Snow and Malawi

No snowflakes in Malawi

Snowflakes, snowmen, reindeer,  winter night songs and more… our kids see and hear those typical ‘Christmas’ symbols at school but it seems so funny in a country where one can not relate to those things. This is the hot season and we can only dream of snowflakes, in reality just breathing can make you sweat. But it doesn’t really bother any of us, it’s just the smell sometimes when you stand in line in a crowded shop or office.

No snowflakes in Malawi, the locals wouldn’t survive! But what a blessing the message of Christmas is: Jesus Christ, Son of God became also son of men.  Unspeakable Gift being given to us out of Unspeakable love for us from God our Creator. I hope you and we will celebrate the Glad Tidings in Thankfulness, worshipping Him who is worthy of all glory and not being distracted by the thousands of ‘Christmas’ symbols. I remember the stuffed stores, extremely decorated houses and yards and conversations people were having about what  and how much food to stock up and prepare etc. On the other hand, we need to remind ourselves not to be distracted by the opposite of feeling lonely because were spend Christmas (and so many other celebrations) without relatives, friends and church members.

His angels were around us

Last week we were encouraged by the Lord when He preserved us from a bad accident. We travelled with our family to Zambia, Covenant College, to get our household goods. A truck followed and within 1,5 hour, Cees, with the kind help of some other men, got all our goods (furniture and boxes) in that truck. We spent time with Zambian friends, having a meal here and a meal there. Then our tire went flat so we exchanged it with the spare and left to go back to Malawi. Cees was exhausted so I drove. After 1,5 hour I felt the car making strange movements and wanted to ask Cees whether he tied the nuts really well, but he slept and I thought it might be the rough road. Some strange noises started to make me worry and I decided to bring the car to a stop. All five nuts were off! The wheel was just sitting at the edge of the nob; it had been moving back and forth for an inch. We could have had a very bad accident and we felt God’s amazing grace almost physically. Then what? Our spare tire was the flat one and this tire had no screws anymore and was damaged. We left the car at the roadside and started to hike with our whole family. A tine old car passed after some time, even though he had already some passengers, when he counted us, 6, he said he could EASILY take us. Together with the other passengers we were packed  in this car and without AC etc it was quite a trip, but how thankful we were to reach a town after an hour drive, where we could exit this car, straighten our bodies and think of what to do next. Cees went searching all over to find screws to fit our tire but nowhere to be found. In the end he went back with a taxi, unscrewed one nut of each wheel and used those to fasten the tire without nuts. He arrived late at night at the lodge where I decided to wait with the kids. We all slept (at least stayed) in one room that night and the owners didn’t make us pay the next day, how kind!! Cees still had to find nuts for us to start the journey back to Malawi so he searched and searched in small old huts and found some who could do the job even though they weren’t the right ones.  

Meanwhile the truck had lots of trouble at the border, called us every 15 minutes, needed money etc etc. We managed to cross the border and reach home. The truck followed later. Once in Lilongwe, it took a few more days to clear the goods with customs (although we had received permission to bring it in before we started off). The whole process was very stressful. Of course we are very very happy with our stuff (nothing fancy, just stuff but we could have never bought everything again here for the money we used to move it) and are still unpacking boxes. Also we are very tired. Having two boys in the age of 2 and 3 is extremely challenging!!!  Besides we all got stomach flu (lots of washing, lots of crying but no sleep and no energy. Now the boys have chickenpox and are very moody.

Joash encouraged us when he said: “I am happy I experience difficulties like this, it prepares me for future and as we have seen, God is in control. Whatever happens, I will know that God is on our side.”

Let me get a glass of cold water. After living without a fridge, this is a real treat. And so are the freshly baked glutenfree cookies (I got some glutenfree flour from Holland) I was just able to bake in my  oven now. And the power stayed on when the bread was in the oven too, that made my day today!

Our guestroom

Despite of the unpainted walls, old floor and lack of sufficient furniture, our guestroom has already been a blessing. It is such a joy to be able to offer people a place to stay when they need it. We hosted a Mozambiquan missionary a couple weekends, a traveling Australian missionary last week and this week we were honored with the stay of a Malawian pastor we had come to know before. This pastor lives and ministers in the rural area about 80 km from here. Even though he lives in very primitive circumstances, he has worked on his Ph.D. in Theology over the last years. He would study by candle light, handwrite pages and pages and then come to town every other week to stay at a place with power and type all his writings and send it by email to the university in South Africa.

When he called us whether he could stay with us we had power and so he came, stayed and worked day and night to finalize his thesis. Amazingly the power was on all those hours he worked and when he finished… power went off. He gave  us some insight about his ministry, telling us how the difficult economic situation is affecting his church. People become poorer and poorer since prices go up while the value of crops go down and resources are finishing. The temptation to get money by other means also moves church members to go wrong. While the pastor was sharing with us how his church members are using witchcraft to get money out of people he was also busy  phoning the police, trying to get help in this problem. Members started to force others to give food or money, when they refused they were suspected to be witches, in order to cleanse the village from witches they got to do the poison test; you have to drink poison and when you stay fine you are recognized as a witch, when you get sick or die you are proven to be innocent. Even for the police it is difficult to intervene. I asked him whether he got any instructions / teaching during his training to become pastor that can help him now to deal with these terrible harmful problems.  No, not at all. The seminary he attended offered only government approved subjects, excluding ‘how to deal with traditional African customs in the church’ and so he just asked us “what must I do?” He had already been praying and fasting the last days at home. This is just one example of the huge challenges the church in Malawi (Africa) is facing.

For all those pastors in rural area’s I wished there was an affordable solar system in which they could just have a light bulb shining at night to enable them to study and prepare sermons, charge a laptop and a phone, to create more infrastructure for communication. When the pastor arrived at home he found the roof blown off his house and his wife admitted in the hospital… while he was finishing his Ph.D thesis in our guestroom. Please, pray for all God’s servants in primitive conditions as they have so many extra challenges on top of the overwhelming workload. Preaching and teaching God’s Word to a congregation of which 90% is illiterate and is still deeply rooted in the traditional, unbiblical worldview.

Closing with something else; we will be going to Covenant College, Zambia in just an hour to pick up our belongings. Finally we got permission and we decided to go as a family. We are looking forward to meet our dear Zambian friends, spend time with them and organize the move. We are hiring a truck and a driver who will follow us. Please, pray that everything will go well. We are quite anxious since just about anything can go wrong… especially because we have to cross the border. We will need patience and health. Cees got the flu a couple weeks ago and it hasn’t cleared up since. Hopefully he will have enough energy to do the big job of moving… these are the times we have to watch ourselves not to envy the conveniences  of ‘the west’ where one can use a move company at affordable rates…

May the Lord bless you! 

Mirjam