Mike and Debbie Burns

After investigating a little further a correction needs to be made to my last post on the CIDA cuts.

The current cuts (including Malawi) are supposed to be happening within the bi-lateral program (country to country) and are not being imposed on other areas like the partnership program.  In theory this means that our current PWS&D programs which receive matching funds from CIDA will likely not be affected.

It is nice to know that the current CIDA cuts are not going to affect our current programming through PWS&D, but these cuts still hurt the most vulnerable people in the world.

Bad news from Canada regarding our international aid.  I am upset because I live in and work in one of the countries affected–Malawi–and this cut will affect the work our church does in Malawi through PWS&D because many of our programs are made possible by matching funds from CIDA.   What has happened to a country that used to pride itself in being recognized around the world as a country that was involved and helped?  What has happened to our commitment (put forth by a Canadian Prime Minister Lester B Pearson) to spend 0.7% of our GDP on aid?  I hope my fellow Canadians contact their MPs.

Link to article on Canadian Aid Cuts

**Please double click on images to see full view.

As many of you are aware, I am grateful to God for my February 1, 2012 full-time appointment through International Ministries of the Presbyterian Church in Canada (PCC) to Malawi, Africa for a two-year term.  My main position is Technical Assistant to the Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children (OVC) Program at the Blantyre Synod Health and Development Commission (BSHDC), however, I am also accorded time to fulfill other duties as required.  These include coordinating itineraries and accompanying all individuals and groups travelling to Malawi through the PCC (with Mike’s assistance), providing support at Tidzalerana Club for people living with disabilities (which receives funds through  Presbyterian World Service and Development (PWS&D)), performing duties as Treasurer of the Board of Directors to Tidzalerana Limited and fulfilling duties as Amayi Abusa (minister’s wife) and Amayi Mvano (Women’s Guild) at St. James Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP).

In this blog post, I wish to give a general overview of BSHDC, its program areas and staff.  Future blog posts will cover specific activities carried out through the OVC Program.

BSHDC is the health and development arm of the CCAP Blantyre Synod.  Its main office is located in Blantyre, Malawi on the Blantyre Mission, however, there are also a number of staff working in satellite locations to cover work in Zomba, Domasi, Lirangwe and other rural areas.  Since 1992, the Commission has been implementing programs in the southern region of Malawi and parts of Ntcheu district in the central region and it works with people of all religious and ethnic backgrounds.  BSHDC has five main Program Areas:  1) Livelihoods 2) Health and HIV/AIDS 3) Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children (OVC) 4) Gender and 5) Governance.  All work at BSHDC is done with an integrated approach to ensure everyone’s health and development needs are addressed in a holistic manner.  This integrated approach is achieved in many ways including even the office arrangements at the Blantyre Office.  It has been arranged that staff from all of the program areas are sitting together throughout the office space.

BSHDC Staff Outside Main Blantyre Office

Every morning from 7:30am to 8:30am, we have devotions at the office.  There is a monthly schedule of who will lead devotions.  Sometimes, ministers from within the Blantyre Synod come to lead or take part in these devotions.  BSHDC Staff are able to share important information in their program areas and also ask for prayer support in their work and personal lives.  It is a real team and faith based approach to serving one another and the people and communities we are serving.

BSHDC staff during morning devotions

The OVC program currently provides services in the Southern Region (Mwanza District, Chaweza and Domasi in Zomba District and in 7 Townships in Blantyre District) and in the Central Region (Bilira in Ntcheu District).  The goal of the OVC Program is “to build and strengthen family and community capacities to scale up response for the survival, growth, protection and development of orphans and other vulnerable children”.  The objective of the OVC Program is: “to increase stakeholder participation in care, protection and support for orphans and other vulnerable children”.  The period for OVC’s largest program, Titukule Ana (Supporting Our Children) Program, which receives funding through PWS&D, was April 1, 2009 to March 31, 2012, so we are in the midst of evaluating and reporting on the previous period and preparing for the new period.

Photo of OVC Office Staff

The OVC program’s main beneficiaries are: 1) Children (OVC) aged 2 to 5 years, 2) Children (OVC) aged 6 to 18 years, 3) Children (OVC) undergoing secondary school education, 4) needy youth aged 14 years and older and 5) Guardians of OVCs.  The target beneficiaries fall into four categories: 1) Child headed families, 2) Grandparent headed families, 3) Single sick parent headed families, and 4) Poor families affected by material poverty.  BSHDC serves them in various ways including: Early Child Development (ECD) through Community Based Child Care Centres (CBCCs) for children aged 2 to 5 years, Psychosocial Support (PSS) through Children’s Corners for children ages 6 to 18 years, education support for secondary school students, vocational support for vulnerable youth, and various training and development initiatives for community members.  The two major funders for OVC Program activities are Kindernothilfe (KNH) in Germany and PWS&D in Canada, but there are also a few other donors who provide some funding.  I will provide detailed information, stories and photos in future blogs on all of the OVC program activities.

