Malawi Christian Mission

Newsletter
New

Beginning S' Itarttng anew year means

starting a new era here in

"
for.

' IVIalawi.

There are so

many things to be thankful for and so many things to be praying

In April of this year, we will
have our first National Conference for our churches in Malawi. This will be a time of unification and edification.

have never had meet churches

Most of our churches here a chance to from other

We are striving more and

more to include national leaders

districts. Many of the members walk several miles every Sunday

to attend church. This will be a

conference will provide enough momentum for a new strategy in

the Mission.

in our work. This not only helps

us In our work, but it allows them

chance for them to unify their efforts at least once every four or five years.

the opportunity and experience for leading ultimate goal of the Mission.

the the

After our big-meeting In

April, we are hoping to start a new church in the city of Blantyre. This will be a church that will offer Christianity to the much neglected middle to upperclass citizens.

Church in the future, which is the

TcT?

Please continue to pray for this very Important and historic event. This Is the first meeting
of its kind for the churches here.

We are trying very hard to bring In leaders from other nearby countries to come and lift us up in preaching and teaching. Of course, the missionary will preach and teach also, but it nice
to have a breath of fresh air for a

We hope that it will continue to be a blessing and will encourage future meetings.
We are hoping that the

Blantyre is a city of over 400,000 people. It Is the major metropolitan city of the Southern. Region, which is the center of
our work.

NSIDE

change!
It would not be a national

(1) Dawn's Decree

meeting,

however,

unless we

@ Babylaik
Culture Corner

had some business to conduct.

Having most of our church members present at the meeting will give us an excellent opportunity to select national
leaders to serve on the board.

(J) Help Wanted' (I) From the desk...

Malawi Cliristian Mission Newsletter

has been a great blessing. The
main event this month has been

1^ believe we have already

I crossed the six month
mark. Time really does seem to be going by quickly here in Maybe it is our age Malawi. finally catching up to us!

__

elio Hello!

It is hard to

Lauren's first birthday. I can only say it was my first attempt at decorating a cake, planning a birthday party, and wrapping gifts for my own child's birthday. I hope all of which will improve
over the next 17 years!
We have been blessed with

mom, dad, meow, woof, this, that, toast, Josh (my friend),and coke (which is my favorite).

I love to point at things, play with my dolls, crawl around on the porch, play with my kitty.

We have really been encouraged through a!l of the effort you have made to keep in
touch with us. The distance Is so often removed from our minds

a beautiful, healthy child and are thankful to God. Thank you to all of you who have sent packages our way. You have helped make Lauren's birthday special. You also helped our day be brighter with yourthoughtfulness!! We love you and miss

"Simba", swim, eat maize, play with my friends, take a bath, help mom in the kitchen, and help dad on the computer. I keep busy wherever I am. just in case
mom forgets I am around.

I had a very fun biri;hday and I got a lot of nice gifts. All of my friends came to play with me and helped me eat my cake. Mom says I did not do what I was supposed to with my cake. I just did not want to get that chocolate icing on me, so 1 daintily picked at it. Mom
and Dad decided to smash

my hand into the cake to get me started, but I had to get

that hand clean before I

could continue eating my birthday cake. Mom says I am a complete giri for sure.

Is.

Anyway. Thank you for all of my birthday cards and gifts. Everything was really nice. I gotta go now, it is time to eat my supper. Kisses Kisses. Bye.

as we reflect on you, our friends and family. My life these past few months has mainly consisted of full-time mom and housewife, which I enjoy very much.
I am involved in an

interdenominational Bible study on Wednesday morning with mainly British women. I teach flute on Wednesday and Friday to some missionary kids. On Thursday I also visit my friends in the village where we cook, sing, pray, and read the Bible
together.

j i there! Mom says it is

Packages, envelopes, cards and letters have all graciously made their way to Malawi in the
last six months. We are so

my turn again to write to I all of you. In case she

grateful for all of your effort to

make us feel a bit more at home here.

did not mention it, I am a whole one year old now! I'm just beginning to walk, but Mom says my talking makes up for my lack of steps. My vocabulary consists of many words. I'll just let you in on a few of them. I can say hot, ball, dog, book, bath, pappy.

