We've now spent one and a half days in Malawi (hence the title Malawi day 1.5).
It felt great to have the travel behind us, get a good night's sleep, and begin to serve the people of Malawi. Today, our team worked for half the day, breaking the 26 of us into four groups.
One group worked at the Biedebach's house, building a veranda that is going to be an extension of Brian's office.
A second, smaller group helped with a construction project for the folks at African Bible college.
The third and fourth groups went into the local village and experienced a lifestyle unlike anything they'd ever seen before. Group three worked on the church building itself, helping build the foundation. Later this week, our team will mix concrete and build walls for that budding church. Group four's task was simple: spend time with children from the village. Over a hundred kids gathered to play football (that's soccer back in the States), kuku, kuku, boose (that's duck, duck goose), and hear a Bible story about the six days of creation. It was a powerful, eye-opening time being with the village kids, experiencing life as they know it. Everyone who went to the village couldn't stop talking about it the rest of the day.
Next week, those four projects will be ongoing. We will mix up the groups each day so each student gets an opportunity to serve at the Biedebach's, at African Bible College, and in the local village.
After lunch, it was time for a tour of African Bible College with one of the students: Samuel. The Biedebachs live on this beautiful campus, and they were gracious enough to give us a tour of their home and tell us a little about their ministry.
We are so grateful that no one is sick or homesick .... almost. I love you mom! (love Austin and Sheller... and Tanner). :)
Tomorrow we head to International Bible Fellowship, the church where Brian Biedebach and Matt Floreen pastor. They've recruited our team for a special rendition of Amazing Grace. No, this does not mean Team Malawi is cutting an album while we're here. (Not saying your children aren't talented enough.)
Will be back tomorrrow with an update on church, and an afternoon tour of Lilongwe led by Brian Biedebach. With Brian at the helm, it's sure to be interesting. Don't worry. No students will eat mice on a stick ... probably.
Thanks so much for your prayers. We are benefiting greatly from them and we can already see God's hand in the work we are doing here!
In Christ,
Corey W
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Friday, July 1, 2011
Malawi is even better in person!
The trip to to Malawi couldn't have gone more smoothly. We arrived safely at 1:00 P.M. local time today, Friday, July 1st (who knows what time that was in Los Angeles).
Thanks so much to all of you for your prayers! During the 13-hour flight from Washington D.C. to Ethiopia nobody got sick, no kids got yelled at by flight attendants, and at least 57 people asked us why we were all wearing green shirts. This gave us an opportunity to meet some interesting people, a lot of whom had heard of John MacArthur and Grace Community Church. We even ran into the sister of Andy Snyder (a professor at The Master's Seminary) as we headed to our gate in D.C. What are the odds!
Once we landed in Lilongwe, we were greeted by mid-70s temperatures and a cloudless sky. Since Malawi is south of the equator, it's winter here, which means perfect, almost Southern California-like temperatures.
Grace Church missionaries Brian Biedebach and Matt Floreen, along with a couple students from the African Bible College, picked us up and drove us to Matt and Rachel Floreen's house where we will be staying for the duration of our trip. During the 45-minute drive on the freeway, we passed an odd mix of people, including three selling mice on a stick (a fine dessert here in Malawi), and a man on a bicycle toting at least 25 chickens. Those of us from the San Fernando Valley felt right at home. :)
The Floreen's house is beautiful and large. Rachel had fruit and cinnamon muffins waiting for us. There's plenty of room for everyone to sleep, and, thankfully, we all have mosquito nets. Perhaps best of all, the Floreens have a Great Dane named Simba. I think it's the same Simba from the Disney movie back in the 90s.
Tomorrow we head off to the African Bible College and a local village to get our ministry going. We are eager to begin serving God in this great country. We will keep you updated as we can, but, as we expected, internet service is hard to come by here in Malawi.
So until next time -- please continue to pray for our team, and join us as we praise God for His kindness toward our team so far!
