Our weekend

This weekend was full. I (Chris) went to a stakeholders meeting with key spiritual leaders in the country. The Student Christian Organization (SCOM) presented the issues facing teenagers in Malawi and the challenges to them performing well or even finishing high school.

Here are a couple of issues. Many students have to walk over an hour to school each day. That means they leave home very early and arrive at school tired. This doesn’t help them perform well at school. Another challenge is that in a study done of 4000 students in 2007 - 31% of students were orphaned and struggled to come up with school fees. Some girls are forced to sell their bodies to come up with their school fees.

One story from the conferences in May, a young girl said her “boyfriend” had helped her pay her school fees and now was pressuring her to have intercourse by threatening to beat her up unless she paid him back. A SCOM counselor asked her how much would it cost to pay him back what he had given so she could be free. She did some figuring and said 2850 kwatcha. (That is less than $20.) It was heart breaking to hear!!! This situation is one of thousand of similar situations.

Yet SCOM is in the middle of it trying to save these young women from difficult situation.

Family update:
Jake’s arm is getting better. He was using it to much while we traveled so it was quite swollen when we arrived. We have been keeping in his sling and his swelling has gone down significantly.
My face is still paralyzed on the right side. My speech is challenged so I have to make sure I speak clearly to be understood. I had the opportunity to share with the gathering Saturday and felt I was clear enough. I have been experiencing some pain in the area as it seems the nerves are regenerating. (I think that is what you call it.) Who knows but God. He is in control and we are trusting in Him. He can use us even in our weakness.

2 Corinthians 12
9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.