Things have however, and our

status has run out.

changed, "duty-free"
Under

Malawi law, we are allowed six

Lauren seems to like any and every place we go, which

months to bring in our things from America. After that, the dirty duty begins!

Malawi Christian Mission Newsletter

From now on, any package
with a U.S. dollar amount of $30
or more Is considered to be too

valuable to bring In duty free. That means that when we go to

pick that package up, we pay approximately 70% of the price "The price" In duty charges. Includes not only the value of
what is inside, but also the

Bambo Laxley explained that his past three children had been named by the missionaries who were serving at the time of their births. It was now my turn to be original.
Two weeks. That is how

You can help our churches by giving packets of grape KoolAid. It Is very difficult and expensive to buy grape juice, not to mention hard to transport. We
have found It easier to take a

packet of grape Kool-Ald with

us to make the wine for the

shipping and any insurance. Needless to say, we would appreciate your consulting us before you send anything valued over thirty U.S. dollars. It could
save us a lot of Kwachal

long it took me to come up with the name Seth. Pretty good for a man who has only gone through this naming business The process that Is used for naming in this country is actually easier than I thought possible. Whatever is affecting one's life
at the time of the birth is what the child is named. One of our other leaders

Lord's Supper. It Is also very difficult to find communion cups. We often are in a service where we use only one or two larger cups to serve everyone. This is very unsanitary and can quickly spread disease.
A list of some of the needed
Items are as follows:

Thank you so much for your kindness in gifts. We have received just about everything we have knowledge of being sent. God bless youl

has a young boy named Mvuto,

which means trouble. It seems

this man was having a bit of

trouble with the Law when his

son was imagine?

We thought it would be interesting if we started a new article having to do with the difference in
American and Malawian culture.
in Malawi is like.

born.

Can

you

I did not want to take such a

literal approach.
name Seth, substitution,

I chose the

We

hope this sheds some light on what life

which means because this

PI I arents, can you

I

remember how long It Months?

I took you to pick out a

For most of us, It takes at

particular man trouble with his not a Christian the upbringing

reflected it.

has had some family. He was In the past and of his children

name for your child?

Weeks? Minutes?

In the Bible, Seth was a substitution for Abel, who was

least as long as the nine months we are allowed... during which time we frantically search the meaning and verbal pronunciation of each name brought to our attention by loving family members.
Not so In this part of God's world. I was surprised one day
In December to find one of our

killed by Cain.

Through Seth,

I
These items can be

the line of faith was established.

Through Bambo Laxley's Seth, we hope that a line of faith can be firmly established!

evangelists at my front door. It was not his presence that surprised me. It was his request. "Bambo missionary, can you give my newbom son a
name?"

easily sent to our address on the field. Please remember, though, that anything that is over $30 we will have to pay duty.

"What?" I stammered, "I didn't even know you were expecting a child!"

Are you looking for an exciting project for your Sunday School class. Youth Group, or other church group? There are plenty of ways to help a mission other than giving money.

If you have any questions about a package or Its contents, you can contact our office In Florida. We hope that projects like these will include those who are not able to help financially.

Malawi Christian Mission Newsletter

always have room for more workers! Please pray that the
Lonj will send workers to field here in Malawi. His

house and family seems to linger in our thoughts daily.

It will make us feel much

trange as it may seem, there are plenty of things left to say with very little room to say them. Although you know that you support a missionary, sometimes it is difficult to say exactly what your missionary does. My conviction as a missionary is not only to do my job here in the field, but to relay my activities to our supporters. We can only consider ourselves as working together when we are
both well informed.
Activities here in

There is another major prayer request that I must share with you. I have been reluctant to request prayer about this situation In the past for fear of encouraging anxiety for our
close friends and relatives.

better knowing that you are concerned for us and praying for this situation on a daily basis. Many of you are asking about pictures and even videos of the work here. It is terribly expensive to get pictures made here in Malawi ,so we have tried to get all of our negatives to the
office in Florida.

Security is becoming a very real problem in Malawi. Crime

has been on the increase and it

does not seem to be slowing

down.

My last visit to Malawi was In 1994. Since then the problem

If you would like a picture of us, the work, or anything else that would help, contact Don Dugan at the MCM address
below.

