Pastor Mark Weeden of The King’s Church, Arundel, has just returned from a wide-ranging ministry trip to southern Malawi, where temperatures were consistently around 40C. He told HEART, “Even the locals were sweltering!”
Among the 16 messages he gave in 14 days, he taught at a two-day pastors’ conference which provided much appreciated theological training for 77 ministers and handed out Bibles. For many this would only be the second Bible in their entire congregation.
A tenth anniversary church celebration saw over 1,000 brightly dressed waving banners made by a lady from Torch Trust for the Blind who regularly visits that area.
Sadly, many orphans struggle in the south which is even more deprived than the rest of the country. One local church tries to provide meagre food for over 140 orphaned children every day, so Mark and his local pastor colleagues distributed basic items such as pens and pencils, toothbrushes and clothing.
The region around the town of Bengula that he visited has been doubly hit; flooding last year wiped away the railway line and bridges, as well as many homes, and devastated the local crops. Then in recent months there has been no rain at all, which means that the harvest later this year will be pitiful or non-existent.
Mark appealed to HEART readers, “Please pray that they will get rain, and supplementary food supplies, otherwise many will literally starve in the coming months.”