“Monire Mose” from the LPC Malawi Mission Team!
This is the “hello everyone”
greeting that our mission team used when addressing the chapel
congregation at Embangweni, the gathering of dignitaries and
supporters at the dedication of the Preventive Health Building, the
women and children waiting under the trees for our Mobile Medical
Clinic, the grain bank committees in their villages, the “go-gos”who
stay at the hospital to cook and care for their loved ones, the
secondary school’s girls sewing classes, the Women’s Guild, the
hundreds and hundreds of adults and children who came to greet us at
Luvwere in the mountains, the overflowing crowd in the recently
roofed prayer house in Kalikumbi during the communion service with
Rev. John Gondwe, the secondary school teachers attending a business
class, the nurses and staff in morning rounds at the hospital, the
secondary school students in the computer labs, our fellow painters
in the nurse’s hospital-provided homes.
Greetings are of great
importance to Malawians. They will wait patiently to have the honor
of greeting you and clasping your hand, while making a motion
between a bow and a curtsy, as they gently hold their other hand
under the arm that is doing the shaking. We also found ourselves
imparting many self-introductions and speeches to the various groups
we met. The Malawians like to know if you have visited them before,
where you come from – your church name and location, if you have
family and what kind of work you do for a living. We also found
they love to joke and laugh and are an easy audience to please!
Bill and Beth Rule, our esteemed
mission team leaders and former Malawi missionaries to Embangweni
for three years, provided each of the team of 9 volunteers with
color coded schedules. After chapel at the hospital every morning at
7:00AM, everyone set off to their assigned duties working in and
around the mission hospital and village and at times traveling hours
to remote work sites. The variety of experiences allowed us to make
friends and develop new projects as needs were discovered and
requests made. As we brought our hospital and school donations, our
sewing skills and business insight, computer technology and
financial gifts to the many community leaders, we were thanked with
great sincerity for our donations and support and for the fact that
we had actually come to visit them. The congregation should know
that Leesburg Presbyterian Church is well known and loved here in
Malawi and that they include us - their American partners - in their
prayers every day.
The Leesburg team members of
Kathy Brown, Shirley Pearson, Laurie Stevens and Tom Chase look
forward to sharing our stories and photos with the congregation.
PLEASE JOIN US ON OCTOBER 24th
WEDNESDAY NIGHT SUPPER / MANNA
6:00PM IN THE FELLOWSHIP HALL
6:30PM - MALAWI MISSION TEAM PRESENTATION
Fellowship Hour- Malawi Mission Stories and Photos
Church School Youth & Adults, Friends & Family
Sunday, November 4, 2007
9:45AM – 10:45AM Fellowship Hall
