Dear praying friends of Malawi,

Today we are writing you to let you know about the great unrest dominating the people in Malawi. Elly spoke with John Singinie (the leader of the DCI team) at length this morning. The following are some of the stories he told her. The present unrest ultimately came about because of rigged national elections last summer. The courts have ruled against the president who illegitimately was sworn in and is trying to hang onto power by force. The High Court has ordered new elections within 150 days. The president is resisting and has appealed to the Supreme Court which said that the High Court ruling stands.

In the Nyaga News, a local paper in Malawi, the vice-president cautioned the army not to obey the president’s orders to shoot to kill demonstrators. But people are dying, mob rule has taken away power from the police. Police stations are being burnt by the angry mobs. The army is attempting to keep the order, but they are not trained to do this. However, they let the people know in no uncertain terms that when an order is given it needs to be obeyed. For example, John reported that one person who wanted to obstruct the progress of an army truck was run over. People are getting the point. When the army shows up the demonstrations stop, and the people disperse.

149 kilometers…

The DCI Team, John, George and Caleb, arrived in Jenda yesterday to meet with some Life Groups and supply the coaches with the needed New Testaments and Discipling materials, as well as encourage everyone in the work of God. They had settled in a lodge (here we would call it a motel) when word came that a crowd was looking for strangers. These strangers were supposed to be Satanists. Any strangers they could find were killed by stoning or pouring gasoline on them and burning them. The Team, being “strangers”, had to leave immediately and left their personal belongings behind; John left his extra clothes and Caleb his shoes; they ran. In the car they chose to take the back roads, because the M1, the main highway, was blocked by these angry mobs.

As they fled, they saw members of the Good Hope team and warned them to also flee Jenda, so they fled the area together. They arrived home safely late at night.

From an audio clip from George (on the DCI Team in Malawi): “So far they’ve burnt one lodge . . . spread gasoline in the homes of people so that when they collapse they can suck their blood . . . they are attacking people, so we are running away.”

From John & others on the team: (John): “going back home . . . (people are) attacking those who are driving . . . taking a back road . . . left his whole bag . . . Caleb has left his shoes, left a number of things in their rooms . . . (George): “Just pray for us as we are travelling back to Mzuzu. We believe God is with us and we need your prayers. . . . (?): “They’ve also destroyed a police station in Jenda.”

Please pray:

• For the people of Malawi to have patience as the courts try to enforce the law and remove the illegitimate president.
• For a peaceful solution to the problems caused by these rigged elections. New elections are postponed because of COVID19.
• For the army, wisdom and restraint as they try to maintain peace.
• For the DCI Team as they seek to serve God and spread the Good News by training and encouraging Christ-followers.
• For safety on the road.
• For wisdom where to go and when to leave.
• For the many disciples of Christ, new believers, to live out their new-found faith in the face of this unrest.
• For many to come to faith in Christ as they see all this unrest around them.

Thank you for your prayers!

For the DCI Team,

Hans and Elly

We were so blessed and encouraged with the testimonies and report we heard at Sangilo in Karonga District. We first trained pastors and leaders from different denominations at Tilora: African International Church, Baptist Church, Assemblies of God Church, Christian Love Church and Holy Word Church. These people came from different villages and when they went back to their various homes they introduced the one to one discipling there.

Mwayi Nyirenda is one of those leaders. After being trained Mwayi went to Sangilo and established the work there through one to one dicipling and started the Life Group, which has also reproduced. God has been saving people through one to one dicipling and changing many lives. When they are saved and discipled they discover who they are in Christ and their life changes. People who are dicipled receive a free ShareWord New Testament and the Dynamic Basics Booklet. Then they in turn diciple other people and give them a ShareWord New Testament and a Dynamic Basics Booklet in turn. They are so thankful for these materials because they allow them to read and study the Word of God for themselves, grow in their faith and disciple others.

Here are two testimonies:

DEVI MKANDAWIRE (Above photo):

Devi Mkandawire comes from Mtowera Nyifwa Village, Traditional Wansambo Authority in Karonga District. He is the leader of an African International Church. He told us that he has been the leader of this church for a number of years even though he was not saved and did not know the truth of the Word of God. He was a blind leader leading the blind.

He said that he discovered the truth about God through the one to one discipling. It changed his life. He also said that through the Life Group bible studies, the ShareWord bibles and the DCI teaching and discipleship materials, he has learnt how to teach the truth of the Word of God in his church .

PRISCILA MKWANDAWIRE (photo on the right):
Priscila Mkandawire is about 14 years old and lives in Deleza Chiwembu Village. Despite her age, she is one of the devoted people in her Life Group. She told us that most people in her village were very troubled. They were drunkards, womanizers, wizards and witches. When Mwayi introduced the DCI work, almost the whole village was saved and a Life Group was started. Peoples lives have been changed through the studies in the Life Group. They now love one another and through the Life Group, people of different churches meet and discuss the Word of God together. They freely talk about their New Life in Christ.

Dear friends,

DCI Malawi is doing well! Thanks for your prayers and support. January and much of February were taken up with taking care of the office in Mzuzu. A brick fence needed to be built around the property to make it more secure. Demonstrations made it often unsafe to be on the roads. The last elections were contested by the Malawian population and they expressed their displeasure by demonstrating, often accompanied by violence again properties and cars. Glory, George’s wife had to flee with her new baby boy Timothy a day after he was born a few months ago. The unrest lasted many weeks.
Then the teachers went on strike, because they had not been paid for a long time. The children of school age went on a rampage this time.

