New Maps (2016)
A new series of maps has been produced showing our ministry hub areas. Click here to see them.
Goodbye to the Holloways
It doesn't seem long since we were reporting that Andy and Jennie were going to Malawi to work with Julian and Caroline. Sadly, their time there has come to an end, and they are now back in England. We are so grateful to them for all that they did to support the work in Malawi. Please pray for them as they re-adjust to life in England, and seek the Lord's will for their future.
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Andy & Jennie write in their blog, “We left Malawi and we are back in chilly England. Our last few days in Malawi were full of goodbyes. We had the privilege of working with all these lovely leaders. We will miss spending time with them and living alongside them. We will particularly miss many of the elderly people we met during Mercy Group visits. One of our favourite parts of Malawi was spending time with the children on the farm and in the village. The work with the children will continue with the help of Amai Edward and Amai Millis. Please pray for them." You can read the complete blog at https://hollowaysinmalawi.wordpress.com/. |
 Favour and Mia, two boys that always hung around outside our house. They loved being dressed up in Cocopops boxes! |
Baptisms (January 2016)
On the 25th January Julian wrote:
"We had a wonderful day yesterday climaxing in 16 people being baptised in a local irrigation dam near to our land - including our Jenny! The former Nyau leader was baptised too." See the photo below.
John’s new motorbike
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John is one of our two senior Malawian leaders (alongside Cameron). John is a church Pastor, interpreter for Julian, Caroline and visiting preachers, prayer warrior and genuinely lovely man. He is married to Betha and in their home on the farm they care for their own 3 children and 6 or 7 adopted orphans. Until 4 years ago John’s only means of transport was a bicycle – normal transport for men in the villages where cars are a rarity with perhaps just the village chief possessing a (usually beat up) old vehicle and a few more men who have regular work able to afford a moped or lightweight motorcycle. Fuel is also expensive. |
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Four years ago (having failed to teach John to drive a car!), as a result of donations received, we were able to provide him with his first motorbike. It has been well used and worked very hard visiting many churches, often with Cameron on the pillion and carrying Betha to visit friends and family and do the large family shopping in the market in Dedza.
By the beginning of this year, it was pretty much worn out – the uneven mud roads (tracks) are a challenge full of pot-holes and dangerous in the rainy season – having done a great job. So now we have been able to replace it with the one in the photo which John was able to obtain across the border in Mozambique. It will do well to give him another 4 years!
Gifts for Malawi (March 2016)
We are pleased to be able to report that thanks to the invaluable help of Malcolm Fry and the van he was able to use, in March we loaded all of our packages onto a container bound for Malawi. If last year is anything to go by they should arrive in Lilongwe around early to mid-June. Our final tally was: 14 bags of shoes, 34 bags of clothes, 1 box of 'phones, and 2 boxes of hand tools - 51 packages in total, double the quantity we sent last year.
Many thanks to all our donors but once again very special thanks to Malcolm for his kind and generous help.
We have received this response from Julian: "It’s wonderful to see this love in action. Thank you all. It's great to know that there are so many supportive friends working to help the poor here. May God shower His blessings on them all. Julian"
The Church at Tsumba (2016)
Here’s a photo that represents all that we are about at SaltMalawi; it’s a photo taken in January 2016 of a joint meeting at our church in the village of Tsumba (close to our farm at Chiphazi) where our team have overcome a number of challenges in recent months establishing this church.
It shows happy, healthy, fed children (almost all wearing shoes), adults looking well and able to fend for themselves as a result of being offered work on the farm, many of whom have been identified as vulnerable – all at a time when famine and raging inflation has a grip on the nation.
The two smiling white faces at the left of the front rows of children are Andy & Jennie Holloway – the young married couple who have, for most of the past year, been working alongside our missionaries, Julian and Caroline Lott and the Malawian leaders (Caroline is seated in blue a few rows further back on the left, Julian is taking the photo), where they have spent time working with the children and visiting some of the more vulnerable older folk in their own village homes.