Malawi update!

Baptism procession

We have been continually busy with our ministries, work at Mapanga Orphanage, and giving out medicine up at Ntcheu and down in Sutemwa. We have continued to soul win on the weekends, mainly in the village of Kautuka #1. We have seen approximately 212 people get saved in this village during the last two months with an additional 500 plus people believing and receiving Jesus as their Savior in other villages and areas. I am noticing one trend, and perhaps not a good one. Even though we have seen many people saved in Kautuka #1 we are only seeing 8 to 17 people per week attend the Sunday Service. When I talked to Andrew Nyenga, my translator, about this he stated that since we are meeting at the Mfumu’s home many people stay away. He went on to say that when we purchase some land and get a shelter raised more will come. I am also seeing this in the village of Chizinja. We are meeting in a family’s home as we have not purchased property yet nor constructed a shelter. We have seen many hundreds get saved, but on Sunday we are averaging about 15 to 20 people. We are looking hard in these villages to purchase land but it is scarce as most of the land is owned by the tea estates. Lord willing He will provide some land quickly.

The church in Khovi Good Samaritan Baptist Church is doing well. We have purchased a plot of land, about 1.2 hectares, and we are getting ready to build a temporary shelter. We have also have a national pastor ready to move down into this village in the next couple of weeks Lord willing. We showed the “Jesus Film” in this village last Friday and we had about 800 to 900 people present. I do not have an accurate count of how many people got saved, but I hear it was around 150.

Our family went to the village of Makwasa today to hold a Baptism Service at Makwasa Good Samaritan Baptist Church. Darcy and the kids did a Sunday School and I preached out of Psalm 32:7. We went to this village about 2 months ago and had 166 people accept Christ as their Savior. Since that time more people have come to the Savior through the preaching of other Good Samaritan national evangelist. We are currently looking for a national pastor to take this work as this church is hungry for the Word of God. As you may recall it was an Abraham Church that was being led by a wicked pastor. These people want God’s Best and they are a joy to visit and preach to. I have attached two photos of our baptism procession. We had to walk about ½ mile to the pit the men dug into a very small creek. I ended up baptizing 136 people; it took just over 2.5 hours but it was a joy and a privilege. The youngest was about 5 years and the oldest was 75.

Our main church, Good Samaritan Bible Baptist Church of Bwaila, is doing well, but in the last week I believe our families are under attack. We have seen one husband beat his wife because she was late coming from a Bible Study, he is not saved, another leave his wife because of a misunderstanding, and just today I was informed one of our solid families are having a bad time with the wife wanting the husband to leave. Because I was not there today Darcy and I are going to travel to Bwaila tomorrow to talk to this family. To be honest it is a real shock. When we heard about this our whole family prayed for not only this family but the church as a whole.

We have been listening to a message from our sending church Bible Baptist Church of Alaska from Sunday, 3-15-09, “When God Limits Himself” when we got home from Makwasa. It makes me do a heart check as I want God’s Best for this ministry; I do not want the Savior limited because of me!

I cannot put into words how grateful our family is for BBC! Because of their un-selfishness there is a harvest in Malawi, Levuka, Moldova, Point Lay, Selawick, Barrow and many parts of the world.

God has given our family the opportunity to see the fields that BBC is harvesting!

Prayer letter from Navigator Gome

Dear Pastor and Praying Friends,

Greetings to you all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ who made us brothers and sisters. Hopefully you are doing fine. Back here my family is doing fine. God have been so good to my family that He has blessed us with a baby girl, her name is Danielle.

It feels so good to write this report and let you know how the work of our Lord is progressing. I have been preaching at a new church which Bro John Fulford started in Thyolo district ( tea plantation area ) which is south of Blantyre city. The church is growing tremendously, people are getting saved almost every Sunday in church. For the last two months 25 people have been saved in church and on April 26, 2009 total of 37 people were baptized. Now our next baptism service 31 people will be baptized including the chief of the area. It was the Sunday of June 14, 2009 when this Chief came in front for salvation. The way how he was coming in front it was some how exciting. The chief was coming forward and then reverse, it took him some time to make up his whole mind he was some how shy but he took the courage and come in front. The people were very happy to see their chief making a public acceptance of the Lord.

God have been very good to this new church. In this district its just very difficult to find land for church building as a lot of land is planted with tea. But God made it possible for us to find the land we required for the church building worth $500. By the grace of God the land was purchased. Now we have moved from a place we were renting to a grass shed constructed at this purchased land.

