Back to School

Mission Friends, it has been a while for me to write a blog / update on our life and work here in Malawi. By the grace of God we are doing well in many ways. We visited our home country for some weeks in July/Aug.  It was good to see our relatives and friends and enjoy those things we miss when we are here. We stayed mostly in the province of Zeeland in Vlissingen, city at the sea.

We all always really enjoy the ‘bike-culture’ in The Netherlands; wherever you go (town, church, friends, office) you take the bike even if it’s cold or rainy, unless the distance is more than 10 miles… Our little boys covered many miles too…the special bike-paths are very smooth, straight and safe, unlike Malawi! And everywhere the grass is green, whatever season.

We had to say goodbye / farewell to our loved ones for two years. That was especially hard with regards to my grandparents, being 90 and 92. Our journey went well, we were impressed by the way we were received at Kenya airport in tents (one week ago the whole international terminal had burned down). During our flight to Lilongwe, the third leg of the journey, we all fell asleep…I always have mixed feelings during landing…sitting in my luxury airplane chair coming from ‘polished European civilization’ seeing the mud hut’s, donkey-carts and women carrying buckets of water on the head from the well, through my window. The transition in the 24 hour journey is almost too abrupt.

 

Right when we got back I was called to an emergency in the village Grace and I work. The 15 year old handicapped girl who was raped when she was 13 and has a 20 month old baby was caught in a fire. She suffered terrible wounds. We have been giving her antibiotics and bandaged her every day. The wounds could have easily killed her but the Lord has answered our prayers. Tiya is doing very well now. The wounds are almost closed and she is able to sit up and move somewhat. What a witness to the relatives in the community!

We started the children programs also, teaching the group little ones under the public tree and the older ones in our ‘classroom’. When I walked into the village the kids all came running up to me with very happy faces. They had really missed the programs. Last week I did a quiz with questions about all the stories we have taught so far. It was a lot of fun and excitement. The winning group received prices. We have been teaching the Beginning (Genesis), then jumped to the NT with Christmas, continued with the life of Christ and now reaching Jesus suffering and death. 

 As you might know this is the dry season (we don’t have the four seasons familiar to most of you). The rain ceased in April and will hopefully come back in December. That means it is very dry and dusty now. I always feel bad for the people walking and biking along the road when I pass with the car, leaving them in a cloud of dust. The house also gets much quicker dirty and the sky does not look so clear blue as it is during the rainy season.

 

Our kids started school 22 August; all four are in ABC Christian Academy. This school is a wonderful mix of local (Malawian) kids (70%) and kids from abroad (30%). For Joas and Rhoda already their third Malawian school year, for Obed the second and Moses the first! Every Friday morning the kids spend time in chapel where the Word of God is being shared, hymns are being taught and classes get turns performing a song, skit or memorize Bible verses. Here Moses first one at front row. (Reception, Kindergarten and 1^st grade).

Two Canadian volunteers came to stay with us and did a great job computerizing 4400 books of Logos Resource centre and putting them in a system so that the pastors being trained there can start using them now. Besides the training days at Logos Cees also started teaching three times a week a class of Systematic Theology at ABC. A great opportunity to teach 60 third year students and give them a firm foundation before they become leaders wherever God puts them.

 Being 13, Joas has become very independent now. He decided to bike to and from school so that we don’t need to provide transport anymore. The roads here are not that safe so we pray the Lord will give His protection.

Rhoda is really enjoying school now. Even though she misses her friend who left to Germany in June, she is happy with new friends that we prayed for. She participates in many activities, mostly related to music.

  I am happy that school is only in the morning so that we still have time for all kinds of other activities (homeschool…) at home in the afternoon. Visiting the village, having ox-cart rides, baking cookies, painting, biking in the neighborhood, reading books, building huts, picking papaya’s in the garden and handing them out on the street…

This morning I had a meeting with some women of the literacy class at Grace. I brought tea (and lots of sugar), bread and papaya and we had our own ‘Papaya-High-Tea’, while we shared Gods Word and also taught them a first lesson on the benefits of Papaya (there are many).

