Thank you, Dad.¹

I don’t always say some of these things so I thought I’d
share them now. 

Dad, I don’t know if you know it or not but you are the one
who influenced me the most to go into the ministry.  You’re the one who impacted my life more than
you probably know and far more than I could ever repay.

Far more.

That’s a subject you know well.  You know all about an impossible debt because
you have one yourself.  And you showed me
mine.  You taught me that I could never repay God for what He’s done for me.  The
price of the ransom?  The cost of eternal
life?  The payment for sin?

• Too much to calculate. 
• Too big to pay back.
• Too impossible even to try.

We would be too foolish
even to try!

Dad, of all the things you’ve taught me over the years, the
most significant and meaningful has always been that awesome bedrock Bible
truth of Justification.  God declares us
not guilty of our sins for Jesus sake. 
He calculated the cost (his own blood!) and paid it anyway.  I learned that from you and I realized that
it’s not a message to hold to ourselves but it’s one to share.

Especially, these days here in Malawi.  It’s so important to share the pure Gospel because the – what do they call it – the “Prosperity Gospel” that is now being preached so rampantly in this country is not pure at all.  When I was a kid growing up in your home, I just don’t remember that the “Health and Wealth Gospel” was so prevalent in the days when you were a full-time pastor in the Lutheran Church of Central Africa.

Itching ears.²

Oh, by the way, Dad, though I was a “preacher’s kid,” I
never considered that an uncomfortable thing. I liked seeing you up in front of
the congregations and listening to your sermons.  And even you expected each of us kids to do
work in the fields of maize, you also gave me freedom to try my hand at running
a business.  Remember, Dad, I used to
sell fresh fruits and vegetables!   Pineapples, Avocados and Sweet Potatoes. 

When I think back to those days of running a grocery
business, I can’t help but think that God was preparing me for the ministry
today.  I think I learned to be
hospitable during those years of dealing with all those customers. 

And now?  Now I’m
serving over one thousand people in my 4-congregation parish.³ Over
a thousand!  But what am I telling
you?  You know very well what it is like
shepherding a flock because you’ve done it for 26 years⁴
yourself. 

You know very well that life as a pastor in Malawi is seldom
easy.  Salaries are low and the cost of
living is high.  We struggle enough just
to take care of our own families not even to mention taking care of the work of
our beloved Synod.  But now that I think
about it, I suppose that no matter in what country a person is living and
serving God, challenges will always be there. 
Not just because of economic reasons but because of the influence of the
world, the temptations by the devil and the struggle with our own sinful
nature.

Speaking of challenges, I have to thank you, Dad. Thank you
for teaching me to persevere in all
situations. So many of our life situations have called us to persevere!  I learned at the LBI and Seminary that to
persevere means to “remain under,” to “continue in” or to “keep on.”  

What I learned academically in the classroom I learned
practically from you in daily living. 

Important things I want to pass on to my own children.  YOUR grandchildren. I know I can only do so in the strength of God Himself.  After all, how else could I possibly serve four congregations, be the LCCA Synod President,⁵ teach Bible Studies at a University,⁶ be a husband to my wife and a father to my children?

As we “stand under” all the challenges in our Lutheran Synod
we are also seeing and experiencing God’s blessings here in Malawi.  The LCCA is growing, the number of pastors is
increasing and despite the mushrooming of false religions, the LCCA is still
holding to the teachings of the apostles and prophets as found in Scripture.⁷ 

Jesus Christ is the chief Cornerstone of the building!   Always was, still is and always will be!

I have so much for which to thank you, Dad.  You provided for our family and made it a
loving home. But above all you showed me Jesus. Not just with your sermons but
with your life. 

And I see that your life is a new one in Christ. 
A life lived under the cross.
A life lived to His glory.
A life led heavenward.

So, if you look over your shoulder, Dad.  That’s me.

Following in your footsteps.

– Enock

1. Pastor Paul Mkowasenga is the father to Enock Mkowasenga.  Pastor Paul Mkowasenga is retired. 
2. 2 Timothy 4:3.
3. The names of the four congregation parish union are Nanseta, Savala, Mwitere and Nameta.
4. 1986-1991 Evangelist; 1994-2015 Pastor.
5.  Pastor Enock Mkowasenga was elected as LCCA President at the Synod Convention in September of 2018.
6. Malawi University of Science and Technology
7. Ephesians 2:20.

PS.  Missionary John
Holtz interviewed Pastor Enock Mkowasenga so as to feature him in this February
2019 Malawi Mission Partner Communique. In the interview, Pastor Enock
Mkowasenga spoke very highly of his father, retired LCCA Pastor Paul
Mkowasenga.  So Missionary Holtz shaped a
“son-to-father letter” out of the
information given to him.  Even though
Pastor Enock Mkowasenga did not write the letter, all the information in it is
a factual portrayal of everything he shared with Missionary Holtz.  Pastor Mkowasenga gave his approval to this
article and pictures.    

Who doesn’t love to be home? Well, especially when you have a wonderful family such as my parents and older sister. I was born in Malawi, Africa, though I spent the first 10 years of my life in the small town of Chipata in Zambia. My father, Pastor John Holtz, worked as a missionary pastor there until he received a call to move to Malawi in 2008. I spent the rest of my school years there all the way until I graduated secondary school at age 18. Since then, I have been attending Wisconsin Lutheran College as a nursing student, currently in my third year. I have been extremely blessed to have been able to go back home to Malawi during the longer breaks to see my family and old friends.  

