Since Alan is currently in Malawi, we are providing excerpts from his weekly report as soon as available in lieu of his normal articles we publish on Saturdays …
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Introduction. As I end my fourth week I am happy to report we seem to have left our scheduling problems behind. Although the attendance was still down, it was not due to a lack of information about the meeting, or the time needed to make plans to attend.
We were in the mountains of Ntchisi this week, climbing steep dirt roads that were very bumpy and dusty, but the views were spectacular. We were able to see the fringes of Ntchisi forest and also the Nkota-kota game reserve. Since we were in a different place each day, we spent the nights sleeping in different villages. This is often challenging as we never know what type of house we will sleep in. So far this year we have been allowed to sleep in the nicer homes of the teachers, built by the government as part of their salary. With concrete floors to spread out a bamboo mat and iron sheets for a roof, we live in “luxury.” We had lunch in a home made of mud, with a grass roof, a mud floor, and no windows. It was dark, and smelled strongly of earth. I haven’t slept in one yet this year. We just take each day as it comes to us and thank God for it. I have learned a lot about the difficult life of preachers here in Malawi, so I try to never complain since they do this every time they preach in the villages for their entire life.
For some reason most of the churches this year want to hear the same basic lessons on Christian growth, the family, and life after death. But occasionally I get an opportunity to speak on something different. In one congregation I spoke about the importance of the examples God has left for us in the lives He recorded in the Old Testament. . . .
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For more,
1) click on Malawi_2016_Report_4 (pdf) to display the full report
2) select the "more… > Malawi" menu item to see the report, associated pictures, and previous reports.
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Introduction. As I end my fourth week I am happy to report we seem to have left our scheduling problems behind. Although the attendance was still down, it was not due to a lack of information about the meeting, or the time needed to make plans to attend.
We were in the mountains of Ntchisi this week, climbing steep dirt roads that were very bumpy and dusty, but the views were spectacular. We were able to see the fringes of Ntchisi forest and also the Nkota-kota game reserve. Since we were in a different place each day, we spent the nights sleeping in different villages. This is often challenging as we never know what type of house we will sleep in. So far this year we have been allowed to sleep in the nicer homes of the teachers, built by the government as part of their salary. With concrete floors to spread out a bamboo mat and iron sheets for a roof, we live in “luxury.” We had lunch in a home made of mud, with a grass roof, a mud floor, and no windows. It was dark, and smelled strongly of earth. I haven’t slept in one yet this year. We just take each day as it comes to us and thank God for it. I have learned a lot about the difficult life of preachers here in Malawi, so I try to never complain since they do this every time they preach in the villages for their entire life.
For some reason most of the churches this year want to hear the same basic lessons on Christian growth, the family, and life after death. But occasionally I get an opportunity to speak on something different. In one congregation I spoke about the importance of the examples God has left for us in the lives He recorded in the Old Testament. . . .
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For more,
1) click on Malawi_2016_Report_4 (pdf) to display the full report
2) select the "more… > Malawi" menu item to see the report, associated pictures, and previous reports.