Everyone,

Here are pictures of the little boy we went to get yesterday. He was
living outside on his own in a town about 160 kilometers from Mzuzu.
He introduced himself to us after hearing we were looking for orphans
that needed a home. He cried when Samuel asked where his mother and
father were, and he said they are both dead.

I just wanted to share a little about what is going on here. Faith
Chapel thank you for your gift of finances for this month. I may be
using it for all the cooking pots and pans and dishes we will need
soon. I think we are going to Lilongwe to shop next week, thats at
least a 3 day trip. We will have to stay over night a couple of nights
while we purchase everything needed to open the orphanage. The lists
are quite long of items needed.

Thank you for being faithful servants of God,
Your Missionary Lynda

Churchville House

Wow, I spent most of the day at Churchville House- that’s the name I gave our orphans house. I setup an office- desk, chair and bench on the front porch. I have finished drawing the plans for our building even though it is already built we needed it documented. The next satellite houses will be smaller but still will easily hold 12 orphans and a widow.

During lunch I showed the workers pictures from last April when our Faith Chapel group was here. They were very excited to see the video of Pastor Dave and Bishop Samuel talking in front of the orphanage they are finishing up now. They said how much they appreciated us building this for the orphans.

My bedroom on top of the Main Building has a beautiful view and it will have a great breeze blowing thru all day. Yes Steve, I said my bedroom. I like to climb up there and look around and try to imagine how nice it will be when it is done.

Our chef Isaac will be starting to work here at the site soon. Until there is cooking to do for the team of 5 that are coming in December he will be used for building. We need all the hands we can get. I figured out last weekend we have 40 days left to finish both buildings. Samuel is trusting God we will have it done. The 40 days sounds prophetic in some way. God took 40 days to dry up the flood and Jesus fasted for days in the desert…. And we have 40 days left to finish God’s work.  Please pray with us that the tasks will be completed!!

Over due update

Saturday Oct. 13^th.  I need to stay home and clean my room today. My roommate left for home at 5:30 this morning, she has been with me since Wednesday. My desk looks just like my old office desk and my home desk, it’s a mess and I can’t find things; too many chargers, batteries and power cables.

 At 7am Samuel and I left to buy rebar for the second floor of the main building at Hesed House Village. When we arrived I finished the measuring of the building I had started yesterday so I can work on the floor plan today.   There is an original plan but sizes have changed since that was drawn up and we want to figure out where the water pipes will be before we pour the concrete slap for the second level. In case you are wondering why they use concrete I asked, It is because the building is made out of bricks and they need a very solid surface up there to hold the weight.

  Shortly after we were there Samuel had said he needed to run a ½hour errand and would come back for me, LOL, he said bank, and diesel and rebar would take ½ hour. I left with him instead of staying in the middle of nowhere with no bathroom in sight and I could see far because I was up on the decking for the second level; nice view from there. We were gone for 4 hours, by the time we got back we had to just unload the rebar and go home.  But Praise God we have a whole barrel of diesel thanks to donations from home. Now we can travel to Lilongwe to buy the supplies needed for Hesed Village without being concerned about fuel. Samuel is also going to Tanzania now that their 2 countries have settled down and stopped talking war. He needs truck parts and tires from there because they are very much cheaper.

 At some point I need to go back and make a measurement and drawing of Churchville, our orphans home built by Faith Chapel. Kenny and Marie the house Mum will live there. I will be creating a new drawing for the next orphans home. This house will be a little simpler to help keep costs down for the next group who will raise money to build a home. Samuel says there will be 10 homes, I say 12 and Steve is planning on 15.

Pastor Boyd and his family arrived at Samuel’s house Thursday with 2 large boxes, some bags of things, 2 suitcases and 2 chickens. I took pictures of the boxes because they were left over boxes from Samaritan’s purse. Now we know where 2 of the boxes of Christmas presents arrived, awesome. Yes these children truly have nothing but that’s according to our standards. They all seem as happy or happier than our children but not as healthy, no cartoons, TVs or video games here for kids.
I asked Samuel why Pastor Boyd was here because they really hadn’t been spending much if any time together .He said Pastor Boyd is trading ministry with another pastor that is arriving on Monday. I think Pastor Boyd and family have been in a remote place for quite some time and they need some ”freshness “ as Samuel called it.