As part of the nursing program, third year students go on an immersion trip to none other than Lusaka , Zambia (the capital) where they stay on the seminary grounds. I did not live in Lusaka, but my family traveled there often for work and missionary gatherings. So there I was, surrounded by my classmates in a place so foreign to them yet so familiar to me. It felt odd, simply put. At the same time, it was a huge blessing to be able to share my life in such a unique way with the people who have accepted me into their lives in the United States.

The purpose of our trip was to experience the medical field in a Third World Country. We visited the government-run hospital known as Chelstone, a private children’s clinic known as Beit Cure, an organization for disabled children known as Special Hope Network, and also some grade schools for teaching (see end of article for pictures). We also traveled to a rural clinic in the town of Mwembezhi where missionaries originally started their work. Personally, I thought that all of these organizations were impressive. With limited resources and endless patients, these facilities are doing a great job at providing cheap to no cost care while still providing respectable patient outcomes. So you may be wondering if it is my desire to work there. That answer is difficult, because in Zambia, only local residents are hired, which I think is reflective of the purpose of the WELS mission. The advanced health care systems in the States have a much different focus, some of it good, and some of it I do not particularly like. On top of it being hard to “adult,” it is even harder to know where to even start when you are pulled in different directions, as many missionary kids often experience. But here’s the good news: God is in control. There may come a time when our parents move, and we feel like we have lost our home. Though we desire to go back, what is there for us to do? We need to remember that God leads us and knows what is best for us. When we worry about our future and transition into adulthood, it clouds our vision to the joy that is in Christ Jesus. Proverbs 3:5-6 reminds us to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all you ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

So what does it feel like to be back home as an adult missionary kid? Contrarily, going back to Malawi makes me feel like a kid again. Many of my childhood memories were experienced there and Zambia, my friends are there, my pets, my house, but most of all what makes it home is my family. I know its cliché, but how can I deny it? Whenever I am home, I feel myself again, though it is bittersweet.  I go back, knowing I’ll have to leave again in a few weeks. I always cherish my time there, though I remember that life on this earth is temporary. Any struggles here on earth are nothing in comparison to the glory that will be experienced in heaven. Something that I find both comforting and amazing is that those same people, that my dad and all the other missionaries impacted, are going to be with me in heaven someday. I thank God for my life in Africa, and I thank God for my life here too, but most of all, I thank God for saving me a place in his Kingdom…

Heaven is my Home.

Written by Heather Holtz, current student at Wisconsin Lutheran College and daughter of Africa Missionary John Holtz and wife Mindy

God is our refuge and
strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though
the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its
waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. (Psalm 46:1-3)

There is a Chewa proverb, “Walira mvula, walira matope” (he
who cries for rain, cries for mud). In a place where no rain falls from May to
October, the beginning of the rainy season means new life and a fresh crop of
food. Malawian farmers view rain as one of God’s greatest blessings; however,
the rainy season presents a significant challenge for city planners trying to
manage the flow of water through heavily populated urban areas.

On 10 January 2019 heavy rains in Malawi’s capital city of
Lilongwe led to flash flooding that killed two people and damaged the homes of
984 people. Several bridges were severely damaged. The hardest hit areas of the
city included the campus of the Lutheran Bible Institute, where we are training
the future pastors of the Lutheran Church in Central Africa.

The LBI campus is located on the slope of a hill and is surrounded
by a brick security wall that is about 10 feet tall. Although the wall has
several drainage outlets, several of them were blocked with trash and debris.
After three hours of non-stop rain, a portion of the wall collapsed. This
released a tidal wave of water that gushed down the campus slope towards the
homes of the people who live adjacent to our campus, including the home of LCCA
pastor Kesten Chinyanga.

At the request of the community’s traditional headman, LBI
faculty members visited the affected people and delivered gifts of money and
maize (corn) to people who had suffered the greatest losses. Our visitors were somewhat
surprised to hear accusations that someone had intentionally broken to wall to
cause destruction to our neighbors’ homes.

Three days later, representatives from the LBI met a second
time with the headman and members of the community. At that time we learned
that some members of the community threatened to hold a vigil in protest
against the LBI. Our representatives assured the community leaders about our
solidarity with them during this difficult time, and took them on a walking
tour around the campus to show them what steps we have taken to control the
flow of water across our property.

Working together with our neighbors in love and humility,
the LBI faculty listened to the community leaders’ suggestions on further steps
we can take to mitigate flooding in the future. One proposal is to construct of
a large drainage ditch that will shunt water away from our neighbors’ homes. In
fact, a drainage system has already been designed by Gary Evans, one of the
current CAMM staff members in Malawi and a civil engineer by profession.

Even in the midst of suffering, God continues to hold his
protecting hand over us and our community. This recent natural calamity has
given us the opportunity to demonstrate Christian love and compassion for our
neighbors, and to witness to them about the “fountain filled with blood drawn
from Immanuel’s veins; and sinners plunged beneath that flood, lose all their
guilty stains” (CW 112, v1).

Missionary John Roebke
lives in Malawi and is the Communications Director for One Africa Team

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