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 :)