Hey everyone!
We're so sorry we've been pathetically lax in posting to our blog, but it's because we've been busy starting up another blog. From now on we're not going to be posting as much to this blog since most of our energies are going to the new one. But it doesn't mean we've forgotten about all of you! Please check it out at http://myhopemalawi.wordpress.com
We won't be sending out emails anymore letting you know when we've posted, but that's because we are posting once or twice a week, instead of once in a blue moon. So the emails would start to annoy you! We will still send out an update via email every now and then, just not about the blog. But please check it out. Our lives and ministry here in Malawi have been going great, and we look forward to sharing our experiences with you. We love you all!
Joe and Melissa
Friday, September 10, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
We have arrived
We have arrived
Thank you for everyone who joined in and prayed us through our journey to Malawi. It has been God directed the entire way.
Our journey began Tuesday morning about 2am with a last minute trip to the storage unit to find Melissa’s contact refills which were placed in a bag in the day before. We found the 24 hour access available sign to be false and we were unable to get in. But this truly wasn’t an indicator of how the rest of the trip went.
After returning, Joe’s parents kindly drove us to the Charlotte International Airport at 3:40am and then waited until we were checked in to pray for us.
Check in went very well….WE DIDN’T HAVE TO PAY FOR ANY OVERWEIGHT BAGS!! This is huge for us. When we move, we do move, meaning we take books, medicine and a few other comforts. The counter clerks for United were very helpful and hospitable. We have learned that smiles will get you a long way.
Our first flight left charlotte at 6:00 am and landed an hour later in Washington D.C. In D.C. we were changing carriers to Ethiopian Airlines, and fortunately the Charlotte clerks were able to check our bags all the way to Malawi, but were unable to print boarding passes for us. Once we landed, the hunt was on to find out if we had to exit the terminal to get boarding passes, or if the gate clerk could provide them. The gate counter was able to provide them and we learned we were only able to take on board 1 carry-on of 15 lbs. or less. HA! This is a complete joke, anyone who has travelled knows that an empty bag alone can weight that much. We were reluctant to release our rolling carry-ons, but in the end we took out what was valuable, reorganized, paid them to place the bags in the cargo hold. They then wanted to weigh our laptop bags. Both Joe and Melissa’s bags were over 25lbs! We were blessed with clerks who chose not to charge us for them being over the 15 lbs. limit.
While we waited, we met a few other American couples headed to other African countries. We boarded our Ethiopian Airways 767 around 10 am and were off.
We watched movies, read, and napped. Around midnight we landed for an hour in Rome to refuel and get a fresh crew. On our leg from Rome to Ethiopia we slept most of the time.
We arrived in Ethiopia mid morning. We knew we needed to purchase an entry visa but other than that we didn’t know much. The visa purchase was fairly easy, except the officers where unaware that the airlines had indefinitely cancelled the afternoon flight to Malawi and kept asking why we were spending one night in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. One of our main goals was to wait in customs long enough to make sure that the luggage we checked all the way to Malawi didn’t come out and disappear. It didn’t. It went straight onto Malawi like it should have.
We exited baggage claim, and as we were searching for our hotel shuttle transport, we locked eyes with a man who looked very familiar. It was our friend, Sunny, who we knew/met while working in Uruguay in 2007. He works for the US consulate and is now stationed in Ethiopia. He happened to be waiting to pick up someone else. How good is our God?!?
Sunny was so gracious to take us to dinner Wednesday night and point out a few of the sights along the way. We had a great time, and it was great to leave the hotel. Ethiopia was colder than we expected it to be…in the 50’s. We didn’t have enough clothing with us in our carry-on, but we were able to layer. Sunny also brought us some awesome snacks for the plane ride the next day. Never underestimate our God.
Me, Joe, and Sunny
Thursday morning we were up early again and back at the airport at 7:30 am, this time boarding our flight to Lilongwe. This flight was about 6 hours total, with one stop. It stopped in Lubumbashi, which is in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A few passengers got off the plane and a few more got on. This was the first place I have ever landed that doesn’t have a security fence around the airport. Also it has these small paths leading in and out of the bush onto the runway. As we were landing, we saw people coming out to see us land. The man sitting next to us said they are probably waiting for some relief planes because the UN and other organizations have been involved there for many years. He also said that even though it is called a democracy, there isn’t much about it that is democratic.
