NSIMA WITH MUSTARD

by Mike Nicolai

Many members of the SCPC team and I were dispatched to a village located approximately 12 miles down dirt roads from where we were staying. Once we arrived, some of the team played with the many kids and taught them songs. The remainder, accompanied by FTS (Fishers Trainers and Senders) team members, went deeper into the village to meet locals and evangelize to them. For me, the word ‘evangelize’ does not promote positive memories. I then remembered Pastor Tod’s sermon where he encouraged people to evangelize by focusing on your actions and leading by example. Not so much by speaking words. I prayed for guidance and focus in demonstrating God’s love to the villagers I was soon to meet. 

Aubrey (from FTS) and I came to meet a woman who was sitting near a mud walled, thatch roofed home. With Aubrey’s help translating, we came to learn that this woman had just left the villages ‘Church of Abraham’ and had just started attending another Church in a nearby valley. I asked what it was that she was looking forward to from this new Church. “I want to learn more about Jesus and then spread the gospel to my friends and neighbors”. So I asked what it was she was going to do to help spread the gospel. “I’m going to spread the gospel to my friends and neighbors.” I replied “but what are you going to do?” She said “I don’t understand.”  So I asked what her favorite food was. “Nsima with mustard” (maize flour and water - a staple food in Malawi). Do you like to cook? “Yes.” Try this; cook your favorite food, but not for yourself. Take it to your neighbor and offer it to them. Explain what you have recently learned about Jesus at your new church. How you met me and how we talked about demonstrating God’s love to others. Then encourage your neighbor to cook their favorite dish for their neighbor.  And so on. Let us pray one day, for you to hear a knock on your door, from a different neighbor holding out their favorite dish. 

 

 Mike demonstrated by sharing his peanut butter and jelly sandwich with the woman.

A BIG CHANGE

by Jon Moran

When SCPC partnered with Y-Malawi, the most basic way to get involved was to sponsor a child.  Our family decided to sponsor two children; they lived in a rural area with very limited access to schooling, and no ready access to safe drinking water.  They had limited opportunity for improving their lives, and their families struggled just to put food on the table.  I doubted a dollar a day per child would make a difference, but we did it in obedience to God.

I had the chance to visit Chikonzero and Phillippina recently; the changes to their lives are dramatic.  They have access to drinking water, are within walking distance of school, are exposed to the Word of God and Christians in the community, there are churches nearby; now many of the houses in their villages have sheet-metal roofs and concrete floors.  Despite drought, agriculture, trade, and commerce are growing in the Nkhoma region.  Phillippina wants to become a nurse, and Chikonzero wants to become a corporate driver.

The biggest change is my own appreciation of what God can do if I’m willing to obey Him, even just a little, in as little as a dollar a day per child.

 

Jon, Sheryl and Joshua Moran with Phillippina and her grandmother in 2012.

 

  Jon with Phillippina in 2014.

You can hear more stories from the team members and see a slideshow of the trip in Fellowship Hall at San Clemente Presbyterian Church on Sunday, September 21 at 10:00AM (snacks provided) and 2:00PM (light lunch provided). If you miss either of those presentations, team members will be available at noon to chat about their trip experiences.