Gone to Malawi
October 29, 2003

I'm on the road again!

Last Sunday I hopped a plane to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, making a connecting flight to Nairobi, Kenya, with the final leg of my trip landing me in Lilongwe, Malawi. What am I doing in this small African country? Well, it's very simple. Allow me to explain.

In 1998 I was appointed to be the pastor of the Free Methodist Church in Ripon, California. One of the dictums I adhere to in my ministry — and that I wanted the congregation to understand from the start — is: "A church that is not missions minded is a dying church." So my secretary, Gayle (also the head of the Missions Committee), and I began to plan a mission trip to some other country. We decided it should be a place that is far away, challenging ourselves to trust the Lord for all that would be necessary. Our first trip was in 2002 to the Free Methodist medical clinics, schools and churches in Ethiopia. It was an exhilarating experience.

This year the mission committee planned to make their trip to Malawi, a small, central-African country bordered by Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique. Lake Malawi runs almost the entire north/south length of this country that is shaped much like a chili pepper.

My military assignment had me going to our new counter-terrorism base in Djibouti, Africa, about 1800 miles north of Malawi. I knew I'd be in Djibouti at the same time the mission team was to be in Malawi, so I approached my command for permission to join up with the team in order to assist them in constructing a new church for the folks in the ZoloZolo area of Mzuzu, well north of the Malawi capital, Lilongwe (lil - long - way).

With permission granted and my passport and leave papers in hand, I caught a flight out of Djibouti on Ethiopian Airlines, headed for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where I would make a connecting flight with my final destination, Lilongwe. Sounds simple enough, but let me tell you, it was quite a day!

When I arrived at the airport in Djibouti, I was told by the agent that my name was not on the manifest. I had my tickets, having purchased them several weeks in advance. I grabbed my cell phone and called Sladja, the employee of our base contractor Kellogg, Brown & Root. She handles any transportation problems for our military members. She was Johnny-on-the-spot, quickly determining that the ticket agent was using an outdated manifest! So I was cleared to go, or so I thought. When it came time to board the plane, I was preparing to show the agent my boarding pass when he asked me why I had not paid my exit tax (this is a tax that many countries have). I had passed through several check-ins and simply had not seen a sign indicating the place to pay the tax. There was good reason for this. There was no sign! You were expected to know. I paid my thirty dollars and ran for the plane. We were running a bit late, but I still figured I'd have time to catch my connecting flight in Addis Ababa. In Addis I sprinted for the gate, arriving just as the plane was to take off. Not seeing anyone around, I asked an agent nearby about the eleven o'clock flight. I was told not to worry; the plane wouldn't leave for another hour and a half. Well, that was going to foul up my plans to arrive in Lilongwe in time to surprise the team. As it turned out, our plane didn't take off until four o'clock. Not only was this not going to be the direct flight to Lilongwe I was originally booked on, but we were stopping in Nairobi on the way. I finally landed in Malawi at 9:00 p.m.

I was greeted at the airport by Len Roller and Bob Hughes, missionaries with the Free Methodist work in Malawi. We threw my stuff into the back of their pickup and began the short drive to the Light and Life Bible School for Pastors. Some of what I brought these folks was a bag of Oreo cookies and two boxes of Ritz Crackers. Highly prized items when you can't get them!

I stayed that first night with the Hughes', and since it was after dark when I arrived, I was pleasantly surprised the next morning at the beautiful campus for these Bible students.

I still have so much to share with you, but that will come in my next article. But let me share with you this one blessing. Just before the team loaded up the two vehicles we would take north to Mzuzu, we had a time of sharing our personal testimonies as to how we each had come to faith in Christ. The pastor/students warmly received our sharing and then several of them told their personal stories of coming to know Jesus as their savior. I'll tell you those at a later date. But the way we finished our time together was in prayer. Specifically, we prayed for those who were not well. Before we laid hands on the person, the Malawi pastors would break out into songs of praise. I wish you could hear them sing! It is glorious! We did some praying that day. One of the men, Dennis Donaldson, had a hernia unexpectedly appear just a week before leaving. He came anyway, believing God was going to do something special despite this apparent setback. We sang and then prayed for Dennis, and I'm here to tell you Dennis has had no problem this week at all. He's even been in charge of the mortar team, mixing the dirt, sand and cement to make the mortar for laying the brick for the walls of the church. We have been rejoicing all week.

So God has met us here in Malawi. And what a time it has been. More next week!