It was a quick one-hour hop from Lubumbashi to Malawi, and thankfully entry into the country was very simple. The test was then to see if all of our bags made it. The entire baggage claim area consisted of one, half moon shaped carousel about 20 feet long. We’ve never seen anything like it servicing planes so large. Needless to say it was total chaos. If you finally got near to get your bags, the problem was then getting out. However we were surprised and amazed when we saw that all of our bags made it without problem and in a timely manor.
Thank you to everyone who has prayed for our safe journey, we have arrived and have enjoyed our first week.
Please pray for next week as we begin a tour around the country shooting interviews for the programs. The district coordinators will also be starting to train the pastors in their region.
We are so excited to be here and we will let you know more about the culture, the people and the country soon.
Joe and Melissa
Thank you for everyone who joined in and prayed us through our journey to Malawi. It has been God directed the entire way.
Our journey began Tuesday morning about 2am with a last minute trip to the storage unit to find Melissa’s contact refills which were placed in a bag in the day before. We found the 24 hour access available sign to be false and we were unable to get in. But this truly wasn’t an indicator of how the rest of the trip went.
After returning, Joe’s parents kindly drove us to the Charlotte International Airport at 3:40am and then waited until we were checked in to pray for us.
Check in went very well….WE DIDN’T HAVE TO PAY FOR ANY OVERWEIGHT BAGS!! This is huge for us. When we move, we do move, meaning we take books, medicine and a few other comforts. The counter clerks for United were very helpful and hospitable. We have learned that smiles will get you a long way.
Our first flight left charlotte at 6:00 am and landed an hour later in Washington D.C. In D.C. we were changing carriers to Ethiopian Airlines, and fortunately the Charlotte clerks were able to check our bags all the way to Malawi, but were unable to print boarding passes for us. Once we landed, the hunt was on to find out if we had to exit the terminal to get boarding passes, or if the gate clerk could provide them. The gate counter was able to provide them and we learned we were only able to take on board 1 carry-on of 15 lbs. or less. HA! This is a complete joke, anyone who has travelled knows that an empty bag alone can weight that much. We were reluctant to release our rolling carry-ons, but in the end we took out what was valuable, reorganized, paid them to place the bags in the cargo hold. They then wanted to weigh our laptop bags. Both Joe and Melissa’s bags were over 25lbs! We were blessed with clerks who chose not to charge us for them being over the 15 lbs. limit.
While we waited, we met a few other American couples headed to other African countries. We boarded our Ethiopian Airways 767 around 10 am and were off.
We watched movies, read, and napped. Around midnight we landed for an hour in Rome to refuel and get a fresh crew. On our leg from Rome to Ethiopia we slept most of the time.
We arrived in Ethiopia mid morning. We knew we needed to purchase an entry visa but other than that we didn’t know much. The visa purchase was fairly easy, except the officers where unaware that the airlines had indefinitely cancelled the afternoon flight to Malawi and kept asking why we were spending one night in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. One of our main goals was to wait in customs long enough to make sure that the luggage we checked all the way to Malawi didn’t come out and disappear. It didn’t. It went straight onto Malawi like it should have.
We exited baggage claim, and as we were searching for our hotel shuttle transport, we locked eyes with a man who looked very familiar. It was our friend, Sunny, who we knew/met while working in Uruguay in 2007. He works for the US consulate and is now stationed in Ethiopia. He happened to be waiting to pick up someone else. How good is our God?!?
Sunny was so gracious to take us to dinner Wednesday night and point out a few of the sights along the way. We had a great time, and it was great to leave the hotel. Ethiopia was colder than we expected it to be…in the 50’s. We didn’t have enough clothing with us in our carry-on, but we were able to layer. Sunny also brought us some awesome snacks for the plane ride the next day. Never underestimate our God.
Me, Joe, and SunnyThursday morning we were up early again and back at the airport at 7:30 am, this time boarding our flight to Lilongwe. This flight was about 6 hours total, with one stop. It stopped in Lubumbashi, which is in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A few passengers got off the plane and a few more got on. This was the first place I have ever landed that doesn’t have a security fence around the airport. Also it has these small paths leading in and out of the bush onto the runway. As we were landing, we saw people coming out to see us land. The man sitting next to us said they are probably waiting for some relief planes because the UN and other organizations have been involved there for many years. He also said that even though it is called a democracy, there isn’t much about it that is democratic.
