A Miracle for Mphatso

Yesterday a miracle trip began for Mphatso!  Read his story below:

The above picture is of Mphatso and his family.  They live in a village about 2 hours off the paved road outside of Lilongwe.  Mphatso is sitting in his father's lap.  He was born with a severe cleft palate and cleft lip.  When he was born the people of Mphatso's village tried to get the parents to kill the child.  They said he was a curse on the family and would always bring bad tidings to the family unless he was killed.  Mphatso's parents are Christians, however.  They said that the Lord gave this child life and the Lord could take the life away, but only the Lord should have power over life and death.  

Mphatso's parents are very loving and caring parents who try to give their children the best they can.  When they heard about ConnectMed International coming to Lilongwe last May they brought Mphatso to see if the doctors could help.  Dr. Gosman was able to repair Mphatso's cleft palate during the surgery week.  However his cleft lip required more complex surgery and would need to be repaired in a more advanced medical setting.

Dr. Gosman and some members of her team also work with another nonprofit out of San Diego, CA called Fresh Start Surgical Gifts.  Fresh Start's goal is to provide disadvantaged children who suffer from physical deformities the gift of reconstructive surgery.  They are the organization that allowed for Dr. Gosman to perform our son's cleft palate repair just a year ago.  Praise God that through those connections we are able to see more and more children receiving the life saving gift of reconstructive surgery!  

Jeremy, Dr. Gosman, and Fresh Start have been working tirelessly to get a few different children from Malawi over to San Diego to receive surgery.  Mphatso and his guardian, Justice, are the first to go.  For more on the story of Mphatso and Justice please see this previous blog.  Justice is giving up his home and life for two months to travel with Mphatso as his guardian.  Although they had never met the connection between the two was immediate.  They are already close friends.  

So yesterday was the big day!  Mphatso's family had traveled a couple of days earlier to Lilongwe to stay in town while waiting on the flight.  The day before they left Justice and Jeremy along with Mphatso and his dad went around gathering up some supplies that they would need for the journey.  We were able to supply Mphatso with some clothes and some toiletries.  And Justice took Mphatso shopping for some shoes!  Jeremy even took them all out for pizza.  Mphatso ate half of a large pizza!  It was the first time he or his father had ever had pizza.  Justice correctly commented that as long as Mphatso loves pizza he'll get along just fine in America!

Yesterday morning we met up with the family to take Justice and Mphatso to the airport.  Mphatso's baby sister is severely sick with sepsis so she and Mphatso's mother weren't able to travel to the airport. But Mphatso's father was excited to make the trip and he couldn't stop smiling as he watched the planes land and take off.  None of them had ever been to the airport or even seen an airplane before. 

Jeremy getting Justice all checked in and giving some last minute advice on airports and customs, etc. 

Mphatso and Justice with tickets in hand!

Jeremy, Mphatso, and Justice

To watch this miracle unfold is quite a humbling experience.  The steps that have been taken by so many people to get this precious child the help that he needs is nothing that could have been accomplished without the hand of God!  We have been blessed to be just a small part of the mighty work that the Lord is doing in the life of this child.  Mphatso's mother kept praising God for His miracle and she prays that this act will change her village.  She prays that through this story they will come to know Christ as their savior and realize how precious each and every life is.  God has used a 6 year old boy and his birth defect to change our life and the lives of so many others.  He has shown that "all things work for the good of those who love him, those who are called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28)  To God be the Glory!   

Life

Here are some more pictures of everyday life at Rainbow!

Rainbow was blessed with donations for two washing machines.  We have many children who wet the bed or get sick and their soiled clothing/bedding needs a good wash.  So Lucas collected money to have two washing machines bought for Rainbow.  Here Jeremy is showing the house parents how to use the machines.  They've never seen washing machines before.

Practicing with the washing machines

A little permaculture!  Here Jeremy is taking the runoff water from the washing machines and using it to water a bed.  The permaculture club is putting a straw fence around it to keep the dogs and kids out.  They are also planting a permaculture garden in this huge area.  Yet another use of permaculture at Rainbow!

Evelene and Wakisa watching the activities

Julita working her portion of the gardens.  The kids were allowed to plant their own crops and maintain them if they wanted to.  Fallos (one of our older boys) just sold a huge crop of onions and made MK8000 ($20).  Hopefully more kids will catch onto this and decide to work hard and make some extra money for themselves.  

Working the gardens

Chikondi

Meshek pushing baby J on the scooter

The boys spent last Saturday hauling in the dried corn/maize husks and stalks from the big garden behind our house.  These husks will be used as mulch in the permaculture gardens.

Having fun riding back on the truck.  The boys did about 6 loads that day alone.

Jeremy reading to baby J

Martin and Jeremy working on Chichewa by translating the Bible

Mavuto kwambiri!!!  