We have also recently

made a video of what our

Malawi have picked up quite a bit since January. We are seeing more and more
churches on the week-ends

living conditions are like here. To receive a copy, send a video tape and written request to the
address below.

and seeing more and more visitors during the week.

A visit from a church

There are many ways

to reach us. We would love

leader can include anything from just wanting to see the new missionary to catastrophic events that
have affected one of our churches or members.

to have a phone conference with your church sometime

to let them know what is

going on. It is also nice to receive preaching tapes of good old American preachers every now and
then!

Just in the past few

weeks we have started a

prison ministry. One of our key leaders was once in prison with a life sentence
for murder. There he became a Christian and was

God bless you all in your areas of service! See you next time!

released on good behavior.

Since his release, he has grown in the Lord and become a loving and capable leader. His desire is to go back to the prisons to witness to others
about Jesus Christ.

/hAA-yi-Cyx

has gotten much worse than I would have Imagined. We have taken the proper precautions. We have a guard dog, a man watching the house at night time and have recently
subscribed to a new silent alarm

Malawi CKristian Mission

P.O. Box 4186

Soutk Daytona, FL 32121

904-255-6960 Field Address: Tim, Dawn & Lauren Yates
P.O. Box 2500

are

As we have said before, we preparing for our first

Conference. This

security system. These precautions are

about as much as we can afford.

National

preparation has taken a lot of our time lately, and will undoubtedly
consume it in the near future.

We still need your prayers for

the Lord to watch over us.

Blantyre, Malawi
Africa 265-623-536

All in all the work is quite steady. There is always plenty

to do which means that we

Trusting the Lord is something that came fairly natural to Dawn and me, but the security of our

Email: tyates@iac.pix.2a

2iul Ouartcr '96

Volume 2.2

MALAWI Christian mission

Newsletter

Churclies Unify Efforts!

romtitiKE
~.'t 1SS 6
Ai'-'il '7

"J*S6

More than 150 churches from

eight districts were represented and ftkj'of Blantyre were hundreds of over 75 evangelists came together spectators. Was there a football for the first time. Truly this was a game (soccer) in town? No! This is success in numbers that has been the week for the Christian Church unprecedented. Gordon Nelson, missionary to National Conference! What an South Africa, led an inspiring series event! Never in our wildest dreams of lessons and sermons highlighting would we have planned on so many our theme, "Amodzi" (Chichewa of our Christians coming together for "Oneness" or "Togetherness"), for this ground-breaking confer which was based on Ephesians 4:3ence. When all was said and done, 6. Of course, the missionary had we had about 625 registrations. lessons and sermons too, but the Many of the registrations were lost highlight of the week was hearing and many people from Blantyre did inspiring words from a man who not register at all, so we think it is was once a missionary to Malawi safe to say that we had around 800 and knew so many of the people. or more Christians in town for this Another highlight to the week uplifting time in the Lord. was the special workshop held on

^^treaming through the streets

Saturday afternoon. Jim Albright, Church of Christ missionary from Zomba, Malawi, joined us to share his seminar, "Why Wait?" Many of you have heard of the book, "Why Wait?" by Josh McDowell and Dick Day. Jim is now working with Dick Day, who is currently living in Malawi. The educational program that these men have developed is being used in the educational sys tem with tlie help and the blessing of the Malawi government. Wliat an exciting ministiy! The subject matter deals with the question, "Why should you wait for marriage to give yourself to your partner?" It

is a Christian approach to Family

(Continued on page 3)

Malawi Christian Mission Newsletter

except the pointy ones. I even have those big molar things in the back of my mouth. I eat anything. Mommy, (which is my most common word) made me spinach last night to see if I would eat it. Of course I surprised her because I liked it. I weigh 22 lbs now. Mom says it is because I am eating too much. My favorite thing to do now is to climb on things. If 1 can't reach something I want, then I just get something to stand on. I don't see what the big deal is. Mommy usually dives for me. She looks so funny.

Baby Talk
Hello! That is my new word. Every
time I hear a bell, a knock at the door, or the phone ring I bellow out my new word. Mom seems to think it is fimny unless I do it in a public place. I have also learned how to sing pretty songs and dance to music. I am learning a lot these days. 1 know all the parts of my body by name and I have all of my teeth

IEverytimew geta new

I also have a new pet sockmonk^ I got in the mail. His name is Nyani (Chichewa for Baboon). I take him everywhere; and if we have company, I take Nyani to our guest and let the guest hold him a few minutes. It is important for Nyani to
meet all visitors.