It was a quick one-hour hop from Lubumbashi to Malawi, and thankfully entry into the country was very simple. The test was then to see if all of our bags made it. The entire baggage claim area consisted of one, half moon shaped carousel about 20 feet long. We’ve never seen anything like it servicing planes so large. Needless to say it was total chaos. If you finally got near to get your bags, the problem was then getting out. However we were surprised and amazed when we saw that all of our bags made it without problem and in a timely manor.
Thank you to everyone who has prayed for our safe journey, we have arrived and have enjoyed our first week.
Please pray for next week as we begin a tour around the country shooting interviews for the programs. The district coordinators will also be starting to train the pastors in their region.
We are so excited to be here and we will let you know more about the culture, the people and the country soon.
Joe and Melissa
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Update!
Hey friends and family! Sorry it’s been so long since our last update. Our lives have been fairly hectic lately. Time to catch you up! Since our last post, we’ve been working hard to collect all of the results from what God did in Puerto Rico. Thankfully we’ve been able to count 13,790 people who told us they made decisions to follow Christ with their lives! Needless to say this fills us with much joy to know that God let us participate in something so huge. During the month of June we finished counting the results and worked to wrapped up the final details of the national office. On the 18th we held a celebration meeting where we met with all the people who made the project possible, and celebrated together the results. After some emotional goodbyes, we left Puerto Rico on June 30th to head back to the states for a couple weeks.
Currently we’re in NC, visiting family, and preparing for our next assignment. We’ll be heading to Malawi, a small country in south east Africa on July 20th to work on the My Hope project there. A team has been on the ground since the beginning of the year, and we’ll come in to help them in the final push. We’re praying that thousands of churches will participate when a program is transmitted and DVD’s are distributed this November.
This will obviously be a huge change for us. We’ve spent the last 4 years working in Latin America, but we’re very excited for this opportunity. We’ve been so blessed to be able to work for this wonderful ministry, do God’s work, and live in all these amazing places. When we heard that Africa was on the horizon, we just kept thinking; who are we to say anything but yes? Africa will have its challenges. But when a person accepts Christ as their savior and chooses to follow Him, it’s as if they sign on the dotted line. He then fills in the contract.
Please join us in prayer for Malawi. It’s one of the most densely populated and poorest countries in Africa. Pray that Pastors will go to training meetings and get excited for their church to share God’s love.
We love you all, and appreciate your prayers.
Joe and Melissa
Friday, May 28, 2010
Puerto Rico Celebrates
The environment in the national office of My Hope Puerto Rico is one of celebration. One year ago this small team of Christians began what has become the largest evangelistic outreach in the history of the island. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and 1804 local churches partnered together to train Christians to use a three night TV broadcast in April as a tool for personal evangelism. 19,068 Christians were trained, and reports and testimonies from those three days in April arrive to the office each day. Today’s totals show that with just 57% of the participating churches reporting so far, 10,093 people have reported making decisions for Christ.
Along the way the office has heard hundreds of inspiring stories. Below are just three.
20 year old Melito helps lead a weekly bible study called Solomon’s Porch in San Juan’s university area every Thursday night. Thursday, April 22nd was the first night of the My Hope Broadcast, so he and his friends invited anyone from the building to watch the program with them. Through the testimonies, music videos and Billy Graham’s message, four semi-professional wrestlers accepted Jesus Christ for the first time. After making that life changing decision, one of the wrestlers decided he wanted his fans and spectators to hear about Jesus too. He invited Melito and the other young adult leaders to his wrestling match to share Jesus during a break in the wrestling. Melito shared Jesus with the fans, and 10 more people made the life changing decision to except Jesus as their Savior.
Pastor Santana is the pastor of the Iglesia Casa de Adoracion Shalom (House of Adoration Shalom), a church of about 100 members in Humacao. Santana called the office to report the results of his church’s 10 Matthew homes this week. The first night of the broadcast there were 34 guests in the various homes that were participating. 21 people made first time decisions to follow Christ and four others rededicated their lives to him. The second night was equally amazing. Another 21 people made first time decisions to follow Christ. The final night there were 30 guests in the Matthew homes. After hearing the testimony of Yasmin Mejias, a well known Puerto Rican comedian, and a powerful message by Billy Graham, 25 people made decisions to follow Christ and three others rededicated their lives to Him. This small church saw 74 people make decisions to follow Christ, in just three days!
