A New Year is Here

God has been so good to us in that with all the difficulties of living in a country abroad, serving in an existing ministry, starting our own church, and trying to show people that God sent His Son down to die on a Cross for their sins, He continues to give us Grace, Peace and Blessings.
I apologize for not updating this blog site since November, but the thieves again hit our area and we have not had phone lines since the 11th of November. We still do not have phones, but I have found an internet cafe' that will allow me to plug in my laptop; Praise God!
Since our last update we have continued to go out soul winning, giving bible studies in the villages and working in the Mapanga Orphanage and Bible College. In the month of November 157 souls trust Jesus as their Savior, and 255 in December. We go to the Ntcheu area and hold bible studies in the villages of Ntambalika, Kaiya, Kambwea and Kapulupu. We have translated and typed the booklet, "Seven Steps to Joy" in Chichawe and are currenting giving them to the national pastors and also using them in our church, Bible Baptist Church of Bwaila. We have translated and are half way done with the large book "The A,B,C's of Christian Growth". Lord willing we will have this done and ready for issue in the next couple of months. We have also translated "God's Word on Trial", "What if the Bible is True?"(a tract specifically for Muslims, we have many Mosques in our area) and are looking at other printed materials to get into the hands of these dear people. We are not satisfied with getting them saved, but we want to see them grow in the Lord!
The rainy season is upon us and many are sick with malaria, flu, colds and just plain crud. We have been spared so far, but Lord willing we will not have to go to any of the local clinics or hospitals. Going to a national health care unit is not an option here. You will come out worst!
Please continue to pray for us, our ministry and health in the days to come.
If you feel so directed by The Holy Ghost, and want to help in the translating and printing of the materials for the nationals, please call our sending church, Bible Baptist Church of Fairbanks Alaska, (907) 452-1407 and speak to Kathy Adams.
May God richly Bless you!!

You are not Bored with God!

How can time go so quickly!
We have had much to do in the last three weeks. We finally received our container with all our personal items 12 days ago. This container shipped on the 1st of June, arrived in Biera Mozambique on the 30th of August and we received in on the 24th of October. It is good to have our "stuff".
We went to a new village in the Ntcheu district last week, Kiaya, and at the invite of the Mafumu, Chief, we preached to about 80 people. 56 people believe and received Jesus as their Savior! It was interesting as there was a large Pentecostal church in this village. There are many churches in Malawi, but the problem is that the Saving Gospel of Christ is not preached! For many churches they will have much singing, the call them choirs, and they will tell the people how to live well and have a good life, but they do not tell them that they are lost and on the road to a sinners HELL!
Many times the church leaders do not even follow the scriptures when instructing their people on living life. The Abraham Church tell their people they can make home brewed beer, drink it and give it to their neighbors. They also say they can have multiple wives and do what ever makes them happy. This church is well liked in the Satemwe area as you can well imagine; no restrictions on life, live it up, but they do not know they are going down the road to destruction.
We continue to have bible studies in the villages we go to where people are saved. We do not believe in giving the plan of salvation, having people saved and then leave without disciplining these dear people.
Today we started the construction of our temporary structure at GS Bible Baptist Church in Bwaila Village. The building will be made out of palm trunks, bamboo, grass, plastic sheeting for protection from the rain, and any other available natural materials. This building will be only until after the rainy season, next April. Lord willing He will provide funds to build a permanent structure at that time. The people of Bwaila are very poor. They earn next to nothing, but each Sunday our offerings are averaging around K250, $1.66 US, for about 25 adults. This is two days wages in this area. It might not seem much to you, but it a lot to these dear people.
I know we like to see local, independent Baptist Churches stand on their own feet, but considering it will cost about $3,500.00 to build a church in this area, the cost is staggering! Construction materials are very expensive here, metal roofing sheets, cement, quarry stone and dust, wire nails, windows. The labor is cheap, making bricks, digging foundations, etc. We will see what God does. If He touches your heart about this and would like to help, please send any donations to BBC Fairbanks, Alaska, Bwaila village Church, Malawi.
Much to our sorrow, Ginger our baboon has died. She was just a great addition to our family and very fun. She loved the girls, especially Sarah, and she will be missed.
To those that continue to pray for us, thank you!, thank you! thank you!!

