Demons among us

It was the day I had been dreading - the day that our kids witnessed demon possessed people. That is to say, the manifestation of demons in people. I know that we interact with people everyday who have demons but who act perfectly normally and no one would know until those demons were rebuked.

In all our years in Malawi only David saw them when he went out to the village for long evangelistic meetings. We just didn't see them on Sunday mornings in church. But Sunday morning seems to be the norm here. I had my first experience a few months ago. The kids' had their first yesterday.

We went to a church that is not actually Kuria. It is Luo, but still in our same association and so a part of our group. Pastor Mwita from Remagwe (leh-mah-gway) visited our church in Shirati (sheer-ah-tee) to teach for the weekend. We took the kids out Sunday morning to join him.

It was a fun day - though, when you go to the Luo churches you have to put aside all concerns of time and agenda. Things happen very slowly and no one really knows what to expect. But their singing is very different from the Kuria. It is lively and joyous (not saying that the Kuria singing isn't) and then a few will come forward and form a tight circle clapping their hands faster and faster. When the circle breaks there just seems to be a feeling of victory in the air.

David did a great job preaching (in Kiswahili with translation into Kijaluo). The Luo are not as reticent as the Kuria seem to be so it is a little easier to joke and interact with them. At the end of the service people came forward for prayer. This is a normal part of church - it is a time when people who wish to be prayed for come to the front. David, the pastors, and I laid hands on them in prayer.

As I was returning to my seat, two of the ladies fell down. When a demon decides to rear its ugly head, the person often becomes violent, thrashing about and trying to run away. They will moan and hiss and sometimes yell. Blessedly, these ladies were fairly quiet. They were surrounded by the pastors, church leaders, David, and I - and we prayed.

The kids were concerned and felt very much out of their depth, but were not scared. We were able to talk to them quietly and explain what we knew of these things and encourage them to pray. Abby said that one thing kept running through her mind: Jesus is power. Jesus is power. Jesus is power. When faced with something frightening, Christ filled her with Himself.

These things can also take a long time, but was, again blessedly, brief. We finished the service, had a great village "lunch" (it was past 3pm), and went home. We have talked with the kids and they have not been disturbed by the experience overly much, but their eyes were certainly opened.

We tend to hear these stories and we have visions of the Christian being filled with power and confidence and the demons immediately obeying and running in fear. But that is not how it always happens. It is disturbing and difficult, even though we are assured of the victory. And I have learned that demons do not immediately run away. They fight to stay. And if the person has willingly invited them into their lives it takes more than just rebuking. The person has to admit to the act in order to break the covenant made. Not what we are taught, is it? It's a lot more complicated than we are led to believe.

But God always proves Himself Good and Faithful. He always takes care of our children. We were together as a whole family, a unit, when my young ones were introduced to this part of the spirit world. And together we are strong. It was a quiet casting, as casting outs go. And it was a short one. It was calm and orderly and life went on as usual afterwards. There were no other difficulties to upset the spirits within us.

I will contend with those who contend with you, and your children I will save. Isaiah 49:25b

I love my God.

Blessings to you all.

Family Time

I was laying in bed last night listening to music. That sounds lovely, doesn't it? I like to put a nice spin on things, but it wasn't my choice of music. It was music from town. We are often the civilian casualties of the bars in town. We are not terribly close to them, but our town is situated in a little valley - the town is on one side and we are on the other. The geographical result is that we end up being a captive audience to whatever happens after dark.

This time it wasn't the bars, but a revival. It still wasn't all that enjoyable late into the night. Especially went it started again before 5am. I end up spending a lot of time laying in bed awake. It gives a lot of time for thought.

Our kids are home from school, so they are mostly filling my thoughts. I often check in with them about how they feel about boarding school - they are in the best school I could ever imagine, but I always want to make sure that they are content. They very much are, even when they have struggles. It is great for us all to be home together and we focus most of our time with them during these holidays.

I can never say enough how proud I am of my kids. It amazes me what God has done in their lives and I constantly thank Him that He has used me to encourage that. I really do not take responsibility for who they are. I mostly feel that the good that has come through me has been a direct result of my pleas for Him to make me a good mother. Not that I am a good mother, but God has been able to make me a tool in my children's lives.

So this 6 weeks is full of them. I spend a lot of time cooking - making up for them suffering three months of cafeteria food. It is what a mom's life is like over here - hours in the kitchen. But it is wonderful to serve them this way and they often join me in the task. We will have a couple of projects to do together for fun.

I do have results from our volunteers' visit, but not right in front of me! There were over 100 confessions of faith and about half that number have expressed interest in joining the church. We praise the Lord for His glory being spread through this wonderful group of people.

Please pray that these new Christians will seek their faith, will attend our church, and have a burning desire to grow in their relationship with Christ.

Blessings.

Willowbrook Volunteer Trip

We were blessed to have a volunteer group from Willowbrook Baptist Church, Huntsville, Alabama. Willowbrook has come out several times and is always great. The point man, Nelson, is a laid back guy - perfect for Africa. They always bring us a breath of fresh air and renewed vigor for the work.

They worked in Remagwe (lay-mahg-way). It is a village just off the main road. The church in Remagwe is mostly children. The usual congregation is made up of about 50 children and youth and 10 or so adults. The first time I visited there I was very disappointed. I was sad that the church was all children and wondered how it could make an impact in the community.

Then God woke me up. He reminded me that today's children are our future leaders. "Children are the future" has become a stale line, but it is never-the-less very true. We have learned from our own past experiences that these young disciples will become the strongest church leaders.

So we asked our volunteer team to lead a Vacation Bible School program. This is often a "busy time" provided for kids while other, more serious work goes on. But in this case the children's work was vital. The group did an outstanding job. They taught the story of the Bible in 4 days - hitting some important events from Creation to Christ. It gave the children an overview of the world from a Biblical perspective.

They also taught some fun songs and played games. Our daughter, Chloe, helped out one day. I asked her if she wanted to go witnessing with the group I was joining or stay with the kids. Melissa, one of the volunteers, was teaching the kids the song "Pharoah, Pharoah" and Chloe was helping. She said, "I want to stay here. This is hilarious!" She had a great time.

During the children's program, other volunteers broke into groups and headed out with translators to witness hut-to-hut in the village. People often come out quite intimidated by the thought of witnessing. After all, in America no one wants to hear it and people are often offended when you bring it up. But it is different here. Everyone is thrilled to welcome a guest and they want to visit. Even Muslims will sit and talk about God and faith very openly. In the afternoon there was a Bible study for adults who made decisions, or just wanted to find out more. Every evening was a crusade led by our pastors - who came from near and far to help - and a showing of the Jesus Film

We do not yet have the number of decisions made, but at least 25 new adults attended church Sunday. We praise the Lord for His good work through these that were willing to sacrifice their time, money, and energy to work for the Lord in a foreign land. We do not take their sacrifices for granted, and neither does God.

It doesn't take a miracle to come out and work with us. If you are interested, please let us know. There is so much more to do!