Now the rains have come and the roads are washed out in many places. I will include a few videos of the road by the office  https://vimeo.com/394701006  and one of the M1 https://vimeo.com/394701012 , the main highway going North to South the length of Malawi and the main corridor for bringing goods into the country.

All this unrest has caused supply chains to be interrupted and made it hard to impossible for people in the villages to do business, resulting in a lack of food. This has also made it hard for the DCI Team to visit some villages, they just were not able to have them due to lack of food.

Below are the reports from Caleb and John of their trip to Tilola and other places in the North of Malawi. Enjoy the read and God bless you,

Hans and Elly for the DCI Team

Caleb’s Saturday Discipleship Report

Today, Saturday, I went to visit pastor Sunday of the Full Gospel Church at Geshah near Mzuzu . We had a wonderful time. The pastor invited his church members to attend and the programme was done at this church. I introduced the one to one Dynamic Basics to them. I divided them in groups of two so they could practice the one to one discipling. They were very interested to learn the lessons. We have agreed that we should meet again next of next Saturday morning. There were 11 people, including myself. Those are their pictures, their church and their new church project.

_______________________________

I write to report on the trip we had to Tilola from 17 to 22 Feb. 2020.

My first field experience was wonderful. I enjoyed fellowship with pastors and leaders of six different churches namely; African International Church, African Church, Baptist Church, Assemblies of God, and Christian Love and Holy Word. These pastors also lead different Life Groups in their villages.

It was so encouraging to see pastors and leaders coming from short and far distances to learn more about discipleship. They participated by asking questions and making comments on the teaching of the LEADERSHIP BASICS and A NEW ONENESS IN RELATIONSHIP. They showed much interest in the Word of GOD and reaching out to others in their villages.

Wisdom Ngwira, one of the pastors, reported that after he had been taught how to disciple using the one to one discipleship by the D.C.I Team, he went to his village and taught two other people, Version Kondowe and Symon Mhango. These two people are now also working hard in the kingdom of GOD. They went and taught others too. Version has 1 life group and Symon has 3 life groups. Now there are 52 people in 4 life groups.

Another story tells of Masida Msiska, from Sangilo Village. This man was a drunkard and caused trouble in this village. Now, after Mr. Nyirenda had discipled him one to one through the Dynamic Basics, he received JESUS CHRIST. His life changed, he stopped his drinking and also stopped being a trouble maker in the village. He says he will now start going to the Life Group in his village.

I was happy and greatly encouraged to see how the discipleship work is growing. We heard many more other testimonies at Tilola.  I thank GOD for the trip we had. Thanks,

Caleb Chirambo, DCI Team member.

John’s Report on the trip to Tilola

Here is the field report for Tilola, we left Mzuzu for Tilola on a Monday morning. We had a safe trip despite road challenges, the M1 road to Karonga has been badly damaged by running waters. We have more rains this season than normally expected. Most mountains in the North are filled with water and hence releasing a lot of water in the rivers. It was very dangerous driving through the M1 road to Karonga. See the picture of one of the places that the road has been damaged (that is at Chitimba area).

More houses have been destroyed by rains at Tilola and other areas in Karonga people are left helpless just living in camps. This also had a negative impact on us for we could not visit some third generations leaders and Life Groups because a number of places were flooded with water.

We had good time during the trainings. This was our fifth visit to Tilola (and last training session) and we had 9 leaders attending. First we introduced Caleb to the group and they welcomed him very well. Caleb was asked to teach the lesson on LEADERSHIP BASICS and NEW ONENESS IN RELATIONSHIP and he did very well. He taught with confidence, which was so encouraging to the audience. People were able to participate and ask a number of questions, which Caleb was able to answered well. Caleb enjoyed the interaction with these leaders during the lunch breaks. This trip he also gave him a good impression of what life on the field is like.

The work at Tilola is growing well and fast, the leaders we have trained have trained a number of generational leaders. Many life groups have been started all over Tilola and surrounding area. When we first came to Tilola a lot of villagers said we were of the devil after one person received a New Testament bibles and the same night his house got on fire. People concluded that it was because of the bible he received. And it is in the same village that the gospel is spreading like wildfire and many people have benefited from the free ShareWord bibles the DCI team is giving them.

Sangilo

After completing at Tilola, we took to visit Sangilo where we met with the third generation. We were so encouraged with what we found people doing.Lots of people have been reached with the gospel and have been given ShareWord New Testament bibles which they are using for discipling others. The Sangilo area has 3 Life Groups and they are planning to start another Life Group.At Sangilo most of the young people are involved in discipleship. We met a young girl who is very involved in discipling and she shared an amazing story of how a whole village was transformed by the gospel. We also met Kondwani Nkhonjere who is a preacher at the African Church. Kondwani was appointed as the preacher while he didn’t have any biblical knowledge and was not saved. He didn’t even have a personal bible as a preacher. But after he was reached with the gospel he got saved and received a free bible. Kondwani’s life has completely been transformed and now he is a gospel preacher. He is going around his village preaching the good news, and is also the Life Group leader.

We struggled driving through Sangilo Village, the road was in a very bad shape. In some places we had to first fill some of the pot holes in order for the car to pass. On our way back the car got stuck and we had to push it out of the sinking ground.

JITI

We planned to visit another place called Jiti where we wanted to meet with the third generation disciples. We have heard a lot about this place and what God is doing. But unfortunately there were 3 funerals around the area and the meeting was cancelled.

With thanks to God,

John Singinie