Part Three

Abigael, 9 months old dauchter of the headteacher Efrida

An other thing on my agenda is to meet the board of Nyenyezi Ministry and discuss matters. I appreciate their commitment and support to the work. They are graciously giving their time and energy to serve voluntarily. “It’s not a job nor a position, it’s a calling” says the chairman, a man from the local community.  It is great to get to know the board members and for them to get to know me. Often I hear “I have heard so much about you”….let’s hope the best of it…

Nyenyezi Ministry board

I am encouraged by the many things the board is listing under the category  ‘counting our blessings’.

-some families in the community have started reading the Bible as a family as this is encouraged at the women groups and in the local church plant on Sundays.

-many women who couldn’t read a few years ago can now read and write plus they know how to make products like soap or doormats.

-a number of teenagers have decided to follow Jesus instead of Nyau (more info about this http://molenaarsinmalawi.blogspot.nl/2013/11/discouraged-by-nyau-encouraged-by-god.html

When I hear this I am so humbled and so extremely thankful. The chairman reports how overall the fear for Nyau has decreased. Women and children have learned to trust the Living God more than the powers of darkness. Halleluyah!!!

-many children received good education at Nyenyezi Preschool and are now succeeding in government schools. Thousands of children receive Gods Word on a weekly basis at the kidsclubs on Thursday.

-A huge compliment from the local chiefs;  “Nyenyezi Ministry is the pride of our community!!” The impact of Nyenyezi is obvious, even to the (unbelieving) chiefs. I think, it’s even greater than they think or wish, because it’s Gods Work!!

We discuss the needs of the ministry too. Many questions are asked; Can Nyenyezi Ministry continue its work among the community? Why? Because of FUNDS! Funds for:

-extra teachers as the work increases

-a car or at least regular car services for Grace’ car as she provides many medical rides to the hospitals with sick and dying people of the community. They are the only one in the whole community with a car.

-our own community clinic  and a community health worker (that would be fantastic!!!) on site.

-a male teachers to teach the men of the community Christian leadership in family and community (this indeed is a huge need in the African communities!)

We conclude the meeting with thanksgiving for so many blessings and pray for the needs. May Gods will be done.

One of the board members receives three good quality footballs (from my fundraiser) and will soon start-up the BigBoysBible&FootballTeam.

Travelogue 2

Perhaps you remember Faith, Grace’ daughter. If not, feel free to read it using the following link: http://mirjammalawi.blogspot.nl/2014/07/faithful.html

Some of you have helped her to achieve her dream to study (eventhough it is not her initial dream of studying medicine); here a little update.

“Hello, my name is Faith and I am 19 years old, turning 20 very soon. Lord willing I will be graduating! You are all welcome to join this joyous event. I will be receiving a diploma from Umoja wa wa wazazi Kaole College of Agriculture in Tanzania. There is only a balance of 100 Tanz shillings to be paid before graduation. I trust God will provide.

I have enjoyed my study very much and am extremely thankful for friends to help me pay tuitions. I have learned so many skills that enable me to be independent. 

Every Sunday I go to church and grow to trust God more and more. It is hard to remain faithful to God and His Word amidst of so many who do not care about God. But He gives strength, by the Holy Spirit who dwells in me. Praise Him.

I would love to continue studying here for my bachelor degree, starting in September. God will make a way for me to serve Him. May His will be done.”

Travelogue 3 to come…

Travelogue 1

Friends, thank you so much for supporting me on my visit to encourage Nyenyezi Ministry, Gods work in Malawi. 

Traveling 24 hours just by yourself is like going on a mini holiday. Food is served and trash cleaned up after you. I won’t mention sleeping attempts, being squeezed between two strangers.

The six hour lay-over in Nairobi brings me with two feet right on the African soil. Exotic names being called through the speakers, alternated with typical African music. The smell of true Kenyan coffee and the lovely little shops with crafts from talented African artists. There is lots to see already.

Upon arrival in Malawi, the warm heart of Africa, I re-connect with friends. It feels like I have never been gone. At least not for two years…more like a couple days.

I unpack my suitcases…most of it are materials for Nyenyezi Ministry. And of course stroopwafels and Dutch cheese to hand out.