In Christ,
Corey
Thanks so much to all of you for your prayers! During the 13-hour flight from Washington D.C. to Ethiopia nobody got sick, no kids got yelled at by flight attendants, and at least 57 people asked us why we were all wearing green shirts. This gave us an opportunity to meet some interesting people, a lot of whom had heard of John MacArthur and Grace Community Church. We even ran into the sister of Andy Snyder (a professor at The Master's Seminary) as we headed to our gate in D.C. What are the odds!
Once we landed in Lilongwe, we were greeted by mid-70s temperatures and a cloudless sky. Since Malawi is south of the equator, it's winter here, which means perfect, almost Southern California-like temperatures.
Grace Church missionaries Brian Biedebach and Matt Floreen, along with a couple students from the African Bible College, picked us up and drove us to Matt and Rachel Floreen's house where we will be staying for the duration of our trip. During the 45-minute drive on the freeway, we passed an odd mix of people, including three selling mice on a stick (a fine dessert here in Malawi), and a man on a bicycle toting at least 25 chickens. Those of us from the San Fernando Valley felt right at home. :)
Tomorrow we head off to the African Bible College and a local village to get our ministry going. We are eager to begin serving God in this great country. We will keep you updated as we can, but, as we expected, internet service is hard to come by here in Malawi.
So until next time -- please continue to pray for our team, and join us as we praise God for His kindness toward our team so far!
In Christ,
Corey
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
It's finally here!
After months of preperation, fundraising, prayer, planning, and ... well ... waiting, departure day has finally come!
Tonight at 10:45 Team Malawi departs from Los Angeles International Airport. We fly to Dulles in Washington D.C., then tomorrow at noon, we board a plan for Ethiopia. From there we go to Lilangwe, Malawi!
Thank you so much to all of you who prayed for this team and supported it. We are ready to go and we are eager to see what God has in store. Continue to pray for us as we travel. Your intercession is precious to us.
And to stay up to date on how things are going in Malawi, stop by this blog. I'll be posting on a regular basis while we are in Malawi, letting you know what our team is doing to serve the people of Malawi.
In Christ,
Corey Williams
Tonight at 10:45 Team Malawi departs from Los Angeles International Airport. We fly to Dulles in Washington D.C., then tomorrow at noon, we board a plan for Ethiopia. From there we go to Lilangwe, Malawi!
Thank you so much to all of you who prayed for this team and supported it. We are ready to go and we are eager to see what God has in store. Continue to pray for us as we travel. Your intercession is precious to us.
And to stay up to date on how things are going in Malawi, stop by this blog. I'll be posting on a regular basis while we are in Malawi, letting you know what our team is doing to serve the people of Malawi.
In Christ,
Corey Williams
Friday, May 27, 2011
Important reminders
T-minus one month and two days until Team Malawi departs! I can’t wait.
Of course there’s much to do before we leave. There are five items on the agenda for this blog post.
First, we need to raise more money. At the parent meeting two weeks ago, Justin asked each team member to send out 25 more support letters. If you’re on the team and you haven’t done that yet, I urge you to put together those letters and get them to Emily Taylor this Sunday. She will gladly mail them for you. All you need to do is put stamps on the return envelopes, stuff them, and bring them to her at church. Also, if you need anything printed, or you need more return envelopes, she’s the person to talk to. Emily already has done so much for our team, and she’s willing to do more. Thank you, Emily!
Second, here is the travel itinerary discussed at the parents' meeting:
Departure:
June 29th - Leave Lax at 10:35pm, arrive in Washington DC at 6:28am
June 30th - Leave DC at 12pm, arrive in Ethiopia at 7:45am
July 1st - Leave Ethiopia at 9:45am, arrive in Lilongwe at 12:20pm
Return:
July 14th - Leave Lilongwe at 3:05pm, arrive in Ethiopia at 7:45pm
July 14th - Leave Ethiopia at 10:15pm, arrive in DC at 8:40am
July 15th - Leave DC at 1:45pm, arrive in Charlotte, NC at 3:12pm
July 15th - Leave Charlotte 4:35pm, arrive at LAX 7:03pm
Third, let’s talk about packing. Let me reiterate what we talked about at the parent meeting. You can bring one carry on and two 40 lb checked bags. We recommend you use a backpack as your carry-on. A backpack will be much easier to carry during the long travel days, especially as we walk through airports. That is a recommendation, not a requirement.
