Raising a Godly Heritage in Malawi Africa

2011-12-07T09:44:00.000-08:00

When our family arrived back in Malawi after a short two month furlough we continued to do what we have done since our arrival; go soul winning into the villages and teach the Word of God! What a joy it is to have the privilege to work for the Lord here in Malawi.
One of the villages we have been soul winning over many weeks was the village of Waruma in the Thyolo District. We have seen over 200 people pray to receive Christ as their personal Savior, and in the last couple of weeks many people had requested that we start a church at their village. After much prayer, and we decided to have a Saturday Bible Study to see if the people would be willing to come. There was an existing church building that had not been used for over a year, and it was falling apart; see attached photo. We had many people come to the first Bible Study and they committed to come to a worship service the following day at 2pm. We had our first service outside the building and we have continued to have Bible studies on Saturday at 2pm, and worship services on Suday at 2pm. Last Sunday we had approximatly 50 adults with over 50 children in
attendance. They appear serious about God, and they are very attentive. Elizabeth and Johnathan have been teaching the kids, and they have commented that the kids are well behaved, and really wanting to learn. We are excited about this open door that God has given us.

We are going to go to the District Hospital in the Thyolo to give gifts and treats to the patients in the Aids and TB wards for the Christmas Holiday. We have done this in several other District Hospitals over the last 3 years and it is a joy to us and a blessing to others. We give small gifts of food, bath soap, tracts, and John/Romans.

Next week I will be traveling down south to the Malawi/Mozambique border to check out the possible purchase of land for a Bible College. I will be going into Mozambique to teach some national pastors with a Malawi national pastor who has many contacts in Mozambique. Three weeks ago I talked with a dear friend who lives in Mozambique, Francis Azuza, whom I have known for 3 years. Last year I went down to his village and taught about 70 men for three days. It was a great time, and Lord willing during this trip I will see him and make plans for our family to again go down into Mozambique this coming year.

Please pray for our family as we head into the holidays, and continue to preach/teach and disciple these dear people.

By His Grace & Mercy,

John

Getting It Done

2011-10-19T16:14:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends and Praying Partners,

It has been a long time since I have placed anything on our Blog site, and for that I ask your forgiveness! I have purposed in my heart not to be too busy with life and the work here in Malawi to not place some information every few days on on Blog site. We do want people to pray for us, and how can they without good information?

At the end of February of this year, 2011, we depart from Good Samaritan and with the approval of our Pastor stated a new work in Malawi, BIBLE BAPTIST AFRICA MINSTRIES. Our goal is to start churches, do soul winning, discipleship, Bible studies and start a Bible Institute. We believe with all our heart that this is the direction God has given to us. We are working with 3 of the churches that our family has started, along with 5 other churches that have asked us to come and help them to become Independent Baptist Churches.

In the photo is some of the members of Ozamba Independent Baptist Church that we go to regularly for Bible Studes, and at least once a month for preaching. They originally were an Abraham Church which taught the doctines of men, but they knew they were not doing right, so they came to us and asked us to please come and help them.

On August 24, 2011, we traveled back to our home church in Fairbanks Alaska for the wedding of one of our daughters. Since we spent that much on airfare we made the determination to stay two months to visit churches, and to attend the Missions Conference at our home church, Bible Baptist Church of Fairbanks, Alaska. We are now at the end of our stay; two more days of Missions Conference, then we head back to Malawi this next Monday, October the 24th. We are looking forward to getting back home in Malawi and starting a new church, and a new work.

Please pray for us that this coming year would see more nationals being discipled, and thus going out with the Gospel of Christ.

By His Grace & Mercy,

John

Update from Malawi

2010-08-01T13:06:00.001-07:00

Dear Praying Friends and Saints,

We continue to serve our Lord Jesus Christ here in Malawi by going and preaching, teaching and soul winning.
In July John traveled to the area of Kasinje to purchase a small tract of land for a new Good Samaritan Church. During the negotiations with the land owner he was able to share the Gospel of Christ with 19 people. All raised their hands for salvation, to God be the Glory!
When we got ready to leave, the head master of the government school in the village of Kampheko talked to John, and John was given permission to talk to the whole school. He shared his life, living in Alaska, then he shared the Gift of God, Jesus Christ with the school kids, the head master, and two teachers. Over 100 present believed and received Christ as their Savior. The school master invited John to return, so he is planning on traveling to this same village on Thursday, the 5th of August to give a Bible lesson from "The Seven Steps of Joy" which we have translated into Chichewa. Please pray for wisdom for John, and that many will truely understand.
Darcy, Sarah and Johnathan are traveling back to Alaska on the 4th of August for the birth of a grand daughter to Mike and Anna Albert. This is Anna's first, so Grandma wants to be there! Sarah is going to attend Golden State Baptist College in Santa Clara this next year while Elizabeth is already in Alaska getting ready to attend the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. She is enrolled in the nursing program and she is excited.
Please continue to pray for the Fullford family as we do our best to serve our Savior!!

