Dear Prayer Partners,
Wow! What a busy couple of months we have had but we have had such a great time with teams of volunteer missionaries from many churches. 

Our first team was 3 men with much experience in missions, including previous work in Lilongwe.  They stayed with us so we shared meals and fellowship while they worked with one of our pastors in the Nathenje zone.  God has given them a heart for evangelism and their ministry resulted in many praying to receive Christ. We all enjoyed a meal together at the new house of the pastor in this zone.

The Baptist Collegiate Ministry team from Northeastern State University in Tahlequah (our home town!) was the next to arrive. It was fun to listen to conversations and know the places and people they talked about. With their leaders Bobby and Debbie they ministered in two villages a few kilometers apart called Chakakala and Chileza. Young people are courageous; they adapted quickly to eating nsima with their hands, sitting on the ground, walking long distances, helping people harvest corn and using outdoor toilets.  In each of these villages there is now a church and a pastor is sending one of his church members to provide guidance and Bible teaching. Just before returning home they enjoyed a day at Lake Malawi.

Another BCM team arrived the day NSU left, this one from University of Louisiana at Monroe.  Their leader, Todd, was making his third trip to Malawi to work with us.  This was a group of 20 and the largest group we have ever worked with was 11 so we were the ones who had to adapt!  The group stayed at the Baptist Guest House in Lilongwe and came to our home for meals.  Janet was accurately told it would be a full time job just to buy enough groceries every day for a team of this size.  This team planted a church at Chiweza II which was very far down a very rough dirt road.  We deeply appreciated this group of young people who got so dusty and bounced around every day without complaint.  When they showed the Jesus Film one evening Janet sent chicken gumbo which they said was good but maybe it tasted better because they were so far from home.  A church in town asked us to spend some time in the village of Ndodani which previously had a Baptist church though it had not met in a very long time.  The children of Ndodani captured their hearts!  An elderly lady (some said in her 9th decade) prayed to receive Christ as her Lord and Savior and she was baptized on the Sunday we had church there. 

Some team members learned first hand how to mold bricks.

We were introduced to team leader Brad by John Ewart who we have known since he was a youth at FBC Tahlequah.  This team was from Glenn View Baptist Church, Winston Salem, North Carolina and they also enjoyed staying in our home with a strict shower schedule and limited hot water.  There is a large village where we planted a church during Christmas.  There is a growing church there but the area is so large that we felt there was need for additional evangelism from a team.  It was a great encouragement to the pastor and an example to the Believers how to share their faith.  About 50% of the team members were experienced in missions and about 50% were new to the experience but they were 100% fun.

We put Brad’s team on the plane and went home for a while to re-group because our own little country church, Carter Baptist, from Park Hill, Oklahoma would be arriving a few hours later.  They arrived and it was fun giving hugs when Janet got the most amazing surprise.  Pastor Greg had disappeared for a minute and when he returned he was with Lucille, her mom!  Church, family, even Mat knew she was coming but everyone had kept the secret and Janet was genuinely stunned.  Janet expected to give this team extra special attention but no shock to them she spent all her extra time with Mom. 

Three years ago Carter Baptist sent a team of 11.  Last year Greg and Shiloh came on a vision trip to prayerfully determine how our small church could minister to the people of the church they planted at Chisindo and to the people of Malawi.  Our church spent most of their time at the preaching points started by the church at Chisiindo.  A second team made up of 3 nurses also came and stayed near Lake Malawi working at Senga Bay Baptist Clinic. 

Our most recent team was made up of folks from 3 churches and their ages ranged from 16 to 80.  What a beautiful example of unity in Christ!  Kevin had communicated with us and made arrangements with members from other churches. This team of 10 also endured long days of traveling very far on a dusty, dusty road; window seats are nice but it also means being covered with dust at the end of the day.  This team planted a church in the village of Nkoko.  On the Sunday we had our first service over 200 people attended!   Their first service included baptism of 26.  We will visit this and the other new churches several times in the next few months.  Please pray especially for God to call out someone who will make the long journey by bicycle to provide guidance and teaching to the people of Nkoko, especially during their first year.

So, for the next few weeks we will catch up on some other things. Mat will be working on papers for the seminary class he took in May.  Our Church Planting/Evangelism Team will work on preparing some short dramas which will be filmed by volunteer missionaries in August.   Johanna and Kym (our journey girls) and Kelly (a 2 month volunteer) have a break from teaching and will work with Janet to help CPET with their preparations.  Yes, it has been a busy few months but what a blessing to meet those who God has also called to serve in Malawi.  Thanks to all those who have been ready with a ‘Yes, here am I Lord, send me’ when God called.