Malawi Update

As you might remember in the summer of 2009, our family spent 3 months partnering with the Student Christian Organization of Malawi (SCOM.) We also had hoped to adopt a child while we were there. We spent many hours caring for children at the crisis nursery and serving at the SCOM office. One of the significant experiences for me was working with the refugee camp that is located out side of Lilongwe. The camp has ~8,000 refugees from all over Africa (Congo, Rwanda, Sudan, Somalia and others.) This is a place of extreme hardship. They are given 40 lbs. of corn meal, a few pounds of beans and some salt by the UN each month. They aren't allowed to work by the Malawi government, so they must make do with these meager provisions.

One of our friends, Delor, is 21 year old and has been in the camp for 8 years. His family was killed in the fighting in the Congo and he fled for his life. After working with us for the 3 months, he began to see the needs of children in the camp. He asked his pastor at the camp, "What could be done?" He then asked me, "Should we start an orphanage to care for the children?" I responded positively that it seemed like he was seeing a critical need but, I didn't really know where this was headed. In the next month, they broke ground on 3 buildings for feeding and school programs for the neediest children in the camp.

The ministry started feeding 33 kids in the camp. Six months later, they are feeding 85 kids and running classes for kids from the camp and three villages near by. The children aren’t all orphans as some have family in the camp or village but, aren’t able to provide enough for the kids. So to help those families, they are trying to provide, as they are able, a pair of goats for milk and additional food for their families (40 goats given so far.) They are also training women in sewing with 10 sewing machines. The women are learning to make simple clothes and items that they can sell in villages near by.

Some people have asked me how this ministry is being funded. Well, the funding is not great right now. Currently, we personally send $400 - $500 a month. But I hope to start a non-profit ministry to raise money for the orphanage and ministries there. Our gift provides the feeding program with barely enough to supplement what the church gives (85 kids aren’t eating well on a little over $.50 a day). We could use your prayers to get the non-profit up and running so we can do better at providing for the children.

God has bigger plans than we do! We went to Malawi to adopt one child, to have our family blessed with the joy of loving a baby. God had other plans. It seems he wanted to see many more kids and families provided for than we imagined. My heart continues to break for these kids and families. Praise God for allowing us to be apart of His ministry to the neediest in our world.

Back in the US

After 2 days (42 hours) of traveling, we arrived home tonight minus all of our bags. They lost 100% of our checked bags. please pray for them to come soon.

It is good to be home.

Thank you all for your prayers and support.

Chris and Dudley

Party on Labor day

We wanted to let you all know that we will be home Friday and can't wait to see everyone. You have heard all about our summer, what about yours?

We are hosting a picnic/BBQ at our house, Monday 12-3. You can come for all or part of the time. It will be great to catch up with anyone whose around. We will provide the hotdogs and drinks, Drop by and bring some food to share if you can. We look forward to seeing you!

Hope you can make it.

Adoption Update

Friends, this has been a long journey. We have been praying for over 2 years and have felt that God was leading us to adopt again and recently felt that should be from Malawi. Well, we won’t be leaving Malawi with a child at this point. Jackson’s extended family has decided not to consent to adoption, so he will continue to stay in the nursery.

We are seeking the Lord and what he has for us in the midst of calling us to follow him here. At this point we don’t know all the whys, but we do know that He is in control and we have been called to surrender to him and trust him. One thing I taught in Tanzania was Christ is King, not us. As I prepared, it was clear to me that Jesus is my King and he gets to set the direction and lead. I don’t get to set the path and plan. He does. So I am to surrender all to him, be his servant and follower. So we are trying to trust and surrender all to him. It is with heavy hearts and a sense of grief that we will return to the US Friday (9/4). Our tears have come easily but our trust in him has grown in the midst of it all.

We are still looking for the opportunity to adopt and our attorney will continue the process while we are in the back in the States. (I still would love to adopt Farook, the HIV positive child, and hope to follow up our options with him.) It now becomes even harder with us not being here.

Tanzania Fellowship of Evangelical Students (TaFES)

InterVarsity is part of a worldwide movement of indigenous campus ministries in almost all the countries of the world. TaFES is a small movement with 12 staff. 8 are new staff this year and the rest are all under 10 years on staff.

So to have Patrick who has been on staff 17 years and me (14 years) was amazing to them. These young people were so amazing. Their faith and commitment inspired me. Patrick and I taught, challenged and encouraged them about the faith journey of Abram and following Jesus as staff.

I was so impressed with the staff especially the young ones. One young man, Simon, was especially sharp. He is starting his second year and was teaching the new staff how to inductively study the scriptures. His training was excellent and I was so blessed to get to know him and talk about life and ministry. He is from the Massai tribe. (You have probably heard of the Massai warriors.) He has a heart for his people and longs to help them come to Jesus. He will be leading the community development ministry for TaFES this year.

The community development wing of their ministry works in rural villages to bring about positive change and to fight against poverty and injustice. 5 of their new staff will be joining this project and be stationed all over the country. I believe these young people will make a great difference as they serve God in the villages.

One of these intelligent young people was Kristen, who just graduated from college. Her insights and faith were amazing. After one of my sessions, she came up to me to talk about the Bible and Jesus. She said I had encouraged her trust of Jesus and that she was now even more committed to trusting Him and to bring his love to her work.

Thank God for the opportunity to serve Him and bring Him Glory.

Some other highlights:
Seeing the Indian Ocean, buying Ice cream from a vendor in the midst of a traffic jam, seeing the fish market (smelling it was not a highlight), spending over 40 hours driving and talking with Patrick (a great opportunity for encouragement and building our relationship)

Thank you for your prayers. They were needed.

Travel to Tanzania

My week in Tanzania was such an adventure a blog will not do it justice, but today I will give you a brief look at our travel then later I will let you know about the training.

Day 1: collided with bicyclist. He broke a rib and our side mirror was broken off. Saw Malawi emergency care in a hospital up close, maybe too close. I am glad I haven’t had to use it yet. Day 2: In Tanzania, we drove through clouds way up in the mountains and saw giraffe, monkeys, impala and zebra along the road and slept a cold 4 hours in the truck. Day 3: traffic violation #1. No fire extinguisher on board and chose to pay the fine not the cheaper bribe that was requested so we could avoid the higher fine. In Dar es Salaam, capital city of Tanzania, the power goes out just as we are about to enter a very busy, very large intersection with a stop light. Insane, aggressive gridlock followed with cars going every which way.

Return trip Day 1: traffic violation #2 passing in a no passing zone when the other car was virtually pulled off the road! We paid the fine, but only after arguing our point. Saw more animals including an elephant. Then we towed a broken down van 100 km through the mountains and it almost pulled us off a cliff. We slept a couple hours in the truck while waiting for the border to open. Day 2: Non-eventful, and arrived home safe and in one piece. Praise the Lord!!

Tanzania

Chris left for Tanzania today to speak at Tanzania's National Staff conference for the IFES movement (of which IVCF is a member). Please pray for safe travel for the 18 hour drive. Also pray for minimal delays so they can get there in plenty of time. He is traveling with Patrick, the General Secretary of the IFES movement here in Malawi. Pray that Chris could be an encouragement to him and the good work that he is doing in this place that is very difficult to minister in. Pray for Chris's talk, that he could communicate the Word of God clearly, and the Holy Spirit would use him to say what he wants them to hear. The conference lasts the week, so they plan to head back next weekend.