Returning?

As I was in Malawi there were many things along the way that tempted me to consider living there more permanently.

The church needs to be built up, not necessarily evangelized.

IBF, the church we were with, is seeking to start a seminary. I really love this church, the preaching, and the people that are there.

The language translation of the Chichewa Bible is weak. Some can read English, but Chichewa is much better for them and the translation wasn't done...as good as it can be.

These, among a few other reasons, are reasons why I want to return to Malawi. God has redirected my path and set me on a course, for now, of obtaining my teaching credential. There is a small Christian school, connected to the church and a Bible college there we connected with. I could return for a few years and teach at this school until I'm ready to pursue further Bible training in seminary.

I don't know what this would look like or if the Lord would have me return. But I'm praying for the people of Malawi and I hope that you will join me to. Pray for our brothers across the world and that God's glory would be magnified!

Phone Calls and Gas Stations

We've gone to 40 organizations with a goal of hitting 50. Whenever we get a contact, we call or email them and set up a meeting. And then we try to get directions. ...try.....There's been a few we can't find and one we went all over town. There aren't any street names, so usually directions are "Go down the main road until you see ___ sign and then turn left. Go right at the first dirt road. When you see the red building called ___, turn right and there will be a guy with a blue shirt outside the house." That's about the best you get. And when they have an accent and can't hear you, or a call drops, or you randomly intermix wavelengths with another call....ever Malawian call is an adventure.

But today, amidst not finding one of our organizations (and then realizing we're not even sure what it is), we had to get diesel for our trip to Mozambique tomorrow. Now there's been a fuel shortage going on (which happens once a month). So we get to the gas station at 9:30 and surprisingly there's no line! But an hour later, everyone comes and the line goes down the street blocking traffic. Crazy stuff. But we get gas after waiting 4 hours for the tanker to arrive! Only in Malawi :)

Don't Worry, It's Just a Flesh Wound

We realized that our only chance to go to Lake Malawi was this Saturday so we woke up, got all packed and left that same morning. And it was BEAUTIFUL. Lake Tahoe's still better, but this was absolutely amazing! It's like the ocean, only warmer and fresher. We ate by the shore and then hoped in for a swim. JP and I saw some rocks that we could jump off into the water so we walked down over to them. We climbed through the rocks by the shore--it was just like all the creek hiking back home, so good--and then jumped off our target spot. On the way back through the rocks, something went wrong and I slammed my head into a rock and blacked out for a second. I put my hand on my head and blood was everywhere and I had a fat bump above my eye. It took awhile to wash off the blood and then we went for some first aid (some alcohol wipes and a wrap was all they had haha). Don't worry mom, no stiches neccessary on this one. But I will have a nice scar to bring back with me! And when I have kids, I can tell them I got it in Africa fending off the wild crocodiles trying to attack the team :)

Celebrity Azungu

The red carpet rolls out, lights flash all down the way as the smoothest, hottest stars walk to the big premiere. Actually, it's a bunch of white Americans in pants and t-shirts walking down the dirty, dusty road surrounded by mud hunts, with a bunch of little African kids screaming "Azungu, Azungu, Azungu" (the term for white people) while staying 10 ft away pointing at us. Never thought I'd be a celebrity.

But that's just how things are here. Well, we don't always get the royal treatment. But we're viewed as higher than the Malawians because we're white and, presumptiously, rich. We've visited two villages now. The first we just walked through. As soon as we pulled out a camera, the kids went ballistic to get in the picture! Our second village we went with one of the men in the church. We brought them a soccer ball and some other food items, like sugar and salt. Then we just played with the kids for hours. Even though we can't speak their language, we were able to show them the love of Christ. Lord willing, we'll be able to return there and give some kind of Bible lesson.

It's amazing how much joy such people can have--because they really believe God is in control. Sometimes being here makes me think that we Americans are poorer, though we have much wealth.

Ministry in Malawi

Learning that internet in Malawi is horrible! haha. So I'm lucky to get a little post on here. But hey, that's ok.

Our team is thoroughly enjoying living with the Floreen's! I love playing with little Abigail and their great dane, Simba. It's been great getting to know Matt and Rachel. Matt's discretion and wisdom is amazing. He's really able to see through things. When we come back home after interviewing different organizations, he always comes up with questions we didn't ask or things we didn't think about.

So far, I've spoken with three different organizations, NGOs, non-profits, whatever you want to call them out of the hundreds that are here in the city. And so far, it's interesting to learn so much. As a team, we're reading through a book called "When Helping Hurts" by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert which is an ABSOLUTE MUST for EVERYONE to gain a BIBLICAL UNDERSTANDING OF POVERTY AND HOW TO ADDRESS IT. It's been eye-opening for our team and gives us a better understanding of the worldview of Malawian mercy ministry.

The common theme I've seen among the ministries is that the challenge is that they don't have enough money. They need more money to expand or help more children. Another huge emphasis is on education: if everyone were as educated as Americans or Europeans, Malawi would be much better off. But is this true? Is that what's missing? Because I see a lot of poverty in America and Europe as well, even if it's not widespread. Besides, there's much more missing in the lives of Americans--like the kingdom of God.

