I recently read a book by Hannah Hurnard called Hinds' Feet on High Places. It was one of the most encouraging books I have read, and it is now one of my all-time favorite books. It is an allegorical story to our Christian walk with the Lord. The main character's name is Much Afraid, and at one point on her walk with the Lord, He leads her down into the desert (Eygpt). There Much Afraid saw a woman pounding bread corn with heavy stones. She saw what a LONG process it was of pounding the bread corn by hand before a fine white powder was formed- which was the finished product and was now ready for use. In the book, the Shepherd says to her "though corn bread is bruised, no one threshes it for ever, only until the bruised and broken grain is ready for its highest use." This is exactly as the Lord does with us. We are shaped and formed through trials and tribulations. But through heartbreak and loss, bruises and threshes, through our tears, He is making us into who He wants us to be. And this continues through our entire life here.As I was reading this section of the book, I immediately thought of the maize mills in Malawi. I photographed one maize mill at the Selengo MOH center. They had just installed a generator not long before we arrived, and this took so much of the work off of them. Previous to the generator, the grinding of the maize was ALL done by hand!! The generator was such a blessing to the fact that the fine white powder they used to make their staple, Nsima, was ground at a much faster rate and in much larger quantities. Here are some images from the maize mill:
Much Afraid at first didn't want to go down into the desert, as the path lead away from the high places. But look at what the Lord showed her, what He taught her. Later, Much Afraid says "You are my Shepherd whose voice I love to hear and obey, and that it is my joy to follow you. You choose, my Lord, and I will obey."
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Maize mill,
Malawi 2008,
Ministry of Hope
We tend to get waves of feeling uncertain or... DOUBT... about all the things that have to happen before seminary next year. It is so easy to let those feelings take over. God usually never lets us feel that way for long. He is so good. One morning as Ryan was driving to work, he tuned in to Charles Stanley on 640 am. Immediately upon tuning in, he heard Charles say (something very close to this... as Ryan remembers it...):
you're a 36 -year-old, you have 3 kids, a house, a job, a car. One day you come home and tell your wife you have a call to go into the ministry. What do you have to do..... you have to sell your house, sell your car, you probably have to move to another city. You have to rely on God for all these things to happen. You have to rely on Him to pay for seminary, for the funds to come in, to get a job there to support your family. It won't make sense by the world standards, the way the world thinks. They will question you... Why, would you do this??? The math won't work, the math will never work, but with Him, it will work.
Awesome!! Ryan called me that morning after he heard this and was almost in tears. This is EXACTLY our situation. He really felt the Lord talking to him and encouraging him, and saying... yes, Ryan, this IS your path. Walk in it! How gracious the Lord is for His encouragement.
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Praise and encouragement
One of the specialty treats that is sold on the side of the roads are these toasty little critters.... rats on a stick. Apparently the natives love this snack, but I could not do it. Even the sight of the scorched rats made my tummy go upside down. yuck. The Malawians will light fires inthe many surrounding fields to chase the rats out of their burrows and catch them, then cook them up and sell them. I saw them- mostly kids- doing exactly this as we drove back and forth from our MOH (Ministry of Hope) centers. The man holding this stick of rats was from a missionary family living on the ABC (African Bible College) campus, where we were staying. He nibbled a tail.
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Malawi 2008
Selengo was my favorite feeding center. This center fed the orphans of close to 100 surrounding villages!! Yet, it seemed the cleanest, most well-kept and organized. I've mentioned this before, but, I'll mention it again- one of the biggest blessing about this mission trip was the kids. Reading the Gospel to them, talking to them, holding them, playing all kinds of games with them- soccer being one of them- was such a tremendous encouragement to them, and such a tremendous experience for all of us who went. I have never met kids like these. They are beautiful little souls who help to take care of each other, especially their siblings, who will sit and listen attentively, who eat with their hands, who play soccer with a ball made out of wrapped up plastic bags. I drew pictures on a pad of paper for a crowd of kids and they told me how to say the things I drew in their native tongue, Chichewa. They laughed at my sorry little drawings. God has given me a passion for photography, but free-hand drawing is not a talent I posses. I laughed with them. The fellowship with peoples from another land, another culture, another 'time' was touching to my soul. I want to go back to tell them more about Jesus. For it is not us (the missionaries) who convert when telling others about the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ, it is the work of the Holy Spirit. Praise God for this. How scary it would be if it were completely up to us. God works in all things and through all things. In John 14:15-18, Jesus says "If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever- the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you." How awesome to know that He is always with us. He works through us for His glory and His will!