On Friday 26 June 2009 we had a one day revival meeting, preaching and showing a Jesus film. Many people came to the meeting. The choir from Good Samaritan Orphanage was singing and people were so blessed with their songs. Brother John Fulford supposed to preach on this day but unfortunately he had to go to Traffic Department to get his car inspected as the documents were expired. We could not cancel the meeting, so I did the preaching. After the preaching 113 people came forward for salvation and our team helped them. And from 6 pm its when we had Jesus film movie that was for two hours, many many people raised their hands and prayed sinners prayer. There are all the signs that the church will grow big both spiritually and in numbers.

Thank you very much for your prayers and financial support. Pray again that the money for the church building with metal roof will be raised. Once again thank you very much for all your support, MAY GOD BLESS YOU.

Yours,

Navigator.

News from the Fullfords

May 2009

Dear Fellow Laborers,

And Jesus stood still, and called them, and said, What will ye that I shall do unto you?

They say unto Him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened.

So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him. Matthew 20:32-34

If anyone should have compassion on the lost and dying is God’s people! We have been redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb, Praise to the High God of Heaven! We have received our spiritual life and we should purpose in our hearts to follow Him where ever He may guide and direct.

Part of our ministry here in Malawi is to take medicines to the remote villages and treat the sick people to the best of our abilities. During the month of May we had visitors/helpers from Fairbanks Alaska and when we went up to the Ntcheu area to provide this service they went along to help and observe. Prior to dispersion of medicine I talked to about 90 people who had gathered prior to our arrival; we arrived at 7:30 am and they were already assembled. I preached a clear presentation of the Gospel, and the compassion of our Savior. I also made it very clear that they did not have to received Jesus as their Savior to receive medicine; we would love them and try to help them to the best of our abilities. Approximately 50 people received Christ as their Savior, to His Glory. We then treated over 170 people in the next 5 hours. The main problems seem to be malaria, eye infections, colds, coughing, skin infections and open wounds. We even treat some things that I am sure are not seen in America. The serious cases we have taken to the District Hospitals. We also treat 80 to 100 people in the Satemwa area once a month after our Bible studies at Good Samaritan Bible Baptist Church of Bwaila.

We are praying that God will send a full time, medically trained person to assist us in this area.

We continue to seek out and treat those people who have the sickness of sin. During the month of May, we had the privilege to lead 299 dear souls to the Savior. We mainly went soul winning in the villages of, Area 6 – Mapanga, Kasinge (Ntcheu), Chizinja (Satemwa), Kautuka #1 & Katutuka #2 (Thyolo).

Because of the faithfulness of our church members at Bwaila in soul winning and witnessing, we have seen the start of several more churches in the Thyolo, (Cho Lo), area. Not only have we started a new church at Chizinja, but also at Khovi, Kautuka #1, and we have also taken over a church in the village of Makwasa that had been an “Abraham Church” for many years. The people kicked the pastor out because he had (3) wives and was stealing all the money; not uncommon in the Abraham Churches. When several of the members got saved during our soul winning forays they invited us to come and preach. We went to this remote village one Sunday and saw 166 souls get saved. Since that time we having been sending Good Samaritan Evangelist to preach and teach until a national pastor is found within Good Samaritan ministry to take this work.

Our desire to translate and distribute good, fundamental teaching aids has really been appreciated by the national pastors and church members of Good Samaritan. To date we have translated and produced locally:

1. The A, B, C’s of Christian Growth
2. The Word of God on Trial
3. Staying in the Castle
4. The Trail of Blood
5. The 7 Steps of Joy
6. Ten Principals to Break Bad Habits
7. The Ten Commandments
8. All Things Through Christ (Pastor Paul Chappell)
9. Under a Loving Command

We also translate our Bible study materials and other small pamphlets and papers to get into the hands of the people. This could become a full time ministry here in Malawi if we had a person or persons who were ready to serve! The Malawians are hungry for God’s Word in any form. They also want to comprehend God’s Word and any type of help is greatly appreciated.

During these next month’s we will also see many visitors coming from America to help. We are looking forward to these people to assist us and to also instruct and help the orphans at Mapanga. Visitors are always welcomed who desire to serve and assist!

One of the most important days in the month of May was the first day of classes at the new Junior Bible College of Good Samaritan. During these last year’s we have been concentrating on starting a full time bible college for national pastors. To our shame we have neglected a resource we had at Mapanga; teen orphans who really want to know God and to be trained. God touched my heart so on the last Saturday of May we held our first class. Seventeen boys and 10 girls signed up for the classes; The Study of Proverbs, Homiletics, New Testament Survey, The Life of Christ, and Women of Character. Lord willing they will stay faithful to these classes and we will honor Jesus!

To those that have been faithful to the Orphan Meal Program, thank you from all the staff and children. You are really making a difference!

Also, thank you to those that have sent our family gifts and financial support for the ministry. Just when we need to purchase Bibles or pay for ministry materials God provides through His saints for our needs.