That is the main reason I climb.

I really like looking at pictures.

one in the mail, mom

tells me who it is and I

examine the picture for a good 5 minutes. Some of you, my friends, have gotten so big. I really wish you could come and play in my yard. You are welcome anytime. Well, Mommy says I have talked long enough. Thank you to all of you who keep Mommy and Daddy encouraged. Bye Bye.

DAWN'S DECHEE

The poinsettia trees are in fiUl

bloom, sugar cane lines the
streets, tomatoes are no where to be

found, mosquitoes are diminishing, and we find ourselves wearing socks

to shield our feet from the once-

comforting cool floor...yes, winter in Malawi has arrived. Although snow in Malawi is out of the question, the cold air is refreshing after a long
summer of hot air and rain. We are

also still receiving Christmas cards, so that helps add to the winter season for us. I have been learning many things since the last newsletter was written. These are things I never

thought I would find myself doing. 1 have planted my first vegetable garden in our yard. I first began by

placing the seeds of green peppers In return for teaching me how to and tomatoes in egg cartons and cov knit, I have been teaching the ladies ered them with dirt and some water. certain things to cook. The latest A few days later I was surprised and recipe we cooked together was potato excited because my plants were al soup. Th^ liked it, but they wanted ready growing. My excitement was to put sugar in the soup. V\hiy, 1am crushed when I was informed that not sure, but they seemed to like it they were just "the bush" or better with the sugar. The next time WEEDS! Oh well, they are the rea/ I think I'd better stick with some thing now and they are growing out thing sweet. side in the garden along with some Lauren has been growing very lettuce and onions. fast these past few weeks. It really I have also begun to knit. Mayi shows when she is with her two Mahoney and Mayi Malunga decided Malawian friends Gerri and Irene. I needed to learn to knit baby things. She used to be smaller than Gerri After months of talking about it, I and now she is 3 inches taller. The had my first lesson and now I am girls are learning possessiveness working on a baby afghan. My now. They do not want to share mother will tell you, I have never anything. It is good to know it is not been one to sit down for long periods just a trait of American children; it of time to work on something, so this (Continued on page 4) is a major accomplishment for me.

Malawi Christian Mission Newsletter

In a drunken brawl, he pulled a Bible School for classes, as well as

PRISON WAIXS

Recently, Frank Malunga, preacher of one of our main city churches, and I started a ministiy in the Blantyre Prison. Malunga was really the one who pushed it. He really seemed to have a burning pas sion to start this difficult work, and I already knew why. When Malunga was in his early twenties, he was deeply involved with the things of the world. He drank heavily and was always found at one of the market pubs having the time of his life. One night, the consequences caught up to him in a hurry.

knife and killed a man. He was attending classes for being a football convicted of murder and sent to (soccer) referee. Prison life suddenly a prison for the rest of his life. Con became a bit more bearable.

Malunga decided to hire a lawyer days. There was no trial, just a judge to try to be released from prison. It who decided that there was no reason was illegal for a convicted murderer to waste time on lengthy court cases to appeal during those days. His where the defendant was so obvi lawyer, however, obliged and drew ously guilty. Malunga's future was up a letter to the president. sealed. Several days later Malunga found After several years in the Zomba himself transferred to the Blantyre Prison, he began to think about his Prison, a move that normally meant life. He began to attend the Church that a prisoner was to be hanged. of Christ services held inside the After he was given an apparent last prison, where he eventually commit visit with his family, Malunga was
victed was a relative term in those
ted himself to the Lord.

Soon, he began to be released for "You are free to go," barked the day trips to the Church of Christ officer, "There's a letter of pardon After 17 years of prison life, Malunga was free, a feeling second only to the fi^om he
had found in Jesus

Iher fomtheprsident."
called into the warden's office. a leader in a local con

Christ. He joined tlie Church, studied hard and eventually was chosen as gregation.
There were 15 men at the first church service

we had inside the prison.

The next week there were

thirty. Two weeks later, Malimga and I went to

Gharcbas Dnif; Efforts!

