Christmas is coming, the wonderful Celebration of our Saviors birth. Many Christians will display nativity scenes of the Lord’s birth, but did you know that most of them are not 100% Biblical?
Most of those scenes are taken from the story in Luke 2, showing the baby Jesus in the manger with Joseph, Mary, shepherds and animals. Other scenes are taken from Matthew 2, where we read about the wise men from the east. Tradition says there were three, but the Bible doesn’t specify that. More importantly, they did not come to the manger, but to the house where Jesus’ family was, so it is possible that the wise men came to Jesus months or even years after His birth (Matt. 2:11).
When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Matthew 2:10-11
Nativity Scene
Other scenes of our Savior’s birth are completely wrong, showing animals that weren’t there at the time (giraffes, lions, etc) or, even worse, showing Santa Claus. But you know what I’ve never seen in such a scene? A red dragon with 7 heads, ready to eat the baby in the manger!!!
Revelation 12:4 says: “And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.” John gives us a heavenly perspective on the birth of Jesus, showing us the devil, ready to destroy Jesus.
Many commentators say that the woman in Rev. 12 is actually Israel, but one thing is certain: the child is none other than Jesus, and the fiery red seven-headed devil wanted to destroy God’s plan for our salvation from the very beginning.
Dear friends, the enemy still lives and seeks to destroy God’s plan in our lives. If he tried to fight Jesus, he will fight and stand against us. The good news is that the Lord is in us, with us and for us, to work through us!
We all know that appearances can be deceiving, and this seems to apply to what would otherwise call a good tree. On one of the first days of this year’s rainy season, we heard a big noise one late evening, coming from the bottom of the hill. A tree has fallen and, much to our surprise, it was what we thought to be a very good, healthy tree. It looks like it was a good tree on the outside, but completely rotten on the inside, thanks to our wonderful African termites.
I am going to have to treat all of our trees, since these termites will never stop the destruction.
Over the years they made themselves a nest within the trunk, slowly but surely destroying it form inside out. All was needed was a little wind and the mighty tree came down. These are some pictures I took of what is left:
Throughout the life of this blog I mentioned the Baobab trees and its fruits several times, although until now everything was only in the Romanian language (sorry my non-Romanian readers 🙃). Despite writing in only one language, the response was quite surprising, Romanians from all over the world writing me and asking more informations. Some even asked me if I could send them fruits or powder.
Baobabs are widely found here in Malawi, its fruits being considered “the African sweets”. The only problem is that they are not sweet, but rather sour, so the most appropriate name would probably be “the African sour candy”.
With the looks of a tree from another planet, the Baobab is very interesting and also extremely helpful in Africa, both to people and to the animals. Some people even call them, for good reasons, “the trees of life”. The wood is like a sponge and they keep tons of water (up to 26,000 gallons) during the dry season. The elephants literally take bites out of this trees, sucking the precious water that sustains life. Children in Malawi enjoy the fruits which are, as mentioned, sour but also dry and very powdery in consistence. Baobabs can be used for clothing, fiber, medicine, food, water source and many other uses. Read more about the Baobab trees here: Andasonia.
Being the beginning of the rainy season, I got some baobab seeds and I am just about ready to start planting them. But how do you plant a baobab seed? Well, it turns out all you need is an elephant!
Baobab trees do not like neighbors, even in the form of their own species. Water is scarce and the last thing a baobab tree needs is another one growing close by and competing for the precious commodity. If other trees multiply themselves easily by the fruits that fall down and rot away close by, the baobab is using another method to insure its survival: the elephant. If the baobab fruit falls from the tree, the seeds within will never produce another tree. The reason is the seeds are covered with a tough coat and only the hot stomach acid of an elephant will prepare it for germination. To make sure the mighty mammals play along with the plan, those seeds are covered with a rich, velvety, yoghurt flavored and sour powder that elephants cannot resist.
While in the elephant’s stomach, the seeds spend the next 4-5 hours getting themselves ready for the outside world. Eventually, the seeds are deposited some distance away from the original tree, ready to germinate and packaged in a perfect blob of warm fertilizer.
Although we live in Africa and elephants are not that far away from us, we still feel we should try to find another way to replicate the necessary conditions to grow these seeds. After all, it is not that easy to bring an elephant on the property and have it play its part!
So, the best way to trick the seed is to use a very fine sandpaper to reduce the thickness of that tough coating. Once the inner white layer is slightly revealed, the seeds need to spend the next 24 hours in warm water. After that, they need to be dried for 1 day and only then they are ready to be planted.
The seeds need some initial care, but nothing too complicated especially since Malawi has the perfect conditions for them. The right amount of water combined with the right amount of sun will do the trick. I plan to plant these seeds in a plastic bowl so I can better control their environment during the initial months. I don’t need anybody to step on them or for something to fall over them. Once the seedlings reache a certain size, I will plant them on our property and we will continue to make sure they grow trouble-free.
