Check out this phone update from Adam Klekowski on the last days of the trip. Awesome to hear how the ministry in Malawi has grown in the past 5 years!

Phone interview on Flood’s Tumblr: click here

Photos on Flood’s Tumblr: click here

Today, Sunday, we enjoyed our last church service. Adam delivered a message titled “What Happens When We Die Together,” exploring the connection between our Christian hope and the significance of our work here together—the Gospel is a cause worth dying together for. During the service the Church prayed for our team and a safe return. We celebrated communion together and, after the service, as the church’s custom, we drank soda.

Tonight, we will join Flood Malawi as they welcome incoming freshmen to ABC (African Bible College). At the heart of Flood Malawi is the desire to reach the young to impact the future of the country. After we debrief, our teams will part ways, with two of our team remaining to continue research into a future intern-exchange program between Flood Malawi and San Diego.

The spirits of our team remain high. We are all both happy, and, as Adam puts it, disturbed—disturbed in the sense that we cannot help but be moved by what God is doing in Malawi and the challenge this presents to us as followers of Jesus.

We just finished our Zambian safari! We all had a great time. God’s creation is so beautiful! Everyone is still healthy and safe. We are on our way back to Malawi today to go to the market. Tomorow we are having lunch with our sponser kids and saying goodbye to all our new friends.  We are all excited to see everyone at home and have some amazing pictures and stories to share.

In His loving and wonderful name,
Ally

We started our production meeting with the entire Flood Staff, our team from Flood SD, and others who are a part of the prayer team. The house was full of people and prayer.  I was so encouraged for their time of prayer.  Each week they have all of the leaders, worship leader, the preacher (me), and the Children’s pastor stand in the middle as everyone prays.  Here I was standing with everyone in prayer for me, for the message, and for God’s presence to be known.  Later we prayed for the logistics of the day, and then we prayed for the elders from Kudoko Village who came to visit.

This particular Sunday at Flood Malawi was a special day. Not only was I preaching, but the Women’s Choir from Kudoko Village came. All of the women were dressed to the “nines”. Each had a matching chitenje “tatingi” (wrap skirt), white blouse, and hat. Although there were about a dozen women when these women sang their voices were LOUD, full of praises to God. Every time I have come to Malawi when I hear sining in the village I am always full of tears. I cannot describe the beautiful sound of singing and worship that occurs here in Malawi.  It is something that I miss when I go back to the States.

….and then after worship, it was my turn. Oh man the butterflies, but I got up there and started off. What I am most thankful for is that my voice did not quiver! I calmed myself down and started out. I shared about how God did not make a mistake as the Holy Spirit distributed the gifts to both men and women. I challenged the congregation to look at their life, potential obstacles that get in the way of people knowing that they have been gifted. I shared my experience of how God has used scripture and people in my life to help me know my gifts and how to use my gifts. I shared about my difficulty with what I call the “Pill of Limitation”. Which is having limits in our life, limits in our gifts, and relying on others, specifically the Body of Christ, Romans 12: 3-8, to be whole, a reflection of Christ. Later, I challenged Flood Malawi, and specifically women to go out and DO IT! To use their gifts, find their passions, and align their gifts/passions with the needs of their community. It really all felt like a blur and as I ended I thought “did I just do that?”, “did I just preach a sermon on a Sunday morning?” I have no idea how people have reacted to my sermon. And as I have learned by talking to others and looking at the verse 1 Corinthians 4:2, “but the Message came through anyways”–I came to Malawi following the God’s calling and that alone is what matters.

I am thankful to be back here in Malawi. This country which is so far away feels like a second home. I am thankful for the people and the relationships in which God has granted me to have here. Today I feel blessed.

Today we had the opportunity to visit Kudoku village, which is about a 40 minute drive from the COTN village we are staying at in Lilongwe. We all got dressed up in anticipation of the meeting we were to have with the village chiefs and village elders. As we turned down the dirt road toward the village we were confronted with a cloud a dust, a common occurrence during the dry season of Malawi that we arrived during. Emerging from the dirt we were told that we were just about there, and that the building we were driving towards was one that Flood had helped construct through the donation of concrete and roofing materials.  A steady stream of kids were now following us as we made our final approach to the building, knowing that a car full of “Mazungus”, or white people, usually means a couple soccer balls (which it did).  Emerging from the car to be greeted by a bunch of happy kids with big smiles is a sure way to fill your soul.

