Malawi update: They lost again... waterfalls... clean hands...

Received via email on 7/30 from Pastor John...

Family and friends,

Thanks so much for your continued prayers. They are working! We're having a great time here in Malawi.

On Monday we ministered to over 200 youth in Mzamba School. We painted, built a wall, fixed doors, gave testimonies, played soccer, and did dramas. It was great!

On Tuesday some continued the work at the Village Church and the Village Clinic. Others finished the work at Mzamba. It was a 10mile hike when going to and from Mzamba. In the afternoon on Tuesday we had a soccer match in Chigumula Village. Nearly the entire village was in attendance... several hundred. We did testimonies and dramas before the game, at halftime, and after the game. We lost the game... badly. But it was fun. When closing our time in Chigulmula we told them all about the Love of Jesus. One of the youth from Chigumula stood up and in English said, "thank you to us for coming. And that because of the testimonies he was thinking about changing the way he lives. He also said they made his heart pump faster." You could see in his face that the Spirit was working.

On Wednesday we hiked to Likhubula Falls on Mulanje Mountain (which is the 2nd highest point in Southern Africa). It was soooo beautiful! Some of our team members made the decision to be baptized near the falls. It was an extremely powerful time. Today we spent time in Ndirande, a township of 800,000 in an area close to 5 square blocks! The welcome and hospitality we were greeted with moved all of us. They served us a great meal (that cost them a lot) and washed each of our hands with buckets of water before serving us. It touched all of us.

Tomorrow we are going to Liwonde National Park - it will be our Safari day.

Saturday-Monday we'll be in the Southern Region working with an Orphanage of over 100 kids.

We won't be able to email until our return travel days. Our team hasn't been able to email much do to the busy schedule.

We are blessed and God is moving! Keep praying!

PEACE!

John

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3 Preachers? and I thought they only left w/1... What's 4 dinner?

Received on 7/27 via text message from Pastor John Richardson...

Yesterday we served in teams of 10 @ 3 different churches. Our students shared through dramas and testimonies; me (Pastor John), Nic Rodriguez & John Bowers preached at the services. Nothing but great reports from all teams!

Painted a midwifes clinic in a village as well as a mud brick church.

Today; walked 10 miles to Mzomba school; built a wall, painted, fixed doors, played soccer, lost 5-4 (obviously they've been practicing), ministered to over 50 youth & children through drama and testimonies!

Also; our team prepared chicken for dinner tonight... the 'village' way (close your eyes for the squeamish) they cut their heads off and gutted them! 2 of our (BRAVE) girls did it too!!! (Can't wait to hear the stories on that!)

Will email on Wednesday or Thursday.

All are well and they got all their bags the other day!

PEACE!
Pastor John

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2009 Malawi - Email from Pastor John

Greetings from Malawi! Thanks for all of the prayers and the support! We are doing great here. We spent some time with the Chief of Chiwaya Village this morning. She was glowing with excitement as she chatted with our team. The kids of Chiwaya have been at our base all morning. Our team is having so much fun playing with them. Some of our team taught the kids Hop Skotch! That was fun to watch. Tonight we'll be practicing dramas for some outreaches. I'll be picking up some work project supplies today in Blantyre (as well as some of our team bags!) A 3 hr delay in Frankfurt put us running through the airport in Johannesburg (picture any movie where they are running to make a plane!) We made the flight... but most of our bags did not. Everybody has been great with "rolling with the punches". God is good... more to come in a few days. Please make sure the Northside Youth ministry gets this email as well. PEACE! John

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2009 Malawi - Text from Pastor John Richardson

I received this text from Pastor John Thursday night (PT)...

'Safe and sound in Chiwaya village. Going to the Chiefs house in the morning, then ministering to children in the village. Things are great - John'

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2009 Malawi - Day 3... arrived Blantyre

After boarding the first plane in Frankfurt, Germany and sitting on the tarmac, (most had already taken their 'sleeping aids') they were asked to exit the aircraft, due to mechanical problems. Some of them had already fallen asleep on the plane (I wondered who carried whom off the plane).

After a 4 hour delay they boarded their second plane to Johannesburg and approximately 10 hours later they arrived in Johannesburg and had to run to their connecting flight to Blantyre (have not heard if the luggage made it too). From the Lufthansa & Air Malawi websites, their Frankfurt flight touched down 10 minutes after the scheduled connecting flight was to depart to Blantyre. Only God!!!

Luggage update: only 3 of the 60 bags made it on that flight (wonder if it'll be slacks or skirts for the team).

The last texts were that they had arrived 'safe and sound' in Blantyre.

They should now be traveling in vehicles to Malawi.

Praise God! They made it to Africa.

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2009 Malawi - Day 2... delayed in Frankfurt

I just received an email from a Mom who's daughter texted that the team has been delayed in Germany. Apparently there was trouble with their first plane and they are waiting for another plane.

dated... July 22, 2009 3:45pm PT.

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2009 Malawi - Day 2... leaving Frankfurt

From another source (a boyfriend, 'left behind' in Fresno)... The team is doing well. It sounded like most of them have not slept much since they left Fresno, but hopefully on this next leg of their journey they can get some rest. Also, 'bottom line is moral is high and all are safe'.

If you have had any contact with someone on the Trip that would be beneficial to the rest of us 'left behind', please email me @ carole@northsidechurch.com and I'll post it to the Blog. Thanks!

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2009 Malawi - Day 2... on the Road again...

One brave student (who will remain anonymous) sent a text to his Mom that the Team was about to board their plane in Frankfurt, Germany for Johannesburg, South Africa. (Can't wait to see the cell phone bill on that one. LOL!!!)