Maula Prison Water Wells

Last month M-1 Ministries sent an email to our supporters on our email list requesting prayer and guidance over a very big ministry opportunity.  Amazing Grace Prison Ministries (headed by our friend Charles Msukwa) informed us that Maula Prison here in Lilongwe, which houses over 2400 prisoners, had no access to reliable water.  The prison is completely dependent upon the local water board which is less reliable than the local power company.  The water company in Lilongwe routinely looses water for hours each day and some water outages have lasted over a week at a time. That's an entire week of absolutely no water for over 2400 men, women, and children (the women who are nursing are able to keep their children with them). 

The prisoners in Maula can be placed in the prison for any number of offenses both minor and major.  We know of some who are in prison (or awaiting trial) for stealing food. 1200 of the men have been convicted and over 1000 are still awaiting trial. Here is a New York Times article that shows some of the story of Maula and other prisons: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/06/international/africa/06prisons.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

In His perfect way the Lord already had Jeremy working with Clean Water for Malawi which raises money to place water wells in villages all across Malawi who have no access to clean water.  God provided that Clean Water and Amazing Grace would work together to accomplish His work in Maula Prison.  We sent out an email explaining the need and our supporters responded in a mighty and God- glorifying way!  The desire was to raise enough money to provide Maula with two wells on the property. Not only did God provide the money for both Maula Prison wells but he also provided money for an additional water well!  That's 3 water wells that will be placed thanks to the Lord's guidance in the hearts of our friends and family.  To God be the glory!!!  

We knew immediately where the third water well would need to be placed.  Please read the story of Mphatso and Justice who are just a few days from traveling to the States for reconstructive surgery in San Diego via Fresh Start Surgical Gifts.  (We will update on that story soon.)  But we realized when we visited Mphatso's village that they had no water well and were using a hand dug well for access to water.  Now Clean Water will place a water well in Mphatso's village as a result of the Lord moving in a mighty and powerful way!  To God be the glory!!!

Yesterday Jeremy went out to the Maula Prison with Charles to meet with the prison officials and plan the two sites for the water wells.  Below are some of the pictures:

Charles Msukwa (Amazing Grace Prison Ministries) is on the left and the facilities manager for Maula Prison is in the middle. 

The proposed site for the first water well at Maula

The men of the prison working to cook the daily portion of nsima given to the prisoners

Maula Prison grounds

Above is the site where the women of Maula cook.  There are approximately 200-300 women in Maula and their nursing babies. The second well will go here.

Visitors day at the prison

Praise God for His provision for Maula Prison!  Praise God for the sacrifice of those who supported the water wells and the ministry of Clean Water and Amazing Grace.  Praise God that he has placed our family in this amazing ministry where we can see first hand His work and His power.  To God be all glory, honor, and praise!  

  "For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of your names as followers of Christ, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward."

In This Life (may we glorify Him)

The title of our blog is "In This Life" and the subtitle is "may we glorify Him".  This is what we strive for our life to be:  In this life may we glorify Him!  

Below are some pictures of our everyday life here in Malawi.  We love our life.  We love our home.  We love our adopted country.  We love our children.  We love His mission. We love being His servants.

"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4

Does this mean that if we love God He will give us what we desire?  No.  This means that the more we love, worship, and mold our lives into God's plan, the more HIS desires become OUR desires.  

For the first time in over two years we are NOT wanting to run home.  Yes, we leave in 1 1/2 weeks.  We'll be "home" (in the US) for a long 5 month furlough where we will share with our friends and family all that the Lord is doing here.  But we are very torn.  We want to see our loved ones.  But this is home.  These are also our loved ones.  This is our life.  We love it!  And it's going to be very hard to leave. 

 Thank you, Lord, that your desire has become our desire.  Thank you that your work has become our work and your people have become our people.  

Here is a glimpse of our life:

CJ and JC

JC and AJ

The "fruits" of our labor!  All organic veggies fresh from our garden!  This plus two heads of lettuce was one days harvest.

New puppies!  Some of the Rainbow boys found orphaned puppies who were starving and cold.  Of course they tried to hide them in their rooms for a few nights.  Once found we got permission from Nasson and the Kyser family took them to bulk them up until they're bigger.  THey've now doubled in size and Simba and Sam LOVE them!

Jeremy takes the Rainbow soccer team to many different villages to play games.  This day as they were returning we could tell they had received a BIG WIN!  Yay for Rainbow!!!!

Baby J keeps getting bigger and bigger.  He's now walking in his Daddy's footsteps!

Amayi (mother) and mwana (child) outside our house.  They are church members of Rainbow.

Heading to check out the work the Rainbow boys are doing in the fields.  This is our road.

Jeremy promised that if the kids got their fields prepared for planting before we left then they'd get a pizza party!  They've been working hard!

Phiri and SM

Toto (Towerra) and baby J.  

We love our life and we're so very thankful for the opportunity to serve.  To God be all the glory and honor!