Most of my time in my first two months has been spent learning, reading, listening and asking questions.  While I have been a Registered Social Worker since 2007 and have trained and worked in various social work settings, I have much to learn from my colleagues at BSHDC as well as the people we are serving, and serving with, in the community.  I have had the opportunity to go out on many field visits with the Coordinator of the OVC Program, Tarzan Kambola, who also started at BSHDC on the same day as me.  We have been able to visit many of the centres, Community Workers, Community Committee Members and Volunteers.  We plan to continue our orientation visits as time allows.

Tarzan and Debbie on a field visit

I give thanks to God, International Ministries, the Blantyre Synod CCAP, BSHDC and my loved ones for the opportunity, privilege, prayers and support in this position.  May God’s spirit work through me, my colleagues, the community members, the faith community and the people we are serving to do the work in the way God has planned.

I apologize to our faithful blog followers for the lack of blog posts in the past month or so.  I am still trying to figure out a work-life balance after some recent shifts in our lives, including my February 1, 2012 appointment through International Ministries of the Presbyterian Church in Canada (PCC) to Malawi, Africa for a two-year term.

I am grateful to God and all of the people in our lives who have nurtured us through this nine year journey to reach this next chapter.  I will say at this point that I am very pleased with how these first eight weeks have gone.  I am not as pleased, however, with the untimely and uncharacteristic cold/flu virus that has been part of my life for the past three out of four weeks!  I am finally on the mend and plan to dedicate some time in the coming weeks to getting back to writing blog posts, with specific attention to my position and the programs I am working with.

I am grateful to Mike for picking up my slack and for preparing his recent blog post “The Cookie Thief…stolen with gratitude from Rhonda Reist”.  This is a follow up to his post.  Again, I wish to thank our friend, Rhonda Reist who was used by the Holy Spirit to straighten me out!  Please check out her blog and her amazing work at http://www.believedreamlove.com/2012/03/are-you-cookie-thief.html.

Below is the sermon I delivered on March 17 2012 at our weekly Amayi Mvano worship service.  Anyone who knows me, knows that it takes me weeks to write a sermon as I am never sure that it is good enough, so I work and re-work it.  However, this sermon, took me very little time to write and I did not even start it until a few nights before I was to deliver it.  Even Mike said to me with concern, “Are you sure you’re going to have enough time to prepare this?  I know how much time you like to prepare for a sermon to feel good about it.”  For the first time in my life, I just gave my complete confidence over to the Spirit to work through me and it turned out to be the most honest and real sermon I have ever prepared.  It just felt right.  My hope and prayer is that this message will make a difference with even one of you.  **Please note I made changes to “The Cookie Thief” story to make it fit the context.

March 17, 2012 Sermon for Mvano – John 8:1-11

Every Saturday morning, we read in unison the “Cholinga Chake Cha Mvano” or the Aim/Purpose of the Amayi Mvano.  I am always moved/struck by its direction for us to be strong Christian women, not alone, but together and to work for God amongst other Christian women.  As Amayi Mvano, we then have a long, detailed prescription of 8 ways we are to fulfill this purpose.  We were reminded at the opening of the Mvano that we have a call to serve God, to other Amayi Mvano, to the church, to our families and to our communities by carrying out our responsibilities.  This is not an easy task.  I feel that in order for us to be able to follow our aim and responsibilities, we also need to be reminded of what Jesus taught us about being strong Christian woman and how can we carry it out.  While it is important to have roles, responsibilities and rules, sometimes we can become so caught up in the rules themselves and whether we or others are successful in achieving them that we lose sight of simply loving God and also loving, forgiving and accepting one another.

I wish to highlight a few of our responsibilities as Amayi Mvano.  Our first job/responsibility is to spread the word of God and to convert others to follow Jesus.  Well to follow Jesus means forgiving and teaching others, not judging them.  He tells us in John 13:34 “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another”.  I believe this is how we can best fulfill this.  Other responsibilities focus on caring for those that are sick, bereaved and lost, caring for our families, husbands and children, attending church and Mvano services and praying.  Our sixth job/responsibility is to avoid following harmful practices and anything that is in opposition to the word of God.  While I agree we must be committed members of the Amayi Mvano and we need to care about this work, we need to remember to think of the people, not the rules and to not be judging one another by how many hospital visits a woman does, whether someone isn’t in a choir or whether we’ve taught Sunday School for the past five years and our friend hasn’t.  We all sin and we are responsible to God and to one another to love, forgive and teach, not to judge and condemn.

In the Gospel reading from John this morning, it opens with the Pharisees and scribes bringing a woman before Jesus who they claim has committed adultery.  Verses 1 to 5 read ¹ “but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ² At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. ³ The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group ⁴ and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. ⁵ In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” If we were to examine this story now and to react as the Pharisees did, we may turn to following the rules literally.  We would be saying “Wow, yes, she is a very sinful woman.  Not only has she broken one of the commandments ‘thou shalt not commit adultery’, but secondly if we were to look at the purpose of the Mvano, she is not living as a Christian woman or working together with other women for God.  Maybe it was even one of our husbands she committed adultery with!  Thirdly, if we look at our Mvano responsibilities # f) tells us we must avoid following harmful cultural practices and everything that opposes the word of God.  Well this woman is definitely a failure on all accounts isn’t she?  She needs to be following the rules.  Come on lady, what were you thinking!  She should be stoned to death, shouldn’t she?  That’s what the Law says?  I’m sure Jesus will agree.

