Lilongwe, Malawi

This is my good friend and 'spiritual son in the faith", Salima McOnly and his precious wife Promise.

They have been friends and partners for the past 11 or 12 years now. They are planting a Enoch House church in Lilongwe, Malawi and already have +/- 30 attendees. Salima also oversees a small church in a village called Migowi, which is in the border of Mozambique and Malawi, and an orphanage for AIDS orphans of approximately 100 children.

I have ministered on two occasions with them in Blantyre and Migowi to do leadership conferences, which was a life-altering experience.
The hunger of the pastors was both inspiring and humbling. They would travel 2-3 days on their bicycles, non stop, to sit all day, for 3 days, to listen to the Word of the Lord. After the conference they will ride their bicycles back to their villages and then they begin a process of traveling from church to church to discuss and pray about how they can implement what they have learnt.
As a young man from the village of Migowi, Salima met Christ in a powerful way and began, practically immediately, to preach the gospel all over the region. He would travel into Mozambique even during their civil war, putting his life at risk to encourage the rural pastors, sometimes even traveling through minefields to get to them.
I obtained a letter from someone in which Salima was requesting someone to come and minister in his village. As I prayed I felt a strong leading of the Lord to go. Not knowing what to expect, a friend from our church in Melkbos and I went to their village to bring a message of encouragement to the leaders.
We soon discovered that we were not prepared for what lay ahead. We did not have enough money to pay for everything. Salima and his wife did their best to feed us and the elders that would visit at night to spend time with me. We did not have any linen or sleeping bags or such like and had to put up with whatever could be acquired.
But we endured and experienced so much joy from being there.
We discovered, we were the first "white" people in the village and so the chief gave us a gift of a plump chicken. The children would cry and run away from us because we were 'alien' to them.
To some up our 'investment" there, I tell the story of the young man who on our last night brought us each, my friend and I, a coin wrapped in a piece of newspaper. he had 'bunked' school for 3 days to attend the conference and was so blessed and joyed by what he had learnt, he wanted to show his gratitude. He was a little embarrassed to enter the room, but upon my encouragement, he came and gave us the 'gifts'.
I, even now, weep as I think of this meager little offering, but how rich it was before the Lord. All the hardship we had endured was nothing in the light of this offering given with the whole heart. The coin was not even equal to a South African cent, but its worth to the Lord was more than can be counted here on earth. I think 6 or so months later he was found dead in his bed.
What a privilege we had of sharing the word of God with this young man.

We still support Salima in his ministry there in Malawi on a monthly basis.