SOVEREIGN GRACE
BAPTIST
MISSION OF MALAWI
PO BOX 60150 BT. 6 BLANTYRE MALAWI AFRICA
TEL.
265-999-741-007 or
265-888-751140 (mobile)
Missionary / Evangelist: Peter
A. Halliman
Website: sgbm-malawi-africa.com
Fri 10th/12/2010
Morning hours I went to the border to purchase Insurance for the Moz trip. Four and a half hours. Return to house. I stopped at Bro. Chipala’s residence to pick him up for he was going with me. We travelled together to the farm.
I rested a bit, and then went to pick up the water down at the borehole. It was time to pack up the tools and sign off all the workers. My family bathed and got ready to go out to eat Pizza as this was Thomas’s B.D.
The place was busy and took nearly two hrs to get our food, we ate and then went to Allan’s to drop off Cheyanne, however he was at the movies with some friends and I called, went to the car park but decided to go home and drop her off in the morning. I went to bed late near 2300 hrs and was awakened by two calls, Bro. Gordon Wiegold and Allan so by the time I went to sleep it were after midnight.
At 0330 hrs I rose to start the packing of the day for our trip into Moz. Edwin, his father, and the two boys were all working with me to pack. Two and a half hours later we had the vehicle packed and ready to go. This trip much like the one before would need the same items and packing order would follow suite.
This time I was taking 120 litres / 30 gal of drinking/cooking water. Our backpacks with personal clothing, Bibles, etc… one large plastic container of recovery equipment, i.e., four chains with grab hooks, two large three hundred foot ropes,
Pulleys, D-shackles, recovery binder’s etc… two medium size coolers of food, and one cooler of cook ware with table ware etc…
Two bathing buckets, two charcoal burners (locally made) in order to cook the food and heat the bathing water, everything becomes cost effective when shopping for a month’s budget and especially when operating on a lean budget. Normally in the past I would organize for cooking gas, and had a small gas bottle, which I would have filled, and pack, using in the bush to take care of the kitchen needs. However, with loss of support and other needs taking priority something has to be negotiated and that became one of them.
It has become a sad day among our kind of people (Baptist) when every time someone cleans their nose with a different coloured handkerchief as though it were, you become black balled. Many of our Baptist churches say they believe in God’s Sovereign Grace, and that they believe it takes the (preaching of the Gospel) for someone to hear to be saved, [thus] – Biblical Mission work, however many today seem to behave as though they are going to find the “[perfect]”- text book “Missionary” – what ever that is supposed to mean. There is really only one difference between us “Missionaries” and all the rest of God’s people, and that is they have been placed under the microscope of God’s people for as long as I can remember.
I can remember someone asking my father whilst we were in NG as a family and at one of the supporting churches someone asked “Bro. Halliman you (HAVE) a refrigerator?” His answer was, “yes I do, I didn’t know that having a refrigerator facilitated the preaching of the Gospel”, and let me ask you, do you have a refrigerator? The person replied “yes”, so what makes you believe I should not have one for my family?” That conversation ended without being answered, such is the plight of many missionaries who serve the LORD in far and distant lands.
I realize after having served as a missionary for the past twenty-six years amongst the Baptist that though we have had the cannon of Truth entrusted to us, we for the most part as a people, as a nation of people (Baptist, Landmark, Sovereign Gracers) we have become bitter, stiff necked, aggressive to attack, etc… those who make a mistake, or fall into some grievous sin (as though some have no sin at all)?
I live and work among Tribal people and though I have taught them much, they have also taught me much, which is, you don’t shoot the messenger.
Everything that I own has a job and purpose, otherwise I have no use for it, my home is not decorated with hangings, my vehicle is not polished and waxed, the vehicle was a “Gift fro the LORD”, I don’t care who was used to help make it happen.
The vehicle has to perform, it has to go where I need to go and it needs to get me home.
Sat. 11th/Dec/2010
After two and a half ours packing with five of us working we were ready to depart. Since the night before I had some commitments, and was quite late when retiring to bed, I was not in a position to depart at my normal time of 0400 hrs. Be it as it may, I did make an early start and was packed up and ready to push off by 0630 hrs. I once again had to leave the boys home as their visas were not out yet, and this time we were leaving Cheyanne with a friend of mine.