(Continuedfrom page I)

Of course, no event of this size is the prison during the week and bap

Planning and AIDS awareness, something desperately needed in this part of the world!
We also had elections for those men who would serve on the board.

We now have eight good men who

without its problems. There were huge amounts of food that needed to be prepared and the first night it took us several hours to feed everyone. We learned from our mistakes, how ever, and we improved as the week progressed. Thank you to all of you who were praying so diligently for this impor

tized 14 men into Christ!

The prison work has steadily

grown over the last few weeks. We have left Bibles and Hymn Books and are scheduling different men to
visit each week. The Lord has

blessed this ministiy through His servant, Frank J. Malunga.

tant event. There is no doubt in our (JVe apologize for having no pic embracing it with an attitude of ser- minds that the conference was a suc tures of these baptisms. We had a vanthood. We are anxious for these cess only because of the help of the camera, but wereforbidden to take men to learn what it will take for the Lord and the prayers of His people. any pictures inside the prison,) church to stand on its own here. Thank you.

have taken their positions seriously,

Malawi Christian Mission Newsletter

DAWN'S DECHEE
(Continuedfrom page 2)
seems to be the same for Malawian

children at this age as well. All else is going well as far as motherhood and housewife go. We really appreciate all of your letters and packages. I know I say that every newsletter, but it really does make a difference. We have also enjoyed seeing many of you on video. It makes us feel close to home again.

A friend and I were walking to lately? Have you been to your the hospital lab one day and as we doctor's office or local hospital in a walked directly behind the operating while? room, we noticed clothing lines As young parents, we often take stretched out from one end of the Lauren in to the local clinic or hospi yard to the other with surgical gloves tal for what we think are life or death flapping in the wind. situations. (Things such as any mi Apparently the gloves that we so nor cough or skinned knee... almost) appropriately call "disposable" We recently have been remem gloves are not know by the same
name here. Some of

How have you been feeling

Culture (orner

bering things that we thought were note-worthy for our friends in Amer
ica.

them had been washed

and hung out to dry so many times they were just shreds on the line. Just a few days ago, as we were waiting in the hospital hall, we noticed
that there was a commu

nity water fountain nearby. Need a drink of water? Just take the cup eveiyone else has been using and turn on the
faucet. Just make sure

that you put it back when your finished!

5ometimes Ican't believe that we

We thought that we might start village churches. Often it is the with a Bible study and work from conditions on the way. We recently there, but there seems to be a nucleus came across the bridge above. We put out such a large newsletter of dedicated people who are eager to made it this time, but we were prayand still have trouble getting every start a new church. Because of this, mg ^ligentlvl42Q-foo^oDl thing in! God bless less vou and see voun5xt>tim we will start with both the Bible Witli the conclusion of the con Study and church services. ference, we are now trying to change We still have many other thiiigs the direction of our ministry here in that need to be taken care of before Malawi Ckristian Mission Malawi. We are beginning work on we even start this work. We appreci a new, English-spe^ng church in ate your prayers so far, and we would P.O. Box 4186 the city of Blantyre. Soutk Daytona, FL 32121 appreciate even more your prayers in The work has been slow to start, this specific area. 904-255-6960

from/tke/Ve^...

as I expect most new churches

Of course, this doesn't mean that

around the globe are the same. We have had difficulty in finding a suit able place to rent, which has been particularly fhistrating. However,
this led us to the decision to meet in

we ignore the work that already ex ists in the rest of the country! We are constantly invited to the villages
to speak and will continue to meet

Field AJJress:
Tim, Dawn & Lauren Yates
P.O. Box 2500

Blantyre, Malawi
Africa 265-623-536

our house until the work is large

enough.

these requests as best we can. No, it is not always our schedule

that doesn't allow us to visit the

Email: tyates@iac.pix.2a

3rd Quarter '96

Volume 2,3

Malawi Christian Mission

Visitors Come to Malawi

our &t8t year in Malawi. On August 10, 1996 we celebrated our one year anniversary of arriving in Malawi and on August 15, 1996 we picked upMom and Grandma (Tim's side) from tke airport in Blantyre. Wkile I write tkis, tkey are on tkeir
tkird week of a tkree week visit.

