Ministry updates

It has been several months since my last update on this blog. Several factors played a role: time, tiredness, very slow internet, etc, many times all three at the same time. It is now mid-November and we just had our last short term mission team for this year and I believe it is due time for me to post some updates.

Family

We appreciate and need your prayers very much, so we want to let you know that we are doing well health-wise. We’ve been through the common cold and several other minor issues, but nothing life threatening. Ethan is growing way too quickly, and Aimee and Jessica are becoming beautiful young girls. Pray we have wisdom to raise them in God’s will.

Keep praying for Lita. Her skin condition – Psoriasis – has gone from her fingers to her toes now. She is trying to keep it in check but we would love to see it cured.

Ministry

We have so many updates about the ministry that I don’t even know where to begin. For starters, the ministry is growing beautifully, as witnessed by the 3 mission teams we had in the past 3 months.

The Primary School in Kachere is now serving kids up to grade 5 and we are ready for them to graduate, as the 6th grade classroom is completed. More than 600 children receive their much needed education daily. Pray this will change their lives and transform Malawi.

Hope for the Future Elementary in Kachere.

The Feeding Centers in Kachere and Mpyupyu are ministering to 200 children daily, with healthy breakfast and lunch being served for them. In addition, a Bible Lesson is being taught after lunch, so kids receive both physical and spiritual nourishment. Pray they grow strong in Christ.

The churches we’ve planted or those we’ve partnered with are doing great! A lot more work needs to be done, but I was so happy to see the pastors zeal for Christ at our last Pastors’ Conference. I feel we’re finally breaking ground with them. Pray they understand the need to reach their own people!

We’re planting two churches this year, Lord willing, one in Nasedegu and one in Bwanali. In both of these villages we’ve had Evangelistic camps and the need for a local church is pressing. Pray for the living bricks – people!

Nasedegu. Curious kids that hardly ever see white people.

The following teams visited in these past three month and these are the activities we’ve had together:

Highland Park First Baptist Church, KY.

They were with us from Sep 30 until Oct 9. This is a new church that I’ve visited last year so our partnership has only begun. This is an amazing church, with amazing people who are so ready to see the Gospel being taken to all corners of the world. We’ve organized an Evangelistic Camp, some door to door visits and we’ve shown The Jesus Movie – all in the new village of Nasedegu. The purpose for all these activities was to birth a new church. One member of the team also raised the funds to drill a well in Mpyupyu and, all in all, our time with them was very successful for the ministry.

Door to door visits in Nasedegu.

Showing The Jesus Movie in Nasedegu.

Kings Baptist Church, KY.

They stayed with us from Oct 18 until Oct 27. Kings is the very first American church to ever support us and we were honored to have them over again. We ministered together during Evangelistic Camp here in Zomba, as well as with the local churches in the village. They visited the Children Bible clubs in the village and encourage the local believers. Though the devil fought a lot during their stay, they continued to be faithful and serve everywhere possible. One of the highlights of the trip was when the pastor gave a Braille Bible to Clever, our blind church member in Kachere. We take our Bibles for granted sometimes and we are blessed enough to have it in different copies, different translations, both in physical form and online. Clever, though, never had his own Bible and that is all he wanted as a child of God: to read God’s Word!

Hope for the Future Orphan Care & Feeding Centre in Kachere.

Pastor Derrick handing over a Braille Bible for Clever.

First Baptist Church, GA.

They stayed with us from Nov 7 until Nov 17. They were lead by Pastor Keith, whom I met in Romania in 2011 and who was instrumental in all the partnerships between Hope for the Future and these teams. Pastor Keith now graciously serves on the board of Hope for the Future and his experience and wisdom are very important to us. Together, we’ve organized the 4th session of Pastors Conference with the local pastors and an Evangelistic Camp in Bwanali. Here, we saw the need for a new church plant! The work with the local pastors is so important, because they can reach their nation better than anybody. By investing in 50 men, we actually indirectly invest in a few thousand people!