The reading continues in with the first half of 6 “⁶ They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.” Well, perhaps many of you know what this verse means, but when I’ve read it, I haven’t really understood it or how they plan on accusing him, so I did some research.  They were purposely putting Jesus in a difficult spot.   Since Jesus had a reputation for befriending and loving sinners, if he continued in this way and didn’t condemn her, he would keep his reputation, but would be breaking Moses’ law, however, if he did follow Moses’ law and condemn her to death, then he would be as unloving as the Pharisees who so self-righteously condemned her.  What a tough choice!  We read on in verses 6b to 11a “But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. ⁷ When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.  ⁹ At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. ¹⁰ Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” ¹¹ “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

So, what have we learned from Jesus?  Well, first of all, he doesn’t condemn her as the Pharisees did.  Then he challenges them that they can throw the first stone at her if they’ve never sinned themselves.  He doesn’t tell the Pharisees and the scholars go ahead stone her to death…she deserves it.  Instead, he holds up a mirror to them and to us…asking: have you not sinned yourself…are you not a sinner as well?  As tough as it was for them and for us to admit it, the answer is yes.  In spite of the fact she sinned, Jesus loves her, he forgives her and takes the opportunity to encourage her and teach her to do better.  Jesus has and continues to do this for each and every one of us.  Don’t our fellow Amayi Mvano deserve that same love, forgiveness and teaching?  This is what our Aim/Purpose IS.  We are to live our lives as strong Christian women together.  If we spend our time focussing on condemning and shaking our fingers at one another, we’re not living out our own purpose and we certainly are not living as Jesus taught us.

I wish to share a story with you a friend shared with me this week from an anonymous author.  It’s called “the Cookie Thief”.  It really made me think about judgment, forgiveness and love.  I’m also telling this story to confess that I sometimes behave like the Pharisees in the bible story did.  I judge and condemn others instead of loving and accepting them.

A woman was waiting at the airport one night, with a few hours before her flight. She bought a book and a bag of cookies/biscuits and sat down on a bench.  She was extremely interested in her book, but quickly noticed that the man sitting beside her had taken some cookies out of her bag!  She decided to ignore it and not create a scene. She read, ate a few cookies, and watched the clock, while the “cookie thief” continued to eat her cookies.   As time passed, she started to get really mad, thinking, “If I wasn’t so nice, I’d give him a black eye!” With each cookie she took, he took one too. When there was only one cookie left, with a smile on his face and a nervous laugh, he took it and broke it in half.  He offered her half, and he ate the other half.  She grabbed it from him and thought, “This man has some nerve, and is so rude.  He didn’t even thank me!”   She was more angry than she had ever remembered.  She was relieved when it was time to board her flight.  She picked up her stuff and walked away refusing to look at or say goodbye to the “cookie thief”.  When she got in her seat on the plane, she got her book out of her bag and gasped with surprise! There in her bag was her full unopened bag of cookies!  She was filled with despair and guilt. She realized that the bag of cookies in the airport was the man’s not hers and all along he had been sharing his with her!  She realized with grief, that it was too late to apologize to him and that all along she was the rude one, the ungrateful one, the “Cookie thief”, not him.

I was in a bad mood on the day I read this story.  I was looking around at others judging them for what I believed they were doing wrong.  I did not take a look in the mirror and see that it was me that was being wrong.  After reading this story, I felt pretty guilty and immediately contacted my friend to thank her for how appropriate the story and its timing were for me.  It shamed me into changing how I examined others, looking honestly at myself and changing my reaction to others instead of condemning others for their apparent “sins” and inability to meet my standards.  It doesn’t take much to get caught up in justifying our thoughts, feelings and behaviours about or against another person.  We can use rules, examples and even other people to uphold them.  We get focussed on revenge, on competition, but this isn’t what we are encouraged and challenged to do…we’re to be united, we’re to be turning away from anything that opposes the word of God.  So how do we do this?

I really like the words from the author, Joan Chittister.  She challenges us that we are often busy being “religious” instead of busy being “righteous”?  We get good at doing things “religiously” such as making meals, going to work, and going to church, but what about doing things that are “righteous”? Being righteous is doing what is Godly, decent and good and what Jesus would do.  It’s about accepting people for who and what they are even if they don’t follow what many see as religious.  Again, maybe many of us religiously attend all of the Amayi Mvano meetings, check, are present at many funerals, check, and teach Sunday School, check check check, but if we are gossiping about and judging others then we are not living righteously, we are not following Jesus and not living out the word of God.  Other people’s sin can consume us so much that we are just like the Pharisees who were so ready to uphold the law, but condemn the woman to be stoned to death.