Wkat afantastic way to celeLrate on our way to Liwonde

National &iends in Blantyre to kelp. Tkey Park, a game reserve, tke truck just came and limped oiir vekicle back stopped wotking. We were an kour kome wkile we took tkeirs on to tke outside of Blantyre and despite wkat game reserve. Wkat was a two kour

It kas keen really encouraging to

us to kave visitors from tke States.

We kave many American friends kere, but are always glad to kear and
talk to tkose wko are from our own

brotkerkood, especiaUy wken tkey are of ourown familyl

We kave been able to skow tkem

some migkt tkink, we weren't able to trip took us from 8:00 am to 4:00 justpull into tke local garage and get pm to navigate. repairs. I wisk tke struggle would kave First, we kad to see if we could ended tkere, kut we are still waiting find a pkone, wkick we eventually on tke spare part to arrive from Ger did. Secondly, we kad to find a many some time nextweek. Needless pkone tkat workeJ, wkick we didn't. to say, we ve spent my parents visit So, witk my meckanical expertise trying to borrow vekicles and use tke (akout as muck as rocket science) I kttle katckback to get from place to managed to get us running again and place. down tke road we went, for akout ten Tke Lord is good, tkougk, and we
minutes.

kave kad a terrific time despite tkese By now tkings were a kttle frus difficulties. Tkis week-end we will muck of tke coimtry, despite some trating, kut we did manage to get a korrow a truck and drive to Zomba, a unexpected setbacks. Wkile we were pkone tkat worked and called some (Continued on page 2)

Malawi Christian Mission Newsletter

city about an kour nortk of Blantyre, to celebrate tke openning of a new ckucck tkere. Tkey are doukly exciteJ to ke akle to kave my motker and grandmoiker tkere to represent tke ckurokes in America.

Yes! we are kaving ajoyous time ckurck service. We went to tkree

nice to let
Lauren enloy them as iov tkem as 1

in tke Laskete tkat aretieJ onto tkeir wouId ke on a kike, I woiJd kave backes. Wken one basket is full tkey worn my koots. 1rememker tkinking kave it weigkeJ anJ kegin to &11 tke wkole way down, "it will ke 80 anotker. Tkey get paid according to muck easier climbing up tkis moun tain". Famous last tkougkts! tkeweigkt of teatkey kave picked, A contrast to tke beauty of tke Aftera wonderful worskip service, tke severe poverty of tke peo- it was time to climk back up tke 6' pie wko live tkere. Early in tke mountain. It did not take long for montk, we went to Tkoylo for a me to run out of steam. I tried to ke strong and kide my loud kreatking witk family at tke moment. It different ckurckea in tke area. Tke because rigkt kekind me was a kas keen

much

as

'*i' I f
'. .

possikle,
wkile ske kas tke ckance. I

aryingker
woman car-

baby on ker

kack. ske was okvi-

ougly used to walking tke kill, and

ske will not

am afraid
know wkat to do wken

WaJjiTr

^'^{7 i

so was tke

S
K",V<

boy in front of me carry

ing Lauren.
11 did not take me

\I"'I f
\ |

gone
ker
over

and
mom to take

long to kury my pride

and kreatke

loudly.

eiytking will ke krown, just like wken tke kill. Tim yelled, "kow far?" and we arrived last year. Frank said, "ak pafupi" (it is near).
One place we kave found, kow- Famous lastwords.

konestly time we wrote, we were in tke middle tkird ckurck was kigk in tke moun- tkougkt I was not going to make it. of winter. Tke cooler weatker did not tains, so we parked at tke top. 1 was completely exkaused and we last very long. Tke kot dry season Frank, tke interpreter, quickly got still kad 3/4 oftkeway togo. Finally kas begun once again, and soon ev- out, took Lauren, and started down Tim caugkt up to me and I told kim
I did not know if I could make it. At tke time I told kim I'd ratker ke