Pastor Fernando Ramos is the pastor of the Iglesia Cristiana Casa de Amor (Christian Church House of Love) in the city of Ponce. 17 families in the church opened their homes to be Matthews for the My Hope project. They hosted 86 guests, and were thrilled to have 32 first time salvation decisions, and 14 rededications. Pastor Ramos said that in one the of the Matthew homes, a guest brought her 27 years old cousin with her who had been diagnosed with cancer. After watching Franklin Graham’s message about the prodigal son, she accepted Christ into her heart. As if that wasn’t enough, before she left for the night, the family prayed for her healing from cancer. The following Tuesday she had an appointment with her doctor. The Doctor performed a few routine tests and then said, “What happened to your cancer? It’s gone!” Ramos says she has been faithfully attending church ever since the broadcast.
Along the way the office has heard hundreds of inspiring stories. Below are just three.
20 year old Melito helps lead a weekly bible study called Solomon’s Porch in San Juan’s university area every Thursday night. Thursday, April 22nd was the first night of the My Hope Broadcast, so he and his friends invited anyone from the building to watch the program with them. Through the testimonies, music videos and Billy Graham’s message, four semi-professional wrestlers accepted Jesus Christ for the first time. After making that life changing decision, one of the wrestlers decided he wanted his fans and spectators to hear about Jesus too. He invited Melito and the other young adult leaders to his wrestling match to share Jesus during a break in the wrestling. Melito shared Jesus with the fans, and 10 more people made the life changing decision to except Jesus as their Savior.
Pastor Santana is the pastor of the Iglesia Casa de Adoracion Shalom (House of Adoration Shalom), a church of about 100 members in Humacao. Santana called the office to report the results of his church’s 10 Matthew homes this week. The first night of the broadcast there were 34 guests in the various homes that were participating. 21 people made first time decisions to follow Christ and four others rededicated their lives to him. The second night was equally amazing. Another 21 people made first time decisions to follow Christ. The final night there were 30 guests in the Matthew homes. After hearing the testimony of Yasmin Mejias, a well known Puerto Rican comedian, and a powerful message by Billy Graham, 25 people made decisions to follow Christ and three others rededicated their lives to Him. This small church saw 74 people make decisions to follow Christ, in just three days!
Pastor Fernando Ramos is the pastor of the Iglesia Cristiana Casa de Amor (Christian Church House of Love) in the city of Ponce. 17 families in the church opened their homes to be Matthews for the My Hope project. They hosted 86 guests, and were thrilled to have 32 first time salvation decisions, and 14 rededications. Pastor Ramos said that in one the of the Matthew homes, a guest brought her 27 years old cousin with her who had been diagnosed with cancer. After watching Franklin Graham’s message about the prodigal son, she accepted Christ into her heart. As if that wasn’t enough, before she left for the night, the family prayed for her healing from cancer. The following Tuesday she had an appointment with her doctor. The Doctor performed a few routine tests and then said, “What happened to your cancer? It’s gone!” Ramos says she has been faithfully attending church ever since the broadcast.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Hope to Puerto Rico!
Last week was a wonderful week in Puerto Rico! On Thursday Friday and Saturday night, over 20,000 Christians opened up their homes to their friends, family and neighbors to watch the My Hope broadcast on national TV. The program addressed an issue that is often overlooked in the media, hope.
We hear so much on the news about wars, earthquakes, financial struggles, crime, corruption, betrayal, and plenty of other negative yet very real issues. However hope is rarely mentioned.
Through interviews with well known Puerto Ricans, music, and short messages from Billy Graham and Franklin Graham the My Hope TV broadcast explained that true hope is only found in a relationship with God through his son Jesus Christ. The programs clearly explained what it means to be a Christian.
“For all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.” - Romans 3:23. We’re not perfect. We’ve committed sins against God, our friends, and family. Our sin separates us from God because he’s holy and perfect. We can’t be good enough to be with God in heaven.
