SOVEREIGN GRACE BAPTIST
MISSION OF MALAWI
PO BOX 60150 BT. 6 BLANTYRE MALAWI AFRICA
TEL. 265-9-741-007/ or 265-8-751140 (mobile)
Missionary / Evangelist: Peter A. Halliman
Email: panagioite04@gmail.com
Website: www.sgbm-malawi-africa.com
Date: 20th March 2014
Dear Pastor, Church, and All Supporters;
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. (James 5:16)
I greet each of you in Jesus’ Name, He Who was, Is, and forever shall Be, Amen.
I have arrived in the USA on the 13th of March after many weeks of labour on the field. In this report I will try to bring you up to speed with the work in Malawi and for the past few weeks the preparation and work involved in the packing of the shipping container.
I will start with where I left off, which was the last month of the year 2013. I tried to give you a summation of that year so will not be redundant.
With the turn of the New Year, and in the middle of the rainy season it became a real challenge to work in the weather with the Malawians who fear getting a little wet with some rain. When one drives on the roads there in Malawi, it is not long until one realizes everyone in Malawi believes the road belongs to them, therefore it becomes a competition and challenge to dodge people, children, broken down vehicles, animals, cyclists who carry large loads on their bicycles not able to see and don’t care etc. etc.
However, as soon as the rain starts falling, you would think that a great earthquake swallowed up masses of people.
I said all that to say this, it became a real challenge to work with the people I had employed, but I managed and through the days and weeks I preserved and completed the task.
My days would start at 0330 hrs. I would leave the house by 0400 and make the drive to the property to start the work of the day. As I indicated before in the previous reports all our work was carried out by hand, the digging of the toilets, hammering of the rocks, the loading of the sand, planning of the timber, sawing and nailing.
I was able to make some furniture for the Bible Academy, one of which was a pulpit, it was joined together the “old fashioned way” no nails or screws, simple dowels and glue. The school will benefit from this for years to come; there were pews also, which were constructed from cedar.
There are two water tanks, which have been constructed out of stone and cement, one is the feed tank and the second will supply water to the school. The primary tank is fed by a stream, which runs off the mountain onto the property. With the proper engineering and piping even during the long dry months of Malawi there will still be water available in the water tanks.
The septic holding tank and outside toilet facilities were completed, as well as the bathhouses. I have long believed in using indigenous materials wherever possible, therefore the toilet house was being prepared for thatching before I departed.
In a single day we poured the concrete floor of the school building, I know this is no real news to folks back here, however it does become a different story when the cement is being mixed by [hand], carried into the building by [hand] and pounded by [hand]. There are no cement trucks, you don’t just call in so many metric meters or yards and the truck comes to deliver. There is no engine driven vibrators to settle the concrete, but by [hand]. Then you have a story to tell.
By the middle of January I was all but finished with the building and finishing work. Therefore I turned my attention to transporting some items, which I have acquired over the years in the work, to the property that will be of use later in life. The timber, which I have kept for the construction of our cabin on the property was transported and stowed for later usage. I felt with my timetable and other things, which needed my attention it was more needful in the work for a school building to stand, then for personal accommodation – which can be constructed later, if the LORD so wills.
I turned my attention to the packing of the Forty-foot shipping container. I want to point out that almost everything, which was packed had to be washed, dried and then prepared for packing. Over the years many of the tools, cases, hardware, etc. have become soiled, but worst of all having rat urine deposited and the smell. As you read this, you may wonder how does all this happen, well I would like to invite you to come to Africa and work with me for several months under the conditions that I have had to live under. That being said, everything in the workshop, and in the house as well, we washed, disinfected with bleach and air-dried. Following it was packed properly and sealed, waiting for placement inside the container.
