Dear Friends
It is now just over 3 weeks since our return and we know that we
are well and truly back in Malawi.
We want to express our great thankfulness to the many people who
have offered us hospitality, support and encouragement during our
lengthy visit to England. The list is too long to mention everyone,
but we think that we slept in no less than 14 different beds, during
the 7 months we were away, and several of them on more than one
occasion.
The day time temperatures here are around 28 degrees, in the shade.
Before you start to feel jealous, let me soften the blow by explaining
why it is such an interesting time to be living here. We are
experiencing regular power cuts. Last week we did not have electricity
for 7 of the 8 nights. How does Caroline keep going in cheerfully
providing meals for us, and our guests? At one point we were without
power, telephone and water to the washing machine, all at the same
time.
We have been delighted to come back to find that the work in our
churches has continued well in our absence. Cameron, Charles and John
have done a wonderful job, assisted by Jean and others – as well as
the young church leaders themselves. Jean's work in helping the
village farmers is also promising. This has all been a great
encouragement – God has truly shown us that this work is His. Other
missionaries have expressed some surprise, since experience often
leads us to expect a marked deterioration (if not outright
destruction) while the white leaders are away. As one friend said it
is amazing that our cars have not been stolen, the house has not been
trashed and the work is continuing after we have been away for such a
long time. Such is life in Malawi among the white community.
A happy, if hungry, church 
Unfortunately life for many Malawians continues to follow its usual
pattern. Last week Julian visited our church in Nyombe - see above.
Only half the church gathered as the others were out looking for work.
Where (and when) there is no piece work there is no food that day.
Julian found out that one of our members had in fact died just 2 days
before because of hunger. The man has left his wife caring for 8
children (being both his own children and grandchildren too – with an
older child having died earlier from HIV). 25 other families in the
church are described as being in acute need of food help (6 of them
have no man to help them) – and we still have 6 weeks left before the
food in the fields is ready to eat. People here are already selling
their crops to provide a little food for now. (What about next year)?
The chief of the village, himself a member of our church, explained
that there is no food left in the village – a fact that was only too
obvious to us as we walked around the village.
Fortunately, in God's grace of provision, we had brought 10 sacks
of maize for the feeding programme that we were able to leave with the
church to provide (inadequate) help for these families. Our feeding
programme here is helping 91 orphans, 120 other children who are under
6 years of age, and 200 old people from this village and surrounding
villages. While this is a tough welcome-home it is, on the other hand,
providing us with numerous invitations to visit other villages to
bring the message of the kingdom of God to new groups of people. Our
immediate task now is to prepare the church to do this work
themselves, with our help.
Our visit to this church in Chituwi brought us into contact with an
elderly couple (a mother and her daughter – photo above) who are
surviving on the food from our feeding programme (just 3 times a
week), while their other meals amount to simply eating boiled pumpkin
leaves that are collected from their garden.
Other views of the programme are seen below.
The matters we face now are finding a new home for Cameron (Charles
has moved out of Lilongwe to be closer to the churches), preparing the
church leaders for the step of taking over more of the work (as
Cameron, Charles and John have done so well) and wisdom to know what
to do for the best during the remainder of this period of hunger, as
well as preparing for the programme for the coming year. (Looking at
the crops it is difficult to have any grounds for being optimistic
that there will be any more food than there is this year in our
villages). We hope that other areas in Malawi are faring better. The
Government seem optimistic.
Thank you for praying with us over these issues.
We send you all our love and greetings
John and Betha