Cho l6). Most of tke tea plantations are in tkis area. Tke view is absolutely kreatktaking. ^iles and miles of tea lines tke moimtains and tke kills in Tkoylo. Tke amazing tking akout itis tkat all tke tea leaves are kand-picked tkrougkout tke week. On any day of tke week, you are able to see women and men out picking tea leaves and placing tkem

ever, stays green all year round. It is It didn't take me long to figure and took my kand and kelped me tke a place called Tkoylo (pronounced out wky Frank was going so fast. It rest of tke way. I felt like a real
wasn't near by any sense of tke word, it was just plain FAR! Tim followed close kekind Frank once ke caugkt up to kira. I was in my flimsy sandals, tkougk, and was sliding on tke rocks, trying to keep my kalance on tke steep kill, trying to ke carefiJ not to fall into tke creveces, and trying to keep tke men in my sigkt and not get lost. Had I known we

kaving a baby! But ke kept witk me

wimp. I ckmked tke ckimneys in Gatlink%urg,TN witk no trouble, but I barely survived a email mountain in
Malawi.

Living in Malawi, kas taugkt me many tkings. I kave grown to appre ciate tke kard work tkese people go to
justto survive. I kave not once keard anyone complain about it. We kave
Continued on page S)

Malawi Christian Mission Newsletter

kad a gooJ ixst year kere in Malawi and we are looking forward to tke wonder^ tkings God will do kere tkifl year.

Somekow we were always akle to Turns and ske got well. Mom said ske kad a calcium proklem or some getour clotkes wasked. Sitting tkere tking. Anyway, ske is fine now. Ske waiting as tke mackine did all tke likes to nikkle on me wken I try to work, we kardly tkot^kt of wkat tke play witk ker. I like feeding ker people in Malawi migkt ke doing. Below isa pictiure ofwkat a day of tkings too. ske is just a village dog my Daddy took pity on, kutI kke ker laudry is like in Maiawi. Here, a anyway. muddy creek runs tkrougk a crowded Well, it is time for nite nite, I've market area as women an d ckild ren kad a long day. I miss all ofyou very wask tkeir dotkes. kelieve wko came to see me! My muck. Love, Tkey xise a smootke stone to ruk Lauren "Go-go" and great "Go-go"(ckickewa tke clotking untiltkey get it spotl^s. After tkey're tkrougk dunking and for Grandmotker). We kave keen koving a lotof fun. Go-go taugkt me scrukking, tkey lay tkeirclotking out on nearky weeds imtil tkey dry. to say, "kaky, wkere are you?" and ske is teacking me tke alpkaket song. Day after day tkis ritual contin Ske keeps kissing on me, wkick I ues, since most of tkem cannot even afford more tkan two or tkree pants, could do witkout, kut mom says I skould just tolerate it until tkey go skirts, etc. How do tkey get tkeir kome. I really don't mind all tkat ance goes out? Especially a clotking clean in suck dirty water? muck, since ske plays witk me alltke la^e appliance tkat's going to im- Your guess is as good as ours. Some time. Great go-go reads to me and douktedly cost a significant amount kow tkese people continue to amaze plays witk me too. I am really liking to repair? us ky making sometking out of notkall oftkis attention! Just lastyear Lauren, Dawn and I ing. Did mom tell you we saw kippo were Irving in a little one kedroom We kope tkat you will tkink and elepkant?! I loved seeing tkem. apartment witkout a wasking ma- akout kow fortunate we are to kave Hippo is my favorite word now. I ckine or diyer. Boy, were tkose tke tkings tkat we do. Tken again, made sure I said, "kye kye kippo" and tougk times, eitker kaving to rely on we've never seen a Malawian in finan "kye kye animals" several times kefore our gracious neigkkors and tkeir ma- cial troukle kecatise kis wasking ma we came kome from our safari. Mom ckines, or driving to tkecollege to use ckine kas kroken down. likes it tkat 1 can make sentences tke pay mackines.

Baby Talk

Hi! It is me again. You wouId not

Culture Corner

Don't you kate it wken an appli

now. I sing pretty too.

Mom says mayke I can sing at ckurck wken we gokome. I tkink I would It's keen pretty kot during tke day lately, so I've keen playing outside.
I kave lots of new outfits

to skow off now. I try to get as dirty as I can so mom will ckange me into sometking new a few times a day. I also kave a new puppy, ker name is

mm

Yookoo. ske was real sick wken we first got ker,

kut Mom fed ker some

' '- ifi

E!

