#2 A blessed welcome!

Dear friends,

What a journey! Our second update is long, because so much has happened already. Our flights were even longer, but largely uneventful. We enjoyed a few hours exploring Singapore Airport, we had breakfast and coffee at Addis Ababa, and got what rest we could on the planes - enjoying amazing views along the way. We thank you all for your prayers and blessings sending us out.

We were welcomed on Wednesday by Colin Mbawa and a delegation of CCAP pastors and friends, along with refreshments. We picked up our hire cars, had a short rest, settled into the lovely Grace Bandawe Conference Centre, and then headed down to the local mall for bottled water and SIM cards.

Our mission really kicked off Thursday morning, with an official welcome from the Synod! We were visited by the Synod Moderator Humphries, Synod General Secretary Baxter, and Assistant to the Presbytery General Secretary Felix and given their formal blessing for our work within the Blantyre Synod. We sang praises together and gifted the Moderator with a copy of Douglas Milne's latest commentary. The Moderator shared with us exciting news of his own mission trip, a whole delegetion of Abusas visiting South Africa to establish a new presbytery.

Following this we loaded into our 4 cars - the Dayspring (supported by PWMU), the Duff (supported by Hume PC), the Ma Robert (supported by Mt Evelyn PC), and the Mbawa (supported by Donvale PC) - and headed down to Orbus Mission School. This school has been built almost exclusively through PresAID appeals and many of our team have been personally involved with the founding and building of various areas of the school - so it already held a special place in our hearts.

And what a joy our visit was! We were greeted by smiling faces as excited children swarmed us. We were given a tour of the property, where chickens are kept to lay eggs; sweet potatoes, spinach, and maize are grown; the kitchen fires smoked; boys and girls are given boarding at the school; and teachers are accomodated in separate units at the back. A set of 4 units to accomodate additional teachers is nearing completion, and space is ready for a new multi-purpose hall to be built - for meals, assemblies and exams. Praise the Lord that this has been funded, and the money is on its way from Australia to Malawi.

After the tour was complete all the school gathered for an assembly. We were greeted by the teachers, and greeted them in return. John was invited to preach, and called on Tom to speak with him from John 10:11 - the Good Shepherd, who lays down his life for the sheep - the Good Shepherd, who loves them enough to go after the lost, who loves them more than anyone else! John encouraged the children to pray, to ask Christ to be their own, not just their school's or family's or even church's.

We presented the school with ukeleles and textbooks, and sang "Jesus Loves Me" and "Amazing Grace" with the whole assembly. Afterwards, we had a little bit of time left to spend with the kids, getting to know a few of them and sharing about who we were and where we came from. We could feel the Lord at work as each of us spoke and in the many blessings he has showered on this wonderful place!

After leaving Orbus our 4 vehicles drove in convoy through the hectic streets of Blantyre, which was a bit hairy, to the quieter area on the outskirts of the city to Colin and Shirley Mbawa’s property - without an address, relying completely on John's memory. They and their family had generously invited the whole team for a welcome banquet and what a banquet it was! Set up in the worship centre, we were given a special welcome and such an abundance of food. It was wonderful to spend time chatting with this special couple and their daughters and grandchildren. They have a big property with goats, chickens, fruit trees and Shirley’s latest project, growing beautiful oyster mushrooms to sell.

John and ST went to the airport to pick up Duan, who had ended up flying solo a day behind the rest of us, and brought him back to Colin’s house. We are all so pleased he finally made it and now our team is complete.

All the Bibles that have been donated from the Australian appeal, 8,268 of them by our last count, are being stored in the centre. ~1400 Bibles and a few hundred hymnbooks were loaded into our vehicles ready for distribution this coming weekend. Thanks to everyone who donated!

Late in the afternoon after a group photo, and with help from Google Maps this time, the team made their way back to Grace Bandawe Conference Centre.

Everyone agreed it had been a great day.

Duan's story:

Well, I made it. 36 hours later I joined the team and can I say that God has worked in my heart to humble me.

I went from Melbourne to Hong Kong, then to Thailand, then to Ethiopia and finished up in Malawi. It was a tiring and long journey and by the time I got to Ethiopia, I wanted to give up. I wanted a shower, I wanted sleep, I wanted no more plane food and I didn't want to go on one more flight. I was frustrated with so many things and grumpy. Really grumpy. But then something horrible happened. I had boarding issues at Bole Airport (I can share that story with you in person). And by the grace of God in amazing ways, I made it on the flight.

And when I got on that final flight, my attitude changed. I was humbled and grateful to God and his many blessings. I asked God this question many times on that flight: "God, how did you get me on this plane? I should not be on this flight by human standards." But as I was looking out the plane window, tears came from my eyes as I saw the world from a different view. And then I remembered truths that are unchanged. Our God breathed and creation came to be. Our God is the immortal, invisible, God only wise. There is no one like him. Our God is the Triune God. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And Our God is the only one who has given us the good news of the gospel.

And as I kept pondering these things on the final flight, I sang the words from the hymn, "My heart is filled with thankfulness".

My heart is filled with thankfulness
To Him who bore my pain;
Who plumbed the depths of my disgrace
And gave me life again;
Who crushed my curse of sinfulness
And clothed me in His light
And wrote His law of righteousness
With pow'r upon my heart.

We as a team can be thankful we are here safely in Malawi. But we can be so much more thankful that we can be a gospel witness to the people here and around us. How great is he who bore our pain? Who has given us eternal life. He's crushed the curse of sinfuness. And he has clothed us in his righteousness. May we unashamedly proclaim Him!