When Samuel said that word, ‘freshness” it made me think about why I am comfortable here, everything is fresh and new. After 40 years of working every day I needed some freshness in my life. Having to trust God in everything you do is awesome also, at home we can pretty much take care of ourselves. Here in this strange country I have to trust God, He sent me here and He will take care of me. God has made me so brave I even slept on the floor for 3 nights. Matt, Tom, Dave and Pat know how brave that is. Whatever those bugs are that Monster Kitty used to eat they are big, big enough to put a leash on and walk outside almost. They are about the size of a ½ dollar, do they still make coins?
There have been many souls saved from the crusade we did for 4 nights; Samuel is a very exciting Evangelist for Jesus. I have video recordings I am going to put on CDs so we can share what he is doing here. In the last paragraph I talked about having to trust the Lord to provide for you, I think that really helps open people’s hearts. They have no other hope  here but Jesus to help them day to day and then that promise of Heaven when it’s done.

Sunday Oct 14^th. We took 60 new Born Again Christians to Lake Malawi to get water baptized this afternoon. I joined in also so I could say I was baptized in Lake Malawi. To get to the lake it is 47km over a winding mountain road. The devil was very angry about all these new Christians. Both our trucks overheated on the way home. A 1 hour drive turned into 5 hours of driving, stopping, driving and then finally 1 truck had to stay where it was and wait for parts. 30 people and kids were left there while we continued on. At least we were on a paved road or tarmac as they call it and not on a dirt road. The pavement was warm so we sat on it because our clothes were still wet. As soon as it gets dark here; 6:00pm, it gets cool fast.

The trip to the lake was the first time Kenny had seen a lake. He was a little frightened when he got there but I got him to sit in the water and when the 1^st wave hit him he laughed a lot. It is a real treat to see children experience things for the 1^st time. That’s why I am so blessed to have my grandson live with me, I have seen a lot of his 1^st time experiences.

 

 If I could speak and understand their language I would be asking everyone, “what do you think Heaven will look like”, I’d like to hear what Americans have to say compared to Africans.

Steve Butcher thinks Africans would say Heaven is like America. And since I’m from American and sent here to Africa by God I must be an Angel. Thanks, Steve.

I think Heavens main difference will be the Love. Nothing matters more than Love and that’s all God is asking us for. If only we could see the good in people and not all the negative stuff we could love anyone just like God Loves us and commands us to do.

Week 2 and still hauling wood

This is how you put a second floor on a brick building in Malawi. We have to build a very strong deck to hold the cement floor we are going to pour soon. We have already gone to the forest 5 times to get the wood that is needed for building this deck. Yes we could have bought the wood in Mzuzu but the cost was too high.  

 

Speaking of high our last trip to get wood was the furthest in and highest spot we have been so far. I took some nice pictures of the valley and other mountains.

I’m sorry updating this blog page has been slow but the internet connection over here is so slow half the time I can’t get on line. Very early in the morning has been the best time, I can get 30kbps, in case you don’t know that is very slow. It is not possible to search the web. I have my name down to get a new internet device that should work in Mbps but they haven’t called back yet saying they have one, it is a USB connection.

Kenny our 1st orphan

It makes me so happy to look at this picture I have tears in my eyes. We walked to the doctor holding hands, what a joy that was! He found my Tic Tacs in my bag while we were waiting to see Dr. Just like home and having Brandon with me, if there is candy he’ll find it.

I took 7 year old Kenny Kuanda to the doctor this morning. He had a big raw spot on his neck. They checked him over and said he had a fungus. They shaved his hair off the spot, washed it and put a cream on. He needs to wash and apply the cream 2xs a day. We also just found out he is HIV positive. We have medicine for that also. I heard the government provides that medicine for free so in the future we won’t have to pay for it. Today’s expenses were 13,860 Kmw. I’m pretty sure that is about $52.00.  Everyone made a big fuss about how much it cost and said they did a whole bunch of tests because I was with him, white lady has money. Pretty funny since I couldn’t pay the entire bill, I still owe them 3,860 Kmw. Samuel is saying don’t pay them the rest but I can’t do that, I signed my name I’ll pay the bill. Kenny was tested for a lot more things and I’m glad they did, it’s nice to know what kind of health he is in. He weighs 18kg and is 7 years old. Grammy weighs 60kg. I’ve lost a little weight but am happy to lose a few pounds.

Our widow’s full name is Maria Tembo. She couldn’t find enough words to thank us for taking care of Kenny, I finally told her to thank God because He is the one that has sent us to help. Maria is 55 yrs old. She had 3 or 4 miscarriages when she was 1^st married. After her husband died she starting taking care of sick people and then raising their children after they died. Maria will need to be tested for HIV also because of all the people she has taken care of including Kenny. Maria has been going to a Baptist church but will join Church on the Wings this Sunday. She was treasurer at her current church and has taught that job to someone else before she left. She doesn’t speak English, we will need to work on that because all the children need English and she will be Mom. They can help each other.