| He's All Ours!!! After several false attempts and frustrations as time and time again, either the judge or the social worker didn�t show up for an appointed court date, on February 9th, 2004 Carey, who we have come to love as our own son, became officially, legally and 100% ours! No longer is he named �Muzunzo�, which in Chichewa means �Tribulation�. Now, he is forever to be known as Carey (after the missionary pioneer William Carey) Khetwayo (meaning �the chosen one� in Ngoni) Brown! When we think of the future he would have had, had he survived, in the destitute family situation from which he had come, we remain convinced that God has truly �chosen� him and placed him in our family for a very special purpose. It has truly been a delight and privilege to watch and participate with Carey as he discovers his world. What we are finding however, is that adding one little bundle of joy into our lives demands a lot more than just our time and energy, but the never-ending demands of formula, diapers, baby-food, larger and larger clothes, toys, along with the renovations we have had to make to the house and the legal fees�. I think you get the idea (those of you who are parents I�m sure understand these never-ending issues) have stretched our support budget beyond its capacity. We are now facing fees of over $450 for US immigration in order to process Carey�s naturalization for him to become a US citizen. (Unfortunately, he will have to give up his Malawian citizenship and obtain US citizenship now that he has been adopted). Please join us in prayer for God to provide for all of these additional little �benefits� that come with the package of parenthood. |
| Larry and Janet's Lilongwe Letter |
| Spring 2004 |
| Mission Trip from the USA Things have been very busy here at African Bible College as of late! College Avenue Baptist Church (where many of our Academy Staff come from) in San Diego, CA has just finished a tremendous missions trip to Malawi. They brought out a group of about 35 people, including a soccer team and a band to do a series of �Crusades� throughout Malawi. They covered all of the major cities and filled stadiums to the brim as people came to watch their Malawian soccer teams (Soccer is a BIG sport in Africa) play the American team and hear the music. There was no cost associated with this, so many people were able to come with their families and enjoy this special even who could have never afforded to attend a soccer match otherwise. Thousands of people responded to the Gospel message and will be followed up by teams from local churches that have been trained and have been cooperating with this outreach. Although there are literally thousands of stories that can be told, I will share only one in this letter. One of our students shared that he has been witnessing to his cousin, who comes from a very resistant persuasion, for years without much success. This cousin came to one of the crusade meetings, and gave his heart and life to the Lord and has been actively studying his Bible and growing in faith since. |
| Praise be to God for His awesome blessings! Yes, after several years of hard work, God has allowed me to complete my Doctorate in Theology (focus on Practical Theology) at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. The work involved developing and establishing the Home Based Care program here at ABC for people suffering with HIV/AIDS. I was committed to begin the work with our without the study credit, which made it even more of a blessing that I was able to write a dissertation about it for my doctoral project. It had always been my dream to attend Bible College. It was truly beyond my wildest dreams to have had the privilege and opportunity to complete not only that, but up through my doctorate in theology as well. God is SO good! He knows the dreams of our hearts even better than we do. |
| Upcoming Mission Trip . . . We are making plans to take 12 students, along with 2 other staff members (Rodrigo and Anna DeSosa, missionary professors here at ABC this semester from Brazil), to Mozambique for our spring missions trip during the first part of May. We will be going to an area of Mozambique to assist one of our ABC graduates, Bentry Mhango in his work as an evangelist/church planter. We will be taking along the JESUS film and the ABC puppets, but our main focus, along with the evangelistic outreach, will be on teaching and building the church and establishing the new believers. As usual, we will distribute some Bibles. We have been making these trips a couple times each year for several years now. It is exciting to see a continuing group developing that is taking leadership responsibilities, therefore equipping them for initiating their own ministries in the future. |
| Carey�s Corner� Carey is growing strong and healthy, running and playing and bringing an exciting new dimension into our lives. He is developing normally in all ways except his speech seems to be delayed. Knowing that all babies are different, we are not overly concerned, but are working to help him in this area. What seems to be a concern, however, is the response of our Malawian friends. Everyone here, from our friends to the workers around campus are expressing concern and feel we should take him to an �African Doctor�, who will cut his tongue or the muscles in his throat to free him to talk. Please pray for Carey, that he will develop his speech and that we will be able to demonstrate to the Malawians who are expressing so much concern, that God doesn�t need witch doctors to �heal� His children. |