OK, I think everything is back in place, with some tweaks here & there.
So welcome to the new & improved Stockers’ Stories!
For those of you who are signed up to receive updates from our website, I am afraid that you’re going to get peppered with re-runs for a little while.
I am now in the process of rebuilding the website after it was wiped out due to a virus. And right now that means adding back in all of the recent blog articles.
Many apologies!
You may have noticed, our website has been completely wiped out.
Somehow a virus got into it, and we couldn’t get it back out. So, all that was old has passed away. We will be rebuilding over the course of a few days (or weeks!).
Penny with the kids in our homeschool classroom
I am a city girl. I like to have things neat and clean. I hate bugs, mice, and crawling things. I have learned to hike and camp only because Dean likes to do these things.
BUT…God has placed me here in Nanjoka, in rural Malawi.
One day a small snake slithered towards me as a I was hanging clothes outside. I quickly got someone to help; he hit it repeatedly with a broom and understatedly said, “That one is bad” in Chichewa. After he left, the snake started moving again, trying to get away. I ran for our machete and frantically hit it over and over, saying, “You will not hurt my family.” We later identified the snake as a black mamba, one of the world’s most poisonous snakes.
I am a city girl. I am not used to hearing bats flying in the ceiling and leaving droppings. I am not used to developing my own curriculum for homeschooling based only on the books borrowed from our kids last school. I am not used to needing four-wheel drive to get home through a river of mud. I am not used to having sweat running down my back most of the day, even when at rest.
God’s plan for me, however, includes these things, to teach me to depend on Him for the safety, security and well-being of myself and my family. I am reminded when these things overwhelm me that God sent us here to care for the orphans and to share His love with the people around us. Please pray for us, me especially, that we will not allow these “hindrances” to keep us from doing the work God has for us here. Pray for us as we continue to explore online schooling options that will provide an excellent education for our children and will free up time for me to help at KINDLE. Pray for our bodies to adjust to the heat.
This city girl has now learned that onions scattered outside of the house help to keep the snakes away. And she is praising God that the cool season is starting.
Prayer Requests
- For wisdom in choosing a good home school curriculum, and provision to pay for it.
- For relationships with people around the farm. Some good friends just left for six months, and our children need closer relationships with their peers.
- For Penny to have more time to be involved in ministry at Kindle.
Praise
- That our country has gone through a peaceful transition of power after the unexpected death of President Bingu wa Mutharika. You can read about it on BBC’s website.
Our pastor, Abusa Makutcha (on the left) outside our church. His home is visble in the background.
When I tried to sit down in my usual spot at church, the elders up front invited me to come and sit with them instead. I politely declined, saying that I’m not a church leader. But I eventually agreed to sit closer to the front. Then they invited me again, “No please, you must come and sit with us.” Finally I relented, and went to sit at the very front, facing the congregation.
We went through all of the usual greetings, and then one of them said that they had made a new preaching schedule, and showed it to me. “Oh, you added me into the rotation?” I asked.
“Yes,” he replied.
“OK, that’s fine.”
Then a few moments of silence before I asked, “What day is today?”
More silence.
“Is today the 25th of March?”
“Yes.”
“So I am preaching today?”
“Yes.”
It didn’t go too badly, considering the fact that I hadn’t at all prepared. A few months ago I had climbed to the top of a nearby hill and asked God if he had anything special that I should pray over this area, and I opened my Bible to Isaiah and read, “Leave the ways of your fathers.” Then a month or so later, I climbed the hill, asked the same question, and opened to Zecharaiah:
Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the earlier prophets proclaimed: This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Turn from your evil ways and your evil practices.’ But they would not listen or pay attention to me, declares the LORD. (Zecharaiah 1:4, NIV)
So my sermon was “Turn from the ways of your fathers.” BUT, I forgot to say one important thing: “I am not saying that all Malawian ways of doing things are bad. They are not. But you need to weigh your traditions against your Bible so that you can keep the good and turn away from the bad. It is the same in any country. American ways of doing things aren’t all good, but they’re not all bad either. The Bible is the standard for us all.”
Maybe if I’d have a few minutes to prepare I wouldn’t have forgotten that part.
Last week we held a “Health Awareness Campaign” to teach people about malaria. About 1/3 of the people who come to Katawa Clinic are diagnosed with malaria! The highlight of the campaign was the Salima Health Band, who performed malaria-related songs.
These are the words (and translation) from the song in the video above:
| Salima yonse tiyeni, tipewe malungo.Malungo ndi matenda owopsya.
Tigone n’chitetezochi, tsiku ndi tsiku. Izi ndi nthawi imene tili nazo. N’kotero tagonjetsa malungo. Chitala yonse tiyeni, tipewe malungo… |
Come on, Salima! Let’s prevent malaria.Malaria is a dangerous disease.
Let’s sleep under nets every day. This is the time. In this way we will defeat malaria. Come on Chitala! Let’s prevent malaria… |
They also performed other songs about malaria. In one, they described the symptoms and told people to go to the nearest clinic if they have these symptoms. In another, they are asking chiefs and church leaders to spread the news about malaria.
There was good teaching, supported by people from the local government and by the local chiefs, and hopefully it will have a real impact on peoples’ health. Last year the Malawian government distributed mosquito nets all across the country, but it’s hard to know whether it’s had any impact on the disease. As our Senior Group Village Headman (the leader of the local chiefs) pointed out, people are using the mosquito nets to protect tomato seedlings instead of sleeping under them!
We pray that people here will realize the importance of protecting themselves from malaria, and hopefully this health awareness campaign will help. We plan to do two more later this year.
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