Hopefully, after some years, Hope for the Future will have some of these iconic African upside-down trees.
Yesterday we worshipped our Lord together with our Brothers and Sisters from the village of Ntangaleya. Hope Baptist Church, Ntangaleya, is close to our church in Mpyupyu, and it is amazing to us to see the spread of the Gospel in the surrounding villages.
This church was planted in 2009 but didn’t have a pastor until recently. No one was ready enough to think they could lead God’s people until something amazing happened in the beginning of this year, when we had a Evangelistic Camp in the neighboring village of Mpyupyu. Together with our visitors from FBC Jackson, we were carrying on with the camp when some folks from Ntangaleya brought to us a dying child whom later God healed. You might remember Siyeni, the 14 year old boy who had an oversized belly. A few weeks later we took him to the hospital where, after 2 surgeries, he got better.
Well, people from Ntangaleya thought Siyeni would die and didn’t have much hope. God healed him and Siyeni’s grandfather was so amazed that he vowed to serve God. That’s exactly what he did and the people from the church voted him as their pastor! No one else in the village was more fit to become a pastor as someone who God touched in such amazing way! Praise the Lord for pastor Misinde.
The church body is still fairly small for a Malawian church but we trust the growth is just now starting. More importantly, we hope people will continue to experience God in amazing ways.
The time with the church in Ntangaleya was great! Our hearts were blessed by the short time we spent together on Sunday and we definitely look forward to another service in the future.
On a side note, Siyeni is doing so much better now. He is a happy boy, running, jumping and playing just like anybody else his age. Soon we will need to take him back to Blantyre for his regular check-up and we expect the doctors to remove the colostomy bag Siyeni had to endure while he was healing.
Pray for Siyeni and pray for the church in Ntangaleya. May the continue to see God’s hand at work in their lives!
What happens when online retailers makes mistakes in their pricing and customers buy the products? Should they honor the orders or not? If they do honor the order, how will that affect their image?
A similar incident happened today with an online retailer in Malawi that sells pumps, solar equipments and inverters, BlueZone Ltd. (Malawi). I don’t know much about BlueZone, but I know they carry good brand items at fair prices, something hard to find here in Malawi. Let me tell you the story.
In 2014, someone from Austria bought us a submersible pump that we have now finally installed. The pump works great but we don’t know if it has run-dry protection or not. You see, the pump is very powerful (5,000 L/hour or 1.320 gallons per hour) and draws the water faster than the well can replenish itself. Without a run-dry protection, the pump will burn itself out if it is allowed to run when there is no water. Being deep in the ground, one cannot know for sure if water is available to the pump at any given moment, so the risks are great. We need a submersible pump with all the necessary sensors preinstalled.
Today I decided to look online and see what I can find. I knew about BlueZone from a friend and I knew they have a web shop. Scrolling through all the available submersible pumps I discovered one that was so cheap, I couldn’t say no to it. Actually, it was 0 euros. Now before you shake your head, hear me out. BlueZone may not be legally bound to honor such orders where someone made a mistake, but in the same time, who says I, as a customer, cannot press “BUY”? I mean, it is remotely possible that BlueZone wanted to leave a gem in and reward good customers who actually surf through their website, right? Right?
Anyways, long story short, I made the “purchase” and left a note: “I trust you will honor my order.” The order went through, I received the automatic emails that confirm your purchase and I was waiting for them to contact me. And contact me they did. Actually, the big boss who is a Danish citizen I believe, wrote me the following email. His name is hidden by me.
Dear Mr Ovi Cornea.
Although we appreciate your registration and high level of humor,- we unfortunately have to decline your order.
The Bluezone web-shop is now closed and until we have fixed this obvious error.
Your contact is appreciated.
Thank you
K** G***** J********
Bluezone Ltd.
Regards,
Customer service
In all fairness, I wasn’t joking when I placed my order, but I can understand them not willing to sell me an expensive pump for 0 euros. This is not a matter of legal rights, but of public relations. Online retailers have made these types of mistakes in the past and they chose to honor them, in order to show where their values lie: in their customers. In the same time, other retailers cancelled the orders, like in my case, and moved on.
It was an interesting experience for me and I definitely appreciate the email from the big boss. One cannot expect a small shop like this to lose so much, can we? Or maybe they should? Promises made in our loss should still be kept, right? Or maybe a confirmed order is not a promise?
At any rate, Bluezone is a great company with some great people. They stock good, quality products at very competitive prices and they even offer warranty, something very rare to happen here in Malawi. I, for one, will not cease to shop from them whenever I can, because they offer some of the best deals in the country. Nonetheless, I would’ve been extremely impressed to see them honoring this order? That would’ve spoken loads about them. Or, if they didn’t want to/couldn’t honor the full order, maybe they could’ve given me 20% discount on my next purchase or maybe even a good Danish coffee with the owner. I am sure we would’ve had a great time, laughing this thing off.