I've gained a lot of interesting insights into poverty alleviation and can't wait to continue to observe different mercy ministries. Right now, I've come to the point of seeing the deep wisdom in Matt and Rachel's mission in Malawi. Their goal is to nourish and establish a strong church, and even a seminary as a future part of that church, that can then address the needs in the community, whether it be the gospel, poverty, discipleship, vocational training, etc. through other parachurch ministries or whatever, but CENTERED AROUND THE LOCAL CHURCH. That's the only way we can fix things, because that's how God has chosen to fix them, through the church by his Spirit and his gospel.

Departure

My team is leaving tomorrow. WOW. I'm trying to avoid the "romantic" feelings and enthusiasm about going, but it's quite hard not to be excited about the Lord's work and the tasks he has for us while we're there. The church we're helping out is a Grace Community church plant and they're in the process of starting a seminary. Because there are tons of other Christian ministries and other non-profits (like schools, orphanages, clinics, etc.) we're going to be interviewing and observing them to help the new seminary/church network with other ministries around them. This is definitely a unique missions trip to be sure :)

Pray for our unity as a team. Pray for our diligence and faithfulness. Pray that we would persevere and feast on the Word while we're there. Pray that we'd be humble and loving. Pray that the rest of my support would come in.

Thank you friends :)

TEAM

Team Malawi 2011 is composed of:

JP Dennis (male team leader)

Ryan Lovel

Brian Lovejoy

Kim Christensen (female team leader)

Bobbie Roberts

Raqel Cherry

Rachel Lawson

Team Unity = Christ

The Lord knows what he's doing when he assembles teams and sends us places. I've seen it time and time again, and Malawi's no different.

I was able to spend some time with one of the guys on my team tonight, Ryan. Our random time of going to the store was very uplifting and encouraging. And it all began with him asking me what my testimony was. In most contexts outside of Master's that would be a very awkward question, since we tend to think sharing our testimonies of salvation are reserved for the church pulpit. But our time together sharing, listening, and getting to know each other more, as brothers, was great.

Christ is amazing. He bonds unlikely people together. Ryan and I are very opposite personalities and have spent our 4 years at Master's with many different people. Besides our freshmen year, we've never really crossed paths. We barely knew each others' names. But because we both love Christ, we genuinely care about the other. And it's because of Christ. We must rely on the love of the Father to love others.

Friendship begins when, out of genuine care, you ask questions about another and listen to them. And because of the Lord's work in our life, we have something to offer them, whether of the kingdom of light or the kingdom of darkness: the gospel!

Talking to Strangers

Had a wonderful time with my team tonight. We had a team bonding night. We were given a piece of paper with instructions telling us to drive down to Santa Monica area (about an hour away) and to go to "little Ethiopia," the African version of Chinatown. We were also instructed with a few other tasks, but in the midst of it all, we were required to talk to at least one stranger, each of us.

I have really been thinking about that lately. Lisa LaGeorge, who's in charge of the mission trips at Master's, mentioned that the real reason we don't share the gospel with people is because we don't know how to have friendly conversations with strangers. My life screams this truth. I don't know how to initiate a conversation with someone I don't know beyond the polite formalities. I'm nice and friendly, but I don't go out of my bubble unless they start it off (then I can talk for hours haha). But I've been praying to the Lord, that he would cause me to fear him more than embarrassment and inability and cause me to love those I come in contact with. And through my love for them, the gospel will naturally flow.

This is what Jesus means when he calls us to be witnesses for him (Matt 28:19-20). This passage applies to us. And an even stronger one that funnels down to us is Acts 1:8, which says that we have the power of the Holy Spirit, the same power that raised Christ from the dead (Eph 1:19-20) and we are called to "BE MY WITNESSES...to the end of the earth." This is a position, a title that defines our nature. It's not something we do with our friends for an hour on the weekend (oh, our time/structure/departmentalized American ways), which isn't bad because the gospel is preached. But the gospel is to be the natural outflow of our hearts, our care and love for strangers, for sinners, as Christ loved them.

So I would challenge you as I challenge myself, to love the stranger you don't know and naturally sacrifice a few seconds to talk to them. You don't have to share the gospel, but that's great it the conversation goes that direction.

Positive Beginnings

I can't wait to GO to Malawi! I tend to be very excited about things, and this is no different. I'm thankful for the team that the Lord has placed me on and thankful that I'm starting to get to know them! I'm looking forward to what the Lord has in store for us, for the missionaries we're helping out, for the church we'll be serving in, and for every individual we come in contact with!

My team of 7 college students (3 men, 4 women) will be leaving May 17th for the country in Malawi in southeastern Africa for 5 weeks. It's a land-locked country with a very large, very beautiful lake. It is one of the poorest countries in Africa and the most underdeveloped in all the world. Struck by AIDS, unemployment, and an economy sustained by international support, the majority live in mud huts and most work on the tea, tobacco, and sugarcane farms. Yum :) Search "Malawi" on wikipedia. It's pretty accurate for the most part.

Our goal is to assist some current missionaries there, Matt and Rachel Floreen, who are sent by Grace Community Church (Grace Ministries International, GMI) and are alumni of Master's. The Floreens are partnered with another missionary couple, the Biedebach's, who pastor a church in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi. We're going there to serve them.

One of the ways we're going to do that is by sorting through all the Christian ministries there. Surprisingly, the country is filled with professing Christians (many are Catholic or non-evangelical, however) and an overwhelming amount of missions agencies and other Christian organizations. The Floreens want us to go to these different ministries and interview them, discerning whether they are helpful or not and if the Floreens can refer people to them and utilize them.

So be in prayer for me and my team and I'll keep you updated on our progess :).

Thanks friends!