Global Adventure to Malawi and South Africa

On October 27 a team of six people from Word of Grace began a 16 day Global Adventure to Malawi and South Africa. Our team went with a sense that God had some very specific tasks for us to do and goals to accomplish.

After two days of living on airplanes and in airports we arrived in Lilongwe, Malawi and were greeted by Word of Grace supported missionaries Steve and Cathy Bowler of VisionLedd. Once we had settled into our accommodations, Theresa Malila (another Word of Grace missionary) and some of the leadership of Somebody Cares/Hands@Work joined us to plan out our ministry time.

As we look back on our week in Malawi we clearly sensed God at work in every aspect of ministry.

This was Jack Tesch's second time in Malawi training pastors and church leaders. This time he spent 3 full days with 85 pastors and their wives. Many of these pastors come from villages surrounding the city of Lilongwe. Village pastors are often so poor they do not own Bibles, and many of them are not able to read or write. But they have a heart for ministry and for seeing not only their church grow, but their communities transformed by the power of God. Jack Tesch spent 3 long days with these leaders sharing from God's Word about marriage, leadership, relationships and numerous other topics. Jack has much to share, not only from the Scriptures but also from his is heart, life and experience. It was a powerful and effective time of ministry.

While Jack spent time with the pastors and their wives Lisa, Rebecca, Ruth and Peggy focused on the 70+ Home-Based Care workers that work with Somebody Cares. Lisa and Rebecaa, both nurses, trained these volunteers about in basic patient care and HIV prevention. We were also able to purchase care kits for these workers and provide much needed medical supplies. Home-Based Care workers are volunteers who visit the elderly, sick, dying and child-led households in their communities. They are often the last person someone dying of AIDS has contact with, or the first person to see a child who has lost their parents, or who has been sexually assaulted. Home-Based Care workers are the backbone of HIV/AIDS ministry in the community, and the training that our two nurses were able to provide was invaluable.

Our Team with Some of the Home-Based Care Workers

As part of the time our team spent with the Home-Based Care workers, Ruth and Peggy led an effort to profile 77 of these workers for adoption by Life Groups, families or individuals who want to pray for and support the work these people do in Malawi. Hearing the stories of each worker, understanding their dreams and seeing their heart for the Lord was simply remarkable. Watch this blog, the Word of Grace bulletin and the website about ways you can be involved in this program in 2007.

Peggy Profiling One of the Home-Based Care Workers

While the rest of the team was working with pastors and Home-Based Care workers Karl was spending a significant amount of time with Steve Bowler of VisionLedd and Theresa Malila of Somebody Cares/Hands@Work. It was a fruitful time of strategic planning for the next 2 years of ministry together, meeting with local pastors and spending time with business men and women from Canada and South Africa. One of the meetings resulted in a Canadian businessman donating $180,000 towards the work of Somebody Cares! These much needed funds will enable the work to expand exponentially in the next 3 years.

One our last day of ministry in Malawi all of us visited Word of Grace's adopted community of Matanda. We are working here with the local church and with Somebody Cares/Hands@Work not only to provide fresh water (we drilled a well recently), but also to build a Community Child Care Center and School. This center will help care for the more than 300 orphans in the community as well as provide children with an education, grandmothers and mothers with job skills and a garden to help provide food. Matanda is a community with no electricity and no running water. Average income is less than $1 a day. The church in this community will be our partner in sharing God's love in word and deed.

Pastor Jonas and his wife lead the church in Matanda

As we left Malawi we had a real sense that God had been our guide, that we accomplished His purposes for this trip, and that the Holy Spirit is at work in Malawi. It is such a privilege for us as a church to be part of what God is doing in this nation.

We left Malawi in order to visit the international headquarters of Hands@Work and meet with their leadership. We also visited some of their projects that have been in operation for several years. Seeing what has happened through Community Centers and through the ministry of Hands@Work in HIV/AIDS affected communities was a tremendous encouragement. We are excited to be partnering with this South African organization in Malawi and throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Hands@Work is currently taking care of 10,000 orphans and vulnerable children in 7 nations. By the year 2010, that number will have grown to 100,000! It is clear that God has led us to the right ministry partners in Africa.

Thank you so much for praying for us and supporting us.