PRAYER NEEDS:

1. Financial assistance for the construction of a permanent church building at Bwaila
2. A medical person to come and serve full time or even part time
3. That the new churches will have strong foundations; Ps.11:3 If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?
4. That the orphan teens stay faithful to the Bible College

By His Grace & Mercy,

John, Darcy, Elizabeth,

Sarah & Johnathan

Good Samaritan News!

Dear Fellow Laborers,

What a great day we had today in Malawi! In the morning we went soul winning to the village of Kautuka #1. Forty Six souls trusted Christ as their Savior and Lord willing they will attend the new church we have started in this village last Sunday; Good Samaritan Kautuka Baptist Church. President Henry conducted the first service and this Sunday the pastor we are looking at sending to this village will teach and preach to them. What was really the icing on the cake was the start of the Good Samaritan Junior Bible College at Mapanga. For many months we have been concerned with the fact that not much spiritual meat was being fed to the orphan teens other than Sunday and Wednesday. The Lord laid on my heart the desire to have classes in a college setting for the teen orphans. Well, we set it up and today we had the first classes. We are meeting every Saturday at 2pm with classes lasting 40 minutes with 15 minute breaks. There are 5 classes, The Study of Proverbs, Homiletics, The Life of Christ, Women of Character, & New Testament Survey. I am teaching Proverbs, Navigator Homiletics, Lloyd the Life of Christ, Darcy & Ms. Goodman Women of Character, & Henry NTS. We provided notebooks, study materials, pencils, pens, Chichewa & English (KJV) Bibles, and personal study/information books. Darcy & Ms. Goodman teach their class while Navigator is teaching Homiletics, other than that we are all together. It is really exciting to see this! We have 17 boys & 10 girls signed up and Lord willing they will stick to it. We are trusting God to smooth and iron out wrinkles and the wiles of the devil that I am sure that will come our way.

I wanted to share this day with all of you as I know that I am generally Mr. Doom and Gloom but I know that God blesses the ministries that desire to honor Him! I desire His very best for this ministry and for those workers and orphans that are involved in it.

Thank you for your prayers and Lord willing we will see you shortly.

By His Grace & Mercy,
John

John & Darcy Fullford Newsletter update

May 6^th, 2009

Psalm 34:8 O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him

Dear Brothers & Sisters in Christ,

The Lord is truly good and He blesses us in ways we cannot even imagine!!

Much to my shame I have not sent out our “Prayer Letter” since the month of February. To this I ask your forgiveness and my only defense is that we have been overwhelmed with the ministry here in Malawi.

I pray God’s blessing on all those dear people that have responded to our “Plea Letter” for the month of January. During the month preceding the implementation of our new food menu at the Good Samaritan Children’s Home, we took 56 children to the Chiradzulu Hospital for illness. The month following the start of the new menu we took 5 to the hospital. We continue to receive emails from those that have given a “one time gift and from those people or families that have committed to contribute every month. We are “Tasting and Seeing” that the Lord is very good!!

Our members of Bible Baptist Church of Bwaila have really taken to heart the “Great Commission” in that they are faithful in going out soul winning in the Satemwa tea fields and the surrounding villages. During the months of February, March and April we have had many people believe and receive Christ as their Savior;

Satemwa tea fields 184

Mbeluko #1 99

Mbeluko #2 160

Kautuka #2 70

Chizinja 220

At the village of Chizinja people asked that we start a church at their village because of the distance from Bwaila and the hills and streams that needed to be crossed. Two Sundays ago we started our second church, Chizinja Good Samaritan Baptist Church. We moved the church service at Bwaila up to 9am, and finish at 12:30pm. We then travel the 5 Km to Chizinja, a 20 minute drive, and start that church service at 1pm. We also have started a Bible study for these dear people on Tuesday afternoons at 3:30pm. Just this last Tuesday during the Bible study some other village people sat down to listen as we taught. During one of the question/answer periods a man raised his hand and stated, “I am tired of drinking, I want to be saved”. Six people trusted Jesus as their Savior at the end of this Bible study! The Malawians are hungry for the Truth of God; John 8:32, “ And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

The work at the Good Samaritan Bible College and Children’s Home at Mapanga continues. We are trying to maintain the facilities to His Glory and Honor. Between the weather, insects, pest, and all the children, this is a task.

During the month of February we completed the electrical wiring for the bakery addition at the kitchen facility. After hooking up two of the commercial ovens, Darcy baked bread for the first time. The children and staff enjoy these first fruits and Lord willing in the next couple of weeks Darcy will teach the cooks and others how to bake simple but nutritious foods.

