July 7, 2010

Progress Team Update

Posted by Michael Sevilla

Three weeks in and the team is still holding strong here in Malawi,
Africa. We have now adapted to our current living situation in the Chitipi
children’s home. We have also visited our other villages (Mtsiliza and
Mgwayi) multiple times and have established relationships with the
children, our homes, and the schools. It’s very lively here and they keep
us very busy!

We arise early each and every day to help the kids go to school, do our
daily chores of sweeping the dirt and debris around the house (guys) and
mopping the interiors (ladies), and then finally making breakfast. After
breakfast on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays we are escorted to our
village for the day, on Mondays and Wednesdays we are able to enter into
times of solitude and devotion.

We have discovered how amazing it is to take time like Jesus did to break away from the busyness of life to pray
and seek the Lord. The remaining time of our days are filled with village
home visits, digging 10ft+ latrine holes, teaching in various schools,
leading devotions every night, walking to our kids’ soccer games, playing
soccer, having talent shows, attending different churches, feeding
programs, hand holding ministry, tutoring, trying to understand Chichewa,
trying to sleep when a demonic rooster keeps you up, avoiding crazy
screaming donkeys, jumping rivers, mice hunting, individual bucket baths,
learning names, remembering names, making efforts to be present in each
others’ lives…and the list will continue.

There is so much for us to do here but our most important moments are when
we are sharing and learning Christ’s love. God is stretching us and
showing us how to give thanks for each day that we are given. Having all
of our needs met while seeing so many suffering from being cold, hungry,
and deprived has given us a great appreciation for the blessings we have
in our lives that we often take for granted. Our national interns have
taught us to start each morning with a thankful prayer of life and how to
see the joy of being consistently grateful servants. It’s amazing how this
has changed how I approach the morning. We are blending well as a team and
have built strong friendships.

Please keep us in prayer as we continue to be present here, please pray
for good health and open hearts. We miss our loved ones and the longing
for home is strong, however, we recognize our blessing to reach out and serve our Lord daily.

Thank you so much for your continued support and prayers :)

July 6, 2010

Headed to the D.R.

Posted by Michael Murray

Goose Lopez-Torres, the self-professed “Snack Minister” of Student Ministries (he runs the snack bar at The Edge), will be heading off to the Dominican Republic on Friday as a leader for the Student Team. Goose was a leader on the Student DR Trip last summer as well. What made him want to join the team again this year? He loves seeing the impact the trip has on high school students.

“To see these kids voluntarily give up a week of their summer break is inspiring,” Goose said. “When I was their age, I would have never given up a week of my summer break to do something like this! For one week they unplug from their iPods, cell phones, and video games to do something that really matters. I get 3 weeks of vacation a year. To use one of them to be a part of this team is really a no-brainer for me.”

Goose hopes that the students will learn humility on this trip. If they can get a sense of what it’s really like to be in need, they may gain a new perspective on life. “I think sometimes kids, especially teenagers, believe that they have the worst life ever and no one can relate to them,” he says. “When they see some of the conditions we are about to see, it may give them a greater appreciation for what they do have.”

Goose thinks the trip will be a great way to be an example to his family and friends. He has two young sons and when they grow up, he wants them to know that their dad was faithful to God’s call. He also loves being able to talk about the trip with his unchurched friends as a way to share his faith. He hopes the high schoolers will do the same with their friends.

Please pray for Goose and the rest of the leaders and students as they get ready to go to the D.R. later this week!

June 30, 2010

Progress Team update

Posted by Gabe

Hello from Chitipi home!

Living at Chipiti has been challenging these past couple of days but really amazing. I have had to face down some things with our living environment that in America would be hard to swallow. Let’s just say that the other day the kids caught 12 mice from inside the home and proceeded to cook and eat them!

Here is a little update on how the past couple of days have been.

Friday we arrived at the home in the afternoon and started to settle in. There are 28 kids in this home…so majority of this day was learning the names of all the children. We delt with an overflooding bathroom, seeing our first rat in the house and the facing the face that power goes off at 5:30 p.m. every day. Every weekday night at 6 p.m. the whole house gathers around candle light for singing and prayers. This is my favorite time of day.

I share a room with my two national interns–Fanny and Femmia and one Global Intern, Amanda. Fanny has been a fantastic help with figuring out ways around cultural differences and helping me communicate with the cook about meals and such. Our cook uses an outside fire pit for us as one of the challenges we had to figure out was the use of the stove. When you have 28 children to feed something is ALWAYS being cooked!

Saturday, we had a 5:30 a.m. wake up for devos with the children. At the home, Saturday is “Children’s Day” which means that the older kids watch the younger ones when the house parents have a day off. This is a day for cleaning, football and hanging out.

On Sunday, one of the COTN staff members came and picked us up and took us to church. After a nice, spirited 3 hour service we went to his house for lunch. Let me tell you, Malwaians really know how to make you feel welcome! In America your tendency is to make sure you don’t over stay your welcome when visiting someplace. However, it’s the opposite here in Malawi. Upon returning to Chitipi, the kids put on a Talent Show. I broke out the guitar and the interns did a song for the kids! Such fun!