By His Grace & Mercy,

John

A Great Day

Jeremiah 32:27 Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any thing to hard for Me?

Today was a day that God showed Himself strong for His behalf!
This morning I went into Limbe to the tire market to get a wheel rim for a church bell. After negotiations and payment I got into my truck to leave and the Holy Spirit moved my heart to shut down the engine, get out and do some street preaching. I did just that, not thinking that much would happen because the men I faced were young and tough, street tough! I started to preach to 6/8 men, and soon it went up to around 40. Twenty Seven of these street men believe and received Jesus as their Savior! As I try to do, I wanted to give these men a copy of John & Romans in Chechawa. When I tried to do this I ended up passing out over 100 of these booklets in less than 5 minutes.

Later in the morning I went to Chiswa village area with a national pastor to do some soul winning. We stopped at a bore hole where some people were getting their daily water. I started giving the plan of salvation to around 5 people and ended up with about 50 or so. Twenty nine people accepted Christ as their Savior, this is a conservative number, and we handed out all the John & Romans we had, about 40. We told the people that did not get a copy to come to Good Samaritan Victory Baptist Church on Sunday and Pastor Fanual would portions of God's Word for them.

In the Afternoon Darcy, Brother Andrew and I went to Bwaila Village for another bible study. Darcy taught the women and Andrew the men. We had about 60 men and women present and it went well. We are going to have a church lunch together after this Sunday's service, Nsima, chicken and vegetables. These dear people have never done anything like this before and it should be a treat!

We also have accepted the offer for a small plot of land in the village; SEE ATTACHED PHOTO. Land is very expensive here as most of the land is owned by the tea plantation. It has a beautiful view and I marvel at God's provision. Brother Andrew is standing with the dark sweater and a member of the church, Benson is in the yellow sweater. I am standing at the crest of the hill with the camera, this will be where the pulpit will stand! We will erect a bamboo temporary hut this year until after the rainy season and Lord willing we will build a permanent structure next fall, May/June 2009.

We covet your prayers for this new church as the people in Bwaila are very poor, with most of the men earning K125 per 8 hour day picking tea leaves; ( 80 cents US) We need God to open the Windows of Heaven!

God is so very good and it is true; THERE IS NOTHING TO HARD HIM!!

The kids have a new pet and her name is Ginger. She is a very young baboon who loves to stay very close to all three of our kids. She does not appreciate Darcy or myself too much as we do not spend the time with her as we should. Lord willing she will be a close friend and companion of Elizabeth, Sarah & Johnathan!

First Church Service

September was an incredible showering of God's Grace upon our family as we tried to the best of our ability to follow the Dear Lord's direction in reaching the lost for Christ!
We continue to serve at the Good Samaritan Baptist Church in Mapanga, but we also traveled to remote churches on Sunday mornings to greet/meet other pastors and their flocks.
We enjoy greatly the opportunity to go out to villages to soul win and conduct bible studies. The people are very hungry for God's Word. Even though I do not like to keep numbers, God's knows everyones heart, during this last month we saw at least 516 souls believe and receive the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. This is a conservative count as many times when you are taking an individual or a small group of people down the Romans Road there are others listening and you can hear them pray as you deal with the people in front of you.
We handed out approximately 600 John & Romans in Chechawa to those that receive Christ, and others that wanted portions of God's Word. Chechawa tracts were also distributed during our journeys.
We also had the priviledge of starting our first church, Good Samaritan Bible Baptist Church of Bwaile Village in the Satemwa Area. Darcy and I first went to this area 3 weeks ago to look at milking goats. We talked with the chief, MAFUMU, and during our talks he, his wife and 6 others got saved. We promised to bring them John & Romans and some bibles two days later. When we arrived at the appointed time over 120 greeted us as the MAFUMU had called his village together to hear God's Word. All told 96 people got saved during this week and the chief asked us to please start a church so that he and his people could learn about Jesus. We have had several bible studies during the weeks about the assurance of salvation, baptisim, and the church. This last Sunday we had our first church service with approximately 300 in attendance and 23 getting baptized, SEE THE PHOTOS.
Please pray for this new church as there are some in this area that are not happy about a baptist church being started; Bishop of the local Abraham Church, Pentecostal Church and Catholic Church.
Thank you for your prayers, your thoughts and possibly for your financial support.

