The Gift of Malawi Children

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!