Regarding your checked bags, we recommend that you bring two large duffel bags. Most of the space in these duffels will be used for team supplies, tools, gifts, etc. We would like you to fit most of the packing list into your carry-on, but if you overflow into one of your duffel bags, that’s okay. If you do not have duffel bags, and cannot borrow them, just do your best to bring whatever you have. We don't want to place more of a financial burden on you by saying you must have a certain type of bag. Just know that whatever you bring will have tools and other possibly heavy items packed in it. At the packing party, we will make sure you don’t overpack. Justin says he’s going to have a yard sale at his house the day after the packing party so he can sell all the clothes we remove from the teams bags. I’m not sure if that’s true or not, but I don’t think it’s a terrible idea. Could help us raise more funds for the trip. J
For sleeping bags, please only bring a mummy style sleeping bag specifically marketed for backpacking, or a compressible fleece blanket. Mummy-style backpacking bags pack down much smaller than your standard sleep over at your friend’s house sleeping bag, and they are much warmer for the weight. Down bags are the lightest and most compressible, so if you can find a good sale on a down bag, I recommend bringing one. Or try to make friends with someone from our ministry who likes to backpack, and borrow theirs. You can find good sales at http://www.sierratradingpost.com/, http://www.backcountry.com/, or if you're lucky, find one on http://www.steepandcheap.com/. If you do not have, cannot borrow, and cannot afford one of these sleeping bags then try to find a highly compressible fleece blanket. If you can't find anything, email me and I'll see what I can find in my backpacking gear closet. Keep in mind that we are packing as if we are going camping. Whenever I go camping or backpacking, I always plan to sleep in some clothing for extra warmth. y doing so, I can pack a smaller sleeping bag and still stay warm. I recommend that you plan to do the same.
Fourth item … medication/vaccinations: Here is some important information from Mr. Luedke regarding the travel clinic. Go to http://www.passporthealthusa.com/ . The consult is $50 plus the price of the necessary shots. They carry almost every shot needed for overseas travel.
And fifth but not last (I don’t think that makes sense), let me remind you quickly about the work day we’re having on June 11th and the packing party on June 25th. Please email Justin, jw19719@gmail.com, here sometime this week if you cannot make the June 11th work day, otherwise he expects that you will be there.
That’s all I have for you in the way of reminders. In closing, let me say a special word of thanks to those of you who made it out to the work day last Saturday at the Roehr’s house. We dug a ditch, mixed concrete, then poured it, and ate pizza. All in all, I’d say it was a great day, just like the days we’ll spend in Malawi … minus the pizza of course. Here are some pictures of the day.
Of course there’s much to do before we leave. There are five items on the agenda for this blog post.
First, we need to raise more money. At the parent meeting two weeks ago, Justin asked each team member to send out 25 more support letters. If you’re on the team and you haven’t done that yet, I urge you to put together those letters and get them to Emily Taylor this Sunday. She will gladly mail them for you. All you need to do is put stamps on the return envelopes, stuff them, and bring them to her at church. Also, if you need anything printed, or you need more return envelopes, she’s the person to talk to. Emily already has done so much for our team, and she’s willing to do more. Thank you, Emily!
Second, here is the travel itinerary discussed at the parents' meeting:
Departure:
June 29th - Leave Lax at 10:35pm, arrive in Washington DC at 6:28am
June 30th - Leave DC at 12pm, arrive in Ethiopia at 7:45am
July 1st - Leave Ethiopia at 9:45am, arrive in Lilongwe at 12:20pm
Return:
July 14th - Leave Lilongwe at 3:05pm, arrive in Ethiopia at 7:45pm
July 14th - Leave Ethiopia at 10:15pm, arrive in DC at 8:40am
July 15th - Leave DC at 1:45pm, arrive in Charlotte, NC at 3:12pm
July 15th - Leave Charlotte 4:35pm, arrive at LAX 7:03pm
Third, let’s talk about packing. Let me reiterate what we talked about at the parent meeting. You can bring one carry on and two 40 lb checked bags. We recommend you use a backpack as your carry-on. A backpack will be much easier to carry during the long travel days, especially as we walk through airports. That is a recommendation, not a requirement.