 

Last but not least I have to make a need known to you and I ask if you will pray for this need. So far I have been able to fund the programs we do in the community with donations from a few groups in North America and The Netherlands. The funds are drying up and I fear, if we don’t get any donations soon, we won’t be able to continue doing what we do now (and then I have dreams far beyond that…the Lord knows). To put it into facts, this is what we use per month:

-1000 Coloring pictures with Bible verse = 10.000 Kwacha  ($30)

-Porridge to help malnourished baby and mother = 3000 Kwacha ($9)

-Bread or fritters for 250 kids once a month  = 6000 Kwacha ($18)

-Prices for memorizing Scripture and catechism = 4000 Kwacha ($12)

-Medicines for burns, worms, malaria etc = 5000 Kwacha  ($15)

-Transport to community  = 10.000 kwacha ($30)

-Chichewa Bible stories and pictures for literacy = 8000 Kwacha ($24)

-Exercise books and pencils = 4000 Kwacha ($12)

-Go-to-school program = 6000 Kwacha ($18)

-Volunteer support Grace = 9000 Kwacha ($27)

-Pastors wives meetings = 15.000 quarterly ($45)

If you feel inclined to support this ministry we would really appreciate, mostly the people we serve. There are different possibilities of raising funds.  Maybe a bake-sale, a marathon walk, a fund-raise-dinner, a collection….you name it. I now bring this matter into the hands of our Heavenly Father.

'Feed my Lambs'

Does God have a plan with every person here on earth? When we move through Africa - seeing crowds of people everywhere (especially here in Malawi), on the roadside, marketplaces, communities and even churches – I sometimes struggle. What about the millions of children whose lives seem to ‘just pass by’, with ongoing struggles due to great poverty, who never see the Light?

Going every week to one of those communities, having a crowd of kids in front of me, eager to look en listen, I know one thing for sure. God says: “It is not the will of our Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish!” and “The Son of man came to save that which was lost” (Matt.18)

Friends, thank you for taking a few minutes to lay these little lost lambs into His hands. May today’s lesson, The Parable of the Lost Sheep, remain in their hearts. Christ’s love for little ones is wider then the whole wide world, deeper that the deepest ocean and higher than the sky...

You should have seen our ‘play’! I walked through the village dressed up like a shepherd, 99+ bleating sheep following me, one little lamb getting lost. Parents were coming out of their houses to see what all the noise was about. When I discovered that little lamb Innocent was missing I started searching… (There were lots of real animals to be found, donkeys, pigs, goats and even a few dirty sheep looking compassionately at me). When I found my lamb I made a joyous dance and all the kids in the ‘sheep pen’ laughed and clapped their hands!

I pray for more laborers in the world’s ‘children’s vineyard’. How can they believe if no one teaches them? We pray for churches to teach parents, parents to teach their kids, Sunday school teachers to be diligent in the ministry, and for you to reach out to ‘your own’ little ones. 

I don’t know God’s plan with all the people. I do know that we are called to reach out, teach and preach and do well to those around us in Jesus name. Until He Comes!

“Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” (Matt. 28)

To see the pictures in a larger format, click here 

My parents' visit

We praise the Lord for the wonderful visit of my (Mirjam's) parents the last 10 days! It was short but intense. We were privileged to show them some characteristics of Malawi and of our ministry here. Please, join me on our ‘tour’.

At my parents’ day of arrival, after a cup of coffee, we took them on a little tour, showing the area where we live and work. We ended up stuck in the mud… Thanks to some helpful Malawians, a tree and our winch, we pulled ourselves out of the black, stinky mud, leaving deep holes behind. A real Africa rainy season experience. Good thing this was their third visit to Africa! My dad, a pastor, made some notes – a real life example…

The next day we went to Lake Malawi. It was the kids’ Easter holiday. We stayed at our favorite, cheap cottage with the luxury of looking out over the deep blue waters with here and there a local fishing boat and some mountains in the background. My mom lost her glasses in the lake…Rhoda found them after a one hour search!

