Sunday, October 8

Mangochi, Malawi

Today we broke another record in Malawi UCG history. Yesterday the attendance was 137. Today it grew to 141. The meeting hall is filled to capacity and the four air conditioners are working at full capacity, but it’s still hard to give a sermon with a suit coat on. I gave the morning sermon entitled “What God Has Begun, He Will Finish.” I feel that the people need encouragement to know that God knows what He’s doing in working in a poor country like Malawi. He has a special plan for everyone He calls. After services as a minister I spent time talking to people about personal matters and LifeNets projects and grants. Overall the people have done wonderfully in the livelihood development area as well as the scholarships that we introduced here only two years ago. Afterwards we took the three principle people in the Maize Mill Project out to lunch to talk about how things were going. We are pleased as to how the maize mill project is working. It is working with a commodity, so there will always be an income generated. Eliphazi Salawilla, Fred Chimbuso and Mr. Chikaza have formed a three-part association. Our aim is to make this maize mill a model of good business practice and customer service. We found that the the daily bus transportation for Fred Chimbuso and Mr. Chakaza were exhorbitant, but a problem that could be resolved if they could get to work by bicycle. We will get them bicycles and cost them $100 each. In the evening we had the variety/fun show which was really great. Kids recited poems, various people sang and jokes were told. It was so enjoyable to see people having a good time in this land of poverty and hopelessness. It gave me a great deal of satisfaction to see the values of the Church translate into such a wonderful display. Afterwards, we had the game feed, although when the game was being hunted earlier in the day, elephants unexpectedly showed up and drove them away from the hunters. So, goats were butchered instead and we had some guinea fowl. Bev and I walked home along the beach in utter darkness.