Monday kicked off our scheduled events for the summer. We have a 5:30 a.m. wake up Monday – Saturday (Except for Wednesdays–it’s our day off!) to help the kids with chores, getting to school on time, etc. Tutoring happens in the afternoons whenever there is a chance, and then devo time at 6 p.m. and we eat dinner around 8 p.m. or so.

Yesterday after helping the kids with chores and getting to school, we traveled a couple miles into the Village of Mgwayi. There we will be helping with a small school (boys will build toilets there this summer) and we also met our 4 families that we will be spending time with every Tuesday and Thursday. It was so amazing to be back in the village that I worked in last summer. There are still many shouts of “Gabriello!” by those who have not seen me yet. I saw Cecilia, my sponsor kids mother–she looks great! Last year, she had some health issues and it refreshed my heart to see her looking so well.

Pray for continued health for the team as we adjust to many things! Pray that we can continue to reach out to some of the older children in the home who seem distant to us compared to the other kids. It apparent that they all just need some lovin’!

Zikomo Kwambiri!

June 25, 2010

How You Can Pray

Posted by Communications

Please continue to keep our Summer mission teams in your thoughts and prayers. Here are some ways you can pray for them and our ministry partners.

Pray for the Family trip and the Student trip:
Pray for an unquenchable excitement about what God has in store for these two Summit teams, their families and the people with whom they will interact while in the Dominican Republic. Pray for the hearts of the people with whom the team will interact to be open and susceptible to hearing God’s call on their lives, and their minds and hearts would be open to accept the love offered them in Christ.

Pray for the Progress Team:
Pray for the team while in Malawi, that God would be near and clearly present. Pray the team would allow the Holy Spirit to work through them to speak to His broken, hurting and lost children. Pray for the team relationships, that they would become closer to one another and Christ as a result of their time spent in Africa. Pray for the Malawian people with whom they are interacting, that they would build strong and lasting relationships together, and that each side of the partnership would be made better from the opportunity to learn, serve and grow with one another. Pray the hearts of the team would begin to change and grow in their knowledge of God’s work, will and want for their lives. Pray for the hearts of the people with whom the team will interact to be receptive to hearing God’s call on their lives, open their minds and hearts to accept the love offered them in Christ.

Pray for July’s Village Teams:
Pray for the team while in Sierra Leone and Malawi, that God would be near and clearly present. Pray the team would allow the Holy Spirit to work through them to speak to His broken, hurting and lost children. Pray for the team relationships, that they would become closer to one another and Christ as a result of their time spent in Africa. Pray the hearts of the team would begin to change and grow in their knowledge of God’s work, will and want for their lives. Pray for the hearts of the people with whom the team will interact to be receptive to hearing God’s call on their lives, open their minds and hearts to accept the love offered them in Christ.

Pray for COTN:
Please pray this summer for the staff of COTN, including those who are partners at Summit locally and those we serve with in Malawi and for the rest of the Malawi staff – that they will continue to grow in their respective capacities.

Pray for the Africa Windmill Project:
July marks the height of the dry season in Malawi. Please pray for the continued contribution of the Africa Windmill Project to Malawi’s irrigation issues in hopes of one day producing a year-round harvest.

Pray for International Justice Mission:
Please pray for one of our ministry partners in Africa, International Justice Mission (ijm.org), for protection for IJM staff, their families and the victims of injustice from physical harm and spiritual attack. Ask God to bless IJM staff with perseverance to seek justice and community transformation in the face of opposition, indifference, and corruption.

For more ways to pray for Africa and our ministry partners, please click here.

June 23, 2010

Intern Progress Team Update

Posted by Gabe

A big Malawian welcome from Chipiti!

On Friday afternoon we moved into the orphanage and started to make it
our home. After a flooded bathroom, a power outage, peanut butter
sandwiches for dinner due to the power outage and the daunting task of
attempting to learn 28 African children’s names we called it a night.

Saturday brought a day of 6:00am devotionals with the entire home and
learning how to do chores with the kids (the boys sweep the yard out
here…it’s so funny to watch!). In the afternoon we played and
attempted to learn the kids’ names again. Did I mention we have 28 children
to keep track of? :) The evening time brought around another gathering
of devotional time with the house. The power is consistently off by 6:00pm, so
most of the times we meet around candlelight to sing praise songs. It
is the perfect ending to a busy day.

On Sunday, we headed to church with brother Frackson, our COTN
intern coordinator, and enjoyed lunch at his house. During devotional
time that night at Chitipi, all the Interns shared a favorite verse
with the children. It was a great way for the kids to know a bit more
about us.

Monday kicked off our scheduled summer plans with helping the kids do
chores and get off to school. Tutoring happened in the afternoon time
and from this point on we will be heading up devotional time at night. Chase
shared tonight and did a wonderful job!

Tuesday we headed into Mgwayi Village and met our families where we
will be visiting during the summer. Each Global Intern is paired with
a National Intern and will be stationed at a home where they will
build relationships with those living there through tutoring, help with chores, bible study, play time, etc. We also toured a small school where
we will be assisting the teachers twice a week.

The team is doing well and is enjoying being called “Uncle” and
“Auntie” by all the kids in the home. We have all, at one point
or another, commented on how much that has touched our hearts.

From the Malawian lands, we just want you to know this: God is so, so good!