Meeting up with my sister, friend and co-founder of the ministry Neema (Grace) is wonderful. We take the whole Saturday to update one another on family, work, ministry; life! I do get a good picture of the current situation, which is part one of my goal taken from:

Coll. 4:8 “ Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he might know your estate, and comfort your hearts “ KJV

To know the estate of Nyenyezi Ministry and my sister Grace.

 Travelogue 2 coming soon...

Malawi Mission Trip

Back in the day, a day out at the Lake with Grace

Almost two years ago, I left the work of Nyenyezi Ministry in the capable hands of my friend Grace, as I moved back to The Netherlands. The work continued and our prayers and interactions too. The beautiful-but-hard work in God’s Kingdom requires mutual encouragement. I have tried to be the long distant support Grace needed in heading this ministry. But it’s very different from walking through the village together or praying together in the shade of a tree, as we used to do.

Therefore I am planning to travel to Malawi this May and visit Nyenyezi Ministry. I would like to encourage the staff, do some teacher’s training and meet up with the women and children of the community. This way I also will get a fresh understanding of what the ministry needs in order to continue the work of the Lord. I am looking for funds (through my GoFundMe campaign) to cover travel and accommodation expenses, as well as the costs for training. I trust and pray God will provide! 

Nyenyezi Ministry:

The effects of Nyenyezi Ministry in the community of Chinsapo, Malawi are evident!

Children who used to just hang around with their peers, waiting… are now being educated. Our Christian pre-school offers education to one hundred young children giving them the necessary foundation they need to succeed at the public elementary school. Schools love to get “Nyenyezi kids” because they don’t drop out, as many others do.

Vulnerable children who often fell victim to neglect or various forms of abuse are now empowered by the teaching of God’s Word. They are taught to put on the full armor of God and take a stand against the powers of darkness.

Orphaned children receive LOVE and CARE from our dedicated Nyenyezi staff, who often go the extra mile, sometimes literally, when medical care is needed and not within walking distance. They receive personal positive attention form adults, something most kids in the West take for granted but is not a given under harder circumstances.

Women are developing  a new, healthy self-esteem since they learn how to read and write in literacy class and hear about the Living God who loves them as women. Nyenyezi Ministry empowers the many illiterate and often single moms and enables them to provide for their families and beyond.

Nyenyezi Ministry plants seeds… it is God who gives the increase.

Gracious Christmas

Born on three different continents...united in the dutch snow

End of the year

Christmas two years ago was spent in the quietness of the African Wild. As we pushed our 4x4 Landcruiser through thick mud and deep puddles, watching the amazing animals, our thoughts were also often with the unknown future. Where was the Lord going to lead us?

Last year Christmas we knew where. Led by the Holy Spirit, after a lot of prayer, the Lord had given us a home here in Veenendaal. A place we probably wouldn’t have picked ourselves. Yet, the question remained: Why here?

This Christmas, that’s no question at all. About 7 months ago the board of ICF (International Christian Family) installed us as a couple to pastor the little, vacant flock. Words can hardly express the deep joy it gives to serve the Lord in serving the ICF community. ICF’s main calling is to offer a home for people who have no natural home church to fit in, and a as culturally diverse body to reach out mostly to people with a migrant background. Many refugees have arrived in this area and are looking for much spiritual and practical support.

Right from the beginning we have been investing mostly in relationship, friendship, fellowship and of course in teaching and preaching. We have hosted many pot-luck dinners, tasting flavors from all over the world. We feel that our overseas experiences help us to understand our new friends much better. We know what it means to leave and to lose. We also know what it takes to learn new languages. We understand the frustrations of not understanding culture and traditions.

But we never experienced the trauma of war and persecution! We listen to their heartbreaking stories. All we do is LOVE them and bring them under the wings of the Almighty. That’s the only place where anyone will find true healing and peace.

We are privileged to watch God doing wondrous things. Refugees with Islamic background lay their lives in the hands of Christ, one by one. During our home visits we hear the most amazing personal stories, and we enjoy wonderful hospitality. I am so glad our kids eat anything and are brave enough to try whatever food is served… Moroccan Harira or Persian Khoresht Fesenjaan chicken…you name it.  