It was 0800 hrs by the time we departed town for our journey, for the next thirty kilometres we drove on tarmac roads, but then road conditions deteriorated, to the point we were second gear range and driving speed dropped to twenty-five – thirty MPH. This starts the long process of simply enduring the trip. It is hot, dusty, and humid, conditions, which facilitate the desire for a fresh cold drink.
Bye and bye as the journey passed we arrived at a certain place called Pogera, within the district of Nsanje (the Southern tip of Malawi) at which we were collecting a local pastor Luka (Luke) who is in fact from Mozambique, and would go with us on this trip.
We proceeded onward and another two hours we were at the border of Malawi / Mozambique.
We once again went through the process of clearing Immigration and Customs as I have detailed in many reports. After which we were cleared, exited and arrived at the Mozambique border to again clear Immigration and Customs. This process is slow and does no good for someone to become excited. It simply will worsen conditions and many times will cause the Authorities to look for a reason to refuse you entry into their country without some kind of “tip off”.
The entry was made and now we proceeded for the next two hrs to reach our destination at a place called Inhangoma, Mozambique – this is near a D.C. called Mutarara where the longest bridge has been constructed and still stands in service today.
After arriving at destination, we took a bit to rest, being late in the day we would not have much day light remaining and therefore it would be in our interest to start pitching our camp site if we wanted the luxury of God’s lighting conditions.
I must make a comment at this point and give thanks to the LORD, and to the Alisal Baptist Church for providing a canopy, which they had used in previous years. It was donated to the mission work and myself in our ministry here in Africa. It is too large to carry by human transport but with a vehicle it makes a good covering to make a campsite.
We pitched the canopy, which measures about twenty feet in length and ten feet wide and adjust to different heights, has a white canvas top, which reflects the sun and this is important for anyone living under the strength of the African sun. We set up our kitchen and suspended one of our own tarps at one end to block the wind from the cooking. I have my own system of preparation in the bush and this canopy has given much-needed reprieve from doing without such cover.
Our tents were pitched and the kitchen was set, now was time for dinner, I have found that at the end of the day, when one has travelled for miles, you are hot, have been baptized in dust clouds all day, the humidity has matted this to your clothes, which at this point you really want to be clean almost as much or more then you want to eat. With my wife it becomes even more pronounced so the bath water is started as soon as the fires get going. Whilst Edwin and I were tending to the kitchen, Sherry was taking her bath. This too needs to be qualified, here in Africa with the population as heavy that it is and with the “whites” being the centre of attraction special care must be taken to procure privacy.
We waited until the night hours and after our dinner of pasta (which went very well), then we suspended one of our tarps around some bushes to make a barrier on three sides away from the village which we are camped just some fifty meters away. I prepared the water and Sherry proceeded to take her bush bath, which consists of a bucket of water of choice (either cold, or hot), your soap of choice and a cup used as a dipper to pour. One would be surprised how little water it actually takes to take a good clean bath.
Most folks who grow up with running water, at least of recent years don’t seem to have any clue as to the value of water. If someone has to carry their water in a bucket some distance in order to take a bath, they will be a bit careful with the water when bathing.
Each of us took our turns bathing and as the evening wore on we settled in for the night.
The evening hours passed and soon was the breaking of dawn, life begins to stir within the village and by 0430 hrs the day has come and folks living as the Natives do here in Africa as elsewhere in Tribal conditions take advantage of the daylight hours.
There was a sermon I preached some years ago at a Bible Conference and I hit on the subject of rising early as in Biblical days and someone said to me, what is early? I replied to that one, if you had to live off the land, as your ancestors did and depend on the LORD for lighting conditions you would understand what early meant. Anyone who is old enough to read this report and doesn’t understand this should ask some elder person living around him or her, what meaneth this.
