Tuesday update, April 10th

Sorry about some of the repetition from previous posts - I'm kind of psyched for my day today.

Hello again! We are past the midpoint of our time in Malawi, and have shifted our emphasis to overall preparation for the future here. We had an interesting day on Saturday and Sunday morning – really kinda normal! We came home Saturday from working much of the day, saw a monkey crossing the road, had a complete power outage – sort of an evening ritual here. The laptop was fully charged, so we went into our dark room and watched the “Count of Monte Cristo”, then played hand & foot and went to bed. The power came on conveniently right at the end of the movie, so we had the fan for the night. We got up Easter morning, ate breakfast, and went to church in Ndirende – a delightful service full of worship and powerful preaching from Frank Mine. Watching Frank M. preach while Frank Gama translates is one of the most fascinating spectacles on the planet, with Frank copying every move of Frank (and Frank moves a lot when he preaches). But the best of all was little 2-year-old Luke Mine, Frank’s son, walking around the podium making gestures like his daddy during the preaching. He finally sat down, but not before everyone was thoroughly entertained. Frank2 went right on preaching as if he wasn’t there. (Frank2 is what everyone calls Frank & Frank when one preaches and the other translates)

So far, the monkey count is up to 6. Liz and I saw a tree full of monkeys when we went to visit Tendai at her home in Mpemba, and Wanda & I saw one crossing the road by the hotel.

We have had several good opportunities for 1-on-1 relationship building in the last few days. Miles Adam, our cab driver for the last several trips, did come to the church service, and we went to his home for the afternoon. No matter how small the house, they all have a living room with plenty of chairs and couches crowded around – evidently entertaining is a really big deal here. We met much of the family, Liz drew a picture, and we came home for the rest of the day. Today, 2 loads of bricks were located and brought to the property. Wanda, the girls and I went to the home of Asif, Randy’s good Moslem friend, and had a good visit. Wanda was able to challenge him about the depth of his sharing ability with his wife, something that would benefit both of them to work on. Asif, who is used to managing others, was very receptive to this suggestion, or at least receptive to talking further about it. This family seems ready to listen further, and I feel that Randy will have good opportunities for discussion with them next month. We have had 2 more good contacts with Rhoda, and we will continue to cultivate this relationship. Wanda and I have had a lot of experience with people who are moving into last stages of life, and Wanda is particularly strong in her teachings on the eternal perspective. Rhoda has 2 little ones that she is caring for, and we are praying that she can see the orphanage through to completion, helping to establish it – and perhaps, God willing, she can see the provision of a place for her parenting job to be carried on.

We have been reminded a couple of times by our circumstances that we are in a foreign country. We have struggled with internet access, and, when it goes down here, nothing will bring it back up – you can’t just reboot. Also, there have been 2 occasions where people have made actual threatening gestures to us in the last 2 days. If you consider that we have run into 3-4000 people here, that’s a low percentage, but it is nonetheless a bit disconcerting. There is a high rate of alcoholism here, they sell a rot-gut homemade brew for very little that is nasty but effective in releasing the inner self – and that’s often not very nice…

We have received some quotes on placing caps on the wall and on finishing installing the gates, as well as quotes on finishing the ditch around the property needed for proper drainage. The quotes are all pretty reasonable, and the work needs to be done – so we are inclined to take them. The pouring of the footers depends on an inspection tomorrow – but I don’t anticipate any problems – the footers are really very well set out. If all goes well, we will be pouring all day Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Tomorrow is a major day full of meetings with government officials on several fronts, as described in the previous blog. I have completed a 4-page letter of request to the Office of Social welfare, basically assuring them of our intent to follow their philosophy as long as it doesn’t interfere with our mandate to serve God with our facility.

We have also been considering the need for longer-term housing for mission efforts here, at least until the missionary house is built in the next phase of our construction. Grace Bandawe is reasonable for short-term trips, but our 2 rooms are costing us 270,000 Kwacha for the month – and a reasonably nice 3-bedroom house in a secured community can be rented for 70-80,000 per month. It may be worthwhile, if we can find a house near the property, to consider rental. We are looking into this casually.

Otherwise, these next 1.5 weeks will be spent visiting hospitals, other orphanages, and holding some very important meetings with the pastors and their wives. We have secured a small conference room for the meeting this Friday, and are talking it up with all the pastors and their wives. Pray for freedom from the Spirit in this critical morning session. We want to continue to encourage absolute ethics for these men. With it, we feel that the facility will explode with God’s blessing. Without it, we will face problems that will poison the efforts here.

Since the internet is the only available way to communicate, I am reproducing the letter to the Office of Social Welfare after this personal blog so that Randy, Shawn, and the Acts 3 Board can review it and know what is being bandied about…

Wanda is still struggling with her painful swollen glands and tiredness, but is somewhat better. We appreciate your prayers. Erika is completely recovered. We are well. We are also now seasoned barterers in Malawi – and have treasures from the Blantyre market to prove it!

We love you all. Thanks for your concern and care for us. We will respond personally when we are able to pull up e-mail. Wanda is frustrated by our inability to get e-mail right now….

Rick & Wanda