Making into the Malawi Daily Times Newspaper

Greetiings All. 

Malawi Daily Times: When our therapist team was as the Chikondi Disabilities Centre, a Malawian reporter arrived to see what the American training team was accomplishing through Maribeth’s ministry. To our surprise, last Sunday, the article showed up in the paper with a full story of the ministry, Malawi Wa Yesu. More shocking the reporter used a picture of me praying with one of the disabled children.  I've attached the article with my e-mail (working on how to get it on the blog).

Computer Issues: After an attempt to move the training videos into a media playing file, my computer failed. I have received a message to back up my hard drive and to reinstall the software as a crash is imminent. The screen is black and I am unable to do anything at this point. I did have most of my files backed up on an external drive for Maribeth, so she will be able to create copies on her computer. Because I don’t have the software disks with me, I may be without a computer for the rest of the trip. The main mission of creating the training videos has been accomplished. So, perhaps I am now supposed to go to Ethiopia with a different focus. I can still shoot, just not edit unless I can find a fix somehow. You may only be seeing pictures until I return to the US to complete some additional videos.

Travel and Communication: This may be the last of a blog until I get to an internet café in Ethiopia. I will try to communicate as soon as possible upon my arrival (4/19 and 10 hours ahead of you), but do know that I’m in good hands with our ever faithful God. I don’t believe I will have the same access to the internet in Ethiopia, as I will be out of the city and in villages that will not even have running water let alone electricity for part of my trip. My friend, Seifu, has arranged for his brother and a Christian woman who speaks Amharic and English to travel with me when I’m visiting villages, so all will be well. I hope to keep you updated on my travel situations on a weekly basis. Tomorrow, Saturday, I look forward to my two days at the African Bible College in Lilongwe and seeing what is in store with the new friends I will meet for a couple of days. The bus to the area will be four hours on Saturday morning and I’m getting to know the route well, it’s a beautiful drive.

A Malawian: Besides the begging children, some adults ask for money and say they need things such as clothes. However, there is one man, Timothy, who works at a lodge with whom I talked with recently. He assists the Pastor at his church, but is in need of a theological education. We prayed for his future and God’s calling. This past Sunday, Maribeth was passing out applications to churches for those who wanted to attend Bible College and Timothy came to my mind. Yesterday, I went to the lodge and talked with him about his ability to get two weeks off for the first of three sessions and that I would sponsor half of the fee ($28 US). He was very excited to be assisted with the opportunity and felt that God had heard his prayers. Maribeth will follow through and if he is allowed the time off, fills out the application, has a pastor’s referral form, and comes up with the other half of the fee, the desire of his heart will become a reality. When he is signed up, I have put aside the remainder of the fee to help with his time off from work. It is so little to invest. Psalm 27:4 “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

I've enjoyed my time in Malawi very much - spending time with the therapists, Maribeth and the people of her ministry.  I've spent the last ten days living with Maribeth, her pastor and his wife, and I'm going to miss them.  Maribeth is doing an incredible job reaching out to assist Malawians in becoming self-sufficient. I'm impressed by her love of God and dedication to the five areas of her ministry. People sometimes wonder what Americans are doing by going abroad to serve and all I can say that seeing firsthand what can be accomplished is truly inspiring.

Until Ethiopia, God’s Blessings, Ann