Malawi Christian Mission Newsletter

longwe, but all tkings kave to Le in ing enougk workers on tke &eld, I tke Lord's time. To ^nore tkat kave an announcement to make. We fvcmv the/ .. would not only ke frustrating, kut kave a young couple (like us) wko are karmful! raising funds to ke akle to come on As I said kefore, we are continu an intemskip to Malawi in tke sum is quite a milestone for us. In ing to stay kusy witk tke upkeep of mer of 1997. Tkeir nemes are some ways it seems like we've been tke mission. We kave recently Skawn and Amie Braziel and in otu kere forever, and in otker ways it started an amkitious project to kelp next newsletter, we will feattire tkem seems like just a moment since we kuild or rekuild ckurck roofs, if tke witk more information. last saw you. ckurck kas mud kricks and tkatck, if you are interested insupporting Quite a kit kas kappeneJ in tkis we kelp tkem witk plastic to make it tkem in tkeir intemskip, you may year. We kave slowly kut surely waterproof, if tke ckurck is made of reack tkem at tke following address: reoi^anizeJ tke mission in a way tkat Lumed kricks and poles, we are trying Skawn & Amie Braziel kest suits us and, we tkink, kest suits to putiron skeets on, aItkougk tkis is P.O. Box 777504 tke needs of tke future. extremely expensive. Joknson Bikle College One of tke dreams tkat we kave Wkick krings me to my next Knoxville, TN 37998 kad is to kuild a city ckurck kere in point. if you or your ckurck or I am sure tkat tkey would love to Blantyre. In tke last newsletter we Sunday Sckool class, etc, are looking come and skare witk you kotk akout told you akout tkose plans and kow for a project, wky not raise money for tke mission and akout tkeir plans to we intended to implement tkem. one or more ckurck roofs in Malawi? work kere next summer. Unfortunately we kaven't keen I do not intend to make a keadline Tkere is one more sad note tkat I akle to get very far on tkis. It's out of tkis project, since we want need to annoimce. Our email ad always kard to admit failure, kut we people wko are serious aLout kelping. dress kas died. Never fear, tkougk. are not kere to constantly paint a if you are interested, you can Tke company we use assures iis tkat rosey pictiire foryou. Since we arein contact Don Dugan at tke address we will kave a new improved knk in a ministry togetker, we feel we must Le and pkone numker at tke end of tkis few weeks. Troukle is, witk a new konest akout tke progress of tke newsletter. I kope tkat tkis can ke a link comes a new address and I am work. way ofdirectly involving Ckristians in unable to tell you wkere to reack us

One year. Can you Lelieve it? It

Tkere are several reasons tkat we America witk tke work of tke mis yet. I'm surewe'll kave it in our next

kaven't Leen akle to get tkis project sion. off tke ground. ProLakly tke most We are also attending quite a few influential is tke everyday upkeep of meetings. Since our National Con tke mission. ference last April, we kave Leen try Tkere are over two kundred ing to kold District meetings as well.
Ckristian Ckurckes/Ckiirckes of Tkis allo^ tke ckurckes in tke same

newsletter.

Until tken, God kless you!

Ckrist in Malawi and tkey kave keen area oftke country keep incontact at witkout a missionary for over two least once a year. It also kelps us to years. Tkat means tkat taking care reack several ckurckes in one forum. Malawi Christian Mission of tke needs of tkese ckurckes is Tke difficulty of kaving only one P.O. Box 4186 proving to ke quite time-consuming! missionary family in tke country is South Daytona, FL 32121 Nevertkeless, we are not frus tkat it would take us over four years Phone: 904-255-6960
We just kave to come to to visit eack ckurck! Tkat would also mean tkat we would only visit a expect everytking we touck to turn to particular ckurck once every four and gold. After all, if tke Master's kand a kalf years! Needless to say, we are
terms witk tke fact tkat we can't
start!

trated.

Fax: 904-253-8762 Field Address:

Tim, Dawn <& Lauren Yates

P.O. Bos 2500

isn't involved, we're doomed from tke trying to tackle tke proklem of keep ing in contactwitktke ckurckes on a We still kave a vision for a city more regular basis.

Blantyre, Malawi
Africa

ckurck in Blantyre, as well as Li

Addressing tke issue of not kav

Email: temp, out of service