Malawi’s shire river is home to a huge population of hippos. We took a boat ride to see them up close; all they revealed was their ears, eyes and nostrils…While driving through the bush we came across a heard of elephants with babies. Even all the antelopes had little ones. Very cute! It’s always exiting to be guests in the African wilderness; fortunately, I was the only one awake when an enormous hippo had his midnight snack right next to the hut where we were all sleeping. He left clear proof behind which our kids ‘admired’ the next morning.

Zomba is a plateau at 2000 meter above sea level. There’s a church cottage right at the edge, providing a beautiful early morning view. Here we celebrated the birthdays of my dad, Rhoda and Joas. There was no stove so we cooked all our food on a charcoal fire. It was cool on the mountain, nice for a change!

We took the Dedza pass route back home, crossing the Great Rift Valley mountain range, back to the flat area of Lilongwe. Malawi is relatively small but highly populated. The main road crosses many many villages, which slows down travels quite a bit. Cars share the highway with many: dangerously loaded trucks, bikes without brakes, cow herds crossing to greener grass, wobbly donkey carts full of maize, pedestrians carrying heavy loads on their heads, kids playing around, and incidental drunkards sleeping it off... It makes us aware of the constant need for God’s protection.

Back home meant back to work. The kids proudly showed their school. My parents enjoyed their time, sitting in Cees’ classroom, listening to a lecture on the Covenant. They were very convinced about the need for pastors training after watching these men drink in the lecture and asking such fundamental questions, sharing their experiences from their own ministries.

On their day of departure they were able to come along with me and join our Women ministry celebration. 25 Women had completed their first literacy program. Grace and I bought food to prepare a meal together with these women. The headman was also invited; he brought along seven other headmen to show the success of our program. On our way to the community we were held up by a group of Nyau dancers, wearing masks, completely covered with mud, leaves and painting. I did not dare to take a picture, looking at their big, swinging knives. Amazingly enough they let us through, knowing we have approval from the village headman to do this work.

We had a great program. The women did some drama about how eager they are to learn how to read and write. The headman made a speech, saying how thankful he is for the work among ‘his’ women and children. “Since they are learning they have less time for gossiping, this makes my work as headman much easier.” Even though he is not a Christian, he asked us to continue “Because I see a change for good in our community.” I did a devotion on the Tree of life, from Genesis to Revelation. I spoke on the Creation, the Fall, Salvation though Christ and the Future for those who believe in Him.

We gave everyone a Moringa tree. This tree is amazing, it contains much more vitamins, calcium, iron, protein, and minerals then any other food. We hope this community is going to profit from this tree, boosting the immunity of malnourished women and children.

Women who managed to reach a good reading level received a Bible, others were given clothes and soap. Grace encouraged them to continue to learn. We minister to these women and the many children in this community with the prayer in our heart that God will use it to really transform their lives and free them from the powers of darkness which are literally surrounding them.

Rains started to pour down when we had our celebration meal; Grace’s house was packed, our ‘classroom’ even more, others tried to stay dry under trees and against the walls of different huts… thankful for good food to fill the empty stomach.

Since my parents still had to reach the airport to not miss their flight we started off after the meal, trusting the 4x4 vehicle when we were crossing the bridge (which had more holes again, people using the wood to make fire to cook food), slipping somewhat through the streams caused by the sudden heavy rains. Praying for the people we left behind and for their crops on the fields (the maize is almost ready to be harvested but if the rain continues, fungi will destroy it).

We thank the Lord for a wonderful visit. My parents will bring experiences from this mission field home and share with their church so that more people pray for the building of Gods Kingdom also in Malawi!

(Click here for more pictures...)

Anniversary 14

When I woke up in the early morning of February 10, 1999, the country was covered with a fresh layer of snow. Beautiful!  This day I was going to marry Cees Molenaar. He was probably on his way already since it would take him more than two hours in our little white Peugeot 205, on the slippery roads. Thank God, he arrived safely, in his smart dark blue suit. My ivory dress matched his shirt and we were ready for this one-in-a-life-time event!

The day was wonderful and what really stood out for us was the church service! My dad preached from Psalm 90. Powerful, encouraging, promising and comforting with the beautiful concluding prayer: “May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us, yes, establish the works of our hands.”