12th/Dec/2010
I studied and prepared as this was the LORD’S day and we would be having services here at Pastor Garaf’s village where he is pastor. I have spoken often in my reports about Pastor Garaf. Though he is a pastor, he in my estimation would qualify for an Evangelist as he has a great heart for the LORD’S work and is always seeking out new areas and going on mission trips to organize people, at which time he will then call me, inviting me to go with him to visit these areas to establish the work and further the preaching of the Gospel.
Church services were conducted near 1100 hrs and since I have Bro. Dinala Chipala, (Edwin’s father) he was asked to speak first and did, then I was asked to speak, at which time it started to rain. The meeting place, which we met in/ under, were simply a grass roof that needed to be thatched but were not. The rain came heavy and with the wind blowing it was not long until the small area where the people were seated was running with water. Sherry was covered with her long outback raincoat, the Natives all found small areas where the rain was not coming in and huddled as I kept preaching. Pastor Garaf expected for me to stop at any time, however I have preached in the rain before, simply making a cover for my Bible and continued preaching until I was finished. The LORD shortened the rains and after about twenty minutes of hard rain it stopped and I finished out my message.
It had been a good service even though we were rained upon, the rest of the afternoon we had good fellowship and encouraged each other in the LORD.
That evening as we settled in the rains came again and rained for several hours through the night.
13th/Dec/2010
Monday morning it was wet outside and muddy but we had a schedule to keep and time had to be followed. We were going to visit two different churches, which I had organized back in 2002. I have visited them at different times since those days but some time had passed since I had been able to organize time to get to these churches again.
We loaded up only our recovery equipment, drinking water, and our Bibles, and started out. The bush road which we would transverse was muddy, and at this time of the year you will not find any vehicle travelling out that far into the bush. We carried on until we arrived at our first meeting place. The people were ready and waiting so we did not take a lot of time to simply socialize. The meeting house was a bit small in size and the people soon filled the house, by the time we were seated, the body heat inside was more then Sherry could within stand, therefore I asked the pastor if we could ask the people to assemble outside under a tree where we could have fresh air and plenty of room. They did so and this made a considerable difference in the worship.
Bro. Luke Billiard preached first and then I preached also, afterward we were fed a meal of chicken and rice. We thanked the people and prepared to depart for the second church. The people were again waiting and assembled so we did not take time to assemble and start services. Again I preached and the time being late in the afternoon we said our good byes to the people and started our drive back to our base camp here at Bro. Garaf’s village.
The process of domestic chores starts all over and much like home there is a routine, which is followed. Certain things are done in a certain order, as we approached our camp we found some young men who had captured and killed a large lizard about two feet in length. I have a certain liking for wild and natural meat and am always willing to negotiate for this in the bush to supplement my diet. After a bit of toing and froing, Bro. Garaf took possession of the Lizard and we found our way back to the camp. It being a bit lat in the afternoon, I proceeded to skin the Lizard and after some time succeeded and then proceeded to cut up the meat to be cooked. I took charge of this as Edwin was also preparing a chicken, which had been offered to us as a meal.
The food had been cooked and being night hours we ate by torch light as well as what light the moon afforded us. Being cooler at night it sometimes makes more sense to eat at a later hour, though one has to deal with all the insects as well as mosquitoes. If it were easy everyone would be doing it!
For those reading this, the weather conditions measured in (hPa) has been (1006 – 1008) which means the humidity factor is near 100% or at that, the density of the air is very high, and the air temp is ranging around high 90’s in the mornings and into the 100’s during the day hours. At night it has been dropping down to low 90’s with humidity factor dropping to 85% and air density at 100%. We are three feet (3’) above sea level parallel with the Zambezi River here in Mozambique; we are located at 167 dgs South on the Compass.
14th/Dec/2010
Morning hrs came early at 0400 the dawn has broken and the sounds of village life begin to stir in the background, the coolness of the night hours soon gave way to the morning sun. We were up and had our charcoal burner going and water on for the coffee. We had fried potatoes and eggs for breakfast, with some stout African coffee. The day was well on its way; I took time to study for the day’s services, as I would be preaching at two different churches again today, as was yesterday.
