, that was an eye opening experience for myself
I remember getting a little teary eyed, as I was handing out the food, just, to see these children, you know, literally having nothing or very little and and to be able to provide, a meal for them and to be able to share the gospel with them
So, yeah, overall, we had a really good a good trip, a good time
I’m just grateful for Stephen’s. kindness and taking us around, driving us around and we’re thankful the Lord kept us safe and provided a vehicle for us to be able to do that with, even though it did break down a couple of times
Nothing too major
We’re thankful for Stephen’s, hospitality and kindness and and, willingness to, to give us, a tour of the country part of it
Anyway, so it was it was a fun experience
Yeah. we’re going to be in prayer for you guys, Yeah
Well, I’m not sure what the future holds for us, but we would ask your prayers as well. as we were seeking for what the Lord would, would have for us, so
Harold shares about the trauma of his robbery last year.
Recorded October 2023
Note: Please remember Harold and his family in prayer. This incident followed and equally traumatic experience in March 2023. Harold and family feared for their lives as their home was caught in the gap between two major mudslides during Cyclone Freddy.
In March 2024, Harold had a further upset when he was mugged in Lilongwe
Transcript
My name is Harold Makawa from Njuli and working with SALT.
What happened recently with my family was so horrible. Armed robbers came. That was on the 18th of September. Monday night around 11:00 the robbers came fully armed with guns and they banged our doors but they were not able to break the doors so they resolved to break the wall.
In the meantime we tried to call for help but help didn’t come until they came to where we were.
They were really looking for money and we didn’t have any money in the house.
We are so grateful that they left after 2.5 hours or so.
Just to say briefly about the Lord’s preservation and providence. The Lord knew what was coming. We didn’t know what was coming.
I had some literature I wanted to take to our depots in Mulanje and Chikwawa so I was just keeping them in the house.
When the thieves came the robbers came. They pulled all the boxes and all of the the the bags and they were just opening and Bibles and tracts everywhere. And so we see that in that in itself the Lord was able to speak to them about who we were.
And so yeah the Lord preserved our lives because we’ve heard cases where people have been attacked by robbers and they have been so much hurt or cut by panga knives [machetes].
But we are so grateful to the Lord that they didn’t beat us. They didn’t even hit us but all they did was just to demand the money from us.
So we saw that the Lord so much preserved us.
Talking about myself and my family when it comes to people praying for us we We we are so traumatized still because of what happened. It’s not easy to live with the mind that you are the target of thieves in an area. And so we just think of what is before us in terms of the Lord’s work and we feel somehow discouraged but we just request that the people be praying for us that despite what has happened the Lord will help us to continue on and never be discouraged.
Brother Goodson shares why he’s so encouraged with the spiritual progress at Saidi
Recorded in October 2023
Transcript
The spiritual work here at Saidi is going up because we started with a small small team [group] but right now we have a large number So we praise the Lord because there’s spiritual [work] is going up And right now we plan to have next baptism at the last week of this October So I’m very encouraged Very encourage Because I [didn’t] believe maybe we can find the people as we see right now so I’m very encouraged because I see that Lord himself is [bringing] the people to us We need to pray for the work of the Lord here Because every time we we meet with the challenges as you know here in Malawi people is very suffer with the hunger and other problems here so we’re looking [after] the spiritual And also we’re looking [after] the body of the people so we need to pray [for] the work of the Lord here
Please pray for Angel, our admin / accounts assistant who has sustained a displaced fracture of her humerus in a road accident on Sunday.
Treatment options at the local government hospital are limited, so we are investigating the possibility of her being treated more quickly and to a better standard at the private Adventist hospital in Blantyre.