She also really struck me when she continues how consumed we have become with other people’s sins, the “deterioration” of society, the lack of moral behaviour and the failure of others to follow the rules.  We have reacted with fear and have fought back with demanding harsher prison sentences, excommunicating sinners from our families, our churches and our communities and shunning other people socially whenever we see fit.  I know if I’m honest with myself I have thought and behaved this way sometimes and I need to pay attention to her words.  Maybe a few of you do too.  She says that it’s not other people’s sins, too light of sentences and other punishment that are causing the world to fall apart, it’s the lack of love and listening we show one another.  Fear and condemnation haven’t solved the world’s problems and made it a happy, safe place to live, but maybe love, listening and forgiveness will.  So she challenges us “if (we ourselves) are without sin, (we should) go ahead (with the heavy sentences, condemnation, excommunication and shunning). There are people aplenty out there, straggling trying, hurting, failing. Feel free: Hunt them down…Grind them under…Count them out…Throw them away…(Laugh) over their shame…Go ahead…Throw the first stone…Now that would really be a sin”.

Jesus asked, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” ¹¹ “No one, sir,” she said.  “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”  Let us do the same.  Amen.

As most of you can imagine, it is quite a challenge living so far from home…so far from those we love…so far from what we know best.  We have been in Malawi 13 months now and in some ways it still seems like we have just arrived while in other ways it feels like we have been here a very long time.

Surprisingly, the challenge of living and working here has not been the separation from family and friends nor has it been serving in a new congregation nor living in a different climate nor dealing with an ongoing fuel shortage nor struggling with the dichotomy between wealth and poverty.  No, the real challenge has been our own internal struggle with cultural difference.  We are not talking about the major differences like dress or language or custom…no the real challenge has been—and continues to be—adjusting to the hidden culture that lurks beneath the surface and yet affects everything.  It is the kind of culture that we cannot describe…we simply do it all day every day.

During our outbound orientation in Toronto we spent a lot of time on this and our instructors referred to them as “cultural icebergs”.  Only a tiny portion of culture is visible above the surface.  Ninety percent of the iceberg is located below the surface and when my iceberg comes into contact with your iceberg all the grinding and smashing takes place below the surface while above the waterline our two icebergs still seem to be far apart.  I am sure all my fellow orientation colleagues will agree, by the time we were finished with our orientation I never wanted to hear the term “cultural iceberg” again.

As our time here has progressed Debbie and I both went through the honeymoon phase when everything was wonderful and exciting.  We both went through the anger phase when we were ready to give up and return home.  I would say we are now in the adjustment/acceptance stage where we are trying to adapt and adjust to the cultural differences.  This is a time when instead of saying wow and great to the cultural icebergs…instead of saying I hate the cultural icebergs…we are now trying to say “while I do not really like that because it goes against my own cultural experience I understand why it is part of their culture and I will try and accept and adjust to it.”  That does not mean that this is not said through gritted teeth at times, but the important thing is trying to adapt and adjust.

For both Debbie and I, the most difficult cultural iceberg for us to adjust to is the different approach to time.  I am always on time and often early.  For those of you who know Debbie well you know that in Canada keeping time was not Debbie’s strong point, however, here in Malawi Debbie is a time-keeping superstar!  We are getting better at relaxing when our meetings begin an hour or two late or continue on for hours past the scheduled time.  On Thursday, for example I had a funeral sendoff.  I was originally told it would happen around 1pm.  I finally did the service at 7:30pm after being called out of my weekly Executive Session meeting (which actually started within 20 minutes of its scheduled start time).  We have both learned to bring a book or a Bible with us so that when things happen (or don’t happen) we have something to pass the time.

You may be wondering why this blog post is entitled The Cookie Thief seeing as I have not mentioned cookies at all.  Two weeks ago, Debbie and I were having a particularly bad Monday after a particularly bad weekend.  We were both in a bad mood because of the cultural iceberg of time and we were ranting and raving about our experiences.  We checked our facebook accounts and a good friend of ours had written a blog post entitled “Are you a Cookie Thief?”  (you can read the full blog post here: http://www.believedreamlove.com/2012/03/are-you-cookie-thief.html?spref=fb )  After reading her blog post which contained the following anonymous story we have begun repeating the phrase “Cookie Thief” over and over again whenever we feel we are becoming upset about a cultural iceberg.

The Cookie Thief

A woman was waiting at the airport one night,

With several long hours before her flight.

She hunted for a book in the airport shop,

Bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop.

She was engrossed in her book, but happened to see,

That the man beside her, as bold as could be,

Grabbed a cookie or two from the bag between,

Which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene

She read, munched cookies, and watched the clock,

As the gustily “cookie thief” diminished her stock

She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by,

Thinking, “If I wasn’t so nice, I’d blacken his eye!”

With each cookie she took, he took one too.

When only one was left, she wondered what he’d do.

with a smile on his face and a nervous laugh,

He took the last cookie and broke it in half.

He offered her half, and he ate the other.

She snatched it from him and thought, “Oh brother,

This guy has some nerve, and he’s also so rude,

Why, he didn’t even show any gratitude!”

She had never known when she had been so galled,

And sighed with relief when her flight was called.

She gathered her belongings and headed for the gate,

Refusing to look at the “thieving ingrate”.

She boarded the plane and sank in her seat,

Then sought her book, which was almost complete.

As she reached in her baggage, she gasped with surprise.

There were her bag of cookies in front of her eyes!

“If mine are here,” she moaned with despair.

“Then the others were his and he tried to share!”

Too late to apologize, she realized with grief,

That she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief!!!!