Regarding your checked bags, we recommend that you bring two large duffel bags. Most of the space in these duffels will be used for team supplies, tools, gifts, etc. We would like you to fit most of the packing list into your carry-on, but if you overflow into one of your duffel bags, that’s okay. If you do not have duffel bags, and cannot borrow them, just do your best to bring whatever you have. We don't want to place more of a financial burden on you by saying you must have a certain type of bag. Just know that whatever you bring will have tools and other possibly heavy items packed in it. At the packing party, we will make sure you don’t overpack. Justin says he’s going to have a yard sale at his house the day after the packing party so he can sell all the clothes we remove from the teams bags. I’m not sure if that’s true or not, but I don’t think it’s a terrible idea. Could help us raise more funds for the trip. J
For sleeping bags, please only bring a mummy style sleeping bag specifically marketed for backpacking, or a compressible fleece blanket. Mummy-style backpacking bags pack down much smaller than your standard sleep over at your friend’s house sleeping bag, and they are much warmer for the weight. Down bags are the lightest and most compressible, so if you can find a good sale on a down bag, I recommend bringing one. Or try to make friends with someone from our ministry who likes to backpack, and borrow theirs. You can find good sales at http://www.sierratradingpost.com/, http://www.backcountry.com/, or if you're lucky, find one on http://www.steepandcheap.com/. If you do not have, cannot borrow, and cannot afford one of these sleeping bags then try to find a highly compressible fleece blanket. If you can't find anything, email me and I'll see what I can find in my backpacking gear closet. Keep in mind that we are packing as if we are going camping. Whenever I go camping or backpacking, I always plan to sleep in some clothing for extra warmth. y doing so, I can pack a smaller sleeping bag and still stay warm. I recommend that you plan to do the same.
Fourth item … medication/vaccinations: Here is some important information from Mr. Luedke regarding the travel clinic. Go to http://www.passporthealthusa.com/ . The consult is $50 plus the price of the necessary shots. They carry almost every shot needed for overseas travel.
And fifth but not last (I don’t think that makes sense), let me remind you quickly about the work day we’re having on June 11th and the packing party on June 25th. Please email Justin, jw19719@gmail.com, here sometime this week if you cannot make the June 11th work day, otherwise he expects that you will be there.
That’s all I have for you in the way of reminders. In closing, let me say a special word of thanks to those of you who made it out to the work day last Saturday at the Roehr’s house. We dug a ditch, mixed concrete, then poured it, and ate pizza. All in all, I’d say it was a great day, just like the days we’ll spend in Malawi … minus the pizza of course. Here are some pictures of the day.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
parent's meeting
Tomorrow is the big parent's meeting for Team Malawi! Of course, you already know that if you're going on the trip or you have a student on the team. If you don't fall into either category, we love you, and we're thankful that you're cheering us on, but tomorrow's meeting is not for you.
For those of you attending tomorrow, here are a few important reminders:
-- The meeting is from 1-3 in the basement at Grace Community Church (obviously).
-- Lunch is not provided.
-- Jill Winton will be in the basement from 12-1 notarizing your "Affidavit of Parental Consent."
Also, here is the 'To do list" for students on Team Malawi. Justin emailed you this list a couple weeks ago.
"To do list"
-Send the complete name on your passport to Justin.
-Bring passport to meeting
-Send Justin your parent's email address, if he doesn't have it already.
-See your doctor regarding vaccinations/medications
-Bring "Medical History and Consent Form" to meeting
-Bring "Affidavit of Parental Consent" to meeting
-Bring copy of insurance card to meeting
-PRAY
Looking forward to seeing you at the meeting tomorrow!
In Christ,
Corey
For those of you attending tomorrow, here are a few important reminders:
-- The meeting is from 1-3 in the basement at Grace Community Church (obviously).
-- Lunch is not provided.
