Doing the Lord's work in Malawi: Southern Hills and Gospel Chariot

Malawi, July 11-23

We recently returned from a life-changing experience with Chariot 2 in Malawi. I'd like to tell you about it.

July 11-13, enroute

I'm Bob Mathews from the Southern Hills church of Christ in Buda TX, just south of Austin. I and 3 others from our congregation left on Thursday July 11 from Austin enroute to Lilongwe Malawi. We had been anticipating this trip for 2 years, since returning from our first campaign in Malawi in June 2011. We spent 20 hours in the air on 3 airline flights to get there, but it was well worth it.

For most of the remainder of this report, I'll let pictures tell the story...

L-to-R: Cathy Williams, Donna & Scott Epperson, Bob Mathews

July 13-14, Bembeke

After arriving in Lilongwe and driving to our lodge in Dedza, I was able to speak with Moster and he put us in touch with one of the local brothers, who showed us the location of the Chariot for Saturday and Sunday. We had spent many hours traveling, so after finding the Chariot, we drove back to our lodge for dinner and bed. We eagerly anticipated joining the brethren on Sunday morning for worship.

Chariot parked at Bembeke, ready for worship.

Aubrey leading singing at Sunday worship, Bembeke

At Bembeke, there were 5 baptized Saturday evening, and another 4 after Sunday worship. This follows a very successful week for Chariot 2 in Lilongwe the week before, with 37 baptisms.

After services on Sunday, the village chiefs addressed the gathering, which is customary in Malawi. After we were dismissed, they led us across the street from the Chariot's location, and showed us a plot of land. They said the Church could have the land if they would clear it and start working on it immediately. This is a great blessing! Land is difficult to come by in Malawi, and we are very blessed for the village elders to welcome the Lord's Church with such open arms!

The Bembeke village chiefs gave some land to the Church!

I must mention at this point a great example of God's providence. There is a man who lives near the Bembeke village who had studied with World Bible School many years ago. He knew the Chariot spent 2 months in Malawi every year, but it was never close enough to his village for him to make the trip to hear the preaching & teaching. Finally, after 10 years of waiting(!), he heard the Chariot would be at Bembeke on July 13. He walked some distance to reach the location, and was baptized that evening!

July 15-16, Nthumbo

We had scheduled Monday afternoon to be at Mua School for the Deaf, so we met the Chariot staff in Dedza that morning, then followed them over the mountain pass to Nthumbo. We then proceeded on to Mua School (see next section), while the Chariot set up at Nthumbo and held services that afternoon & evening. Tuesday, we held services all day.

Weaving our way across the mountain pass between Western Malawi and Eastern Malawi.

Brother Garrett leading singing at an open-air meeting, Nthumbo Malawi.

There were 8 baptized at Nthumbo on Monday, and none on Tuesday.

July 15, Mua School for the Deaf

We first developed an association with Mua School for the Deaf and a love for their students & staff during our first campaign to Malawi in 2011. Prior to this trip, we arranged for 2 visits: Monday afternoon and Thursday afternoon. For today's lesson, the ladies led the students through a craft activity, making a bracelet and teaching the plan of salvation. Each bead in the bracelet represents a step toward heaven.

Donna and Cathy teaching the plan of salvation to the kids at Mua School for the Deaf.

They're proud of the bracelets they made!

We were pleased with the response from this first lesson at Mua School. We would return on Thursday afternoon to teach another lesson from the Bible.

July 17-18, Kapanda

Wednesday morning, we met the Chariot staff at their guest house in Golomoti, then followed them to the next location, the village of Kapanda. The staff always tries to set up the Chariot where there will be a good bit of traffic: shopping center, next to a major road, in the middle of a village, etc. In Malawi, the village churches request the Chariot to come to their village. It may be several years before the schedule allows a stop, such as I mentioned in the report above for Saturday.

Here you see the Chariot parked beneath some large eucalyptus trees, providing plenty of shade and making the tent unnecessary. Layman, the Chariot helper on this trip, placed the loudspeakers on top of the Chariot, directing them toward the village so the villagers would hear and many would come.

Chariot in the village beneath large shade trees.

Bob preaching about the holiness of God; Aubrey interpreting.

Scott preaching about God's plan for us; Aubrey interpreting.

One-on-one study at Kapanda.

 In Kapanda, there were 5 baptisms on Wednesday, and 4 more on Thursday.

July 18, Mua School for the Deaf (again)

We spent the morning in worship and study with the Chariot at Kapanda, then drove down to Mua School for our afternoon appointment. We were invited by our friend Sadock Banda over to his home for a Malawian lunch, then walked back to the school for the lesson the ladies would teach to the students. Today's lesson was on the ascension of Jesus into heaven, which they taught with another craft activity.

July 19, M. Dyathope

Friday was officially a day off for us, but we wanted to visit the M. Dyathope congregation, formerly named Esau. Our congregation had provided funds for this congregation to construct a metal roof on their building, replacing the grass roof that itself required replacement every year! We wanted to see the roof and to meet with the church leaders and some of the members. As we attempted to find the congregation's location on our own (mostly from memory, having been there in 2011), we were shown another example of how God works through His people to accomplish His will.

I had marked its location in 2011 and had set it as a waypoint in the GPS on my iPhone, but I wasn’t able to download the maps, so for the drive over we could see the blip of our position and the marker for the building, but I was mostly going from memory. We got close, and decided to ask. The first 2 women we asked didn’t speak English. The second group of young ladies spoke English, but didn’t know where it was located. We decided to drive on. At the point where we decided we had gone far enough, I was turning the truck around and we saw a man coming toward the street. I asked him if he knew where Esau was. He did. I told him there’s a Church of Christ there, and he said he knew where it is. He tried to give me directions, but I wasn’t understanding. He said he’d show us. I thanked him and said OK, and told him I’d bring him home afterward. Because he seemed so familiar with the congregation, I asked him if he was a member. He said he is! When we got there, there were 3 men waiting for us (they knew we wanted to visit that day, and Moster called them to let them know we were coming). Four more men of the congregation arrived later. We never would have found it had we not met George. In the photo, George is the man in the blue shirt to Donna’s right (4th from right in the photo).

M.Dyathope congregation

July 20-21, Bondo School

For our last 2 days in Malawi, Saturday and Sunday, we joined the Chariot at Bondo School. This, like so many other Chariot stops was both at a village, and easily-seen from a major highway.

Cathy teaching the ladies' class at Bondo School on Sunday morning.

Scott preaching Sunday morning at Bondo School: "After Baptism, What?" Moster interpreting.

Scott praying on Sunday for God to heal Esther, who had come forward asking for prayer.

There were 2 baptisms Friday in our absence, so with the 2 baptism on Saturday and 3 on Sunday at Bondo School, that brought the total for the campaign to 32 baptisms.

July 22, Return home

We left Malawi very charged up and encouraged to see the work the Lord is doing there. We don't know what the future holds, nor do we know whether we'll be blessed to return again to Malawi, but we do know in Whose hands the future lies, and Who holds the keys to every door that matters. We're thankful for Him opening these doors for us in Malawi.