In mid-July, Joy Lutheran Church was able to send two letters to our "Sister Congregation" of Mikolongwe Parish in Malawi. We sent a letter from Pastor Steve and one written by Marcia Lindseth on behalf of our congregation, along with many, many pictures showing the life of our congregation, gathered by Christy Canfield, JWELCA, and Pastor Steve. We sent them to Malawi with Rev. John Sutherland, Assistant to the Bishop of Northwest Wisconsin Synod and Coordinator of the Companion Synod Program. John is in Malawi now making contact with Companion Synod Churches and helping with the 2016 Malawi Pastors' Academy.

 

Some excerpts from the letters included the following:

            "I am thankful for the work the Holy Spirit is doing through you and the congregation in Mikolongwe. Your work there is a powerful witness and encouragement to us. Thank you for your faithful service of the gospel. Our hearts are breaking for the people of Malawi and the suffering that you are enduring because of the drought that you are facing. Please know that you are in our prayers.

            I am a relatively new pastor at Joy Lutheran Church and was glad to hear about our partnership with you. I hope someday to be able to come and visit Malawi. . . . . . . .

            One of the pictures enclosed shows our youth and adults working together to make apple pies to sell as a fundraiser for Malawi. We sent a gift through our synod to help in the completion of the building of your chapel as well as support for the 2016 Pastor's Academy and pray that it will bless the work of the kingdom there.

            Please greet your congregation on our behalf."

Your brothers and sisters in Christ in America,

Pastor Steve Meyer, Joy Lutheran Church

 

            "We are happy to hear recently from Mphatso Thole, Companion Synod Coordinator in Malawi, that you are continuing to work on your new chapel. . . . . . . . .

            We continue to be very busy in our church. We have a strong and vital youth program for children. The women of our church are also very busy with many activities, including a monthly Bible Study. Our men too are involved in a frequent Bible Study. We are sending pictures of our people involved in World Day of Prayer last March. Do the people in your parish observe World Day of Prayer? We have a Leadership Council who helps with organizing many of the activities of our church such as Outreach, Worship and Music, Stewardship, Mission, Education and Property and Grounds. We have many volunteers who keep our church clean inside and volunteers who keep the grounds outside looking very nice. We also have several volunteers who help with our church services every week. We continue to work hard on behalf of our Lord Jesus Christ! We know you do, also, and thus we are sharing our important work with all of you in the Mikolongwe Parish.

            You should know that we think of you often and pray for you, especially this year because we have heard of the drought you have experienced. We pray that no one will be hungry. During the month of February we brought bread that we all made and sold it after church services so that we could send that

money to Malawi to help with hunger issues.

            Please remember that 'we always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.' (1 Thessalonians 1:2)

            We send our blessings to all of you,

            The people of Joy Lutheran Church, Prescott, Wisconsin, USA

 

When we delivered these letters and pictures to Rev. Sutherland, he gave to us a letter he'd received from Pastor Peterson S.C. Bandecha of Mikolongwe Parish, Evangelical Lutheran Church of Malawi (ELCM) to be passed on to our congregation. He wrote the following:

            "Allow me to greet all of you in Christ's name, our Lord and Savior. Thank you very much for your letters, , , , , , ,Thank you for assisting the ELCM with money to assist our Parish with 108 iron sheets for the roof of our new chapel. . . . . Thank you for sharing the different activities which you are doing, especially making the quilts by your women. It's a very amazing and amicable thing what you have done. We still keep you in our prayers so that the Lord might be with you by guiding, protecting, and keep still blessing you in each and every thing.

            After finishing our new building, we are deciding to build a pastor's house. Mikolongwe, as a parish, we are always having Parish Assembly every three months for both men, women, and youth. Sometimes we meet separately. Women attend meetings in every congregation in our Parish. The ELCM is doing great things, on top of preaching the word of God, we are also dealing with malaria programs, HIV/AIDS, couples counseling, feeding centers, and many more.

            Please pray for me so that one day I might visit Joy Lutheran and it is my prayer that your pastor may someday attend our Pastors' Academy in Malawi.

            All photographs I have received which you enclosed with your letters and also, booklets. On behalf of all Christians of Mikolongwe, I would like to ask you that our relationship must remain strong as it is.

            God be with all of you.

            Yours in Christ's Name,

            Rev. Peterson Steven Bandecha