Recently four WELS members visited Malawi on a short-term mission trip, coordinated by Kingdom Workers. One of them summarized her experience in the following prayer:

This was an incredible experience! Thank you for the opportunity to witness your love in action among our brothers and sisters in Malawi, Africa. I praise you, God, for your amazing love that reaches across all generations, all languages, every geographical barrier, and every disability.

I didn’t know what to expect when I first came to Malawi. Nothing prepared me, however, for the magnificent smiles that greeted us and the complete joy, and I mean JOY, that we saw and felt in the worship services with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Our first worship experience was in Zomba. We met so many wonderful people and many pastors, like Pastor Chaponda and Pastor Paul Mkowasenga. The choirs, O Lord, the choirs were amazing! Our new friends danced and sang with such beauty and grace! Even though we did not understand the words they were singing, we understood that they were singing to you, O God! The joy on their faces and in their voices drew us in and we worshiped right along with them.

And when they invited us to commune with them, O Father, what a taste of heaven it was! You know our hearts. You were there, Lord. You saw our tears and felt our joy. To experience your very body and blood, given for us, given for them… it was almost overwhelming. God, I just can’t wait to be with you and all believers in heaven. If we were able to experience this much unity and fellowship and love this side of heaven for that brief moment in time, what will heaven be like? O my heart longs to be with you now, but we are here on earth for now, for a purpose.

In this service we were also able to witness our friends bringing their harvest offerings to you. This was humbling to watch as I confess, Lord, I do not always give you my firstfruits or my best. O Father, forgive me! Our Malawian friends gave from what they had and many bags full of maize were gathered. Thank you, Lord, for blessing our friends with food and with generous hearts to give back to you. Please, Lord, help our friends make a good profit from selling this maize so the money may be used to grow your Kingdom in this area of Malawi. May even more souls be saved through your precious Word.

Father, we praise you for the souls that have been saved, like the nine beautiful babies that were baptized in this service. God, your Word IS living and active. Your Spirit is moving and changing hearts and lives here. You are amazing, God!

O, Lord, you know I could go on and on in my prayers. I haven’t even begun to thank and praise you for the wonderful volunteers who willingly give of their love and time every week to help those with disabilities. God, bless these volunteers with strong faith and zeal to share that faith with families who are hurting. Show these families that you love them dearly. They are precious in your sight and their children are beautiful, valuable, and loveable. Father, you gave your dear Son as a sacrifice for each one of them because you love them that much.

Thank you, God, for the Kingdom Workers, the pastors, the Sunday School teachers, and the volunteers who helped reach over 300 children at VBS in Phalombe.

The smiling faces of those children will be forever imprinted on our hearts.

O Father, what can we do? How can we help? Move us to pray for the pastors and workers in Malawi. We do pray for them, God, that you would increase their faith, keep them rooted in your Word, and help them to resist the devil and temptations in their personal lives. Keep them strong and eager to serve you faithfully, Lord God. Fill us with the desire to look beyond our own needs. Help us to be good stewards of our time, our talents, and our treasures that we may use the blessings you have given us to be blessings to others.

We learned so much from our new friends in Malawi, but what I learned most is that we are all lost and in need of a Savior. Jesus, you died and rose for every one of us. Every single soul is precious and lovable in your sight. O, my God, forgive me for my selfishness. Open my eyes and heart to love others as you love me, whether they live across the globe or under my own roof. Father, empower me by your Spirit, to love, for the sake of your Son, Jesus. In his Name I pray. Amen- let it be so.

Kristen Miller lives in Franklin, Wisconsin and teaches Spanish at several WELS Elementary Schools in the Milwaukee area.

Please pray for those working in fields that are ripe for harvest. Share their story, engage with future news and receive updates. Go to this link to learn more about our mission fields in Africa and how the Holy Spirit is working faith in people’s hearts  https://wels.net/serving-others/missions/africa

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

This year I celebrated Pentecost at the ends of the earth – or at least, the end of Malawi. My journey covered over one hundred miles of some of the most beautiful scenery in Africa, and brought me to one of the remotest areas of Malawi – the Eastern bank of the Lower Shire River.