By 0830 hrs the temp had risen to 102 in the shade with 100% humidity factor, there are no climate controlled rooms to enter, to become relieved of the heat, there is the heat of the shade, or the heat in the sun.
It was time to drive and we set off for the first church, as we arrived there, a group of more then thirty people had gathered and were waiting. Today Bro. Chipala would speak and afterwards I would. The services took about two hours and then we were on our way to the other church some twenty kilometres away. When we arrived most of the folks were not ready as they thought we were coming in the late afternoon hours so they sent messengers to gather the people.
After some time the people were assembled and then we started services, which Bro. Luke preached and then I concluded with a message on Salvation, afterward as I was shaking hands with people I was told by some that one of the elder women who seemed to be so thankful to greet me and shake hands, that she was an elder woman but all her life she had never had the opportunity to shake hands with a ‘white man’. I am not sure this has anything to do with anything, and really doesn’t mean much to me except that these people in this part of the bush of Mozambique really do not get out much or are exposed too much.
The day had been long but spiritually profitable and now it was time to return to base camp for the day.
The afternoon was late and we didn’t have much time remaining with daylight so we started preparing straight away for the evening. Dinner was put on; water was made ready for heating and bathing etc…
It was nearly 2100 hrs by the time we finished dinner and bathing, and when I laid down for the evening I was more then ready to call it a day and didn’t take me time to go to sleep, the stars were shinning bright and seemed to be such a blessing to lie under the heavens and gaze up at the stars when retiring for the day. I have often thought about Jacob when he was fleeing from his brother Esau, how he laid down to sleep in the way and put a stone for his pillow, when the Angle of the LORD wrestled with him in the night till morning.
15th/ Dec/ 2010
This morning like the others followed suite and we were ready a bit early compared to the other mornings due to the fact that were we were going for this days agenda would involve us going to the Shiri river to cross on a ferry, which is hand driven with some gearing and pulleys with wire cable secured on both sides of the river. There is a fee to cross by ferry and this had already been organized so we drove to the river that morning. When we arrived, there were men who manned canoes for hire and were scurrying around trying to negotiate passengers and competing for the daily chore of earning enough to buy some food for the day. The river was swollen due to the heavy rains and as Pastor Garaf was ferried across the river to negotiate with those who manned the ferry, we waited on the other side.
After some time Pastor Garaf returned and revealed the story, the ferry was out of operation due to the river being swollen, however they were willing to negotiate for three hundred US dollars, of course this was not going to happen and they knew no one in their right mind would even consider offering such a price.
Therefore, I concluded that it was not God’s will that we cross the river and visit those two churches which we had planned. It is God who opens the doors and closes them at the end of the day and this was one of those days that we would not pass. We turned around and headed back to Pastor Garaf’s.
Back at base camp we sat and talked about this and seeing that most of our appointments had been fulfilled with the exception of the last two… I decided that the LORD wanted me to return home for some reason; therefore we started packing up camp. For the next two hours we worked packing, afterwards we were ready to set off by 1300 hrs.
The drive home was much like going there, the only difference was the road conditions were a bit less rigid simply because of the rains assisting in the softening of the soil etc… We made better time going home, once through the borders we pushed onward till reaching home near 1900 hrs. The mission trips are of great value Spiritually, however physically there is a wearing and it’s always nice to reach home. We were able to take our baths that night in a bathtub, no matter that we still use a bucket, and we had electric to enhance our lighting conditions, this also makes things a lot easier.
We had our dinner, bathed and called it a day around 2200 hrs that evening. The LORD had smiled upon our trip and blessed the work of our hands.
I was able to resolve some issues in the work there in Mozambique among some of the brethren and churches that had been stirring for quite some time. Peace has once again been restored and the brethren strengthened as a result of this trip.
Though these trips are expensive and costly both in terms of finances as well as time, energy, and wear on the human body, but Spiritually they are rewarding and needed.
I ask that you pray with us the LORD would and will supply the needs of this work, the demands of the work are high and much effort, energy, and skill is required.
May the LORD bless each of you as you labour for HIM in your field of service, and smile upon the work of your hands.
Missionary Peter Halliman