Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Today was camp day! My first here in Malawi. Ed spoke to us from Joshua 2 this morning. The section where the spies were hidden by Rahab the prostitute. He reminded us that God can use anyone from any background, no matter how “bad” they had been. I am so glad of that! Also, he talked a little about how the lost are going to act like lost people. Rahab lied. She did not know any better and it was probably a way of life for her. But still God used her. And He saved her! She ended up being in the lineage of Jesus and in what we commonly refer to as the “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11.

We left for the village of Masau to have a camp for children, knowing full well the adults would be there, too. The fun part of going was that Ovi finally let me drive! Because of the condition of the roads we needed to take two vehicles instead of the bus. Normally Stanley would drive his suv but he’d gone ahead in the truck to set up for camp. So we needed someone to drive Stanley’s car. Janine volunteered me. After some debate the men finally gave in and let me drive. I think I did fine—once I stopped turning on the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal! Hahaha! We drove all over the place (it seemed) looking for gas and when we finally found some we couldn’t figure out how to open the gas tank! Haha! Always fun! But we made it safely and began camp.

As soon as we got there they began songs with the children and then Mark taught a group inside the church while I taught a second group outside. There were about 300 kids there so we had to divide them up! What a good problem to have! I taught about salvation and Mark taught about light. After the lessons Stanley divided the children and leaders into 3 teams to play games. I was on the Zebra team. We started off strong but the frisbee game killed us. Oh well. I think we placed 2^nd. It was fun laughing at kids and balloons, cheering our teammates on. I do recommend you visit my facebook page for some great pics and one really fun video!

After games was lunch. Mark and Janine helped the children wash hands while Leah and I handed out plates. The littles got a huge plate to share between two of them and the bigger kids each got a plate. Once all the children had been served we ate too. It was delicious! Rice, cabbage, boiled eggs with some sort of tomato sauce (not ketchup) on it. I might have eaten too much…

Once the meal was over they gathered all the children who would fit into the tiny church building. It was bursting at the seams! There were kids sitting on each other’s laps, on the floors, standing along the walls, and standing outside looking in through the doors and windows. Ed shared the gospel talking about when Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born again to enter into heaven. At the end he asked whoever wants to be born again to stand. At least 2/3 of the children stood. Ed tried several times to dissuade them—to make sure that they weren’t just doing it because the white man said so or to hopefully get some more food or anything. I don’t think many, if any at all, sat down. So he gave an example prayer which Stanley translated into Chichewa and the children repeated after him. I had been outside the building praying and when I heard them all it moved me to tears and gave me goosebumps. I know some may not have truly understood what they were saying, but I believe whole-heartedly that many did. Many were older kids in their mid to late teens. We handed each child a tract in their own language with instructions to read it and give it to their parents and to come back for church. It was a good day.

I drove home again. Safely again! This afternoon a friend of Ovi & Lita’s came by with her two daughters and Janine and I got to visit with them for a bit while Lita was tending dinner. She is super sweet and fun to talk to, but she is Muslim. Will be praying Ovi and Lita get many more chances to share the true gospel with them and they come to know the Lord. We had fun watching the kids play pool and just visiting until dinner. After dinner we all had only great things to remember about the day and we had some fun conversation and many laughs. It is good to fellowship.