We have not heard any other updates, but I'm sure as soon as Pastor John can get to a computer in Africa I'll have more information to share.

Again, thank you for your continued prayers.

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2009 Malawi - Day One... Travel...

WOW! What a group... the energy from them was contagious...

With the sun rising above the mountains in the background, all 30 of them departed by carpool from Northside around 6:15am this morning. Prayers, tears and well wishes were plentiful.

It's bittersweet for those of us 'Left Behind' (we have electricity at the flip of a switch and needless to say our 'facilities' will be much more desired than theirs). But, we're all looking forward to hearing how God is working in and thru all those involved in this Missions Trip.

At approximately 12:00 noon they arrived @ LAX. The 'count off' confirmed that all had arrived and were ready for check in.

2:00pm - all 60 bags have been checked in (with no overage charges, thanks to our church scale and the hard work of those weighing and tagging this morning). And now they wait... most likely with cellphones in hand, texting everyone they know (BFF's included).

2:40 - they're boarding the plane @ LAX.

To be continued... as I receive information from Pastor John, I'll send an email to everyone when the Blog has been updated.

Your prayers are greatly appreciated.

Below is their flight itinerary:



LUFTHANSA 21JUL LOS ANGELES CA FRANKFURT 255P 1040A

LH 457 TUESDAY INTL 22JULS ECONOMY

AIRCRAFT: BOEING 747-400



LUFTHANSA 22JUL FRANKFURT JOHANNESBURG 1035P 845A

LH 572 WEDNESDAY INTL O.R. TAMBO INT 23JULS ECONOMY

AIRCRAFT: BOEING 747-400



AIR MALAWI 23JUL JOHANNESBURG BLANTYRE 1225P 235

PQM 202 THURSDAY O.R. TAMBO INT CHILEKAK ECONOMY

AIRCRAFT: BOEING 737



AIR MALAWI 05AUG BLANTYRE JOHANNESBURG 800A 1125

AQM 201 WEDNESDAY CHILEKA O.R. TAMBO INTK ECONOMY

AIRCRAFT: BOEING 737



LUFTHANSA 05AUG JOHANNESBURG FRANKFURT 655P 525

ALH 573 WEDNESDAY O.R. TAMBO INT INTL 06AUGV ECONOMY

AIRCRAFT: BOEING 747-400




LUFTHANSA 06AUG FRANKFURT LOS ANGELES CA 1005A 1240

PLH 456 THURSDAY INTL INTLV ECONOMY

AIRCRAFT: BOEING 747-400

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Next Up: Malawi, Africa!

Our high school students and sponsors are about to embark on a life-changing mission to Malawi, Africa. Carole Bowers, the executive assistant at Northside, is going to be giving updates while they are gone.

So just where exactly is this country they are going to? Well, here's just a little bit of info on the beautiful African country of Malawi...
Malawi is a landlocked country located in southeast Africa that is surrounded by Mozambique, Zambia, and Tanzania. Lake Malawi occupies nearly all of the country’s eastern border. The north-south Rift Valley is flanked by mountain ranges and high plateaus. In the higher elevations, Malawi is pleasantly cooler than many other African countries, but the lowlands are hot, humid, and tropical. Natural resources include limestone, hydropower, uranium, coal, and bauxite.

The British protectorate of Nyasaland was established in 1891 and became the independent nation of Malawi on July 6, 1964. Following 30 years of one-party rule, Malawi held multiparty elections in 1994 when a new constitution was instituted. The population is comprised of several ethnic groups, including Chewa, Nyanja, Tumbuka, Yao, Lomwe, Sena, Tonga, Ngoni, Ngonde, Asian, and European. English and Chichewa are the official languages, though others are spoken regionally.

Increasing political corruption remains an issue. President Bakili Muzuli’s government is believed to have sold 160,000 tons of reserve maize in 2000 despite signs of an imminent famine. Malawi’s food crisis has reached a point where most families do not have sufficient food to meet daily nutritional requirements and 3 million people are near starvation. The president declared a state of disaster in his country in February 2002 when a drought followed by heavy rains destroyed two seasons of crops.

In May 2004, Bingu wa Mutharika, an economist, was elected president through an election process that many consider irregular.

Nearly 90 percent of people live in rural areas and are engaged in farming. Agriculture products include sugarcane, cotton, tea, vegetables, nuts, cattle, and goats. More than 55 percent of Malawians live below the poverty threshold, and the inflation rate is 28 percent. Malawi is a very poor and densely populated nation and is ranked as one of the world’s least developed countries. Despite attempts at economic reform, the government continues to face challenges due to a rapidly growing population, the increasing number of HIV/AIDS cases, limited and poorly managed natural resources, recurrent droughts, environmental degradation, and food insecurity.

The economy of Malawi relies on substantial economic assistance from the World Bank and other nations. The government is attempting to develop a market economy, improve educational facilities, and address environmental issues, as well as deal with the escalating problem of HIV/AIDS. Adding to this, access to adequate health care is limited. The HIV/AIDS pandemic has had a significant impact on Malawi, where the prevalence rate among adults is 14.2 percent. Approximately 900,000 people in Malawi are living with the disease, and nearly 84,000 infected die each year. In addition, life expectancy has dropped, infant mortality has risen, and more than 400,000 children have lost one or both parents to the disease. From World Vision

Malawi is a beautiful country filled with beautiful people who both love God, and some who still need to hear the Good News of Christ. Join us in praying for our team as they are out there being the "body of Christ."

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