So, for those of you who won't receive it... here it is! I thought it would be good to post it for all of you to read. SInce my time has been filled with so much "stuff" time seems short, so writing blogs moved to the back of my mind. You can find Ministry of Hope online at www.ministryofhope.org.

On my first venture to Malawi during the summer of 2006, I fell in love with the country. There are many things about Malawi that I find fascinating, but what captivates me, brings unprecedented joy to my soul and causes my heart to melt like wax are the children. So, when I received the call informing me that I would be serving with Ministry of Hope this summer, I was overjoyed. Even though my focus was on the volunteers coming to serve, there was plenty of time to interact with some of the children I had befriended the year prior. This year I started to understand more fully why Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me.” Christ had a passion for these “little ones” and He wasn’t just looking out for the wellbeing of their souls but their emotions as well. I think He planted this heart for children in me. We feel love not just by hearing words but also by the actions of love. I wasn’t able to use words to say, “I love you” and even struggled to say, “God loves you” but I was able to share love through playing in the dirt with the children, running down the roads until I was tired, throwing them on my shoulders and even partaking in the occasional tickle fight, which by the way does translate into other languages if only in action. At times I felt like a big brother to these little children. In essence that is what God wants me to be to them, and at heart that is what I am. Thinking of them like family takes it to a whole different level. I have a desire to fervently be in prayer for them, I have concerns about their physical and spiritual wellbeing. I am able to care for them through my prayers, to express my concerns to God. It’s kind of like how Jesus goes before God on our behalf. He knows what we need, and He cares for us so much that He would approach the throne of God with concerns for us.

I’ve been home for two months and my mind still travels back to be with the children. It is at those times I am reminded to pray for them. We don’t have to be in the same place to remember each other, nor to pray for each other. I’ve seen how they live, I know their names, and I know their hearts. I know the nights when they are cold, when they are hungry and I know their needs. I can barely fathom their pain of being fatherless, but I know they do have a Father, the same one I have, a loving and caring one. Our Father cares just as much for them as He does me. Caring enough to pray, to give, to love, that is what we all are called to do. You might not know what it’s like to be hungry, to be fatherless, to be cold. You might not know the names of the children, or know their faces, but that doesn’t mean you can’t lift them up in your prayers every day. We are all part this big family, and we should be concerned about the needs of each other. The greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and the second one is like it, to love your neighbor as yourself.

Now I’m on the other side of the world from them, in a place they will probably never see. I look forward to the time when I can once again run down the dusty street with them, but for now, they are all in my prayers.

July 19, 2007

It’s been a little over three months since I landed in Malawi this year to work with Ministry of Hope. It’s been a little under two weeks since I returned! I haven’t had but about 24 hours to myself since I returned home on July 6. In the past two weeks I’ve been in Malawi, South Africa (airport), England (airport), Illinois, Indiana, Georgia (airport), Arizona, Texas and New Mexico (Thanks Carmel!). Give me one more day I can add Ohio and Pennsylvania to that list! Never in my life did I think I would be able to say that! I was home less than a week when I was whisked away to Arizona, Texas and New Mexico. During my stay in Texas I was able to spend some time with my significant other, Joni, and we drove to New Mexico. I was able to meet with many of the Texas Tech Wesley Foundation Malawi Mission team members (the team Joni was a part of) and spend some time reminiscing about their trip to Malawi. When in Arizona I met with the Valley Presbyterian Church Malawi Mission team. I was invited as the “surprise guest” for VPC’s “Malawi get-together”. The Lord has truly been working, and I am more aware of this than ever before. Just looking back on all the events, just since April, wow! God is truly moving! From providing funds for travel in only a few days, to providing the means to visit with friends and loved ones, all the way to the small things like all my bags arriving when I did at the airport. Never second-guess what God can do! It might not be what you want, or the way you want it, but be willing to go with what He gives you!

Early this morning I couldn’t sleep. I woke up at around 2am, and didn’t fall asleep until about 4am. I believe I needed to pray, but also the sound of the rats running around the house didn’t help. This week I had to move out of my room to allow the Anna and Brittany to use it while the Feeding Center Supervisors (six males) us the girls’ room, which has more room than my (the guys’) room. So, instead of rooming with six Malawians, who get up around 5:30-6am, I’ve opted to stay in the living room. The living room of this house doubles as the main reception/meeting/office area. Each morning I usually wake up to them chatting loudly, move my stuff out of the office and start my day. I’ve noticed that some of these guys have a tough time keeping doors closed, which when they are closed helps prevent the rats from invading the rest of the house. When I got home last night both the back door to the kitchen and the door from the kitchen to the rest of the house were open. I didn’t think anything of it, until 2am! Sleeping on the floor doesn’t help the comfort level when the rats are running right past your head! I told Charles, the Executive Director, about the rats. His suggestion was that we get a cat. I thought he was joking, but after talking with more people I decided that we really did need a cat. So, this afternoon we bought a cat! It’s a little girl kitten, and I think I’ve decided to name it Thumba (Toom-ba), which is Chichewa for “Sack”. We bought her on the side of the road from a man selling dogs and this one cat. I had prayed that, if we were to buy it from him that he would only have one cat. He brought her to us in a maize sack that had been tied. The thought is that the cat shouldn’t see where it’s come from so it won’t try to return “home”. It was a little sad to see. I only wanted to pay about 500 Malawian Kwacha ($3.45) for it, but he wouldn’t come below 700 ($4.83). When I said to him that the only reason he wouldn’t change his price was because of my skin color (which really is true) he started walking away. I didn’t want the cat to have to go back in the sack, with no food, for who knows how long, so I decided I would pay the extra. Now I have a small cat to keep us company at the office/house and hopefully take care of the rats. I’m a little afraid that the rats will chase the cat, as big as the rats are here. I’m not a really big fan of cats but... Cats before rats!