-- Jill Winton will be in the basement from 12-1 notarizing your "Affidavit of Parental Consent."
Also, here is the 'To do list" for students on Team Malawi. Justin emailed you this list a couple weeks ago.
"To do list"
-Send the complete name on your passport to Justin.
-Bring passport to meeting
-Send Justin your parent's email address, if he doesn't have it already.
-See your doctor regarding vaccinations/medications
-Bring "Medical History and Consent Form" to meeting
-Bring "Affidavit of Parental Consent" to meeting
-Bring copy of insurance card to meeting
-PRAY
Looking forward to seeing you at the meeting tomorrow!
In Christ,
Corey
Friday, April 29, 2011
donating used laptops
Here in the States, we're swimming in laptops. These small, portable machines are an amazing tool, one that I'm sure most of us use to work, pay bills, and communicate with loved ones.
Over in Malawi, laptops aren't as plenteous. But God, in His kindness, has provided a way for us to change that.
Brian Biedebach, one of the Grace Church missionaries we'll be serving , is in need of used, workable laptops for the expanding seminary in Malawi. He wants 20 laptops, enough for one classroom. So if any of you have a used laptop that is still in good shape (meaning it has no power issues and runs smoothly enough), would you consider donating it? If you donate, our IT folks will wipe it clean of all your personal data, load it up with bible software, and Team Malawi will deliver these laptops to the Seminary in Malawi.
Because laptops are so important, and so popular here in the states, I'm sure many of us have a second, or even a third, laying around your house, accumulating dust. Why not find that discarded laptop, give it a quick dust-off, and send it to Malawi? You'll be helping men train for the ministry. I can't think of a better use for your discarded laptops.
If you're interested in donating, email me at coreywilliams07@gmail.com so we can figure out how to get your laptop to our IT people.
In Christ,
Corey
Over in Malawi, laptops aren't as plenteous. But God, in His kindness, has provided a way for us to change that.
Brian Biedebach, one of the Grace Church missionaries we'll be serving , is in need of used, workable laptops for the expanding seminary in Malawi. He wants 20 laptops, enough for one classroom. So if any of you have a used laptop that is still in good shape (meaning it has no power issues and runs smoothly enough), would you consider donating it? If you donate, our IT folks will wipe it clean of all your personal data, load it up with bible software, and Team Malawi will deliver these laptops to the Seminary in Malawi.
Because laptops are so important, and so popular here in the states, I'm sure many of us have a second, or even a third, laying around your house, accumulating dust. Why not find that discarded laptop, give it a quick dust-off, and send it to Malawi? You'll be helping men train for the ministry. I can't think of a better use for your discarded laptops.
If you're interested in donating, email me at coreywilliams07@gmail.com so we can figure out how to get your laptop to our IT people.
In Christ,
Corey
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
The Floreens
For our entire rip to Malawi, we'll be staying at the home of Grace Church Missionaries Matt and Rachel Floreen. Rachel will be cooking for our team of 26 (start praying for her now!), and Matt will be helping direct many of our team's service projects.
To get to know Matt and Rachel, check out there website http://africastories.com/ There you can learn a lot about the Floreen family and what they do in Africa. You'll also see some amazing pictures of the Malawi countryside. And for regular updates on what the Floreen's are doing, (this'll give you a decent idea of what life will be like for our team once we get to Malawi), read Matt and Rachel's blog, Africa Stories: Living and Serving in Malawi. Here's the link: http://africastories.com/blog/
Now enough of my writing. Hit up those links and dive into Matt and Rachel's! It's good stuff.
To get to know Matt and Rachel, check out there website http://africastories.com/ There you can learn a lot about the Floreen family and what they do in Africa. You'll also see some amazing pictures of the Malawi countryside. And for regular updates on what the Floreen's are doing, (this'll give you a decent idea of what life will be like for our team once we get to Malawi), read Matt and Rachel's blog, Africa Stories: Living and Serving in Malawi. Here's the link: http://africastories.com/blog/
Now enough of my writing. Hit up those links and dive into Matt and Rachel's! It's good stuff.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)