The team read the Bible stories and crafts with this center, as well as the medical mission and hygiene clinic. I got to read scripture and pray with the older kids! (the picture of my group is the very last image in this post) Ryan and Andy got to meet up with us at the end of the day, as they stayed at Katondo every day to work on the chicken house, but they joined us in playing with the kids, and of course, playing soccer, until it was time to go. Nobody ever wanted to leave. Leaving was the hardest part.
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Malawi 2008,
Ministry of Hope,
Selengo
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Family
The MOH feeding center of Katondo was where most of the work was done by our 2008 team. This is the site where we built the second chicken house. All of the team members got to work on it, but Ryan, Andy and Greg stayed here for the entire duration of our stay to try and get a majority of it done before we left. I have honestly never met harder workers than those that we met in Africa. The women even more so than the men. They had their babies strapped on and even breastfeeding while shoveling, scooping and carrying enormous loads of fill dirt over to the foundation. Kids helped by transporting large rocks on their heads from the feeding center area over to the work area - pics are in the slideshow.
Also in Katondo, we gave a VBS story and craft to the kids. Jenny talked about salvation the first day, and the kids made salvation bracelets as their craft; the second day, the story was about how God is always there, even though you can't see Him. The kids made kites that day out of brown lunch bags and string, symbolic of how the air that we can't see fills the bags and enables the kites to fly. Just as the air is invisible, God also is naked to the eye, but when He calls us to Him, He fills us up and we become free through His Son. "It is freedom that Christ has set us free." Galatians 5:1a "We live by faith, not by sight." 2 Corinthians 5:7 We brought crayons and stickers for them to decorate with. There was so much joy in the kite craft. The kids were running around flying their kites, following Beth and laughing and smiling seeing just how fast they could go!! What a joy it was to see such happiness come out of something so simple to make, and the illustration was just perfect! Beth and Emily were great with the kids, playing "duck, duck goose" and hand games with them. The kids also got a kick out of blowing up medical latex gloves and keeping them up into the air, not letting them touch the ground.
I was in charge of the hygiene clinic. I showed the kids how to wash their hands well with soap and water, and also how to brush their teeth. We were able to hand out toothbrushes and toothpaste and bar soap that was donated to all the kids there!
Susan read scripture with the older kids, and passed out small Bibles for them to keep. The older kids read English fairly well, so they were able to take turns reading and they got to talk about what those passages meant to them. How awesome!
We also held a medical mission there at Katondo. Dr. Butler is a pediatrician so he saw many kids with a wide range of symptoms and diseases. Medicine such as antibiotics, children's cough syrup, de-worming pills, ibuprophin, and tylenol were provided for us to give to the kids- and to the adults we saw- in need. There was also a physician's assistant named Mwawi that worked in one of MOH's crisis nursery's that traveled with us to a couple centers. She was able to help in seeing and diagnosing the huge turnout of patients. It was truly amazing at how the Lord equipped us with specific people to help us do His work. This happened more than once. "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Matthew 6:9b-10
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chicken house,
Katondo,
Malawi 2008,
Ministry of Hope
God provides. God provides indeed! Over the past two weeks, we have a lot to offer praise for. Ryan is scheduled to start seminary in June 2010, so we plan to be down in Jackson in May so that we can get settled in and acquainted with our new home town. Since Ryan will be in school full time, he will only be able to get a part time job, which means we will have to live on even less than we do now. So, we have our house and car up for sale now. We've been praying that the Lord raise up an honest and fair buyer for both and that He provides us with a mini van to accommodate our growing family. The Lord did provide- and even beyond! He provided us with a FREE mini van! Glory to God for his goodness and provisions!! We have been so humbled by this answered prayer. Ryan told me a few days before we received the news about the van that his cousin Marilyn (who is a prayer warrior!!) was praying for us, for the Lord to raise up a mini van, perhaps a free mini van, if not just for our needs, but then to encourage and soften everyone hearts around us. Well, the Lord indeed hears our prayers, and He answers prayers!! What an incredible blessing!! "
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28
We immediately called Marilyn with the news of this answered prayer and she was ecstatic. I was crying... I could tell she was teary eyed too! She emailed me later saying "Romans 8:32" which reads "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all- how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
Along with this answered prayer, we also have received medical coverage for our children, a $71.00 credit on our gas bill, and deposit money for on-campus housing for seminary. We needed to get that deposit money off very soon to make sure we secured housing for us. We prayed about the Lord sending us money, and out of the blue a couple of days ago, for no apparent reason, Ryan's mom gave him exactly the amount we needed to send!! To the dollar!!! This has no luck or chance to it; it is ALL God!!!!!
How wonderful He is!
He loves us because we are His.
Thanks for everyone's prayers!
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Praise and encouragement
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