At the end of April, 5 graduating teen girls and 2 adult women chaperons from Bible Baptist Church of Fairbanks Alaska arrived for a two week “working” mission’s trip. We have put them to work at Mapanga teaching and cleaning at the Orphanage. They have gone out soul winning both at Mapanga and Bwaila and have also taught Junior Churches at Njuli, Mapanga, Bwaila and Chizinja. They have been a blessing to our family and also to the people of these villages. Some of the nationals that have seen them work have commented that they did not know that the Inzungu’s, white people, worked with their hands. The visitors have seen the work here in Malawi “first hand”and Lord willing their report will encourage and energize others!

We understand that a family from Bible Baptist Church of Fairbanks has surrendered to come and join our family in this ministry in Malawi. David & Laurie Mowery are believing God’s Word, Prov. 3:5 & 6. They have talked with Pastor Duffett, received his blessing and are moving forward with the plans to come to Malawi. We have known this family for many years and are excited about working with them!

PRAYER ITEMS

1. People continue to see the needs for the Mapanga Orphanage
2. The new Independent Baptist church at Chizinja
3. Bible Baptist Church of Bwaila
4. Health for our family as we are stretched thin
5. Funds for a permanent church building at Bwaila

By His Grace & Mercy,

John, Darcy, Elizabeth,

Sarah & Johnathan

The Fullford's are a family that have come to Malawi, Africa to help me with this great work. I have been there 10 years and they came this past July 2008 and are doing a great work.
Dr. Gardiner Gentry
Founder/Director

John & Darcy Fullford Newsletter

"Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child." Exodus 22:22

Dear Family & Praying Friends,
This is going to be a different monthly prayer letter in that it is a PLEA letter.
"You shall comfort and assist them, and be ready upon all occasions to show them kindness."
(Matthew Henry's Commentary)

January was a hard month for the orphanage at Mapanga. During this one month we were compelled to take 56 children to Chiradzulu District Hospital due to malaria, colds or flu. These were the children bad enough to be taken to the hospital and does not take into account the many children that we tried to nurse ourselves. I believe with all my heart the one dominating factor is the lack of nutrition due to our food menu we have been forced to adopt. Over the last year many people who had committed to the care of these kids have been forced, or chosen to quit sending aid for the kids. We have 101 children that depend on us and it tugs on the string of our hearts when we see the kids getting sick and we know with a proper diet it could very well be averted.

Let me give you a glimpse of what a child gets in one week for his/her meal.
Approximately one and one half cups rice (Sunday only)
4 eggs (2 on Tuesday & 2 on Thursday)
1 cup beans
1 cup small dried fish
1/3 cup of milk (that's right: for one week)
Rice porridge at every meal except on Sundays (This is called Nsima, (the national food) and it has very little nutritional value. It is eaten as a filler to make the children feel full.) A mixture of vegetable greens, onions, ground nuts and tomatoes they call "relish" to be eaten with the Nsima.
Hot tea with sugar
Water to drink with their meal

THEY DO NOT GET:
Red meat of any kind Chicken or fowl
Fruit Bread
Noodles or other types of starches Hot or cold cereals
Snacks, treats or desserts Flavored drinks; only water

January was a deciding month, Darcy and I knew we had to change the meal plan, so we have revised our menu and starting February 15th, we have implemented a new menu aimed at increasing the nutritional intake of each child. The children will be receiving:
2 fruits every day
1 1/2 cups of milk a week
4 eggs a week
9 oz of red meat a week
Chicken once a week
Noodles with beef once during the week
Hot cereal with raisins twice a week
A larger quantity of small fish in their relish
Beans with beef soup bones once a week
One slice of bread every day
More vegetables & less Nsima during the week
Nutritious baked rolls for snacks, made at the orphanage

We are trusting God to touch the hearts of people to help us with this meal menu for the children. It is still lacking, but it will give them the marginal nutritional values that they need. What if 350 families would be willing to give $10.00 per month for this need? This would cover the increase in our monthly food budget for the kids. If you believe God is leading you to help please send your donations to:
Victory World Outreach
P O Box 4403
Milton, Fl. 32572

Please designate your donations as "Orphan Food" and send an email to us at john@raisingagodlyheritage.org to let us know what has been given so that we can plan accordingly.

If we believe the Bible is /God's Word, and He many times shows that His Heart is for orphans shouldn't our hearts also be towards the widows, afflicted and orphaned? God has chosen to work through His people and I pray that when He talks to you in "that still small voice" you will listen and obey!

PRAYER REQUEST:

1. Health and support for our orphans
2. Rufina, one of our HIV kids that is going through a tough time
3. Health and safety for our family.

By His Grace & Mercy
John, Darcy,Elizabeth, Sarah & Johnathan