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Having your support
means a lot.
Hi friends! We wanted to take a moment to thank you for your support for our most recent trip to Malawi! We are so thrilled to give you a recap of all God did. Enjoy!
John and Gina Moore
 
A letter from John and Gina:
 
John and I recently returned from Malawi, and we have much to share!  This was our longest stay, and we were able to pack in a lot of ministry as well as fellowship time with our “adopted” family in Africa.  Pastor Matthews Phiri, his wife Thokozani, and their children are wonderful hosts to us each time we visit.  They are all very involved in the ministry of the churches in their association as well as their community of Ntcheu. 
 
We have several goals in mind when we visit Ntcheu:
  • Encourage believers, church leaders and Matt’s family in their relationship with Christ and in their ministry.
  • Evangelize the lost in the area surrounding Ntcheu and              plant new churches.
  • Train and share resources with church leaders. Carry materials needed for ministry.  (Shipping costs are astronomical!)
  • Learn more about the needs of people and the culture of Malawi.
  • Enjoy the fellowship of other believers including the missionaries who serve that part of Malawi.
 
God has called us to this ministry so we must be obedient to that assignment. However, we are very grateful to those who have asked to join us in serving these people so far away.  Thank you to all who have partnered with us and with the Lord to meet physical and spiritual needs, share the gospel, and edify the saints in Malawi.
 
Please pray for these people as they struggle to survive a country wide famine. The fall and winter months will be the most difficult.
 
We came away from the trip with a few goals for the
 immediate future:
  • Complete the building at the farm (where new well and irrigation equipment was installed) to house the corn we will harvest in December and create a place for the guards to sleep (around the clock guards are a must.)
  • We hope to purchase a truck for the farm this year to help in distributing corn to villagers or to market in years of abundant rain when the corn will be sold rather than given away.
  • Complete building projects at Ntcheu Baptist Church. (roof for new addition, plumbing, etc.)
  • Build church buildings on land we have recently purchased for new congregations.
Thank you again for following us on our journey!
 
Love,
Gina and John
 
 
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Day 1: 
 
Our first morning was spent with children’s Sunday school teachers. They were eager to learn methods of teaching children the Bible.  We briefly explained how to use the flannel graph we brought. We now have 9 sets of Old Testament flannel graph in that area!
 
In the afternoon we met with most of the 20 students that Warm Hearts Ministry sponsors in school.  They all completed our required course on the book of John and were rewarded with a certificate of completion.  They will study Philippians and Colossians this year along with their schoolwork.
 
Later that afternoon we visited the Warm Hearts Ministry farm.  This has been made possible by generous donors who purchased a well and irrigation equipment that was installed on land Pastor Matt already owned. They already had the corn planted and we helped by hand fertilizing each little stalk.  The corn has grown so much since we got home!  When this parcel of the land is harvested it should add 50 more bags of corn to our storeroom.  All of that corn will keep many families in the area from starvation during this year’s famine.  The farm will be an ongoing blessing.  During years when rain is plentiful, the corn can be sold to build churches and further ministry projects.  

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Day 2: 
 
We drove out to the village surrounding Elizabeth Baptist Church this morning to dedicate our second well.  In the first picture you will see a hole where many people were getting drinking water causing them to get cholera.  This new well ensures safe drinking water for a great number of people for many years to come! 
 
As part of the dedication ceremony, John and I acted out the story of the woman at the well.  It was a powerful illustration that everyone enjoyed.
 
While we were in Elizabeth village we had the privilege of meeting Maria.  She is the widow whose house needs a lot of repairs.  Thank you to those who donated money to make that happen.
 
In the afternoon we distributed goats to 16 pastors and 24 widows.  I didn’t realize how stubborn goats can be!  If you are like me and wondered how the widows (who walked to the church) got their goat home, I took a picture so you could see.  They were given money for transportation, and they hired bike taxis like the one you see.  The goat was not happy, but I think he was safely transported! 
 

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Day 3:  
 
Today was all about young people!  We had over 400 teens show up for teaching from the book of Daniel.  We were able to communicate the importance of doing the right thing in every circumstance.  We were able to hire a band so there was plenty of singing and dancing. We served them a big lunch.  In the afternoon they formed two teams and had a soccer match (they call it football).  During halftime, a pastor gave a short message from Scripture.  It was a beautiful day.
 

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Day 4:  
 
We enjoyed a wonderful time at church.  John taught from Titus 2 and Pastor Matt translated for him.  We left and drove over an hour to an area where we want to plant a new church. The people were so happy to have us there.  We ate lunch, and we provided them with a big meal as well.  In the afternoon, Pastor Matt preached an evangelistic message, and many came forward afterwards for prayer.  We also had a great lesson for the children who were very excited to have us there and disappointed when we left.
 
 
Day 5:  
 
Today was a very big day!  We expected 500+ church leaders to attend a leadership conference and we had 1,030 show up! God provided enough chairs for everyone and enough food for them to have a meal with meat, rice, nsima and vegetables.  John and I each taught a session and our friend and missionary to Malawi, Gary Reiben, taught the third.  Everyone was given some money for their transport home, and they were so appreciative.  It amounted to about $.70 US.  It is very humbling to see their joy and gratitude for what is so little to Americans. 
 
In the afternoon, Pastor Matt, Thokozani, John and I travelled a few hours to spend the night at a game park.  None of us had ever been and it was a delight for all of us!  We saw monkeys, elephants, hippos, antelope, kudo, warthogs, crocodiles, and most importantly…we saw a black rhinoceros! They are highly endangered and even some of the staff at the game park had never spotted one. 
 

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Day 6:  
 
We enjoyed the game park in the morning.  We tracked a couple of lions but never saw one.  Seeing an elephant family that day was the highlight of the day.  We enjoyed good fellowship with Matt and Thokozani and used the time to discuss ministry plans.  We also ran into a group from Longview, Texas who were in Malawi doing ministry with one of Matt’s longtime friends.  The world really is smaller than we think!!
 
We headed back to Ntcheu to pack up for our trip home.  That afternoon we had time to meet with the women who were responsible for all the cooking for the week and the men who set up and took down chairs and handled lots of transportation that week.  They helped unload goats and handled anything else that needed to be done.  We were able to give them a monetary gift even though they signed up as volunteers.  We couldn’t do our ministry without them!
 

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Day 7:  
 
The day started early!  We headed to Lilongwe in time to have coffee at a coffee shop, purchase a Starlink Wi-Fi receiver for Matt’s home and go to the local printing company.  After that we headed to the airport.  We are always sad to leave Malawi and look forward to our return. 
 
One thing that made our leaving better was knowing we would spend a day and night in London with our friends and IMB missionaries, Stan and Gay Littleford.  It was a time of refreshment for all of us.  
 
 
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