Partnerships in Malawi
Frank Dimmock, one of our Missionaries in Africa visits Second on April 15, 2012 inspiring us all with his work!
Malawi Mission Travelers
Tuesday and Wednesday - The group began the day on Tuesday with a breakfast meeting at Grace Bandawe Confenence Center (owned by the Synod) with Vincent Martin. Vincent helped to host an earlier visit of Second Pres folk and also visited us in Richmond during his training in Philadelpia with Urban Promise. Vincent now runs an after-school program in Blantyre. We were touched by his enthusiasm and faithfulness. Following breakfast, the group ran errands and visited the Blantyre market before catching the bus to Lilongwe. Alex left the group at the bus. The group moves north and will go Wednesday to Dzuwa for a final visit with Joy to the World partners. Ginger also arrived on the bus in Blantyre on Tuesday at 9 pm and was tearful when greeting her famiily after her 32 hour journey. The group will return home on Friday afer the visit to Dzuwa. Glen and Irene will visit Blantyre again and Glen will also go back to Dzuwa before departing Malawi on August 16. Alex and Ginger will enjoy family time with Sandy, Kate, and Ginny, and will return home with Ginny on August 16. Irene comes home with her adopted son, John, on August 17. Prayers and care continue to flow to and from Malawi.
Saturday & Sunday - The group connected with families from St. James Presbyterian Church, our partner church and are staying in members homes tonight. They will all gather for worship at 8:00 am with Alex preaching. It will be a longer service than we are used to here at Second Presbyterian, but Alex promises he is only preaching a regular length sermon. Sunday afternoon the group will go to Zomba to visit with other mission partners and reconnect with friends and colleagues. They are having an amazing trip!
Friday: Words from Marcus Maphis:
We are having an awesome time. Seeing things I never thought I would see, and meeting some of the nicest, most humbling people I have ever run across. Today we had an awesome day in Mulunje at Mulunje Mission. What an amazing job those people are doing. I was very impressed with the variety of things they are doing around there. Oh yeah..I got my bag yesterday! Was able to change for the first time all week. We are at Sandy's place now for dinner, then back to the hotel for a well needed nights sleep.
Have you heard from Gail or any of the people from Montreat? I am eager to hear how much fun they had. This is the first year in as long as I can remember I have not made it down there. Well I am praying that you and YOUR BAGS make it here safely and on time. Adios. Marcus
Thursday: The bags arrived! The group spent the morning at the Crisis Nursery and then went to the airport to see if their bags had come. Don Falls had to wait until the very last bag was brought out before he had both of his! They took the bus to Blantyre, which is a long 5 hour ride, but arrived to the warm welcome of Sandy and Kate and Ginny Evans. They settled into their hotel and will sleep well tonight. Tomorrow they have a meeting at the Blantyre Synod Offices at 8:00 am and then will travel to Mulunje, where there is a Presbyterian Hospital and School. This community is where Alex and Sandy have many ties and where Sue Makin served as a missionary doctor for the past 12 years. Tomorrow night they will all enjoy dinner at Sandy and Kate's home in Blantyre.
Wednesday: The group spent today with the Ministry of Hope. It is a wonderful ministry of orphan care but extends to many great ministries - agriculture,vocational training, Bible studies, and fellowship for widows. They are based in six different villages and our group visited two of the sights far out into the bush, in Khwamba and Mpolena. The people they met remembered Second Presbyterian Church and the work in previous years. It was great for all of them. Irene Lubker joined them today and they were all glad to be together. Tomorrow they will visit the Crisis Nursery.
Hopefully their bags will arrive tomorrow morning and they will all be on the 4:30 pm bus to Blantyre. That is where Sandy, Kate, and Ginny Evans will greet them at about 9:00 pm. That will be a fun reunion.
You can check out the webpage of Ministry of Hope at www.ministryofhope.org
Have you heard from Gail or any of the people from Montreat? I am eager to hear how much fun they had. This is the first year in as long as I can remember I have not made it down there. Well I am praying that you and YOUR BAGS make it here safely and on time. Adios. Marcus
We have also visited mission projects of Ministry of Hope and Joy to the World; both of these were established by a young minister, Fletcher Mantandika, who has visited us at Second. Ministry of Hope grew out of an AIDS orphans’ home started by Nancy Dimmock, a missionary supported by Second; Ministry of Hope has expanded its ministry to include AIDS orphan feeding centers, two of which were built with funds provided by Second. Joy to the World started with assisting Dzuwa Village in digging wells, providing a grist mill, constructing homes for teachers , and is now establishing a medical clinic. Members of our congregation have been involved in all of these outreach projects.
A delegation from our church travelled to Malawi to discern how we can best nurture the partnership with St. James and our connections to Ministry of Hope and Joy to the World, as well as to explore other mission opportunities. The needs of Malawi are great, but there are also ways in which the inspiring Malawi Christian community can minister to us also.
Our delegation was led by Alex Evans and included Marcus Maphis, youth member of the team; Irene Lubker, member of Second and native of Malawi; and Don Falls, Tom Jefferson, and Glenn Thomason, all of whom have been on previous mission trips to Malawi.
It is the hope of Mission Council that each member of the Congregation will feel a part of this mission endeavor. Our delegation wants to keep us informed about all facets of this trip. Upon their return there will be ample opportunities to hear about this venture. They ask that you pray for them every day they are gone and that you will want to hear updates on their mission through blogs and emails.
Mission Council also requests your monetary support for two purposes: 1) to fund especially worthy projects as identified by our representatives, and 2) to provide scholarship assistance, where needed for members of our mission team. This is not an inexpensive trip. Mission group members have contributed over $3000 each thus far for airline tickets and food, lodging, and transportation in Malawi.
We request that you consider making a contribution to Second Presbyterian Church, designated for the Malawi Mission trip.
With such a rich history of connections and promising possibilities for future ministry together, our church feels increasingly called to partnerships with our brothers and sisters in Malawi. The members of our Mission Team will go to discern, to represent Second Church, and to bring back fresh insights about our future ties to Malawi. We want to pray for them, support them, and join hands with them as God calls us to know Christ and to make Christ known around the world.