Imagine for a moment that when you switched on your 52”
flatscreen last Sunday to watch the Super Bowl, the screen remained blank. As
your frantic calls to your cable provider meet a busy signal, now imagine steam
coming out of your ears. You are missing out on the biggest sporting event of
the year – not to mention the commercials, the halftime show, and the always
entertaining commentary by Jim Nantz and Tony Romo.

Since I didn’t have a dog in this fight, and I live on the
opposite side of the globe I set my alarm for 4:30 a.m. and tried streaming the
fourth quarter of the game through my TV’s Roku player. No luck – my broadband
connection wasn’t broad enough. Such is life in a developing country, where a
majority of people still lack access to more basic necessities like clean
drinking water, electricity, and adequate medical care. The digital itch isn’t
getting scratched in Malawi.

Our church body, the WELS, produces high quality,
gospel-centered tracts, books and DVD’s. How can the One Africa Team facilitate
the distribution of this great content to our target audience, the majority of
whom live in remote rural areas? As mentioned in last week’s post (https://welsfriendsofafrica.com/the-gospel-keeps-moving-forward/)
distributing literature by car or truck in this part of the world poses a
significant challenge. On one of my latest deliveries the cow path I was
following took me to a twig footbridge across a stream. For only the briefest
of moments I considered proceeding forward, but the mental image of a truck
nose-first in the water wouldn’t let me go. The pastor I was travelling with
had to carry the books the last quarter mile to his home.

For the record, a car isn’t the most efficient means of
travel in this part of the world. Neither UPS nor Amazon make deliveries
here.  The majority of Malawians travel
by foot or by bicycle – tried and true means of transportation, especially during
the rainy season. Minibuses connect the villages with the major towns and
cities, but how many books can a person carry at once?  How far can you distribute your printed
materials when your world only extends as far as your feet can carry you in one
day?

It’s interesting to note that the invention of the printing
press and the development of the printing industry coincided with the Lutheran
Reformation five hundred years ago, when the transportation network of central
Europe was certainly at an even less developed stage that what exists in Malawi
today. Those early Reformers were able to spread their messages quickly across
the continent by relying on an extensive network of printers, who produced
books for local consumption. Maybe we need to go back in time to crack the nut
of distributing our materials in Malawi today. There are no local printing
presses operating in Malawian villages, but the LCCA has a network of local
pastors equipped with laptops and cell phones who can help distribute content digitally.

There are a few hurdles to clear first, however. Many
pastors live in villages that have not yet been connected to the power grid.
Through the generous donations of WELS members, the parsonages have been
equipped with solar panels and a battery that provide enough electricity to
keep their devices charged. The local telecommunications companies have
established a fairly reliable (if slow) cellular data network in the country,
and it’s not uncommon to see people in the village chatting away on their
phones. However, the cost of connecting to the internet still remains outside
the grasp of most individuals and institutions of learning. 

In Malawi, we have begun experimenting with a
battery-powered, offline local server to help us distribute content to pastors.
In essence, this is a digital bookmobile. The device, called LightStream,
allows us to share digital content without using an internet connection, by
connecting the pastors’ laptops and phones directly to the LightStream device
via a local wi-fi connection.

WELS Multi-Language Publications provided both the Malawi
and Zambia missions with a LightStream kit that includes the device, the
battery and charger, cords for charging a variety of phones and micro-SD card
readers. The most recent version of this device retails at about $80 apiece.
WELS Multi-Language Publications has also secured copyright permission from NPH
and other WELS entities to share their great materials with our gospel partners
all over the world.

This is how it works: I upload digital files of books, music
and movies to the device and charge the battery at home. I bring the device
with me whenever I attend a pastors’ gathering – circuit meetings, regional
conferences, synod convention, boards and committee meetings, etc. I invite the
pastors to connect to the LightStream device with their phones or laptops, to
browse the available content, and to download whatever they want to their local
devices. Pastors can then access their downloaded content without requiring an
internet connection, whether it’s People’s Bible Commentaries, Sermon helps,
Bible Studies, music files, or Bible-based movies. Pastors can also share this
content with their members who own smart phones by using the app ShareIt, which
creates a peer-to-peer network for transferring files between a variety of
devices and operating systems.

It is a bit of a learning curve for the pastors, most of
whom have only started using a computer within the last five years. Thanks to
Stateside donors, the pastors of the LCCA Malawi and Zambia have received
laptops and smartphones. Some of those laptops are starting to show their age,
but they are still in working order for the most part. There is a huge need in
the developing world for access to the digital age, and many other agencies are
working hard on solving this issue. For example, there is an NGO in Malawi
called ShiftIt which uses USB memory sticks loaded with a Chrome OS (cost: $7)
to give Malawian students in remote areas access to their own “computer,”
called a “Keepod.”

