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