After we arrived a couple of Flood Malawi members gathered all the kids and started a makeshift soccer camp, as myself and the rest of the team was ushered inside. We learned that the building Flood helped construct was now a church, as well as a classroom, and the village meeting hall. We sat in a circle and formally introduced ourselves to everyone and got acquainted with the different chiefs and village representatives. I glanced down and noticed my black dress shoes were already covered in a nice red dirt… ahhh its good to be in Africa.

Next on the agenda was a tour of part of the village. We started our walk around and were shown all the fields they usually grow crops, but because it is winter here, are now barren. We were told stories of how much of a blessing it was when, a couple of years ago, Flood donated seeds and fertilizer during a famine, and how the crops they yielded from that not only provided food during a much needed time, but were also some of their most abundant crops ever. We walked through peoples homes and were shown the building in which they sleep, cook, and relieve themselves; all of which were humbling experiences. We made it to our destination when we reached a water pump, that we learned was the well that Flood had dug for Kudoku. As we arrived, we saw some women using it to draw water, and listened to how much of an impact this well has had not only on Kudoku village, but on the entire community also. Most of us decided to take a drive from the ‘Flood water’ after learning it drills into a water table that is quite pure and naturally filtered.

We were then taken to a couple homes that had cooked the goat and chickens we had brought with us.  The tables were littered with all sorts of delicious looking food, so foreign to us, yet so enticing. We gathered around, said a prayer, and dug in. There are no personal plates provided here, and no silverware either. Everyone uses their hands, and just grabs from whichever dish looks appealing at that moment. Most every bite is accompanied by the staple food, n’sima, which is basically boiled cornflower. It is sticky, relatively flavourless, very filling, and I rather enjoyed it. The strangest thing on the table were the goat intestines, which despite being rather chewy, were cooked in some sort of sauce that made them edible…. or at least edible enough to try a tiny piece.

We were then taken back to the meeting building in order to tackle the agenda we came here with. Many of you know about human rights initiative we are hoping to take to Malawi in the Summer of 2011, and we were able to have some honest dialogue about what that might look like in Kudoku village. It was very encouraging to hear what the chiefs had to say and that they love having us there. We also got to talk about the internship exchange program me and Andrew will be researching for the two weeks after the rest of the team leaves on Monday. A vision we have for that would involved village immersion, which would mean having some people stay in this village for a few nights during the internship to get a feel of what Malawian village life is like. We had some good ideas about that, got great and encouraging feedback, and actually scheduled two nights that Andrew and I would be spending the night here in about a week to try it out… so wish us luck for that.

Adam had everyone’s attention for the final topic of the day, which was the presentation of mosquito nets. This was a surprisingly emotional time for everyone there, as Adam explained where these nets had come from. Flood member, and local artist, Andrew Salituri had gone to Malawi a couple of years ago, and met the members of Kudoku village. Upon returning home he dedicated each piece of art to these people and their stories. Every piece he has sold since then, was sold with the promise of using the money to buy mosquito nets for Malawi. Through his sacrifice he raised enough money to provide not only mosquito nets to the entire village, but to many other people as well. And now we were given the privilege of presenting them to the village, to take part in the kind of journey that impacts and transforms people. At the end of Adams presentation all the elders and chiefs erupted in applause knowing of the change this will make to their village.

Driving away from Kudoku was a blur, the team was tired and full. In our stomachs and in our spirits. It was great to have heard so much about this place at Flood and now to be able to experience it for ourselves.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers as we trek onward.

-Kyle

I’m heading back to Malawi tomorrow to begin the work on some amazing initiatives coming our way in 2011. I just posted on my personal blog, so feel free to read a brief message. You’ll also see a link to our trip itinerary so you can keep us in your prayers.

http://klekowski.blogspot.com/

Love you all!

Pastor Adam Klekowski
(Team Members: Kelly Perry, Cameron Perry, Jesse Sykes, Andrew Ruiz and Kyle Healy)