In 1993 Missionary John Janosek was asked by an LCCA member to visit his home village in the Lower Shire region of Malawi. It is called the “Lower Shire” because the river drops almost 3,000 feet from the Blantyre highlands to a flat plain below. The drive is like an airplane’s descent, with hairpin curves and spectacular views. The Lower Shire region is the most densely populated area of the country and is extremely fertile for growing sugar cane and cotton. It is also considerably warmer there than in the rest of the country. During the summer, temperatures can reach well above 120°F.

For two decades, WELS missionaries visited this area and served six congregations and two preaching stations with Word and Sacrament. Missionary Rob Wendland made two trips per week from Blantyre and was able to reach each group at least once a month. A Malawian called worker, Evangelist Master lived in one of the villages and assisted the missionaries, as did local lay leaders who conducted worship services and led confirmation classes. In 2015, each congregation’s average weekly attendance was 50. Additionally, there were an average of 20 baptisms and 40 confirmations per year at each congregation.

In October 2017, Missionary Wendland accepted a call to serve at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary. The spiritual care of the Lower Shire congregations is now in the hands of LCCA. Three Malawian pastors from the Blantyre area have divided up the congregations among themselves and have committed to making visits as they are able, however difficult that may be.

Four of the Lower Shire congregations are located on the Eastern Bank Road. However, these congregations are currently unreachable by car. The region is prone to violent flooding, such as the devastating 2015 flood that killed 176 Malawians (see https://wels.net/the-tree-of-life/). On one end of the Eastern Bank Road, the bridge has collapsed. On the other end, part of the road has washed out. Nevertheless, it is possible to get to there and back in a day.

Pastors Bright Pembeleka, James Meja, Willie Matengula and I left Blantyre shortly after 8 a.m. in a Toyota Landcruiser and two hours later we arrived in the town Bangula, not far from the Shire River. We parked the car at a filling station and we each took our own taxi – a bicycle taxi. Our drivers took us to the end of the paved road and continued along a dirt path to the river. Due to sand we had to get off the bikes and walk at one point, then we hopped back on and continued our trip.

At the river, the four of us boarded a flatboat and our pilot used a long bamboo pole to push us upstream. We stayed close to the shoreline but did not see any hippos or crocs. I saw a flatboat carrying a man on a motorcycle, and another loaded down with eight passengers, their baggage and a bicycle. After we were 50 feet upstream from the landing on the opposite bank, our pilot eased us out into the middle of the river and the current carried us across safely to the other side.

There, we took a ride on motorcycles. Pastor Meja and I rode behind one driver, the other pastors with a second driver. I have seen three adults and two children on one motorcycle before. We rode on narrow dirt paths, cutting across corn fields, the yard of a mosque, a soccer playing field, and swerving between houses. We crossed a river on an abandoned train trestle – another flood washed out the tracks. After 45 minutes we arrived at our final destination: Galagala Lutheran Church.

The church building is simple, but very well-constructed. The worship was enthusiastic, to say the least. The people of the Lower Shire area belong to the Sena tribe and have a language and customs that are different from the majority Chewa peoples of Malawi. The members of this congregation are mostly sustenance farmers, although some have found work at the local sugar cane plantations. The older members are not necessarily literate but were able to follow the liturgy from memory.  They sang songs from the LCCA hymnal as well as other songs I have never heard before.

Pastor Pembeleka presided over the liturgy. As I mentioned before, we observed the festival of Pentecost. Like the first Pentecost, the Holy Spirit’s presence was quite evident through the faith people displayed in God’s promises. Six children were brought into God’s family through the Sacrament of Baptism. Four adults who had been instructed by the local lay leader confessed their desire to receive the Sacrament of Communion and made their confirmation vows.

Pastor Meja preached a powerful sermon based on Jesus’ words in Luke 24:48-49: “You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” Although I did not understand every word Pastor Meja preached in Chichewa, I thought how very much like the first Pentecost this was with people from different cultures and languages united by the message of Christ risen from the dead.

After the worship service concluded, Pastor Pembeleka spent considerable time teaching the congregation about stewardship. When missionaries served these congregations, offerings averaged about $1 per service. Pastor Pembeleka explained to those present that no American missionaries would be returning to serve them, and that it was important to give offerings that honor God.