Fourteen years later we are driving together in our big white Toyota Land cruiser through the lush green tropical country of Africa. We are on a date to celebrate 14 years of marriage. A very interesting and adventurous journey: five anniversaries in The Netherlands, two in the United States, five in Zambia, and now the second in Malawi. God knows if we will celebrate more, and where. What a blessing! We just follow the ‘pillar of fire at night and the pillar of cloud by day’, as was mentioned in our wedding church service.

We spent our one night date at a cottage on Lake Malawi. Thankful to our South African and German friends who were willing to take our kids into their care! After a cup of strong Malawian coffee (of course!) we took a lovely beach walk. It is so special to have time together to look back upon God’s faithfulness throughout the passed fourteen years.  

When we were exploring the residential area (mostly fishing villages) we met a leader of a local Presbyterian church. He invited us to his home and pretty soon we were sitting in his house, greeting his (extended) family. How proud he was at his wife and daughters! Mr. Lennart shared some of the blessings and burdens that come with his responsibility in the community and church.

This is how we got to spend our anniversary in the midst of a local African congregation, shaking hands, singing hymns, preaching on the Prodigal son, praying the Lord’s prayer, and having fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ. Our prayer and desire is to be used by God to help strengthen the church in Africa where many people hunger for solid spiritual food and many leaders need to be equipped to prepare and preach that.

On our way back home we saw the rainbow, God’s sign of faithfulness. We serve a wonderful, gracious and loving God! Too bad our next anniversary(date) is still a long way off…

Learning and Sharing

That is basically what we are supposed to do. We learn first of all from Jesus Himself, through His Word and also through those He brings into our lives. Then sharing with others what we have received. A wonderful lifelong interaction!



The women of the literacy class are struggling. If you never ever did anything with letters in your first 30 years it doesn’t come as easily as it does when you start to ‘play’ with letters from your toddler years. What have we been privileged! How we take the rich learning environment we grew up in and all skills gained in it for granted. Now it’s our turn to share that with less privileged around us. The literacy process might go slow, another process started quicker than we even hoped for: the desire for change! The women are watching us closely and listening attentively when we open every lesson with a devotion. “Can you teach us how to pray, so that we might ask God to change our lives? We see the difference. You are free, free from fear and guilt, free to love. We are bound with fear.” And so we share how Jesus taught us how to pray and how to love.



It was Sunday morning and it was pouring at the time we were preparing to go to church. Outside it seemed like one big mud-ocean and the noise of this tropical rain shower on our sink roof made all verbal communication impossible! With weather like this, many people here don’t even try to go to church. We are privileged to have a vehicle and umbrella’s so somehow we got in the car and in the church…somewhat embarrassed with our muddy sandaled feet. To my great surprise, my sister and faithful assistant in the ministry, Grace, was sitting in the front row of the church, with her whole family! How did she get to church and how did they remain so clean?! “Every Sunday we leave home at 7 so that, what ever happens, we will surely reach church at 9. We always pack a set of clean clothes and shoes in a plastic bag, in case it rains, so that we can change when we arrive at church.” Grace lives in a traditional community where roads and houses are made out of dirt and where everything changes into mud when it rains. The first 4 km they walk till they reach the tar road, the remaining kilometers are covered by means of bicycle taxis. Her commitment to come to church is exciting!

In the last couple months I have been contacted by various individual women with the request to mentor them somewhat. One asked me to help her organize and plan her homemaking duties. Every women does it differently, it depends on her personality. She visits me often and likes the way our house is organized and how I make my week planner. Of course, living in Africa required a lot more flexibility, but my planning is like a guide. Someone else asked me how to make your own yogurt, how to dry fruit, how to process peanuts, how to bake on a charcoal stove and provide recipes adjusted to whatever is available here. Often I use an existing recipe (from our church cooking books) and creatively substitute ingredients we cannot get here with what we can get. I love creative cooking and baking…! An expecting mother asked me to share some vital child rearing information. I am glad to borrow the books on that topic, that I have been blessed with and answer any question the best I can. I am not at all an expert but the four years of Pedagogic and Didactic training, all the good Christian books on child rearing I read and being a blessed parent of four over the course of 13 years leaves me no excuse to share what I have learned.