It’s not just Americans that crave digital entertainment.
There is a real hunger for intellectual stimulation in Malawi. Unfortunately,
not even the remotest corner of the world is safe from the devil’s handiwork.
One Africa Team is partnering with local pastors by putting in their hands
digital tools they can use to keep fighting the good fight. Electronic gadgets
are fascinating, but technology alone isn’t enough to win the hearts and minds
of people. That’s why we are giving the LCCA Christ-centered, Biblical content
in both electronic and printed form. As it is written, “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.
On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.” (2 Cor. 10:4)

Missionary John Roebke
lives in Malawi and serves as 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

External links:

For more information about the LightStream device and other solar-powered electronics visit www.renewoutreach.org

For more information about Keypods, RACHELs and digital libraries in Malawi visit www.shiftit.co.za

You can’t believe how bad the roads are in Malawi during the
rainy season until you drive them yourself.

My first attempt to deliver books to Pastor Chumba was a
fiasco. I have no one to blame but myself. My first mistake was to drive alone.
With only Google maps to guide me, I lost my way near the town of Migowi. I
turned onto the first eastbound road, unpaved like the majority of roads in
rural Malawi. I soon met up with a trio of women warning me about “matope,
matope” (mud). The fields on either side of the narrow track were waterlogged,
so how was I supposed to execute a Y-turn? I kept moving forward.

My Toyota Prado is equipped with four-wheel drive, but even
in low gear it handles like an elephant on ice skates. I turned the steering
wheel hard left, but the car kept sliding towards the right-hand side of the
road. My all-weather, steel-belted radial tires became muddy donuts – skis
would have been more useful. I knew I was going to get stuck, and then I buried
my car up to the axles.

Due to Malawi’s high population density, there are farmers
everywhere working in their fields by the side of the road. They pushed my car
about twenty feet forward in the ditch, but I was unable to climb back up onto
the steeply banked road. My new friends had me back up, they dug out the soft
silt in front of my wheels with their hoes, and then pushed me out of my sticky
trap. This victory of man over nature was celebrated with shrieks of ululation (if you don’t know what that
is, click here) and
payment of the equivalent of $15 USD. I kept moving forward – but not for long.
The road narrowed, the ditches deepened, and the creek washed away half the
road. I was stuck between a rift and a wet place. I chose the water, knowing I
was going to require help to continue my trip. Sure enough, the locals came to the
rescue again with hoes, rocks and bricks. Twenty minutes and $15 later I was
moving forward again.

I picked up a local school teacher who wanted to hear me
preach. I don’t preach in the pulpits of the LCCA but I did use the opportunity
to encourage him in his work and to give him a Bible. I didn’t take in his
comment about “crossing the river” until the road we were following abruptly
ended at the banks of a swiftly running stream. I should have checked Google
maps’ satellite view – or even better, checked with the local pastor. My
passenger showed me an alternate route to a paved road, which I reached just
before the skies tore open above us. 

Second Attempt

Two weeks later I made my second attempt to deliver books to
Pastor Chumba. I met him in Migowi so that he could direct me personally. I
also took the venerable Toyota Landcruiser, a vehicle which truly lives up to
its name. Overcast skies let loose once we arrived at Namikundi church. The
boxes in the truck bed were soaked, but the books inside were safely sealed in
plastic. I witnessed the comforting power of the Gospel as a dozen children
were baptized, and Pastor Chumba and I distributed Holy Communion to the
members. In spite of human limitations, the Gospel keeps moving forward!

I took advantage of a break in the rain to drive Pastor Chumba back to his home village, using a dirt road shortcut. I saw the tracks of cars that had slid into the ditch and said a silent prayer of thanks to God. However, while we were visiting at Pastor’s house the second round of heavy showers passed through the region. I emerged from his home to discover an inch of sticky goo covering the yard where my vehicle was parked. I will never forget the drive home. Farmers dug canals to drain their flooded fields, shunting the water onto the road. I saw people pushing their bicycles along the road calf-deep in water, so I knew it was safe for me to pass. I saw streams turned into raging rivers. In Malawi, a “bridge” is often a concrete half-pipe that you use to drive through running water. The rain provided economic opportunity. At a larger stream, flooding had washed away part of the road leading up to the bridge, but an enterprising local man had already filled the gap with bricks and rocks and was collecting a toll from everyone who wanted to pass. I paid, but only after I successfully made it to the other side.