Soul Winning in Chilanga

2009-12-02T02:28:00.000-08:00

What a great day we had soul winning in the village of Chilanga. Here is a photo of Darcy & Sarah with two of the teens from the Good Samaritan Orphanage. Both orphan girls, Betty on the left and Catherine on the right are good soul winners and translators. They also teach sunday school to children and teens, and both have wonderful spirits! This day over 110 people trusted Christ as their Savior as we had four different teams in this village on this day.
We continue to help national pastors by going to their villages on Saturday, if the villages are close enough to our home base, and do soul winning and handing out gospel tracts and John/Romans to those that get saved. Then on Sunday we go to their churches and preach/teach the Word of God. If the villages are too far away we just visit on Sunday and do the best we can.
On one Sunday we went to the area of Chikwawa, down in the central south of Malawi. We left the highlands of Blantrye and dropped about 2500 feet in elevation to the flat, and really hot area of Nsanje and Chikwawa. We have been in Arizona and Nevada when it was hot, but this was the hottest we have every been. Just sitting in the church building brought steams of water from our bodies! We were happy to travel back home, about 3 hours one way and get back into the 90 degree heat of the highlands.
Malawi is going through some tough times as there is a shortage of electricity, blackouts almost everyday, water, it generally goes off around 10am and comes back on around 2am the next day, petro, we have had no gas for our car in 3 days, and diesel, same problem as petro, either no petroleum products at the pumps, or if a station receives an allotment it is gone within a short time. The Malawi government has not planned well and has instigated some social programs that have drained their foreign exchange. They just don't have the US dollars, Euro's, or British pounds to pay for necessities that need to be brought into the country. Please pray for the situation here as it affects the people out in the villages and towns more that anybody.
In the last month we have been sending out a team of two young teen men and two teen ladies to teach and preach in the village of Chilanga; there is a large Good Samaritan Church in the village, but no pastor. We have also sent our vice president, Andrew Nyenga, to accompany them, add authority and to listen and make sure all things are done decently and in order. The boys have been doing a great job of preaching/teaching and the girls have been teaching the young kids and teens. They are excited about being part of the ministry instead of just being the ministry. We are now making plans about other teams to go and help other churches that need encouragement.
Also we had our first every "Friday Preacher Boy Night" at the Mapanga Orphanage. Seventeen boys and older teens preached and the girls were shouting, clapping and giving great encourangement. We had a great night and we are going to have this on the last Friday of every month.
Please pray for the 80 kids we have at the orphanage as many are now getting older and satan desires to sift them from the fold.
Also please pray for this ministry, our family and this country as every day brings a new bump in the road.
By His Grace & Mercy,
John

Malawi Update

2009-10-23T15:55:00.000-07:00

It has been since January of this year since I have typed on our blogsight! Partly due to theives stealing our phone cables, and the rest on just being busy.
We have been very busy this year with ministries in Good Samaritan, soul winning, teaching, preaching and starting new churches. In Oct. of 2008 we start a new church in the village of Bwaila, district of Thyolo; Good Samaritan Bible Baptist Church. We built a crude grass hut type structure and since that time have had church services in it. In September of this year the church members started to mold bricks and burn them. When this was completed we loaded them into a 3 ton lorrie truck; see photo to the left, and trucked them to our church site. We have used dumba mud for mortar and also other natural building materials. Lord willing the roof will be on before the rains begin. The most exciting news is that due to the members of BBC of Bwaila reading and understand God's Word about the "Great Commission", they have been faithful in going out soul winning. Because of this we have also started churches in the villages of Chizinja, Khautuka #1, Khovi, and also Makwasa. In all these villages land has been purchased, and church buildings are underway. Hundreds of souls have been won to the Lord, and His Word is being preached and taught by national pastors in these new churches; To God be the Glory!!
We have also been very busy in a printing ministry that has seen us translate and print:
THE A,B,C'S OF CHRISTIAN GROWTH
ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST; BY PASTOR PAUL CHAPPELL
THE WORD OF GOD ON TRIAL; PASTOR BARNETT
7 STEPS OF JOY
10 PRINCIPALS TO BREAK BAD HABITS
AUTHORITY OVER SATAN
TRAIL OF BLOOD
23 PSALM
LORD'S PRAY
STAYING IN THE CASTLE
UNDER A LOVING COMMAND
WHO AM I
TRAINING FAITHFUL WOMEN; BILL GOTHARD
10 COMMANDMENTS
THE LIFE OF CHRIST
We have given out thousands of books and pamphlets to our church members and others. Our desire is that all saints will be well grounded in the Word of God and have firm Christian foundations.
That is all for tonight! God Bless, and please keep praying for the Fullford Family!!!