One very important lesson I am learning from Grace is to be thankful and content under all circumstances. How often I find myself open to grumbling and frustration; sometimes over small things like the house getting dirty and messy so quickly after having cleaned it or people not showing up at the appointed day. When we received the message from the church that we could not use their facility for the children’s programs, I was sad but Grace said: “We have to thank God that He gave us an answer. Now He wants us to learn to expect everything from Him and not from people.” Some weeks later, when we were handing out (or trying to hand out) donuts and 250 kids went ‘crazy’ and helping mothers even ‘helped’ themselves rather liberally, her response was: “Let us thank God that He revealed to us their state of heart. Now we know specifically what to pray for them and we know what things we need to add to our teaching; how to behave when you receive something, what the Bible says about sharing etc”. The kids receive little formative instruction; they spend most of their time with each other, teaching each other ‘morals and values’. Their parents probably grew up the same way and so little change takes place. I tend to get very discouraged, but Grace teaches me how to use every situation as an opportunity.

Together with my Zambian friend Christine, a pastors’ wife, I started a Pastors Wives Platform. We are convinced that pastor’s wives, too, could benefit from learning and sharing with regards to the particular calling of being a pastor’s wife. It’s a high calling and the Lord asks us to excel in it, give it our all. On our journey of ministering we need encouragement, we need to grow, and we need to sharpen iron with iron. We open God’s Word and study various topics like: Biblical Counseling, Mentoring, Pastors kids, How to deal with stress (criticism), Christian marriage, Personal Bible study, Leading Women Bible study etc. It is my prayer that this means will help strengthen the church here in Malawi.



Thank you so much that I could share this with you. Thank you for sharing your gifts and blessings, struggles and faith with others. Whatever we receive, God is the giver; He has blessed us with His Word, time, talents, money, materials, skills, success, trials, health, children, spouses, and much more. Let’s use it to share and serve.

Most of all, let’s pray for one and other!

Darkness and Light

A note on my calendar says: “You’ve got to go in the darkness in order to bring the Light.”

That’s exactly what we are doing in a village nearby. In my latest newsletter I wrote about the women and children’s ministry Grace and I do in her area. The more we get involved in the lives of the people of that community, the more we discover the darkness.

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Yesterday I came home, very downcast. The total poverty struck me. Poverty in many different ways. Spiritually, emotionally, physically.

The purpose of this blog is not to pull you into my sense of being overwhelmed by the needs here, but to encourage you to pray for some specific issues we are facing.

1.       Every week we teach more than 200 children the Word of God in the shade of the big tree at the Bwalo (village meeting place). Since the rainy season has started we are looking for roofed accommodation/ shelter. We were building a relationship with the church in that area and asked if we could work together, also using their church building during the rainy season. After much very formal communication we received a final letter that we cannot use their building. What must we do now? Pray! Maybe God can keep the rain every Thursday from falling in on the kids so that the teaching of His Word will not be hindered. Pray also that over time the relationship with the church may improve.

2.       Yesterday I taught the story of Gabriel’s visit to Mary. One of the applications was Mary’s example of purity. Fact is, in many African communities, youth has ‘tried’ sex before marriage. It’s customary that every girl who had her first period gets a week of ‘teaching’ in a special hut about how to ‘perform’ for a man. Boys are being taught how to be a man. This encourages them to practice what they have learned. 

