Anna says, “Give thanks that the last document for the A-Series was sent to the designer this week!”
She adds, “Please pray for timely design of the Bibletime curriculum. The designer is swamped, but it would be nice to be able to start in the new year. The need for this kind of material is becoming increasingly evident at our weekly kids’ Bible class.”
Please continue to pray for the shipment of 2023 Gospel calendars and hygiene packs which was sent from Belfast during September.
Due to breakdown problems at the printer they were only able to complete half of the planned print run of 1,000,000 calendars. Please pray for the timely arrival of the container and for guidance as we consider whether to print all/part of the remaining 500,000 calendars using a commercial printer in Malawi.
500,000 Gospel calendars and 2400 Prison Hygiene packs will soon be on their way to Malawi.
Earlier this week we loaded 96 cartons into a rental van at SALT’s depot in Newtownards. We extend sincere thanks to the assemblies and individuals across the UK who have helped put these packs together.
While work continues on construction of the maintenance workshop and stores, please join with us in giving thanks for the installation of a 3KVA solar pv system to power the new print room and office, due to take place this week.
This represents a considerable investment, but with regular (often daily) prolonged (8+ hr) blackbouts due to load shedding, we have no real option but to go “off-grid”. A power outage during a print run is not just inconvenient but can damage the equipment.
We are thankful for the donated digital duplicator and ancillary equipment which will enable us to produce short-medium run Bible courses and other publications. Pray that it will be mightily blessed by the Lord.
Anna writes:
I am thankful for a safe and positive trip to Dzaleka.
Please continue praying for the hope of Christ to shine in the hearts of these dear people, especially through the Bibletime curriculum (phase two to begin shortly).
Note: We introduced Swahili language Bible Time lessons at the Dzaleka Refugee Camp last year. This project has been very successful and has been a very useful pilot for the Chichewa work which is in advanced stages of development.
Brother Stephen is currently in Malawi and will appreciate your prayers. Particularly remember the following:
*Note: The economy in Malawi is really struggling. Increasing poverty is making the security situation worse. See this recent article in the Guardian newspaper.
The activities of the Trust continued to be seriously affected by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic for a significant portion of the year. Nevertheless, we are grateful that as travel restrictions began to ease, it was possible for Stephen to visit Malawi twice to review operations there, first in May and again in August.
Stephen’s visit in May was timed to coincide with the arrival in Malawi of Anna Vallance, who has been commended to the work by her assembly in Livonia, MI, USA. It has been a pleasure to welcome her. Her dedication to the work and devotion to the Lord will undoubtedly strengthen the team, particularly as she has joined the Board of the Malawi operation.
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.
“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.
