July 9, 2007 - From Lilongwe

Good morning, afternoon, evening, whichever it is for you as you read this.

Well today is July 9 which means I (Mark) am sending this e-mail after dropping Michelle off at the airport for her return trip to the States. She is leaving two weeks earlier than me so that we can continue to survive the rest of the summer! She really did not want to leave and it has only been in the last week or so that she has started to get to know the other student's wives and felt more of a part of the community of Nkhoma. She also wants to go back to the Katondo feeding center and Matapila with us at the end of our trip. So remember her in your prayers as she is traveling (alone) and Lord willing should arrive in LAX in the late morning of Tuesday, July 10. Also pray for me as I am away from Michelle for two weeks! She has been a great addition and balance to the four guys, and I am afraid we will reenact "Lord of the Flies" while she is gone, or the Lost boys from Peter Pan!

This past week went quickly and a lot happened, although I won't bore you will ALL the details! The four of us guys finished our classes on Wednesday and were disappointed that our main task here has completed. However, we all gave questions for the student's final exams so we will have to proctor and grade those examinations. We are arranging things for us to do while we are still around here, so you will hear about those developments as they happen.

Michelle also ended her time teaching. Even after only three weeks she will miss "her" kids tremendously. She is a celebrity around here, even miles away from town she is greeted along side the road with "Madame Vander Pol, Madame Vander Pol!!" Thursday was her offical last day because Friday was Malawi's Independence Day. However, the teachers of the Standard 6 grade organized a little going away party for her early on Friday morning to which a good number of students got up and attended. They presented her with a gift, the cloth needed to make a skirt/wrap as well as a top. Michelle wanted to get one of those outfits, and they gave her one! We also pretty much bought out the supermarket in Lilongwe of ball-point pens so that we could give one to every student (all 170 of them!). Michelle noticed quite often that they didn't all have pens, which makes it hard to do your work when you have to share! They really seemed to appreciate them as they broke into thunderous applause when we announced them!

Wednesday, as you know, was the Fourth of July. Since most of the fireworks displays are on the evening of the third we were commenting at breakfast around 6:15am, our time, that those on the West Coast were probably watching the fireworks right then! There is a team from South Africa staying in the Guest House with us and they threw us a Fourth of July party that evening! They came in with ballons and buttons, and the best part - hot-dogs!! They got the "sausages" in Lilongwe and had the worker at the Guest House make the buns. Since she didn't know what hot-dog buns were they told her to make rolls in the shape of a banana! They were amazing!! The best hot-dog buns ever! To top it off the lady who is sort of in charge of the Guest House makes homemade mustard which was also very, very good. We were shocked by their thoughtfulness and their excitement at helping us celebrate our Independence Day!

Saturday was a busy day. Michelle and I rode bikes (ask Michelle how that works in a skirt!) with a student, Mr. Tamale, and his wife (she rode side saddle on the back of his bike) to his prayer house about 10 kilometers away. It was mostly downhill (which was fun for me because my bike's brakes didn't work at all!!!) and we got there in about 45 minutes. We were at the prayer house primarily for a marriage seminar. But they also have a prepatory service the Saturday before Holy Communion (which they have quarterly). At that service only the communicate members attend and they get a "ticket" which they need to present before getting communion on Sunday - more on that later. The marriage seminar went fine, except that for almost two hours Michelle and I were sitting up front listening to Tamale talk in Chichewa. Apparently he is pretty funny, but we didn't know why! Tamale asked me to talk about the equality of men and women in marriage, and the problem that men lord over their wives in this culture. In many ways they are treated like slaves. I was nervous about making a huge cultural faux pas, but I told them that I was just giving them what I find in God's Word about how Christians should act in marriage, not what the world does. I think I almost got an applause when I said that in Genesis 2:18 God gave Adam a HELPER, not a SERVANT! I think my speech went well, and after I was done a gentlemen stood up in the congregation and exhorted the guys that they needed to love their wives more. He said that most often the wives are the ones when coming back from the field, they have a child on their back, vegetables on their head, and a hose in their arms while the men walk in front without anything. Tamale said it was good and needed to be heard especially in this culture. Oh by the way, the men and women sit on separate side of the church!

The ride back from the prayer house was fun when after a few minutes my left pedal fell off!! We got it screwed back in, but after a few more minutes it came off again! This time, when it came out I was pushing on it hard and it mashed some of the threads together when it came out. Therefore, we couldn't get it back in using our hands. Thankfully we got somebody with a wrench after a few minutes and screwed it back in. Since the way there was mostly downhill, then obviously the way back was uphill. So much of the way home we walked our bikes up hills. Also by this time the afternoon sun was nice and hot for us. We were very tired by the time we returned home to the guest house.

Shortly after we got back Fletcher Matandika, our resident Malawian fromWestminster, came into the Guest House! After four weeks of being in Malawi we were finally able to meet up with him. It was good to see him and here what he is doing in the village of Dzua.

Sunday morning Michelle and I were able to get a ride into church! The officiating minster for communion had a driver and took the Tamales and us along. That was really, really nice. It is amazing how a ride in a car/SUV is such a treat! When we arrived at church Michelle and I were pretty much whisked away. Michelle with the women and I was with the elders. I was given the opportunity to preach, and since it was communion Sunday I preached from Hebrews 9:1-14 and talked about how the OT sacrifices pointed to Christ and his sacrifices was the final sacrifice and the torn temple curtain showed. Preaching through an interpreter was interesting, but because of some factors with the pulpit and my notes it was good that I had afew seconds after every sentence to figure out what I was going to say next! After the service the congregation was let out of the church while the elders prepared the elements for communion. The "wine" was actually diluted Coke! It looked like white wine! I guess the congregations that can afford it use wine. After everything was ready those people with tickets were allowed back into the church. This was essentially a separate service with almost all the elements except maybe reading the Law, but since it was in Chichewa I have no idea if it was in there! The elements were distributed to two of the elders and the ministers, myself included, first and then passed around to the congregation.

After church the ladies went out back and started to sing and dance around. Michelle was included in that and had a great time! I hung out in the back of church. After a little bit Mr. Tamale, the Rev., a couple of elders, and I were escorted to a local house where we were served lunch. I had goat meat along with rice. It was pretty good, prepared with a little too much salt, but still good. Michelle also had dinner with some ladies and had Nsima (staple food of Malawi) also served with goat meat. Needless to say she didn't eat the goat!

After dinner the guys I was with walked over to a lady in the village's house to give her communion since she was sick. Thankfully the ladies came along so I finally got to talk to Michelle! We were separated from about 9:30am to around 4:00pm! After visiting this lady we went back to the car and drove back to Nkhoma.

We had a very busy weekend, but it was really good to be at a village congregation, to be able to partake of the Lord's Supper as well as bring the Word of God to his people on the other side of the world.

There is soooooo much more to say, but Lord willing it will be easier for me to do that when Michelle gets back to the states and when I follow in a couple of weeks. If your church is looking for ministry opportunities, then please let me know! The Nkhoma Synod church of Malawi has a lot of needs especially in the face of a lot of Liberal pressures from South Africa and the US. They are trying to hold on to the Reformation, and are so thankful for the connection and encouragement that we provided coming from WSC.

That is all for now. Please keep Michelle in your prayers as she is traveling the next two days and for those of us remaining and the work that we are going to be doing here.

Take care, and God bless.
Mark (Michelle in absentia)