The Gills in Malawi

This Saturday is our very first fund raising day.  We have never done this before but thought it would be good  to do and also to encourage our staff that they too can raise funds for Hope Village.

We have 3 main events!  We have about 8 staff members who are going to be doing a bike ride to Blantyre.  Blantyre is about an hour from us by car and most of the way is up hill!  They are going to bike there and back again!  I could never do this so I am in awe of their courage!  Would you like to sponsor them?

We also have Esther and Rose (a visitor to Hope Village) having a nappy changing marathon, they are going to be inviting people from the villages around us to come and get a nappy on their babies.  We are asking if you would like to sponsor this event, for a donation of  £10 per baby, this will cover the cost of the towling nappy that we will buy and the rest will go towards our fund raising day.  Would you like to sponsor a baby or 2?

The Gill's are getting wet!  We are inviting the children to throw buckets of water over us for every £10 that is donated.  Would you like to sponsor this?

If you would like to sponsor any of these events specifically or if you would just like to sponsor our day, please do so on this website or click on the link  http://www.justgiving.com/Hopevillagefundraiser  and donate to just giving.  Thank you so much for your support.  We really appreciate it, especially for our Malawian friends who join us in trying to raise money for the project.  So even if it is small, your donation will make a difference to us.

Cabu had to go for another operation to Beit Cure international hospital as he had another bone growning in his knee.  He had not been able to straighten his leg and this bone was the reason.  He had the operation last week and Lydia had to go up and learn how to do the new physiothereapy, she saw for the first time, Cabu standing on his leg, what a sight!  Praise God.  The swelling in his knee had gone down and he was walking again. 

Unfortunately due to the additional bone growth, they found that his good leg was shorter than his damaged leg so Lydia had to once again go to Blantyre to take Cabu to be fitted with some special shoes that make Cabu's legs the same length.  Once he started walking with the shoes, the bad leg began to swell.  They had to remove his stiches and keep him in for a few more days.

Today he will come home, Lydia has gone up to Blantyre to collect him and we wait to see how he is.  We believe that we serve a God who can make Cabu's legs the same length.  I have personally prayed for a man (along with a team) who had one leg shorter than the other and I saw it grow.  I believe that God can do the same for Cabu so if you believe in this then I ask you to join with me in prayer and pray for a miracle.

On Thursday a group of Malawian business men and women came down to Hope Village.  All we knew before their arrival was that they would like to bless the children with some gifts.  We called all the children to come, it was so great to see them all together again, they were hugging each other and were so happy.  While we were waiting for out visitors to arrive, Pastor Ganizani did a bible quiz with the kids and we sang some worship songs.

When the visitors arrived, I was surprised to see how many people came and the amount of gifts that they brought.  Pleasantly surprised!  They are called the 'Chiyanjano family friends', their heart is to give from what they have.  All the gifts are bought from their own money.  They come with a simple message.  'It is better to give that receive', they encouraged the children to give even from what little they had, if they had a friend who didn't have something that they had to give it away.  They wanted to encourage the children in giving, even from the little they have.  Each family received 25kg of maize, soap for every member of the family and they left a big bag of clothes for the babies.  What was even more special about this donation is that it came from the people of Malawi and we really thank God for them.

Afterwards we praised God together and Paul took the visitors on a tour around Hope Village.  The first picture is of the kids, us and the Chiyanjano family friends and the second is of them talking to the children.

I have been reading a most excellent book called ‘Mountain Rain’ a biography of James. O.Fraser who was a missionary amongst the Lisu people of South West China. If you love biographies that challenge you to give your all to God then I would recommend this as a must read.

One thing that really touched me in the book, was how much James saw the small circle of intercessors that joined him in praying for the ministry as key to what he was doing. He had people who were dedicated to prayer and to which he wrote individual letters explaining in detail the work he was doing. He would tell his prayer partners stories about who he met, how they dressed, what they ate, about his disappointments, trials, answers to prayer etc to the point that one prayer partner stated that they felt as though they were there in China and knew all the people so well.

I truly believe that prayer makes a difference and that to have a team of intercessors lifting up the work of Hope Village is not just a nice thing to have but an absolute necessity. I am not,however, referring here to individuals who may on occasion remember to pray for Hope Village but those who would see it as a calling, as a job that they agree to undertake knowing the commitment it will entail and the battles that may well lay ahead of them in prayer.

I would like to have a small team of prayer intercessors dedicated to praying for Hope Village. As with James O Fraser we would like to open up communication with you giving you much more detail than you would find on our website or newsletters. You will be contacted individually and become part of the volunteer team here at Hope Village, only your role will be prayer and based in whichever country you reside.

Please pray about this and if you feel that you would like to commit to being one of the individuals within the Hope Village prayer circle then please email me at Hopevillage@hftn.co.uk and we will set you up on a separate mailing list to receive individual contact about prayer needs at Hope Village.

As James O Fraser puts it  “I believe it will only be known on the last day how much has been accomplished in missionary work by the prayers of earnest believers at home”.   

Chikwawa is a dry region, it is hard to grow maize and crops unless you are lucky enough to have a piece of land near the river. You can walk through a village and see poverty, hunger and children in nothing but rags and it is so overwhelming.

Yet in the midst of it there can be such beauty just like this flower that we have growing at Hope Village. It helps to remind us that even in the desert a seed can take root and something beautiful can grow, that there is hope no matter how things seem in the natural and those who put their trust in God will be like trees planted by a stream of living water.

'to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendour'.

Isaiah 61:3

Paul had a short meeting with the guys from the garden as they has some idea's they wanted to share.  They also had a concern about the pigs that were living in our fruit trees and had damaged one of the taps in there, but that is another story!

When Paul was about to leave the meeting he started to shake and felt God tell him to go back and pray for the guys.  He was encouraged as one of them began to cry, another said he felt as if water was pouring over his head and Paul had a clear word of encouragment for one of the men who's niece went missing in the village next to us.

Things like this have not happened so much here so we are encouraged by the small things that we now see happening here.  There is more of an expectancy than there has been for a long time and we long to see more of this happening here.  We long for God to pour out His Spirit amoung these people.  We were sent here to serve them but we can't give them all they need for God is their provider and we long for the people here to get a revelation of that.

Winter is closing in on us here in Malawi. For most of you, you will be enjoying the warmer weather coming and for us we are enjoying the colder weather coming in (this is our favourite time of the year!) For some, this is not a nice time at all, sleeping on a mud floor, the cold is not so welcoming. Our children all need new blankets this year but we didn’t have the funds to buy them. Whilst thinking about this one day a scripture came to mind 1 John 3 v17 (check it out) and I felt challenged!

So we ransacked the house to see what we had that we could sell and the daycare office looked to see if they had anything in there that they would not use in the future. We managed to get some things together and spread the word that we were going to have a sale to raise money for blankets for our children.

We had, staff members, people from the surrounding villages and also some of our daycare children hung around to watch. It was a great atmosphere.

We raised 37, 000 kwacha. We needed 45, 000 kwacha and with a donation that we received from the UK this month added to the money we raised we have the full amount needed for the blankets. Praise God for His inspiration and His faithfulness.