It feels nothing like Christmas here in Malawi -- no Christmas lights or trees or lit up houses or snow on the ground or crowded shopping malls for the frantic gift giving frenzy, and we only hear the occasional Christmas carol (the only thing we do have is poinsettias, they grow about 10ft tall here) -- funny the things you associate with Christmas . I still think the setting here in Malawi has much more in common with the setting of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem so we'll choose to take some comfort in that. I'm sure we'll miss all the traditional Christmas spirit this year but what we'll miss most is celebrating Christmas with all our family and friends. We are having a Christmas get together with other expatriates to sing carols and share some food, etc., so that will be nice. Plus, we're planning to spend a few days over New Year's at a tea plantation with some friends and their kids. Anyway, we wanted to send along our season's greetings...
and if you have any pictures of your Christmas in Canada or wherever, please share them with us (just no huge files by email please, 1500kb/email max).
From our family to yours, we wish you a very merry Christmas and a blessed new year.
December 2008 Emmanuel International Planting Malawi Isaiah 61.3 an update from the VanWoerdens in Malawi Planting [rain brings transformation to Malawi] When it rains, it pours! We’re not sure that clouds can pour out water any faster. It’s just amazing how much rain comes down. But the rain is a welcome change. Coming from Chilliwack, three months without any rain just didn’t seem right. The cooler weather is a relief and Malawi has been transformed into a beautifully lush green landscape. Everyone has planted their maize and ridges of fresh green sprouts line the country. Various flowers have emerged in waste places. Out of nowhere, toads, super sized snails, and even crabs have appeared. Our lawn was reduced to hard packed dirt in places, more like pavement than productive soil, but now it is soft and new grass is sprouting – amazing. But there is mud everywhere and it’s really difficult to dry laundry! Ditches and gutters overflow and the roads are covered with mud. Soil erosion is a huge problem. A lot of it is the result of excessive tilling and mounding that leaves the soil exposed. Presumably Malawians plant their maize on ridges to protect their crops from heavy rain and water logging (no one seems to really know) but mud doesn’t tend to stay ridged for long. We’re actually experimenting with a method of conservation farming in part of our own garden to reduce erosion and increase production. There is actually quite an amazing God story here but we’ll write about that later. Mud + kids playing in mud = more dirty laundry. Wet laundry + heavy rain = wet laundry. Our laundry comes on and off the line several times a day between showers in hopes that it will dry. Sometimes the rain takes a holiday, as our guard puts it, but usually it returns quickly and without warning so it’s a mad dash for the clothes lines. But mud and laundry aside, the greenness and coolness are well worth it. The rains may have been late this year, but they have brought about instant transfor- more stories & photos on vw-mw.blogspot.com (more than 200 photos so far!) Andre & Alexandra VanWoerden Private Bag 12 Zomba Malawi 265.8.169.380 (Andre) 265.8.169.382 (Alex) alexandre.vanwoerden@gmail.com vw-mw.blogspot.com mation. We pray that God will bless Malawi with good rains this year – enough rain throughout the growing season to produce a plentiful harvest for Malawians but not too much rain to cause flooding. No hunger and no disaster. Christmas [Christ brings transformation to the world] Emmanuel International Canada PO Box 4050 Stouffville ON L4A 8B6 905.640.2111 info@eicanada.org www.eicanada.org Decorated Christmas trees and houses, carols on the radio, Santa Claus in every shopping mall, snow... It’s hard to believe it’s almost Christmas. There is very little of the Christmas spirit that we’ve associated with Christmas in Canada here in Malawi. It feels more like Christmas in July – out of place without all the fanfare and such warm weather. But then again, what’s the last time you’ve seen a manger scene in snow (other than in your neighbour’s front yard)? continued on next page Planting Malaw i | D ecember 2008 Christmas [Christ brings transformation to the world] Malawi probably more closely resembles the setting of Jesus’ birth. Jesus was the ultimate gift to a tremendously poverty stricken world. With a humble birth in a mere manger, Jesus was the light in the darkness. Jesus came to earth to transform the world – to reconcile all things on earth so that he might usher us into His Kingdom (Colossians 1.13-20). “Look, I am making everything new” (Revelation 21.5). This is what Jesus is doing all around us. We have the privilege of seeing Jesus light up the world – not just a Christmas tree, but like a Christmas tree lights up a gloomy winter day, Jesus transforms Canada, Malawi, the world. Malawi and all it’s physical poverty needs Jesus just as much as Canada and all it’s material wealth needs Jesus, but he has called us here to share in his ministry of reconciliation (John 17.18) – to be his light, his hands and feet, and to see him transform Malawi. Jesus wants every Malawian to be able to grow enough food to feed his family, to draw water that doesn’t make her children sick, and to experience the generosity of Christ-followers sharing all things. “He stoops to look down on heaven and on earth. He lifts the poor