Psalm 62:5 My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him.

A New Year is Here

2009-01-21T05:50:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-11-06T15:17:00.000-08:00

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

2008-10-16T12:59:00.000-07:00

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!!

2008-10-06T13:21:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-01T23:36:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-26T12:23:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-12T06:50:00.000-07:00

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.

Fullford August 2008 Update

2008-08-04T08:13:00.000-07:00

Thank you for all the prayers and support during the last 5 weeks. I am sure many are wondering what has happened to us, but the truth is that we still do not have a telephone land line for communications and computer data. Thieves continue to steal the phone cables in our area of Limbe as quick as the MTL installs them. On top of that my laptop has been sick and I have not been able to send out emails or get online.
We have been busy 7 days a week with the construction up at the new orphanage at Ntcheu, soul winning down where we live, soul winning up in the village of Kasinji, about 5 Km from the new property and serving in the Mapanga GSO Baptist Church. I have been either preaching or teaching adult Sunday School every week. Darcy has been teaching a Sunday Womans Sunday School, Sunday night Junior church, and a Monday bible class at a private girls school in the village of Njuli. The kids have been soul winning and helping out in classes and they also do the Wednesday night Junior Church at Mapanga.
We have seen literally hundreds of souls come to Christ in our first 5 weeks and you would have to be here to see how hungry the people are for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We had a Jesus Film and Preaching outreach in the village of Kasinji 10 days ago and there were over 2000 people in attendance. They stood for over two hours watching the film, and at the end I and a national Pastor preached a salvation message, the Romans Road and gave an invitation. Over 1000 people raised their hands for salvation and many national preach boys that were there took groups of people aside to make sure that the people understood the scriptures. A national Pastor has been holding bible studies every night before and since the that night and over 100 people every night of the week are in attendance.
Please continue to pray for:
Opportunities for Outreach
Continued good health
Electrical Power to the new orphanage and our home that is being built up in Ntcheu
Wisdom for all that we do

PS. We killed our first Black Mamba snake on our back porch three weeks ago.

Prov. 29:18 - You must have a vision!

Brother John

2008-07-02T04:20:00.000-07:00

Praise God we are here and have been for 1 week. I am sorry we have not kept up, but thieves stole the main telephone cable to our area and we have no phone of computer services. I am now at a WIFI cafe'.
All of our luggage arrived when we did and Dr. Gentry stated that that in itself was a miracle seeing we flew in on Air Malawi. We have been getting our feet under us and getting our rented home in order.
We have been in the church services at the Mapunga Orphanage Church and I had the privilege to teach Sunday School last Sunday.
We went Soul Winning last Saturday and Darcy and I were able to lead 51 souls to the Lord. Through the interpreters we made sure they understood the Holiness of God, their sinfulness and that salvation is only by Faith in the Dear God of Heaven!
We went up to Entcheu yesterday and view the progress on the new orphanage and viewed where our home will be built. I will travel back up next Tuesday to help with the laying out of the foundation with Pastor Bumps who supervises the foundation work at the new orphanage.
They now have the new church and the Admin./Babies/Clinic building almost ready for trusses and roofs.
Thank you for your prayers and support. With God's Saints praying where would we be?

By His Mercy & Grace

A Good Lord's Day

2008-06-15T22:13:00.000-07:00

Today was Father's Day, and what a wonderful opportunity we had to worship our Dear Father in Heaven who gave His Only Begotten Son for our sins!
We had a wonderful time in Aberdeen SD at Melgaard Park Baptist Church and Pastor Hannahs on Wednesday, 6-11-08. We had dinner with the Hannahs family prior to our church service and what a gracious family they are. We showed our presentation, and I preached on God calling "COME NOW", Ex. 3:10, Matt 19:21 and Is. 1:18. The congregation were very friendly and outgoing with much interest in our work.
Darcy is busy helping her mother and spending as much quality time with her father as possible. The kids are helping out when they can and they all are being a blessing to us.
Tomorrow we try to pack more efficiently as our departure is rapidly approaching. Also talking with Dr. Gentry in Malawi yesterday morning, he advised me to not pack anything in our check-in baggage that would be missed if stolen. Seeing we are flying Air Malawi from Johannesburg South Africa, Dr. Gentry states that stuff is stolen in Johannesburg by the Air Malawi baggage handlers. Just recently items were stolen that had been in luggage from helpers and visitors.
Thank you for praying for us and your continued support.

Ps. 63:1-4 ..thou art my God...

John, Darcy
Elizabeth, Sarah & Johnathan

Loading Our Container in Fairbanks, Alaska

2008-06-11T06:42:00.000-07:00

Pastor Duffett at the Airport in Fairbanks

2008-06-11T06:40:00.000-07:00

Out of Alaska

2008-06-11T06:27:00.000-07:00

To God be the Glory, Great things He has done!!

