Time to Say Tionana!

It is very hard to believe that our time in Malawi has come to an end. So much has happened in the past few days that I feel like I could write a novel about it!  As I type this, however, we are on our bus ride back to Lilongwe from Blantyre. The bus rides are always interesting, to say the least, but this time we did half of it at night. That wasn't so fun for us. The are no street lights and you are hauling along at about 75 mph on a 1-1/2 lane road with people and livestock walking on both shoulders. And there are bicycles on the road as well. The bus has to honk at the bicyclists to get on to the dirt shoulder because there is no way that 2 cars and a bike can share the thin slice of pavement.  You see evidence of trucks that have lost their loads, as well as some animals on the side that didn't cross fast enough. When you hit a big bump, you are never quite sure if it was a pothole or a goat. Ahhh, all part of the African experience and one that continues to build our faith!  At least we had Don Williams and Michael Bolton playing on the stereo to keep us company. Can't you just hear Michael Bolton now? "When a man loves a woman..."  There, now you can have the song stuck in your head too. You are most welcome.  ;o)

Back to the last few days -- we were part of some INCREDIBLE things! My favorite, of course, was putting on the VBS for the street kids here. These little kids just grieve my spirit, let me tell you. I shared already that they literally sleep in the dirt at night.  I would like to share with you a little bit about their appearance. Their clothes are literally in tatters. Sometimes their pants are held together with a pin or a piece of string. No shoes. There are holes all over their clothes and everything is crusted in dirt: their feet, their hands, their faces, their heads.  They would even come in with pieces of grass stuck in their hair. Do you remember the character "Pigpen" from the Snoopy comic? He was clean compared to these kids. Unlike our kids who get baths every day, I can't imagine the last time these kids were squeaky clean.  And the smell? Well, let's just say that I haven't quite smelled anything like it before.  But what are we to do? Not talk to them? Not reach out to them because they are too dirty and smelly to be close to? Certainly not.  In fact, I believe that's exactly what the Bible means when it says we are supposed to minister to "the least of these." These poor kids can't help it if they were abandoned by their families. They can't help it if they are reduced to begging in the streets every day so that they can buy a roll or a pack of ground nuts. These kids just want to be loved and cared for like every other child in the world.

So that's what we did for a few days. We met at City Pentecostal Church where we gave the kids a hope-filled message from the Bible (Joseph and his coat of many colors, Noah's Ark, and the Fruit of the Spirit), had some amazing praise and worship sessions (the kids grabbed the drums and tamborines from the church and sang their hearts out!), we did lots of crafts, and then provided them with a nice lunch at the end -- half of which they put in their torn pockets for later.  We saw them come in the first day downtrodden but leave the last day with hope and  enormous smiles on their faces. They learned that the Creator of the universe loves them, knows their name, and has a plan for their lives. Our hope and prayer is that they get a little bit of peace in their hearts and keep coming back to CPC on Sundays to get ministered to.  You should have seen the joy they took in doing their color sheets and how grateful they we're for the string bracelets and bead necklaces. I can't wait to post pictures! Thank you to each one of you who contributed in one way or another to bring a little bit of joy to the lives of these extremely vulnerable kids!

The coup de grace, however, was definitely the Lakeside Blitz tee shirts the kids all received. Thank you so very much, Lynette and Lakeside, for allowing us to take some leftover shirts to Malawi. Oh my goodness, when they found out they were getting new shirts, they screamed, clapped and cheered like you wouldn't believe! They immediately took their old, grungy shirts off and put their new shirts on with great pride. They went from kids embarrassed to take photos to jumping in front of the camera and standing tall with their nice clean shirts.  Their whole persona changed and it was an incredible blessing to be a part of. They were so thankful and were just blown away by the days they had with us. As we were driving off in the bus today, we got a call from Kelsey who told us that four of the boys just ran up to greet her in town, wearing their bright orange Blitz shirts!  They will remember those days for a long time to come...

One of the gentlemen who was with us all three days is Godknows. Godknows is the one who runs STEKA House with his wife, Helen. He knew some of the kids because he had offered them a place to stay before. One of the boys in his home right now was best friends with another boy who is still living on the streets. We had one little girl come to VBS, whose name was Ndaziona. This little girl was so sweet but quiet, would hardly look at anyone, obviously afraid and alone. Her story was sad because she does have parents but they don't take good care of her. In fact, they make her go to the streets to beg for money and then bring the money home to them. If she wasn't already, it was just a matter of time until she kept the money for herself and just didn't go home. Godknows knew she was not safe on the streets. So, on Wednesday, he told her she could come stay at his home with 32 other brothers and sisters and she accepted. Godknows does good things in the community and is known by many. The police are usually the ones who bring kids to his door when they don't know what else to do with them. So Godknows told the police that Ndaziona was at his house and, if the parents called, to let him know. We went by STEKA on our way to the airport today and saw Ndaziona (sadly, her parents had not reported her missing yet).  She was clean, had gotten a haircut, greeted us with a big smile and a hug, and was obviously much more comfortable and at ease. She now has a safe place to stay and was eating a nice bowl of nsima and beans. Now THAT is what it is about. The needs are so many but it really starts with just one. Just one...

So thank you for your support and prayers. We had an AMAZING team that we worked with these past 10 days. We even met some new friends who showed up to help from Scotland and England (crazy how that came about!). They have teams that come every year and are now interested in helping each year, should we do a similar program in the future. WOW! How great is that? 

Please continue to pray for the street kids, for Ndaziona, for Godknows, Helen, and STEKA house. They are looking to get another house so that they can serve more kids. And please pray for CPC that is ministering to the street kids, as well as Kelsey and Maribeth who have their boots on the ground here and are striving to make a difference here each day. May God continue the good work that He is doing here. He is on the move and it is easy to see.  Oh, and a couple prayers that Cindy and I get home quickly and safely. The two days of flying starts tomorrow...

Signing off with a heart overflowing with gratefulness,

Pam