- Anonymous

A few weeks ago, I did a blog post focusing on the time Mike and I spent with the Amayi Mvano Executive from St. James’ Thanthwe Prayer House.  It was an opportunity to thank them for their hard work in carrying out their Amayi Mvano duties and for all of us to spend some time together in a less formal atmosphere here in our home.

On Saturday, February 4, 2012, Mike picked up the Amayi Mvano Executive of St. James main church and brought them here for lunch and a visit.  Unfortunately, unlike our visit with the women from Thanthwe Prayer House, in which the weather was beautiful, on this date, it was pouring rain, so we were unable to enjoy time together outside.  However, we were able to have what St. James’ people refer to as “swallowship”; eating delicious food together and having fellowship with one another.  To keep with the ethnic food theme, we enjoyed Greek cuisine, most of which was excellently prepared by Mufken.  Most of the women had never tasted zucchini or olives before, so they were interested in these new flavours.  We also enjoyed time to sing and share stories.

On Sunday, February 19, 2012, Mike and I awoke at 4:15am, which as I have noted previously, is early for us, but not uncommon for many Malawians.  We left home at 5:30am to be at St. James’ main church in time for the 6:00am Chichewa service.  Mike preached the sermon in English, while one of the church elders translated for him.  Knowing that I have a tendency to fall asleep during 6:00am services, I was very pleased to have an unexpected and pleasant companion during the service.  The Amayi Abusa and the Amayi Mvano choir from St. Columba CCAP were visitors during this service, so we all sat together, with Amayi Abusa XXX beside me, so we were able to share a hymn book and she let me know parts of the service that I was not able to follow.  It was a lovely service.

As soon as the service was finished, Mike and I then travelled to Matamando Prayer House as Mike was also preaching at their 9:00am service.  We always enjoy watching the children as they have Sunday School before the service.  The music, energy, faith and warmth of the members at Matamando always uplift us.  The children’s choir and a number of adult choirs sang.  The children stayed in worship for a while, so Mike was able to do a short children’s time with them, which was a nice treat as usually the children are not in the service with us.  Since February 19, 2012 was Transfiguration Sunday, Mike’s sermon focused on Mark 9:2-10, on Jesus’ Transfiguration.  He gave me a lot to think about.  He challenged us to turn away from our usual ways of trying to transform others by injecting Jesus IN to them and instead trying to transfigure others by encouraging the Jesus attributes OUT of them as Jesus is already IN each one of us.

Following a short time of fellowship with the leadership, the Matamando Amayi Mvano Executive, Mike and I piled into two vehicles and drove to the Manse (our home).  While my five bean beef chilli and Mufken’s chilli pepper corn muffins were a little spicy, they said they enjoyed the Mexican food theme and we enjoyed talking with one another (another time of “swallowship”).

It was a warm, sunny day so we all wanted to go outside and get some fresh air.  We sang some songs and danced around in a circle to get warmed up.  (see photo below).  As Mike and I have over 5,000 congregants to get to know, we often cannot remember everyone’s name, so we agreed to have a time of (re)introductions.  The women decided to make it more interesting so we got in a circle and sang each person’s name, then they danced into the circle (see video below-it is “Cecelia” and “Debbie” that are being introduced).  I also introduced them to a game which would help us learn more about one another.  We stayed in the circle and I went in the middle and said “I have one sister” and said anyone else who had one sister was to come into the middle of the circle with me and everyone else who had no sisters or more than one sister had to stay out.  Then the next person said “I was born in December”.  Again, anyone who was born in December came in the middle and everyone else who was born in any month but December went in the outer circle.  We continued from there and learned a lot of similarities and differences.

Women Dancing

Name Song Video

We were also able to show them two videos of interest before they left.  The first one Mike had created last year with many of St. James’ Amayi Mvano choir members (including many of the Matamando women that were there) singing celebration songs.  The video included some personal messages by Mike and me and was sent to Canada in celebration of Rev. Bill and Mrs. Lynda MacLellan’s retirement.  It was so exciting for them to see themselves on video and to know how much the video meant to us and to the MacLellans.  The second video was the one Mike created a few weeks ago of the five Malawian youth that will be accompanying him to Canada for four weeks and attending Canada Youth 2012 in July.  It made them very happy to see 5 Malawian youth from various parts of the Blantyre Synod being able to represent the CCAP Blantyre Synod in Canada.  It was a great end to a great day.

On Saturday, February 25, 2012, Mike and Rev. Songola participated in the official opening of the St. James Amayi Mvano season opening, after a two month break.  The Chair of the Amayi Mvano, Beatrice and Amayi Abusa Songola gave a speech and words of encouragement, while the Session Clerk, Raban and Mike also thanked the women for their service to the St. James community.  Rev. Maxwell Songola preached about service and Amayi Mvano’s responsibilities to one another, to the church community and to God.  All of the Amayi Mvano main church and prayer house choirs sang choruses and we were updated on all of the upcoming events, visitors and responsibilities for the coming year.  It was really nice to be reunited as sisters in Christ.  Thanks be to God for the Amayi Mvano.  May You continue to bless their work.