After the Bible lesson, Grace and I were discussing the facility issue, then a desperate woman came in. With her fourteen year old daughter and one year old grandson. The girl was handicapped, no muscle coordination, no ability to talk, drooling, making strange noises. The baby was very cute and lively. He is born from the handicapped girl. She was raped by a boy who wanted to prove his manhood. Horrible! It was heartbreaking to see how the grandmother had to make the handicapped girl nurse her baby who  had no clue what she was doing. The girl was very thin and looked unhealthy. They had no money to buy milk. The grandmother who had been listening to the Bible lesson said that the message had touched her and she was asking advise. She struggles so much with this daughter (there are no places for those special children here), taking care of that baby and her other seven kids! There is not enough food and clothes. I asked her if she is a church member. She confirmed she is a member of the local church. This church requires tithes from all its members, otherwise they are being erased from the membership list, but this women is not being helped by the church at all. Officially, there are no funds. Yet, they are about to replace a decent church building by a bigger one. We normally encourage people to seek and to help through the local church, but this seems impossible.

I have prepared a bag with clothes for the girl and the baby, soap, sugar and a very nutritious porridge. If anyone feels inclined to ‘adopt’ these kids let me know. I will make sure they get these items every month. I need to think of something the grandmother can do to have a little income to make her less dependent. It must be something she can combine with the heavy burden she already has.

3.       Grace lives right there, surrounded by so many needs. She is such a godly woman, all she does is reaching out to her neighbors. Every literacy lesson begins with a devotion and a prayer. The headman of the village is very happy with the ministries we do. Not that he is a Christian but he hopes this will help his people to develop and achieve a better living standard. He has come to us if we can also start to teach the men. We have to pray about it.

Tuesday, however, Grace is being threatened by the main chief (every village has its own headman who reports to the big chief). It seems he is starting to worry about the effects of God’s Word being taught. What if people start to turn to the God of the Bible and turn their back to traditional religion? Please, pray for Grace. She is being threatened that they will demolish her house and that she has to move. She has called the police (after she was beaten) but they say they cannot do anything. It is common that police and justice has a hard time interfering with traditional authorities and religious practices. Grace says “But with God I can do anything. I will stay, God brought me here for a purpose.”

Only three of the many issues we are involved in. Thank you for your prayers for the work of the Holy Spirit to break the chains of sin and darkness and bring Light!!

Yours,

Mirjam

Home

One of the advantages of moving many times is the growth of your spiritual family. We are thankful for all the friends, brothers and sisters in the Lord we got to know in the past 15 months here in Malawi. People from different parts of the world, with different traditions, yet united by the same faith in Jesus Christ, who is he Way, the Truth, and the Life.  What a blessing to experience that Fellowship with these new spiritual relatives in this part of the world.

Last Thursday we dropped off our little boys at the house of friends (what a blessing to have people willing to take care of your kids for a while) and drove with our older kids to Zambia. I was thinking about how it was going to be to arrive at Covenant College, the place where we lived and worked for more than 5 years. A place we poured our heart and energy in and where we had so many wonderful relationships. “Is it actually going to be nice to return to a place which you left 16 months ago?”

We arrived Friday morning, 10 am. The car had not come to a full stop yet but all of a sudden we were surrounded by many very familiar happy faces with warm, big smiles. We got out of the car and were greeted with hugs and double handshakes. It felt like coming home, seeing your relatives after a long time. Wow, what a blessing!!

We witnessed the graduation of 10 Covenant College students. What a joy to see them receive their reward for three years of faithful studies. More equipped now for the work they are called to, in the ministry of the Word. The event was an exhibition of God’s faithfulness most of all.

Joash and Rhoda enjoyed spending time with their Zambian friends and were disappointed when we announced our departure. 6 Students climbed aboard, the luggage was tied securely on the roof rack – the Landcruiser proved its value once more! We had to make several stops, climb the roof, loosen and tie again as we passed their houses on our way back to Malawi.

Late that night, after a long, tiring drive and border crossing we arrived back in Lilongwe (after we picked up our little boys from our friends house). Happy to get home again.

We feel at home in many places. The Netherlands – where our relatives live. America – where our sending church is. South Africa – where good friends live. Papua – where I grew up and still have relatives. Yet, when three year old Moses asked me “Mommy, where is our home village?” I could only think of heaven (John 14) and of the passage in Hebrews 11:

“…aliens and strangers on earth, longing for a better country, a heavenly one. God is preparing a city…”  But also this: “…Abraham obeyed and went…by faith he made his home…like a stranger in a foreign country…looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”