A few days ago we visited a lovely family, staying in the refugee camp nearby. They were born and raised in the Middle East and experienced some of the rigid rules of their fathers religion. With their two little girls of 3 and 5 they left their country. After 5 attempts on a rubber boat at the Mediterranean sea, they finally made it the sixth time to Greece, in the middle of the night. Six months they stayed in a tiny tent, no bathroom, no kitchen, no running water, no bed….nothing except each other. God knows how they ended up here, the mom being 8 months pregnant. Meanwhile…. God’s hand was guiding them, they met a Christian who shared the gospel. Now they want to know everything about God and His Word. During our baptism service last Sunday, 4 new believers were baptized. This family was watching eagerly, didn’t want to miss one second.

For our Christmas service we had many visitors from the church neighborhood. Most heard the gospel for the first time. Like every Sunday after the service, we had a meal as well. Visitors had time to converse with ‘our own people’. Beautiful how new believers, recent converts, become witnesses right away.

Looking back at the past year, we rejoice in the Lord.   For the year to come, we pray for lots of love and wisdom to serve in the very dynamic, multi-cultural ICF ministry in our little town.

God’s grace is true grace indeed! Praying that you get to enjoy much of this grace, too!

Guest blog

Her Husband Praises Her – moving gifts

As we left our last house, where we stayed for three months, and contemplated the fact we don’t know what we will call home in three months, we tried to count the numerous houses we have stayed in over the last 10 years of missionary living. Obviously I leave out holiday homes and host families. I’m thinking of houses where we stayed at least six weeks. Too long to live out of the suitcases, long enough to mess up the place mixing your belongings with those coming with the place. Am talking of houses that had nothing of your own when you walk through the front door and you can’t leave a thing behind when you walk out. Then I recalled how in many cases this was a period where you reduce the material side of life to suitcases and hand luggage that have limited and absolute limitations and it costs to cross those. And I added to the picture the endless shopping list of shoes and clothes for growing children for the year ahead. The endless weighing of options, with a kilo of cheese finally replaced by two pair of shoes.

But those furlough transitions were easy compared to leaving countries for the last time. Each and every item, inside and outside the house, has to pass before the judgment, with only three possible outcomes: carry along (how?), sell what you have (how much?), turn it into a gift (to who?). Carry along could be shipment, suitcase, or hand luggage. Selling involved questions such as when do you need it last, in what currency should we sell, and how tough of a businessperson do you become at the end of your stay? Giving was the easiest, although one needs to regard fair dealings and appropriate publicity. As we were pealing off the layers of earthly homes, the questions as to what and where next always became more pressing.

And there is more. Kids tend to become unsettled when their toys get packed and their beds are sold. Time between homes feels rather homeless. Every day you seem to run multiple threads of where what is going what time to who and for what reason. Everything starts getting lost in that big turbine of moving stress. Kids still expecting mom to pick our their favorite movie or book as if it’s still sitting on the shelf that’s long been taken down. Questions about God and where He is leading the family come into the whole mix. Daily routines are under pressure.

As I considered all this, I felt an urge to simply bring tribute to one person in our family who has been very crucial to get us through so many transitions. Not that she enjoys the chaos naturally – not at all. But I recognise how important she has been even in this current move we are making. And as I praise her, I do thank God for her and the graces he granted her.

All I said above was even besides the question how mom is doing just for herself at a time of transition. Our current one is extremely hard on her. The pain of parting and the lost of leaving take great toll. It evokes my deeper praise.

Who has wisely sorted through clothes and toys and books and school materials, making the hard decisions on what remains and what disappears? She did! Who helped our children balance between what is left behind and what waits ahead? Who organized kids parties and last time meetings for the family? She did! Who ensured there is enough food in the pantry to feed the hungry bunch without wasting any food as the days get less? She did! Who comforts kids and secures routines? Who remembers where those papers are which were not supposed to get lost, and reminds me of tons of details that I thought I could not forget? She does! That our houses became homes, that we walked in clean clothes, and that our children felt cared for and safe, even in the strangest of places – we owe it largely to her. Birthday presents bought months in advance, and weeks after departure still treats from back home. These large little things only moms do so well.

The list goes on. I’m still counting. We could never have lived the life we lived without the wife God gave so gifted.

In the gate, her husband praises her. But at home, wherever that be, he will love her.

