Jackie Griffiths: Christmas Greetings from Malawi December 2019

Dear Friends,

Greetings from a very hot Malawi! Since arriving back from furlough in June, life has been very busy. Three days after arriving back we received visitors from the UK Missions office to deliver aid and training to the pastors in one of the worst affected areas following Cyclone Idai which badly affected Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi, causing areas to be flooded and cut off for weeks with devastating effect and loss of life. As well as family care packs that were distributed, maize seeds were also given to those living close to river areas so that they could replant. A number of our churches were also destroyed or badly damaged and some of the relief money is being used to put tin roofs on the churches after they have rebuilt the structure themselves. I take this opportunity to thank everyone who contributed to the Elim Relief Fund to make these things possible.

Conference Season

The period from April/May to November is the dry season which makes it easier to travel around. This enables us to visit all ten regions for conferences which means a lot of travelling most weekends. Often we visit the most remote areas where people gather from all around that region which means that there is rarely anywhere to stay if the pastors’ house is not big enough or otherwise occupied. The tent I bought when in the UK has come in handy for me and Bertha to bed down for the weekend. During the conferences there is much singing and dancing into the small hours, if not all night. As well as evangelistic preaching in the evenings, there is a day of practical discipleship teaching on the Saturday, with a big celebration service on the Sunday before people get loaded up on the lorries to return home. In Kasungu region we stayed on an extra three days to conduct leadership training with 50 of their pastors. This year we made two visits into Mozambique. Because Malawi is surrounded by Mozambique, Elim Malawi has a total number of 32 churches just inside the Mozambican border. So our Machinga regional conference this year took place across the border which was the first time for me to enter Mozambique.

Communication is straight forward as Chichewa is widely spoken in the border areas. Security was tighter there and they provided me with my very own bodyguard for the weekend which was a little disconcerting as everywhere I went, he was not far away!

Elim Malawi works very closely with Elim Mozambique and the two General Superintendents work very well together. Later in the year we were invited to join Elim Mozambique for their national conference in the Tete province. Elim Mozambique has a total of 73 churches and some had travelled huge distances to attend. This was a great weekend followed by a day with Pastor Cafuliza, the G.S. at his home, seeing his church and visiting the city of Tete.

Visitors

It’s always a pleasure to have visitors come, especially when they are good friends. In July, Geoff and Helen Richardson spent 10 days with me. Geoff was the Dean of Students at Regents Theological College and a close colleague. I met them in Liwonde as they travelled in from Mozambique, having spent some time with Verena, a former student at RTC. We had a night there and enjoyed a river safari and bush safari spotting many animals. Geoff also conducted some leadership training with some of our pastors and led my weekly bible study on the topic of servanthood and concluded the session by washing their feet. Later in the year we welcomed Iain Hesketh, the Missions Director, on his first visit to Malawi, together with Roy Johnston, Bobbie Tinnion and Amy Dunn. In the short time they were with us we travelled to inspect each of the four schools that Elim runs.

Ladies Conference

In November we held our first Ladies Conference in Blantyre under the new leadership. Over 300 women gathered from all over Malawi and some from Mozambique, mostly from remote villages. So you can imagine there was much excitement in coming away to the City and escaping all the household chores for a weekend. There was a lovely atmosphere of unity amongst the women and they came eager to learn and worship God. It was a privilege to have Bobbie Tinnion, from Elim Global, as a special guest speaker for the weekend. Her lively illustrations to hit home a point were well received as she had both old and young running around the room passing on a baton and also getting them to stretch elastic bands until they snapped! The women themselves also taught onwhat they should do at funerals, and other relevant topics. It was also a very special occasion as Bertha, my interpreter/co-worker, was unanimously elected to be the National Chairlady. This came as a huge surprise to her but she is a Godly young women and the perfect choice to lead this work.

Children's Homes

This year we had nine of our young people pass their primary education and start Secondary School, making a total of 22 of our young people in secondary education.

We have had five new children enter the homes, two boys in Bangula and two boys and one girl in Mwanza.

Ida, one of the young ladies who finished school last year, undertook a course in tailoring and has now started her own business and is fashioning some lovely clothes.

Hygiene Project

Thanks to the ladies at Swansea Elim who raised money to buy materials we have made good progress in having sanitary packs made to enable girls to remain in school. Girls often miss many days of school due to their menstrual cycles as they do not have access or could not afford to buy sanitary products. So the provision of reusable pads will help to keep a girl in school and help her to reach her full academic potential. This is creating employment for Emily too as she is busy making these kits.

Thank you for reading this long epistle and thank you for your interest and support throughout another year. Your partnership, whether through prayer, encouragement or financial giving is much appreciated.

I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and God’s blessing throughout the new year.

With love,
Jackie x

  Donate Now