Maxwell and Mike

Video of Mvano Season Opening Chorus

Sunday, February 5, 2012 was an extra special day at St. James CCAP.  On Sundays, St. James has three, two-hour services at its main church; a 6:00am Chichewa service, an 8:00am English service and a 10:00am Chichewa service.  Its three prayer houses also have their own two-hour services every Sunday.  The special service took place at the 10:00am Chichewa service.  The purpose of this service was to recognize and say thank you to St. James’ two Amayi Woyendera (Amayi Mvano Supervisors).  After a three-year term, the two women, Rosemary and Evelyn were completing their service as Amayi Woyendera.  The Blantyre Synod made the decision that the position of Amayi Woyendera was no longer needed as the responsibilities could be fulfilled by the Chair of the Amayi Mvano and the Amayi Abusa(s) (minister’s wife) in each congregation.

Rosemary and Evelyn have been members of St. James’ Amayi Mvano for many years.  They have a lot of experience, knowledge and skills and are very respected among the Amayi Mvano and by other church leaders.  In addition to their dedicated service in their regular roles as Amayi Mvano by attending and participating in funerals, going to weekly Amayi Mvano worship services and meetings, visiting sick church members in hospital and in their homes, welcoming and hosting visitors and various other tasks, they were also responsible for mentoring, supervising and teaching all other Amayi Mvano members.  During my time at St. James, it was extremely rare not to see Rosemary and/or Evelyn present and hard at work at any church function.  They have been completely committed to serving God and His people.

In addition to hundreds of St. James’ Amayi Mvano, Amayi Abusas, Abusas (ministers), other St. James’ leaders and other church members, there were also many visitors that attended this service.  Amayi Mvano and Amayi Abusas from many other congregations and the Chair of Blantyre Synod’s Amayi Mvano also came and participated in the service.  Beatrice, Chair of St. James’ Amayi Mvano gave a speech on the specific gifts that Evelyn and Rosemary have brought to St. James and thanked them for all their work.  Then it was time for gift giving, singing and dancing.  The length of time, amount of gifts and number of hugs and smiles demonstrated just how appreciated they are.  While they have “retired” from their positions as Amayi Woyendera, they will continue to service as regular members of St. James’ Amayi Mvano.  A delicious luncheon, prepared by members of St. James’ Amayi Mvano followed the service.  Thanks be to God for these women who have used their God-given gifts so well.

Video of gift giving

The Presbyterian Church in Canada (PCC) holds its’ national youth conference every three years.  I was fortunate to participate in Canada Youth 2009 (CY09) as a small group leader at my very first Canada Youth.  It brings together hundreds of youth between the ages of 14 and 25 in two tracks—conference track (14 to 18) and mission track (18-25).  There is also a third track focusing on equipping youth leaders.  I am doubly blessed in 2012 because not only have I been asked to co-lead the mission track with Matt Foxall, the Mission Trip /Youth in Mission Coordinator, but the PCC has also invited six Malawian youth to attend CY12 as international visitors.

The idea for this was first brought up over a year ago, but I have not posted anything about it until plans and details were finalized.  It took us a while to identify the Malawian youth and officially invite them as partners.  Then we had to help each of the youth get their Malawian passports.  After they received their passports the next hurdle was getting them approved for Canadian visitor visas…not an easy task for anyone from a developing country.  We began the documents process in September and I flew to Pretoria, South Africa to submit the applications in person to the Canadian High Commission at the beginning of December. They were initially rejected as incomplete, but the High Commission pointed out what was missing.  At the end of January we finally had everything ready for the second try and sent the applications by courier and with many prayers.  I was notified on Thursday, February 9 that the visas were approved!

This was very fortuitous timing as our orientation weekend for the six Malawian youth was being held Feb. 10 to 12 and I was able to give them the good news in person.  We spent Friday night and all day Saturday preparing the Malawian youth for everything from culture shock to the history of the PCC and Canada to what to expect when flying.  None of the youth has ever flown before and only one of them has ever been outside of Malawi.  The orientation was put together and delivered by myself, Rev. Dennis Mulele the Synod Youth Director, and Rev. Paul Mawaya the previous Synod Youth Director.  Debbie also helped on Friday night.

I opened the orientation with a short worship on Friday night and used Mark 7:31-35—the story of Jesus healing a deaf and mute man.  You may be asking what this has to do with a partnership exchange visit or with Canada Youth, but I focused on Jesus’ command to the man, “Ephphatha…Be opened.”  It is Jesus command to all of us and is the only way we can be healed by him…the only way we can heal our church, our society, our world.  We must open ourselves to the possibilities and give room for God’s Spirit to work in us, in each other and in the world.

We are planning to depart Malawi on June 20 and arrive in Canada on June 21.  We will be visiting a number of congregations and presbyteries; we will be spending some time at Camp Kintail; and we will of course participate in Canada Youth 2012.

Ephphatha!

Meet the Malawian youth on video

**Remember to double-click on the photos to see them larger

Psalm 34:8 “O taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who take refuge in him”.  These are the words that came to mind after a truly wonderful day spent with the people of St. James CCAP, our home congregation on Sunday, January 29, 2012.

