Jesus Loves Malawi Newsletter September, 2011

Dear Friends, Monday, Sept. 12, 2011: You should see us right now. We are sweaty, dusty and definitely in need of a bath, but its only 11:00 am. We are in the car driving home after having spent the last three days visiting two remote churches (dont worry, we are not texting and driving - Dean is driving, Steffi is typing ;). We have already been driving for nearly three hours, mostly on very dusty and bumpy dirt roads, and we still have a long way to go, but we finally hit a part of the road thats paved, making it possible to tell you whats been going on here. Before you feel too bad for us, though, you should see the back of our pick-up truck: crammed in together with our camping gear that we use for overnight trips is a young pastor, his wife, and all their earthly belongings packed in 2 small suitcases and a bag. They are not travelling in the relative comfort we are enjoying, but are very happy that we can give them a ride. It is always humbling to see how little our pastors have and how eager they are to serve God. This particular pastor, Binzi, a student we know well from the Bible School, was just appointed to his very first church and we are happy to help he and his wife by transporting them part of the way. Over the last three days weve been teaching and preaching at two of the churches his father pastors. These churches are in the southernmost part of Malawi, which is extremely hot and has many mosquitoes (and malaria) for most of the year. We had planned to go there in July, during our cold season, but because of the fuel shortage we were unable to get fuel and had to cancel our trip. So we are happy to have finally made it there, before it gets too hot. Last week we celebrated the one year anniversary of our arrival in Africa - by going to Mozambique! Yes, Jesus loves Malawi - and Mozambique, too! Langbuoy Banda, one of our Malawian pastors, is a missionary to Mozambique. He has planted nine churches there, and invited us to teach at a Youth Conference. He had specifically requested some teaching on Gods plan for marriage, and HIV. As in many other African countries, HIV is a huge problem in Mozambique and Malawi, but traditionally it is taboo to talk about sexual matters, even though this is a very (secretly) promiscuous culture. So parents arent talking about abstinence with their children, and the causes of HIV/AIDS are shrouded in mystery and clouded by ignorance and superstition. However, the pastor told us that the problem has become too big to ignore anymore, and people are desperate for help. They know they have a problem, but not what to do about it. Teaching at a youth conference here really means teaching anyone from 5 to 25 years old or even older. So we decided to split them up into two groups. Steffi taught the younger children a series on following God, based on the story of Daniel, and Dean taught the older group on Gods plan for marriage, relationships, and HIV/AIDS. At times Steffi had over 100 kids in her group. Can you imagine doing a childrens program in North America with 100 kids and only one leader (and one interpreter)? They were meeting under the shade of a tree with about 30 community elders and other adults sitting nearby listening in as well. Everyone was fascinated by the flannel graphs, but it was so windy that they kept flying everywhere! The kids were very shy, but they seemed to enjoy it very much, and at the end of our four days there about 80 young people took a pledge to follow Gods plan and keep themselves pure. At the closing service the village chief thanked us for coming, and for changing their lives. We are praising the Lord that we had this opportunity to make a difference in the lives of these young people and their village. Well, a few hours have passed since writing the above, and were home now. On our way we dropped off the young pastor and his wife at a junction where he could take a bus ride the rest of the way to his new church, stopped in Blantyre to pick up a few things (Blantyre is the commercial capital of Malawi,

about an hour from home, where we do most of our shopping), and visited another new pastor on the way home. We also checked every gas station on this entire trip to see if anyone had diesel fuel, but we were not able to refuel our tank, which is now empty. The fuel crisis continues.... Fortunately we have a small amount in storage for emergencies. When we pulled up in our drive way it was dark, we were tired, and still very dirty, but just as we were unlocking the house the power went out, which meant stumbling around in the dark for flashlights and candles (again), and no hopes of a warm shower. To our surprise and relief, however, this particular outage was short lived, so we were able at least to eat Supper with the lights on! We are learning to be thankful for so many things that we used to take for granted! But serious increases in power cuts, fuel shortages, shortages of medicine in hospitals and the rising cost of living (the price of bread has gone up by 60 % in 90 days!) has caused the people of Malawi great concern. This coupled with increasing disappointment in their president caused people to take to the streets to demonstrate on July 20. They were met by armed police, and 20 people died in the riots that ensued. More demonstrations were planned for August but when the UN stepped in to facilitate negotiations the demonstrations were called off. However, many problems have not been resolved and the talks have been suspended. Further demonstrations are now scheduled for Sept. 21. The president has openly declared war on anyone who opposes him, and two buildings of civil rights leaders have already gone up in flames. Many Malawians are very fearful. Please join us in prayer for Malawi! While we are very concerned for this nation we also want to assure you that we have not personally been in any danger because we have stayed away from trouble spots. And, as it turns out, we had already planned to be enjoying our Summer vacation in Mozambique before we heard that more demonstrations were planned for this month. So, Lord willing, we will leave this weekend for a camping trip to the beach in Mozambique with the whole family. But our hearts and thoughts will be in Malawi, and we will be following the news closely. Thank you again for all of your prayers and support. God is at work here, and we feel greatly privileged to be a part of it. Please continue to pray for safety on the road, health, fruitfulness in ministry, language studies, and the country of Malawi. May God bless you all!

Dean and Stephanie Babcock

Five of our Bible School students were appointed as pastors in the Southern Conference this year.

Shining our lights in Africa (during another power outage).