Update from Malawi

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

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

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

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!