That would be a hope-less piece of news, “but God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” - Romans 5:8. God saw our situation. He saw we could never be good enough. He decided to act. He sent his son Jesus to earth to pay the penalty for your sin, for my sin.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. All he asks is that we receive the free gift he’s giving us. He gives us salvation. He gives us everlasting life. We just have to admit that we’re sinners, that we’re in need of him, and be willing to turn from our sin and accept his free gift of eternal life. When we do, he gives our life purpose, direction, and above all, Hope. It’s a hope that doesn’t spoil or fade, because it’s not a hope in a career, a relationship or comfort here on earth. It’s a hope in something that God has already done for us. And what we do with it has eternal repercussions.
After hearing the clear explanation of what Christ did for us on the cross, Christians all across the country shared with their guests what God had done in their personal lives. They invited them to put their hope in Jesus Christ, and follow him with their lives.
We’re in the process of collecting all the reports of what God did in Puerto Rico. We look forward to celebrating with you how he brought new life, hope, and salvation to thousands on the island of enchantment. We love you and appreciate your friendship and prayers.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Praise the Lord for Dominican Republic
I was so thankful when Joe called and told me he had updated the blog and sent out an email update to everyone! I was already in DR, when I received that call from him. The week went fast but it was amazing. I am always shocked by how Jesus keeps his word. He took our prayers, interceded to the Father and Dominicans were saved. My favorite testimony from the week was from one of my drivers, who was also a pastor.
He received a phone call from a member of his church who said they didn't have power in their area. Gilberto, my driver, told this person to start praying and if they received power, wonderful, continue with the project. If they didn't receive power, he told them to apologize to the people who came, invite them back tomorrow to see the program and give their testimony. Gilberto called this person back after the broadcast and the memeber of his church told him they did not receive power. But the member of his church gave his apologies about not having power, invited them back the next night, and then gave his testimony. The member of his church had 17 people come to his home and 5 of them prayed to receive Jesus Christ as their Savior.
It is testimonies like this that remind me that I am so lucky to be able to work for the Lord.
In the past few weeks we have heard many similar stories, but also the staff in DR are reporting more than 6,000 Decisions for Christ. Gloria a Dios!(All glory to God)
Two weeks from today we will begin our own Broadcast in Puerto Rico.
Please pray for the pastors, matthews, and those who will hear the Gospel. Pray that the Holy Spirit will move in a mighty way throughout Puerto Rico.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Pray - My Hope Dominican Republic
Hey Everyone! I wanted to send out an urgent prayer request. As you know, Melissa and I have been working in Puerto Rico for the last year. We've been preparing a nation-wide TV broadcast that will share who Jesus Christ is, and what he's done for us on the cross. Across the country thousands of churches are participating. In each church, members are planning to invite their friends, family members, and neighbors into their homes to watch the broadcast. It's a way of sharing what this whole Christianity thing is all about. Our broadcast is right around the corner, April 22, 23, and 24. Please be praying for churches to continue to get trained to participate, and for the members to be praying for their friends. We're also finalizing the editing of the programs this weekend. Pray that God guides us as we edit.
However the more urgent prayer request is for our neighbor, the Dominican Republic. They also have been working for the last year, and their broadcast is already here! Tonight (Thursday the 18th), tomorrow, and Saturday at 8pm, they will have their program on national television. Over 40,000 homes will invite guests over to watch the broadcast. Pray that there will be no energy black-outs (power outages are common there). Pray that God speaks to the hearts of each person watching, and that they will see the amazing things that God has done for us through Jesus. Pray they will admit their sins, and accept God's free gift of salvation!
Thank you all for your prayers!
Much love to all of you,
Joe
However the more urgent prayer request is for our neighbor, the Dominican Republic. They also have been working for the last year, and their broadcast is already here! Tonight (Thursday the 18th), tomorrow, and Saturday at 8pm, they will have their program on national television. Over 40,000 homes will invite guests over to watch the broadcast. Pray that there will be no energy black-outs (power outages are common there). Pray that God speaks to the hearts of each person watching, and that they will see the amazing things that God has done for us through Jesus. Pray they will admit their sins, and accept God's free gift of salvation!
Thank you all for your prayers!
Much love to all of you,
Joe
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