We arrived at the village in Chilenge, it looked like all
the others we had visited since our trip began. The goal of this visit was a
little different. Instead of meeting with our sponsored children or attending
the Chiefs Bible studies, we were with members of FTS (Fishers, Trainers and Senders ) to put
into practice what we’d been learning the past few days: outreach and
evangelism. Translated: we were going to
walk the village, meet with its members and share the 4 spiritual laws or
however God directed us to express the Good News.
As always we were met by a large group of children. This is
the way of life in the villages. They love visitors, especially azungu (white
people). At their urging we played catch
with their soccer ball (made out of plastic bags tied with string). The FTS
team soon realized they could be a distraction to our mission (as they’d follow
us into the village) so Jan, Shea and Pat along with Chiku from FTS stayed back
to engage with the children.
We started by playing a few circle games. Chiku then
gathered them on the ground and with him translating, Jan told the story of
David and Goliath with Shea and Pat acting out the story. Afterwards we taught them "Jesus Loves Me" in
English and sign language. I can’t begin to describe the emotions felt seeing
their joy, eagerness and smiling faces as they learned the song. They loved to
sing it back to us over and over….and were even more excited to have it videotaped
(ahh, the marvels of smart phones) and played back to them.
Simply sitting with them was a blessing. The majority could
not speak English, yet they knew enough to say “my name is …” and repeat back
our names. We also learned many of them had attended the Jesus Film 2 days
earlier. What an example of God at work through the dedication and passion of
FTS!
The power of community was overwhelming. We experienced this
in every village we visited. Children laughing, women gathered around in
conversation, Malawians breaking into song. They were gracious, joyous and
loving in spite of their harsh living conditions. What a lesson (and gift) for us
all!
Jan Galati writes, "Our first full day in Nkhoma, we visited with the wonderful
people from World Vision and then headed out to visit our sponsored children.
As we went through each of the villages, we were greeted by many of the local
children with waves and thumbs up. They were as curious about us as we were of
them. 
When it was my turn to visit Janet, the women of the village
greeted us with song and serenaded us as we walked into the village. Janet is
such a beautiful girl and I was so excited to bring her some special gifts. She
and her family were so gracious and kind and gave me several papayas as a gift.
My heart was full of blessings. The women invited Pat, Natalie and I to join
them in their circle of singing and dancing. Oh what fun it was, a very special
memory indeed. 