We started the day very early (for us, not for the average Malawian) at 4:30am to be able to attend St. James CCAP’s 6:00am Chichewa Service in which Mike was preaching…in English that is, with Timothy, the Vice Chair of the Bible Class, doing an excellent and enthusiastic job of interpreting.  **There is a photo of Timothy in Mike’s blog post on the Bible Class Youth Retreat.  Those of you who know me well, realize that even if I am technically awake, essentially, I am still sleeping at this hour.  So, I confess I nodded off a few times during the two-hour service, despite the 5 lovely choirs, 2 energetically led choruses (which I danced, clapped and sang to), a decent preacher and all of my diverse and valiant efforts to stay awake!  All humour aside, it was great to be in the 6:00am worship service for the first time in many months and to have fellowship with other members of the congregation.

Shortly after the end of the 6:00am service, which ended at 8:15am, we travelled with one of the session clerks to St. James’ Thanthwe Prayer House, which has Sunday morning worship at 9:00am.  Mike was also preaching at this service and since we arrived early, we were able to interact with some parishioners and see the children who have Sunday school prior to the worship service.  It was Pledge Sunday, which is when members enter on the membership cards, the amount they pledge to give to the Synod during the year.  Mike preached about our not only giving our money, but also giving of our selves, our gifts and our time.  Worship started at 9:15am and it was finished shortly after 11:00am.  As with the 6:00am worship service at St. James, there were many choirs involved in the service and the Sunday School also did a short drama and some scripture readings.  The members of Thanthwe Prayer House are very enthusiastic and gifted singers, so it was a lively service.

Following worship, we had a short time of fellowship with the Thanthwe Prayer House Executive, then 11 Thanthwe Prayer House Amayi Mvano Executive, Mike and I squashed ourselves into our Land Cruiser and made our way to the manse (our house).  It is always so fun to drive anywhere with the Amayi Mvano as they sing chorus after chorus all the way to their destination.  It’s also fun to see the commotion we all make as we drive by—an overstuffed vehicle with two happy smiling Azungus (Caucasians) and a pile of smiling, laughing and singing Malawian women.  It was one happy vehicle!

Back in November 2011, when the Amayi Mvano ended for a two month break, we had invited the St. James Amayi Mvano Executive to our house for a braii (barbeque).  The Amayi Mvano Chairwomen from Thanthwe and Matamando Prayer Houses are on the St. James Amayi Mvano Executive to ensure the prayer houses stay connected with the main church.  They asked why I did not invite the 2 Prayer House Executives to come.  I apologized for my oversight and assured them I would invite them when Mvano resumes in February 2012.  So, we invited the Amayi Mvano Executive from Thanthwe for lunch on January 29^th, from St. James main church on February 4^th and from Matamando on February 19th.

We had wonderful food and fellowship with them that afternoon.  We sang hymns and choruses, prayed, chatted and learned more about one another.  Our staff member, Mufken, who is an excellent cook, prepared most of the food that day.  Those of you who know me, know I love to prepare menus, especially on ethnic or country themes and I love to eat.  For this day, I chose all Indian dishes.  Mike and I love Indian cuisine and with their being a large Indian population in Malawi, we are able to find all of the ingredients necessary for the dishes.  I tease Mufken, that he must have ancestors from many different cultures and countries as no matter what recipe I provide him with, he makes it perfectly the first time.  The women were also extremely impressed with his cooking, especially since most Malawian men do not cook.  They went up for multiple helpings and asked if he could come to their house to help them cook!   My mother always taught me that a good host never lets her guests leave without a full stomach, so they were full indeed.

Thanthwe Executive

Once the food was finished, everyone got a little quiet and the women suggested we have a group photo outside.  Then, Mike gently asked them, if they wished to go back inside for more conversation or if they wanted to be driven back home.  We were both completely taken by surprise when they immediately asked “Can we play netball?” which is similar to volleyball.  God works in such fascinating ways!  Never would we have expected that answer from a group of 40 to 70 year old women, who had very full stomachs, very busy lives and were wearing long dresses and skirts.  Those of you who know me also know I have a life-long reputation for being terrible at all sports.  I cannot count the number of time I received comments such as “You’re the worst basketball, soccer…and especially baseball player I’ve ever seen” or how many times I was chosen last when teams were picked or people begging me not to join in playing a game.  Therefore, obviously my first reaction was “Okay, you can play and I’ll watch”.  Well, the spirit was at work indeed.  For the first time in my life, all of my humiliation went away at playing sports…these women were so fun, encouraging and inclusive that I joined in right away.  They did not make fun of me even though I missed and dropped that ball many times.  What a fun time we had!  We laughed and ran and jumped and played like school girls.  We all said what a great experience it was.  Afterwards, Mufken helped them pick hundreds of mangoes off our 7 mango trees to take home with them.  We all experienced the gift of each other’s presence and time…just like Mike preached in his sermon

Playing Netball

More Netball

We Are Having Fun!

Our time came to a close by having one less person in the truck on the way back, but 10 bags of mangos.  The singing, fellowship and smiling continued all the way.  When I dropped the last person off, I said out loud to God without even realizing it…Zikomo instead of Thank You.  Indeed, we did “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”

The Bible Class (youth group) at St James goes away on an annual retreat every year between Christmas and New Year’s Day.  This year the retreat ran from Dec. 27 to Jan. 1 and the youth invited Debbie and me to travel with them to Chongoni Mountain in the central region of Malawi just north of the city of Dedza (the highest urban area in Malawi).