Business is important and profits are vital. All companies claim they value their customers, but do they really do it?
UPDATE Nov 25, 2016
Yesterday I received a phone call from one of the employees at BlueZone. He said the boss told them to give me a t-shirt, I guess for consolation prize :). Today, the t-shirt arrived in the mail. I must say, it is a very good quality polo shirt, probably made with hot weather in mind. Kind of like my Cool 18s. Lita is very happy with it since it is for women :).
These are the latest updates on the two main projects we have at this time, Bible School and Primary School:
Bible School
The Bible School, or Bible Seminary, is being built in Zomba, at the mission house. The project is underway and, recently, the builders and carpenters have put up the roof. A team of men are working on the septic tank, while carpenters are being mobilized to install the ceiling. After that, we will plaster the inside, do the pointing on the outside and start concentrating on finishing up the interior. The electric has been installed but the connection to the national grid will happen soon after the ceiling is done. Plumbing needs to be done also, so we still have a lot of work to do.
This project is not fully funded yet, we are still in need of a minimum of $5,000. We know the Lord will provide in time, so that the work doesn’t stop.
Primary School
Hope for the Future Elementary, our Primary School, is also being built as we speak, this one in the village of Kachere. The work is going very well, and the two blocks have now roof on them. The men (and some ladies) are plastering the walls on the inside of one of the buildings. The second one will be finished soon after. A large team of builders are working on building the offices for the teachers, while a smaller team is building the outside restrooms for the pupils.
By the grace of God, this project has been fully funded and, on December the 7th, we will have the official opening, Lord willing.
The work in Malawi is going strong and we still covet your prayers day by day. It is not an easy task to keep an eye over all these projects (and we have more we work on), but we take every day at a time and we trust that His grace is enough. Pray that our focus is and will be on the most important thing: people’s souls. I am a type of a missionary who doesn’t think blocks, bricks or buildings say anything about the work we are doing. Just because one builds something, doesn’t mean he is actually having a ministry. I want to stay focused on people’s lives and their souls. With eternity in mind, only their souls matter. I see these building as means to an end, tools to accomplish what God called us to do.
Thank you “Holy Trinity” Baptist Church for your continual support and trust. Thank you First Baptist Church, Jackson for doing so much to see the Bible Seminary standing up as it does now. Thank you Ridgecrest Baptist Church for supporting the Primary School in Kachere. Thank you every other church, big or small, for supporting us and our ministry. Thank you to each one of you, individuals, who pray and give, so that we can be here, live here and work here. God is using all of you for something greater than all of us.
The building of our Primary School in Kachere is underway and we are now ready to receive the resumes and recruit its new teachers. Lord willing, we will start next month and provide the much needed education for the children of Kachere and surrounding villages.
This is just a quick update to let you know that the work in Kachere, at Hope for the Future Elementary School, is going on well. Right now, the walls are being raised and pretty soon we will be ready for the roof. God is good!!!
Hope Baptist Church in Kachere is the first church that we planted here in Malawi, back in 2010. I remember even now, we started with a handful of people that left a perverted church, seeking to please the Lord despite the ridicule from other people. In Malawi, a church without a building is no church at all, at least that’s how the culture is, but these 2 families decided to stay pure and faithful to God. They prayed for someone to help and I, at that time, was praying for a village to start a church. Looking back now, I prayed for them and they prayed for me!
In the beginning we met at someone’s house, outside, under a shade tree. After a couple of months we grew to maybe 20-25 people, and we needed some sort of a building. A nice bamboo shack was erected soon and we met there for a while, praising the Lord every Sunday!
Hope Baptist Church, Kachere 7/25/2010
We went on our first furlough in 2011 and, after we returned, we were ready to have a real building. To be honest, the bamboo shack was good enough for me, very African and very “romantic”, but it was clear that something more solid and waterproof during the rainy season was needed.
Although I didn’t write in English back then, the following articles will at least show you some of the pictures of the work in Kachere during 2012:
Since then, the church has been growing slowly but consistently, probably the way healthy churches should grow. We never sought to please people, but to please God and my vision was for this church to be a light in Kachere. In 2012 we started the Feeding Centre and, since then, the ministry around the church has grown a lot.
This year, in 2016, almost 4 years since we have the new building and 6 years since the work in Kachere has started, it was clear that something needed to be done again, as the building is now too small to accommodate our people and the visitors. Although it seems it is too early for that, praise the Lord for his work!!! Praise the Lord people are coming to church and the Word of God is being spread in the village and beyond it. This year, we are extending the building of Hope Baptist Church in Kachere!!!
The larger building will seat about 60 extra people, raising the capacity of our church to close to 200! If we continue this way, I predict in a few years we will need a second building, probably at the other end of the village! Why not?