BY HIS GRACE & MERCY,

John/Darcy/Elizabeth
Sarah & Johnathan

August 26th Update

We have passed out 2 month anniversary in Malawi and it is hard to believe. It seems that we just arrived! We are settling in and adapting to the change of culture, and lifestyle here in Africa. The other day I saw a photo of someone driving in America and I thought, How odd, they are driving on the wrong side of the road.
We continue to serve in the Good Samaritan Baptist Church at Mapanga while our home up in Ntcheu is being built. The floor has now been pored and as of last Thursday the exterior and interior walls are being bricked. Lord willing all walls will be up by the end of next week and we can build the trusses and install the roof. After that the plumbing and electrical goes in, the interior walls are plastered then painted. We have a ways to go, but Lord willing we will make it by rainy season. One of the ongoing issues is that of electrical power. Escom, the State owned power company, does not have power to the area, and we will have to install a generator, or solar panels, converter & batteries or possibly both. It is a heavy expense and I am crying out to God for the right direction.
We also continue to soul win with many people repenting and believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Sunday night our two yard men and their wives accepted Christ. One man was Roman Catholic, his wife a Seventh Day Adventist, and the other man and wife were CCAP, (Presbyterian). They have since asked to be taught the bible on Sunday and Wednesday nights, and we are going to take them to GSBC at Mapanga and also bible teach them; To God be the Glory!!
Thank you for continuing to pray and may God bless you with many mercies.

Mid August Update

What a whirlwind week we had last week! We have (6) visitors from the USA & Canada staying at our home and Dr. Gentry's home. They are doing maintenance and new construction at the existing orphanage in Mapanga and they are up at the new orphanage up in Ntcheu. They will be building and installing roof trusses and rafters and also putting on iron sheeting, (metal roofs). Darcy and I went to Kasinji and taught in a two day pastor's school that also included their wives. I taught the pastor and their wives together in the morning and in the afternoon I had the pastors and Darcy taught the pastor's wives. We had a great time and all of us were blessed as we studied God's Word. Darcy gave the pastor's wives bibles, those who did not have one, and she had a good fellowship with them. We provided the food for the school and Thursday the wives prepared a special lunch for Darcy and myself of Sima, (corn porridge) and goats lungs, liver, kidneys and intestines. We smiled and ate what they prepared and to tell you the truth it was not all bad. All the people were gracious and kind. We slept in our truck next to the church and what a blessing it was to be awoke at 3:30am by the sound of men praying. In Malawi many people get up at the cocks crow, or first light. We also are learning to be up before 5am.
We still do not have phone service and we are having to find places to try and send emails. The station I am at right now is operating at 44 Kbps and it is slow going.
Thank you for your prayers and thoughts!!
Johnathan and I are going back up to Ntcheu tomorrow at first light and spend the night working with the visitors. We will go soul winning in Kasinji tomorrow afternoon and then head home with the visitors on Thursday afternoon.
Darcy and I will be starting a Sunday School and Junior Church teachers class in about 10 days as we desire to train the Nationals to minister to the young kids. This class will be on Saturdays after soul winning down in Mapanga and we are excited! Please pray for both the Nationals and us.