We gathered at St James at 7:30am on Dec. 27 for a brief service in the sanctuary led by Rev. Songola, the assistant session clerk, Mr. Ellection Mlaviwa, and myself.  After the service the retreat planning team began loading all of the people, luggage and equipment on to the bus and the coaster (a small bus).  In total there were about 120 people crammed on to the bus—some standing—and 24 of us in the coaster for what turned in to a 6 hour drive to Chongoni.

The 6km road leading to the retreat centre at the foot of Chongoni Mountain

The Nkhoma Synod (a sister synod in the CCAP immediately north of the Blantyre Synod) has a lay training centre at Chongoni and the Bible Class used the same site for the 2010 retreat.  They liked the facility so much that they decided to return again this year.  The youth stayed in two dorms (men and women) while Debbie and I and the other leadership stayed in basic self-contained rooms.  There was a large dining hall, but the Bible Class had to provide all the food-stuffs and menus for the kitchen staff to prepare our meals.  The meals were basic, but delicious.

Debbie getting her groove on at the beginning of the retreat

I love youth retreats

We had two Malawian pastors with us as well.  They were from Assemblies of God congregations in Blantyre and Lilongwe (the capital) and have worked with the Bible Class in the past.  I opened the retreat with an afternoon session introducing the retreat theme “Christ in us the hope of glory”—a paraphrase from Colossians 1:27b.  I knew the other speakers would be teaching about how Christ is in us so I focused on the goal…the hope of glory.  I tried to define what God’s glory is and spoke about the Greek word δόξα (doxa) from which our English word doxology is derived.  In church liturgy we say or sing doxologies when we are praising and thanking God…when we are giving God glory.  We sing doxologies after our offering, we say or sing a doxology during communion, and, here in Malawi, the congregation sings a doxology after the sermon.  I challenged the youth to live their lives as if everything they do, say and are is a doxology to God.

Pastor Frank teaching the group in English with Memory translating in to Chichewa

Every day followed the same basic schedule.  I led morning devotions each day at 5am for one hour.  The devotions began with 15 minutes of intercessory prayers followed by a praise song, a reading, and a short devotion (15 minutes is short here).  After the Word came a short prayer and more singing.  Debbie and I sang a few of the newer hymns from the PCC Book of Praise for the youth and on the first morning I taught them the Asithi Amen (#264).  This doxology became a favourite for them and we finished most sessions with it.

After morning devotions there was a two hour block for showers and breakfast.  After breakfast there were two morning teaching sessions from 8am to 10:15am and from 10:30am to noon when we broke for lunch.  At 1:30pm there was a longer afternoon session which lasted until 4pm.  We then had a break for supper and the evening session began at 6pm and finished at 8:30pm.  Unfortunately, our ability to keep time was poor so the day often finished closer to 10pm.  Every session started with praying and a lot of singing.  At the end of the retreat Pastor Frank, from Lilongwe, told me that in all his years of ministry he has never seen a group of youth who could sing as well, as long, and as enthusiastically as the St James Bible Class.

Praise Song

Praising and Dancing

Pastor Frank and Pastor Noah were responsible for all the daytime sessions, except for two afternoon sessions.  One was on Christian entrepreneurship and was taught by a CCAP elder and the other was a recreational afternoon where the youth climbed about a third of the way up Chongoni Mountain.  Debbie and I went with them on the 45 minute climb and then spent about an hour on a large stone shelf on the side of the mountain.  We laughed; we joked; we sang; we took pictures and I led a short worship service before we climbed down.

sunset at Chongoni

One of the highlights of the retreat for me was an afternoon session led by Pastor Frank that finished with an altar call for those who felt they had gone astray and wanted to recommit themselves to God.  Pastor Frank invited Pastor Noah and me up so that the three of us could lay on hands and pray for the 15 youth who had come forward.  It was a powerful experience for me and for the youth.  After the session we split the 15 youth up in to smaller groups divided by gender and had an elder or very experienced youth talk with them about their issues.  Debbie and I visited each of the groups as well and prayed with them.

On New Year’s Eve there was no scheduled session.  Instead it was a combination worship service/talent show as we sang, danced, worshipped, prayed and were entertained.  Debbie and I really enjoyed the evening, but alas we disappeared to bed by 11pm.  The youth all managed to make midnight and many of them stayed up all night.  Needless to say the bus ride home the next morning was much quieter than the bus ride to Chongoni.

Praise Dance team

Flossy, the smallest member of the Praise Dance team

Dance Party

I was amazed at the enthusiasm, stamina and thirst for the Word displayed by these youth.  I was even more impressed that the whole retreat was planned, organized, run and paid for (through various fundraisers) entirely by the Bible Class.  Despite the busyness of the retreat I came away refreshed and hopeful…Christ was indeed in us and the hope for glory was made real by the youth.

Memory and Timothy, the chair and vice-chair of the Bible Class, keeping us organized

getting ready for departure