from the dust and the needy from the garbage dump. He sets them among princes, even the princes of his own people! He gives the childless woman a family, making her a happy mother. Praise the LORD!” (Psalm 113.6-9) Transformation. That is the Good News of Jesus Christ, the good news we celebrate during Christmas. May all Jesus is, and all he gives, bless you this Christmas and always. “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, A PLANTING OF THE LORD for the display of his splendor.” Isaiah 61.1-3 Namasalima [“now we can snore all night”] “Now we can snore all night,” one of the villagers said as the dike was nearly finished. As Murphy ’s Law would have it, if it’s going to flood, it will flood at night without any warning – people have no time to pack any belongings or even essential food items before fleeing to higher ground. That’s what happened last rainy season. But as of December 2nd the villages in Namasalima are protected again by the dike and don’t have to worry about being flooded out of their beds. However, that does not mean that we’re not monitoring the dike to make sure it’s holding back the water with all the rain we’ve been having. The project was completed not a day too soon. On the day of completion, various government officials and the press were present to commission the dike and distribute a 50kg bag of maize to each of the 600 participants who helped rebuild the dike. Last month we wrote about the challenges this project faced, but with everyone working together, the job got done, and in just in time. Planting Malaw i | D ecember 2008 Prayer Requests Anastanzia, our housemaid, left for her home village a week early. She is from Chitipa, in the very north of Malawi. Last week she got news that her father had to be admitted to the hospital, which around here usually means it’s really bad. He has cancer. All week she was visibly distressed and didn’t eat. We had already planned to help her pay for transportation so she could visit her family over Christmas so we decided to let her go up a week early. Her two sons (ages 8 and 5) also live with her parents. She hasn’t been allowed to have them because she doesn’t have a husband. We have given her extra money for bus fares for her boys in hopes that she can persuade her father to allow her to take her sons with her. Please pray for her father’s health, a good visit with her family, and that she’ll be able to take her boys home with her. This is our first Christmas away from family and friends as well as all the familiar Christmas traditions. We will be spending some time at a tea plantation with other Canadian missionary friends to celebrate the New Year together. Financial Update We have very little exposure to world news here but we’re feeling the effects of the economic crisis. The exchange rate has significantly impacted international funding of EI’s projects. Some of our projects are faced with having to reduce activities or having to cut projects short. These are not options we like to consider because in the end it means that people in the village will not have food security or safe drinking water or protection from disasters. So part of Andre’s job is find donors to meet the funding shortfall. Our personal support is also affected by the exchange rate. We have “lost” the equivalent of almost $400/month in our living allowance alone. When we were raising support for our mission to Malawi, we thought our budget was way too generous. Why do we need so much money to live in Africa? We’ve discovered that our budget is really quite tight, especially since gas is $2.30/litre and a box of Cheerios is $32 (so we don’t eat those – no wonder locals eat nsima for every meal!). But we’re surviving and learning to budget in our new economic environment. We just can’t be as generous in assisting people with needs that around us every day. Please pray that our projects will be able to continue with funding and that the exchange rate will not continue to fall. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year From our family to yours, we wish you a very merry Christmas and a blessed new year. May you witness and experience the transformation of Christ in you and in the world around you.
Lara's class had a cute play called "Happy Hat Land." The kids did great, they all had their parts. They had obviously been doing lots of practicing -- even Talia seems to know most of the songs that Lara had to learn by now. It's an international school and Lara's teacher is British -- it's funny to hear Lara singing with a British accent: tired=ti-ed, walking=wolking, care=ca-ah, wear=we-ah, etc.
Also some pictures from pony club, our girls' excitement for the week.
Emmanuel International is an international, interdenominational, evangelical agency which assists local churches worldwide to meet the physical and spiritual needs of the poor. As a global Christian ministry, Emmanuel International exists to encourage, strengthen, and assist churches worldwide to meet the needs of the poor in accordance with God's Word, sharing God's love and truth, transforming lives for Eternity.
holistic-- attend to the needs of the whole person: social, physical, emotional, and spiritual
church centred-- partner with churches within needy communities worldwide in order to meet the specific needs of the people within those communities
people centred-- take God's love into towns, villages, and homes
self-reliant-- build the self-reliance and dignity of those involved
grass roots-- meet the basic needs and use simple technology, easy to replicate and maintain