I need to make a point here that will explain a lot of the work and labour, which was involved in this exercise. Over the years, I have observed many different missionaries coming and going to Malawi, all of which came with at least one Twenty-Foot shipping container, and many of them came with Two, Three and some Four. There were no vehicles shipped to them, they did not have [second-hand] of much, but rather new. They were able to purchase new vehicles when they arrived, and they always seemed to have the funds to take their vehicles to the dealership to have mechanical repairs carried out. When they would leave Malawi (usually in a four year term) this is typical with mission boards); they would sell everything, pack a suitcase, board a airplane and off they would go to the next field to start all over as they had come. No packing, no down time, no trying to save.
Am I complaining, no, however I want to make another point, through the years that I have served as a missionary (this is my second time around, meaning, I lived through this in my Father’s ministry, and now I am doing it. There was a time when “Landmark, Sovereign Grace Baptist” stood together, when they put aside their differences for the cause of Christ. There was a time when this Nation produced sound missionaries and churches got behind them. There were no “new doctrines” and men did not fall out with each other. Not only was the dollar stronger, but also GOD’S people and churches were also stronger. Folks rejoiced when GOD called a man to a foreign field and the Gospel was preached to “Regions beyond”.
Then, there came the “now” when pastors have got sideways with each other, churches have fallen away, and with the many “new doctrines” it becomes a real challenge for a missionary to get support and do a ‘real work’.
I have said all that to say this, I prayed and mediated much before I began to list out what I would sell, or not, what I would pack and take, and what was extra baggage or simply being a good steward of what GOD had given me. Most of the furniture, which I had (and not much of that) was sold, after near Nineteen years of service on the field. I will draw attention to Elder Rick Perdue, who visited my home in Blantyre back in the late 1990’s, I had some cane furniture then – that is what I just recently sold as it was coming apart. My bed rested on the floor over the years but was still good enough to pack.
Instead of going out and buying hardware, I would fabricate and make, such as workshop tables, shelving, tool boxes etc.
I felt that it was far better for me to pack the shipping container with much of the tools, hardware, and what personal things we had, besides one vehicle; inasmuch that when I landed in PNG, I could simply set up and start up where I left off.
I feel very strongly that we as GOD’S people today live in a [throw away, buy new] generation. The “thinkers, fabricators, builders, engineers, and doers” are all but gone. We are to be good stewards with what GOD has given us, and that doesn’t mean buy new and when we grow tired of it, throw it away and beg for new again, or complain that we don’t have.
This will explain my character, and the great effort that I took to clean, prepare and pack for the next field. It is tough enough in a “Third-world country” with primitive conditions and many things not available; therefore anything, which the LORD has enabled me to have and may endure for some more time I felt important to pack for future usage.
It took me the best part of eight weeks; working long hours and assembling the packing in order to rightly “fit” things. Towards the end, I needed to paint the container due to fading paint from the African sun. All done, the last thing to be placed in the container was the Land Rover vehicle which was purchased in 2005 for the mission work. The day before we departed, the vehicle was washed inside out, and completed cleaned from the chassis up. Some may be thinking, this is an over kill, however, when you ship cargo to another country and when they detain the container or goods because of debris or foreign matter, then you will wished you had completed the cleaning.
It is Wednesday morning the12th of March 2014 and the day of our departure from Malawi, we rose early, did our final packing, I drove the vehicle into the container, secured it and locked the container for shipment. With some business to exchange some funds we set off for town and by 1100 hrs. we were at the airport. It took some time to check in but by and by we were boarding and departing Blantyre, Malawi Africa.
I departed with mixed emotions, after near Twenty years of labour on this field, I knew the next time I returned, and it would be very different for me. I would no longer call this home, nor live as a permanent resident.
The LORD has done great things here and only heaven will reveal those who truly have been born again as a result of the preaching of the Gospel. It brings me joy and sadness as well to think of all the hours, days, weeks, months, and years it took to build a work, but really it wasn’t I or any of us, but the LORD!
[Psalms 127:1] “Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.”
In His Name,
Missionary Peter A Halliman