Last blog from Africa

I clearly remember the heat of the African sun beating down on our heads, that Easter Day, ten years ago. It was the day we arrived in Zambia. Cees had already been there before but for Joas, Rhoda and I it was our very first time to hit the terra soil of Africa. What an eventful journey lay ahead of us. A journey that taught us a lot about God, ourselves, different people and cultures.

I only started to write blogs in 2011, when we had moved from the bush in Zambia to the city of Lilongwe, Malawi. This will be my last blog written from the African soil. Our suitcases are almost packed. We are leaving in eight days….it will be Easter again. I humbly ask you to continue to pray for our family. Leaving Africa, which has been our home for ten years, in our circumstances, is very difficult. Starting a new chapter of life might be even more difficult. Gods promises are a huge comfort!

As we are very busy with selling our possessions, dismantling our house, doing all those ‘last time’ things I would like to update you on the project Grace and I started in the community here. Today I said farewell to 800 children that came to our weekly Bible club. It was hot and sticky. The 65 loaves of bread I brought were not enough…we quickly had to add a couple more. My heart was heavy and sad but at the same time so very thankful for all the Lord has done in only a couple years already. The ministry has much potential and Gods hand is upon it. The Lord will go with us as well as stay with the people of Nyenyezi here.

At Nyenyezi Ministry we primarily teach the Word, praying that it will bring Jesus Christ at the forefront of the hearts of the children and women. And from them carried home to fathers and neighbors. Our multipurpose building is being used every day, fulltime.  From Monday to Friday, every morning around 7:00 the first pre-school students start coming and half an hour later they all line up outside to sing their morning songs, including the national anthem. At 8:00 O’clock all eighty students quietly enter their classroom, one for 4-5 year old, one for 6-7 year olds. In both classes, the day starts with a Bible lesson and Bible songs. After calendar time and some games it’s time for math. The cement floor works really well for an exercise book; the kids get a piece of chalk and have to write or copy whatever the teacher taught. At the end of the day the floor will be mopped and clear for new exercises. The restrooms are in the back of the garden, all kids walk in line to have a restroom break. In the garden we grow maize and soybeans for the daily porridge. Everyone needs to wash hands with soap at the bucket tap. We give the kids porridge because most kids only get one meal a day at home. Letters are being taught and the best part for the kids is when the toys are brought in. They love playing with the donated Duplo’s, mega building blocks puzzles and other materials. I first had to teach the teachers how to use those as they never had the privilege of playing with toys. 

Another daily program is our literacy school for women. From 1:30-3:30 an average of fifty women sit down to learn what they should have learned growing up; reading, writing, math and English. The first half hour is spend in the Word of God and questions are being discussed. Sometimes women would request an appointment to discuss problems they face with the desire to deal with it in a biblical way (instead of the traditional way). Literacy class gives the women access to Scripture, deepens their knowledge of the Lord. It also empowers a person to become an effective and contributing member of society, hopefully breaking through a whole chain of factors that cause so much poverty and suffering.

Thursdays is still and hopefully will always be the big Children Bible club afternoon. Four years ago we had about 100-200 kids coming, this year it‘s more like 600-700 each time. I designed a “from Genesis to Revelation-in-two-years” teaching schedule which we follow faithfully. I want them (including the teachers) to see the big picture of Gods redemptive plan and connect the dots in the history of God’s grace and covenant.

Nyenyezi now works with four local teachers who pour themselves out to the women and kids every working day. Visitors come from different directions and all are impressed by the great work that is being done. There are so many opportunities! Recently a church plant has started by the chairman of our board. So, the building is even used on Sundays. This man also plays soccer with the older guys who feel too big for the club.

The community that Nyenyezi Ministry serves has many needs. So many people, especially the vulnerable (women and kids) get sick and cannot afford to go to the nearest clinic which is a two hour walk away. As a result school days are missed, students get behind or even suffer till death. During our opening ceremony in May 2015 the chief asked us to please add a community clinic. It was my wish and desire to work on that, but my time has run out. Please pray that the Lord will open a way to fulfil this big need! Any plan to raise funds are welcome! I will still be involved from the side line, mostly for PR, fundraising and advice.

I am very thankful for the opportunity the Lord gave me to work among the African children and women for the past ten years. As we transition with our family to the Netherlands I pray for people to carry this ministry to the next level.

“Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done”.