Church in Lilongwe

The GCI congregation in Malawi meets on Saturday mornings, similar to Blantyre’s congregation. Originally, Pastor Nkosi had wanted Kayla and I to give our presentations in the morning before services, but due to fuel issues and transport for some of the youth leaders, we waited until after services. The congregation is about 35 members and they meet in a classroom at a Vocational Training Center for the handicapped. They have been using the facility for many years and I was glad to know that even though Malawi is still a developing country, they have at least recognized the importance of helping those less fortunate. The slogan for the Center is “Disability doesn’t mean Inability”.

I don’t know if I’ve talked much about the church services for this trip, but I was again awed by the worship of these members. They do not hesitate to begin singing a song or chorus and it is easy to see that they love to praise God and worship him with their songs. It was such a blessing to be a part of their worship – even though I didn’t understand the words, I knew that they were praising the same God I do and so my heart worshipped with them. Kayla and I do have a Chichewa song book that they’ve given to us, so we are able to sing the songs in Chichewa even when we don’t know exactly what we’re singing.

After services, Kayla and I both gave about 40 minutes presentations to the four youth leaders, Pastor Nkosi, Bongani and the deacon (he was introduced during the church service, but I didn’t write his name down, sorry!). We had both prepared Power point slides and just used my computer to show it since it was such a small group. Kayla talked about early childhood development and teaching strategies for Children’s ministry because the youth leaders also teach Sunday school for the younger children. Kayla did such a great job that they wanted her to record her presentation! J I shared a little bit about adolescent development and talked about what to expect from the campers when they arrive at camp and how we can best support them during our time with them.

We were a little worried that what we shared wasn’t going to connect with them, but Kayla and I were both encouraged by the youth leaders’ responses to our presentations. They said it was ‘eye-opening’ and they could really see some things that they needed to change or could do differently in their lessons with the children. Anthony also told us later that he enjoyed our presentations because we spoke with passion about our topics; such a wonderful compliment! I know it did my heart good to know that my passion was seen and understood in what I was able to share with them.

Edith, Monica and Anthony wanted to take Kayla and I out for lunch after church so we went to the shopping center to buy food & drinks before finding a place to eat. We had pizza for lunch! J They had planned to take us to the dam, which has a lot of green grass and beautiful landscape, but it just wasn’t meant to be. As we were driving on the dirt road (all you ‘off-roading’ fans would have LOVED these roads, especially during the rainy season! J), they couldn’t remember how far away the dam was, so we stopped to ask someone how far it was. The first person told us about 15 minutes. Once 15 minutes passed and there was no dam in site, we asked another person and they told us an hour from where we were right then. We went a little further and asked one more person and they said two hours! We decided then to turn around; by that time it was already almost 4:00 and none of us had eaten since early that morning.

A little tidbit here for all you STEELER FANS – I have discovered that you really can find a Steeler fan anywhere in the world! On our way back to Lilongwe, I saw a boy wearing a Pittsburgh Steelers t-shirt and I’ve also seen someone wearing a Steelers’ Jersey (I think that was on our way back from Mombezi). I mean, it really isn’t a surprise to me that the 6 time World Champion Steelers would be known all the way over here in Malawi. J

We ended up going to a botanical garden to eat our lunch (which was more like dinner by the time we ate) and it was a really enjoyable evening. We talked a little bit about camp and some things that still needed to be done (see my prayer request in the next post for more info). It was nice to get to know them a little better and answer some of their questions about America. It is very interesting to hear what ‘news’ stories get circulated to other countries; though it works both ways because what we’ve heard about Malawi isn’t necessarily all accurate either.