We had our last church meeting BBC for a time and are on our way to Malawi. Our dear Pastor and church family gave us a very humbling send off that we are not worthy of. What an incredible blessing they are to us!
We are now in Mitchell SD for two weeks as we are visiting Darcy's family. Her father, who is not saved, has cancer and was not prognosed to live this long. She has traveled to SD several times this year to witness and comfort him and Lord willing he will get saved.
We have a meeting tonight at Melgarrd Park Baptist Church with Pastor Hannahs and we are excited as they were the first church to schedule us last fall. We had to cancel our trip last year, but we are here now.
Please continue to pray for us and our container as it is on it's way to Tacoma Washington, then onto Blantyre, Malawi.

By His Grace & Mercy

We are soooo close!!

2008-06-03T15:38:00.000-07:00

Praise God! The container is ready to ship and we are just waiting on Shipping Advisors out of Chicago Ill. to give us the pickup date here in Fairbanks. We have a slot on a ship leaving Tacoma Washington on the 17th of June and Lord willing we will make it.
We need lots of prayer concerning the container yet. The shipping company out of Anchorage want to charge us per pound instead of a flat rate. They want almost $8,000.00 to get it down to Tacoma, and Mearsk wants $10,550.00 to get it from Tacoma to Blantyre, Malawi.
Also we desire prayer that God's hand will be on it all the way to Malawi without bumps in the road; if any, very small.

We are now out of our home and living out of our suitcases at Mr. & Mrs. Billups home, friends from BBC. What wonderful people to open their home to 5 of us!

Our church gave us a wonderful "Sendoff Sunday" on the 1st, giving God much praise!
We had the most incredible evening service I have ever seen. I have been in services where there was much open and brokenness, but during our testimony time the Holy Spirit moved over many people. We had just concluded our spring youth camp and many adults and older teens received the Dear Lord Jesus as their Savior during camp time! Many of them stepped up to the front of the church and gave God the Glory, and during this testimony time (6) people were saved!! This sharing time took almost 1.5 hours! I was to preach, but when the Pastor Duffett talked to me I felt I did not have liberty to preach as God was in control of the service.
Prior to church that night I knelt by my bed and prayed that God would save some during our service, and Praise to His Name He did it without me preaching!! We serve an awsome God!

We are wrapping up loose ends here in Fairbanks this week, and we fly to Sioux Falls SD on Sunday, 6-8-08. We will be staying in Mitchell SD for 13 days with a meeting in Aberdeen SD on Wednesday the 11th, and visiting two other churches in the state. On the 23rd we fly out to Africa; Please continue to pray for us!

Phil. 4:19 - What a wonderful God we serve!

God is Still in Control

2008-05-18T01:36:00.000-07:00

Our first hurdle with the container is over! The shippers have decided that we can load the container here in Fairbanks and ship it down to Tacoma Washington. If Maresk decides that the container needs an inspection it will happen down there. Lord willing God will take the container through right to Malawi.
Another prayer request is for our TEP, (temporary employment papers), application being approved. I was turned down Friday because they want more information on my background. Dr. Gentry, (who is in Malawi now), and I talked and he felt a personal resume' that would show my work and church history would be appropriate. The TEP approval allows us to minister in Malawi for two years without a renewal. Without the TEP means we have to get approvals every thirty days to remain in Malawi.
We also request pray in the area of electrical power. There is not any power at the new orphanage site and ESCOM, (Malawi Power), wants $282,000.00 to get power to the site. I have checked into generator/battery/solar power and a system just for our home would be around $25,000.00. I have prayed about purchasing this type of system before we go to Malawi and I believe God is wanting me to hold off on the purchase. Please pray that I would see God's direction.

Thank you for your Prayers!!

We Need Prayer!

2008-05-15T11:08:00.000-07:00

We found out yesterday from Shipping Advisors in Chicago that we are going to have to have our container surveyed for sea worthiness. Anchorage is the only place in Alaska that has surveyors and it could get expensive to have the inspector drive or fly up to Fairbanks. There is also the problem that they want to inspect the container empty, and we have packed it full to the 16 foot mark. The inspector could still see the remaining 24 feet, but he may very well want us to unload the container. He also may fail the container and then I would have to try to find one he will approve and purchase it. If there are not any in Fairbanks I would have to hire a container in Fairbanks then try to ship our materials.
We leave on the 8th of June, and time is of the essense!

Please come before God's throne as He is in control and nothing happens without His approval.
Heb. 4:16

We are continuing to load our container

2008-05-10T00:35:00.001-07:00

James and I continued to load the connex this evening. We are about half full and we anticipate the 240 volt appliances we ordered to arrive by the 20th.

We are heading out soon

2008-05-03T20:20:00.002-07:00

We will be departing Fairbanks for Malawi on June 9th.