One Year On

 

This month marks our 1 year anniversary of arriving in Malawi – it has gone so quickly!

We thought we’d do this update a little differently; rather than focusing on what we’re doing, reflect instead on what God has been doing in us and teaching us over this year. One of the lesson’s we’ve both learnt is that God is way more interested in us as His children and His relationship with us, as opposed than what we can ‘do’ for Him here in Malawi.

LAURA – There are so many different things I could choose from to focus on but a longstanding (& current!) lesson I’m learning is truly trusting Father God as my Provider.

I remember at Bible College hearing varying guest speakers share about testimonies of ‘living by faith’, of having no fixed income and stories of food parcels being left at the door, cheques through the post and cars driving on empty tanks. In my youthful naivety I thought that sounds exciting, I’d be up for a bit of that!! We then graduated from Bible College, got married and entered the world of work. In our 13 years of marriage in the UK our income only went one way, upwards. In hindsight we were very comfortable financially, we never had any debts, we always had the security of knowing each month a fairly healthy sum would be transferred from our employers & we enjoyed being in a position able to bless others & subsequently had never been on the receiving end of financial support. In my head I assumed I trusted God as my Provider and that I would sail easily into the transition of no fixed income…..

How wrong I was! That financial security we’d known for years vanished as we both walked away from our careers into working in the overseas mission field but for no money. Fear masquerading as worry quickly kicked in, how are we going to put diesel in the car, pay our rent, pay for medical treatment and the list went on!

God, being the gracious and gentle Father He is, began to highlight that I actually didn’t trust Him as my financial Provider and ministered to me a lot and drew me to some of the roots of the fear. I can now say that the fear, anxiety and worry has gone, but I’m still not there yet. I’m still asking myself ‘how?’…..How is God going to meet the big annual costs, e.g. car insurance (£900) & emergency evacuation health insurance (£930) or thinking ahead to our upcoming trip to the England, how are we going to afford petrol to put into the car? I’m finding God is not answering my ‘how?’ question, instead He’s teaching me to trust Him and that doesn’t necessarily mean He’s going to give me a detailed breakdown of exactly how He is going to meet these needs. I’m definitely not there yet, but even though it’s challenging and at times earlier on, it felt easier to get back on a plane to UK, to take back control and go back to our careers so I could ‘fix’ the problem, I wouldn’t swap this uncomfortable place of learning as I know it is ultimately drawing me closer to Him and the end result will be that I gain the steadfast revelation that Father God is truly my Provider.

Laura preaching at church on renewing your mind

MARK – During this last year I have learnt so much, but I think the one thing I have learnt, and still learning is that what I do, is not as important, as who I am.

In our western culture, and one that I did not question when living there, and partly our enjoying all I did, I (we) were out most nights of the week, had little time to stop and eat between work and going out. We were so busy, doing this or doing that that we forgot to rest.

Our diaries were crammed; we booked to see people 3 months in advance, and thought nothing of it. If there was something to be done, we would be happy to volunteer to help.

Since moving to Malawi, our Father was very clear: enjoy life, and not get involved in "ministry" for the first few months. We went from one end of the spectrum, where we were so busy, to the other, where we were able to stop, and rest & reflect.

Part of this has come by the fact the life here is much slower, it takes longer to do simple tasks, but also there is not the need to be out every night, not to be at every meeting.

I have enjoyed a slower pace, not having crammed diaries and allowing more time in my life for God to speak and do what He wants to do in me.

We’re so excited now to have more time during our week to get out to the isolated villages to meet with, equip and train rural church pastors. These rural pastors are isolated and receive very little and usually no support or training from their wider church networks. By us going out to them we are able to deliver them Kingdom based leadership training, build discipleship relationships, and we hope to equip them to see the Kingdom come in their churches & communities.

Father has blessed us with the perfect vehicles to reach these remote locations. We’re doing an additional 500 miles a month to serve these pastors and our current monthly budget is not able to meet this additional cost of diesel.

Would you considering partnering with us to enable us to reach these rural communities by investing £5 or £10 a month? We needed £50 a month to meet the cost, over the last week thanks to generous new partners, we now only need an additional £25 a month! If you would like to invest and partner with us to play a part in seeing God’s Kingdom come to Malawi please find our Giving Page here: https://www.give.net/20189271

 

We feel like a broken record, but continued prayers for the approval of our visa are greatly appreciated. We now know that the local office here in Blantyre has proposed the visa for approval but the paperwork is now in the capital city awaiting a final decision & it appears to have been there for 2 months now. We’d really like the visa to be granted before we leave for the UK at the end of May so as to not encounter difficulties trying to re-enter Malawi.