Justin

This is the cat, Thumba

I’ve been thinking a lot lately of the statement made in the Bible, “I will decrease so He may increase.” I’ve felt smaller and smaller on this trip, as sometimes I do in everyday life. It takes many spiritual journeys, and can never fully be reached until the Day of the Glory of the Lord. I found a scale yesterday, and with that I found it to be true. I really am decreasing! Not just being less and God being more spiritually, but I’m losing a lot of weight. I’ve lost about 10 pounds in just a few weeks. I haven’t weighed this little in over 6 years. I don’t even know where I can lose this weight. It’s not a goal, it’s just noticeable when your pants are falling off and your belts don’t work either. I’m not even joking, my pants are really falling off and my belts really aren’t helping much! I’d sort of noticed this, but it was confirmed yesterday when I stepped on that scale. This is just one side to the story of how I’m learning more and more each day that the things I do in this life, I don’t really do. It’s God who does them for His glory. Healing, people coming to know Christ, meeting people and developing relationships, it’s all His handy work! For this I am less and He is more. When I can really understand this I can really understand His purposes. Sometimes, because we are selfish, we can get disappointed when we aren’t chosen for the work God is doing that WE want to do. We can think that we have something to do with people coming to know the Lord, or that we had enough faith to pray for someone and they were healed, not realizing it is God who has given us the faith to pray. We are His workmanship, not the other way around. When we give in to this we can live fruitful, joyful lives everyday to glorify God. Everyone has a purpose, and we need to be faithful to exactly what that is, not second guessing God’s will, or wanting it our way.

I plan to decrease more on this trip. I pray you will also seek the Lord’s face through His Word, prayer, and if He leads, fasting.

Justin

As you can probably tell by the lack of posts, life in Africa hasn’t slowed down one bit. Basing it off the culture this doesn’t make sense. In the past two weeks I’ve been in over 10 villages somewhere over 20 times including the cities of Lilongwe and Mzuzu, and have traveled somewhere in the range of 20-30 hours, not including in-town driving. This is somewhere between 1000km-2000km of driving in just two weeks. Planning the details for the groups and the various mini trips they will be taking keeps me on my toes. I actually quite enjoy it when my e-mail inbox isn’t full. I’ve also realized how stressful driving in Malawi can be. It’s not that I don’t like it I just carry the tension in my shoulders, which makes the three-hour-long church services even longer!

The past couple of weeks have brought many firsts for me as well as several spiritual and physical leaps and bounds. Certain areas of Malawi still struggle with witchcraft, which in all actuality is involvement in the demonic realm. Needless to say the repercussion is felt in many areas of life in Malawi. Not to go into great length but, I have seen and felt some pretty crazy things and have heard some creep-you-out stories. The Texas Tech Wesley Foundation group has been here for 3 weeks now, and I have been with them for most of their journey. I have an exciting new relationship with one of the girls from the team; it was completely the Lord’s leading, and exciting adventure at that! I am praying and am excited to see where the Lord is leading me on this adventure with Joni! The Spirit of the Lord hasn’t gone anywhere, it’s still alive, active and still He wants to use us! I’ve seen countless lives once lost now saved by the Lord, two of them I had the blessing of leading in prayer. If you ever thought healing wasn’t around anymore you’re wrong. I’ve seen the Lord heal, heal and heal again, and He’s not finished! There is power in the Blood of Jesus! I have seen the Hand of the Lord moving here in ways I’ve never witnessed before. Lives are being changed, people are placed their trust in Jesus for the first time, and again, and glory is being bestowed upon the Lord, the God of Israel. Please pray that God will continue to life His hand and work in the lives of His children. Pray also that we, His children, would be open to the way He works. We can be so narrow-minded at times and this is when we miss out of the fully blessing of the Lord.

Pray that the Lord would grant protection surrounding the children in the villages, specifically Mponela, Khwamba, Chimwang’ombe, Matapila, Selengo and Katondo. Children are the biggest targets of witchcraft and other traditional practices that abuse them mentally and risk physical harm. The Lord seeks to lift up this generation in Malawi (and across the world) for a great purpose, and so we see Satan poised against the little ones. Pray for them!

“Who is man that he should limit God?” “If God is for us who can be against us?”

Justin