It will be a challenge for visiting pastors from Blantyre to reach these congregations, due to the high cost of travel and lack of reliable transportation (not to mention the arduous route). Please pray that the Spirit moves the hearts of our brothers and sisters in the Lower Shire to respond to the Gospel generously, so that they can support their own Malawian pastor(s) who will live locally. There are two beautiful parsonages waiting for them.

After a quick lunch of nsima (maize porridge) and chicken, we retraced the stages of our journey in reverse order: motorcycle taxi – flatboat – bicycle taxi – truck. When I arrived back home around 7 p.m. the night watchman was surprised to see me back so “early,” since Missionary Wendland sometimes didn’t make it back until after 9 p.m. My body was exhausted but my spirit was filled with the joy of seeing God’s powerful hand at work, keeping this community of faith together in spite of their isolation. The Lower Shire may be the ends of the earth, but “the Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth” (Psalm 145:18).

Missionary John Roebke lives in Malawi

Please pray for those working in fields that are ripe for harvest. Share their story, engage with future news and receive updates. Go to this link to learn more about our mission fields in Africa and how the Holy Spirit is working faith in people’s hearts  https://wels.net/serving-others/missions/africa

But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 3:10-11)

Fifteen pastors graduated from the Seminary of the Lutheran Church of Cameroon in 1999.  For a variety of reasons, only seven of them are still active in the pastoral ministry. By God’s grace and with the help of the Wisconsin Synod, I was called to train a new batch of pastors and set up a “continuous seminary,” so that the Lutheran Church of Cameroon will able to train new pastors on a regular basis. We have started with a two-year Bible Institute, which includes both theological studies like Catechism, Bible History, and Bible Interpretation and secular subjects like English, Science, Storytelling and World History. We are extremely thankful for the teaching assistance given by volunteers Werner Lemke, Harry and Johanna Mears and Kathie Wendland. We have used this time well to monitor the students’ attitudes and potential for future ministry. Sadly, of the 12 men we started with, eight will continue their classroom studies next year when they begin their Seminary studies.

Part of creating a “continuous seminary” is having the right people in the right seats.  Pastor Mesue Israel serves as our Dean of students. In addition to teaching some classes, Pastor Israel is largely in charge of attitude and Christian life as well as logistics on campus.  Missionary Dan Kroll prepares curriculum and teaches those classes that require development of material.

Ferdinand Fomenyam is a good example of a committed student.  Ferdinand (wife Miranda with three children at 17,11, and 7) was raised in the church, in the Northwest District where his father was a church leader.  He now serves in the Kumba District. In his youth he was hit by a car and as a result lost his left index finger and has limited movement in his elbow.  He is committed to digging into Scripture with all the right questions.

Vincent Ngalame (wife Juliet with four children at age 22, 18,15 and 12) says he decided to study for the ministry because “my wife told me to.”  Smart man – and blessed to have such a supportive wife.

David Tembuc (wife Catherine with five children at ages 25, 23, 17, 14 and 7) has served many different congregations as a “Certified Assistant” and now serves as our class “Senior Prefect” – a bit like a class president. All our guys have a story, and all of them committed to serving the Lord with all they have.

Setting up and running a “continuous seminary” in Cameroon requires careful management of finances.  While we do have basic equipment such as an overhead projector and a TV and are looking at purchasing computers, we are working hard to create a sustainable campus program that can be maintained by the national church.  Even at early stages of development we are giving the responsibility for maintenance of the campus into the hands of the Lutheran Church of Cameroon and our students. We do not want to replicate the WELS Worker Training system here, but rather establish a program that will be owned and eventually operated by the Lutheran Church of Cameroon.

I’m convinced we have a good program with the Lord’s blessing behind it.  Please keep us in your prayers so that through our worker training program in Cameroon we continue to build the Lord’s kingdom on the solid foundation of God’s Word.

Dan and Karen Kroll live in Cameroon

Please pray for those working in fields that are ripe for harvest. Share their story, engage with future news and receive updates. Go to this link to learn more about our mission fields in Africa and how the Holy Spirit is working faith in people’s hearts  https://wels.net/serving-others/missions/africa