I came up behind a truck making deliveries to a local
trading center, totally blocking the one-car wide road. It took a few minutes
of grinding gears for it to get moving again. I took a wrong turn and ended up
in the uncharted regions of Google maps, but the locals kept me pointed in the
right direction. I passed through muddy stretches that would have stopped the
Prado in its tracks, but the Landcruiser’s knobby tires kept churning on. Finally,
I caught sight of the paved road – what joy! It took me two and a half hours to
get there from Pastor Chumba’s house – a distance of about 13 miles. 

Takeaways

As I write this it has been raining non-stop for three days,
due to tropical depression Desmond parked in the Mozambique channel. During the
rainy season, travel by car to rural areas is almost impossible. Some LCCA
pastors have access to motorcycles which they can push through muddy stretches.
Many pastors like Pastor Chumba use bicycles. When he makes the monthly trip to
Namikundi he gets home around 5 p.m. WELS is helping the LCCA by providing
funds to purchase motorcycles for pastors serving in remote areas.

Distributing literature to the congregations of the LCCA is
a difficult nut to crack, but people are extremely grateful to receive the
materials. In rural Malawi, people have no access to bookstores, television or
the internet so any printed materials are welcome. Unfortunately, groups like
the Jehovah’s Witnesses are flooding the country with high quality printed
materials. It is vitally important that WELS, through Multi-Language
Publications, continues to assist with the production and distribution of
Biblically faithful, Gospel-centered tracts, newsletters, sermons and books
here in Malawi and elsewhere in Africa.

The Gospel always keeps moving forward!

Missionary John Roebke
lives in Malawi and serves as the Communications Manager 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

Pastor Wisick Jeffrey is passionate about Sunday School for good reason. Not only is Pastor Jeffrey the School Coordinator for the Blantyre District of the Lutheran Church of Central Africa; humanly speaking, Sunday School is why he is a Christian today.

Pastor Jeffrey is a member of the Yao tribe, one of the
Bantu peoples who live in the countries of Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania.
This people group of 2 million people is predominantly Muslim, due to historic
contact with Arab slave traders, with whom they cooperated to enslave their
fellow Africans. At the turn of the 20^th Century Yao chiefs as a
whole resisted the efforts of Christian missionaries, who were seen as agents
of the European colonial powers, and embraced Islam because it accommodated
their traditional practice of polygamy. Today the majority of Yao people live
in isolated communities and maintain their cultural and religious differences
from their fellow Malawians, who are predominantly Christian. 

While Wisick Jeffrey’s extended family follow the teachings
and lifestyle of Islam, his father was a non-practicing Muslim and did not
force religion on his sons. While he was growing up, Jeffrey became friends
with children who attended Sunday School at a local LCCA congregation. He
accepted their invitation to go to Sunday School with them, but he did not
attend Sunday worship services. Over time, the Holy Spirit worked through the
Gospel message Jeffrey heard in class and he eventually began Confirmation
instructions. At about the same time his mother began to pressure him into
memorizing passages from the Koran. On the day of his confirmation Jeffrey told
his family his intentions to convert to Christianity, and as you can imagine
they were not pleased. His uncles refused to help pay for his schooling, or for
the schooling of his brothers who also became Christian.

It was very difficult for Jeffrey at this time in his life,
but God’s promises continued to sustain him. Eventually he continued his education
in the town of Zomba, where Deverson Ntambo, the first Malawian pastor of the
LCCA Malawi, was serving. Pastor Ntambo is also from the Yao tribe, and he gave
young Jeffrey the encouragement and Christian guidance that was missing in his
life. Pastor Ntambo encouraged Jeffrey to consider studying for the ministry,
and began taking him through the LCCA’s pre-worker training courses known as
T.E.E. (Theological Education by Extension). Pastor Jeffrey was ordained in
2008 and currently is serving at Kanyepa Lutheran Church, the oldest LCCA
congregation in Malawi.

Pastor Jeffrey’s wife is from his home village. She was a
Muslim when they married, but with great patience and diligence Jeffrey
displayed Christ’s love to her in his words and actions. The change that the
Holy Spirit worked in Jeffrey’s life must have also made an impression on his
father, who became a Christian and was baptized days before his death. To God
be the glory!

We can learn a lot from Jeffrey’s story. Christian Education
of young people is not only important for passing the truth of God’s Word to
the next generation, it is also a means for children to reach out to their
peers and change lives for eternity. We can also once again wonder at how God
works faith in the hearts of people according to his timetable, no matter how
improbably or unlikely it may seem to us at the time. Great patience and love
are needed to reach out across cultural and religious barriers, as our Savior
demonstrated during his earthly ministry. “For
God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the
world through him” (John 3:17). As Christ patiently called us out our
sin-darkened ways of thinking and acting, may we show the same patience with
those who are still in the dark and lead them to the light.

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