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Anna says: “We are thankful that the translator has finished the final section of Bibletime! Please pray for the revision and design stage to go smoothly.”

Comment: This is a significant milestone, and a cause for much thanksgiving. Not only does it mean that the Bible Time project is nearing completion, but it also frees up Gibson, our principal translator, to focus on other very important translation projects!

As we give thanks and rejoice in the Lord’s provision, please continue to pray for the last leg of the long process to purchase a new Toyota Landcruiser utility vehicle for benefit of the work in Malawi. The vehicle eventually arrived at the Malawi border late last week and the process of customs clearance and registration is now under way. Pray that these remaining formalities will go smoothly.

The work has been beset with vehicle maintenance and reliability issues, so we are deeply grateful to those who gave generously to enable us to purchase this vehicle. The Lord sees and recompenses such sacrifice.

Please also pray that the Lord will make the vehicle a blessing in the work, especially in the literature distribution ministry, where we expect it to be of great service.

Pray

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.

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.

Several weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend a conference hosted by Bible Educational Services (BES) in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. It was tremendously encouraging and energizing to connect with people from all over the world who are involved in similar ministries.

Perhaps one of the most impactful things was meeting the woman who started it all! To think that it started with one woman posting lessons to one student and now today the curriculum is being used in over 80 countries and in 45 languages! Wendy Gray and her husband, Bert, and another older couple who have been involved in children’s work for decades, Stephen and Jean Gillham were both an inspiration and a challenge to me. Results are not often seen immediately in children’s work, but these couples reminded me that preserving and trusting the Lord to bless will result in fruit for His glory!

Results are not often seen immediately in children’s work, but these couples reminded me that preserving and trusting the Lord to bless will result in fruit for His glory!

Left to right: Wendy Gray and her husband, Bert, stand with Stephen and Jean Gillham (Image credit: Bible Educational Services)

I was also encouraged by the testimony of several of the delegates who were saved as children. One was taught the word of God while he was a child at a Sunday school. Though not from a Christian background, what he had learned as a child stuck with him and was used to bring him to salvation as a young adult. Another woman, also not from a Christian background, came to know about the Lord through children’s work, eventually accepting Christ at a Bible camp. These testimonies were a reminder of the importance of sharing the gospel with children and have bolstered my faith as I pray for God’s word to do a work in the hearts of the children we have come to know and love here in Malawi. Let us pray that this will indeed be the case!

Another takeaway was the importance of working with others. This is not a work that can be done single-handedly! Sessions on cooperation with coworkers got me thinking about how we can partner well with others to reach as many children as possible. It is something that needs much prayer and consideration. We want the work to be sustainable, i.e. not dependent on us. Please pray that the Lord will give clear direction from the start as to how we can best partner with others in a way that encourages this.

…more than ever we need to be in prayer for the Lord’s direction and blessing.

Overall, I was inspired and revitalized by spending a week in the presence of so many men and women who are giving their lives for the sake of sharing the gospel with children. What a privilege we have to tell the next generation about our God and Savior! What a responsibility! As we anticipate the launch of Bibletime in Malawi and look forward to training and distributing to others – more than ever we need to be in prayer for the Lord’s direction and blessing. It is, after all, His work, and He knows best how it should be done. Please pray with us that we will have a clear sense of His purposes for us and this resource in the coming months, so it can be used to reach thousands – perhaps millions – of children in this country who desperately need a Savior.

Pray

Sad to say, our consignment of Gospel Literature for Malawi is still delayed in Mauritius. In total, there are around 1.75 million items in transit, including (now overdue) Gospel Calendars and Tracts.

The consignment also includes several thousand prison hygiene packs.

According to the revised shipping schedule, the container is due to be moved early March – pray that there will be no further delays.

ENLIGHTEN | ENCOURAGE | EMPOWER