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Glen
and Kerry Halliwell in
Malawi
We
were newlyweds when we were first asked to go to
Malawi
back in 1992.
Approached by an international relief and development agency based
in
Stouffville
,
Ontario
, we decided that a six month assignment in the country of
Malawi
,
Africa
was an adventure and something we would look back on as a time that we
gave to God and His service.
Little did we know it was only the beginning…
We arrived in
Malawi
on September 15th 1992 to take our part on an international
team that was to feed about 500,000 Malawians and Mozambiquan refugees for
about 6 months.
The project was very successful and a testimony to God’s
faithfulness as we efficiently distributed the maize that was donated by
USAID and the EU.
It was then time to go back to our lives in
Canada
. Glen
was ministering in a church in
Oshawa
,
Ontario
and his job was still open for him to return.
Kerry was working as an insurance broker in
Whitby
,
Ontario
and her employer was also awaiting her return.
Another offer was made.
Would we stay for another six months to do a follow-up development
project that would be called “Food for Work”.
After prayer, we decided that we were not ready to return to our
life in
Canada
. How
could we go back to our condominium and two cars and good jobs when there
was so much work to be done in
Malawi
?
We stayed for another six months
and were contemplating our return to
Canada
when a third offer was made.
Would we stay in
Malawi
and work with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada and help with church
planting, bible school teaching and education?
Once again, a decision would have to be made.
This one would cost the most.
Our jobs would not be available to us if we stayed for a further
six months. Despite
this, we prayed and felt that the Lord would provide back in
Canada
new employment even if we stayed for six more months.
We have now been in
Malawi
for 16 years and have had three beautiful boys and are ministering with
the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada in the country we fell in love with
back in 1992.
Since then, we have partnered with church and individuals to plant
churches, teach in Bible Schools, run a
Chris
tian primary school for Malawian children, distribute food, clothing and
other necessities to those in need, outreach and evangelism, minister to
street children and refugees and many other ministries.
It has been our privilege to be involved in the work here.
Even though God led us here in an unconventional way, we know we
are in the will of God.
We didn’t set out to be “missionaries” but just short-term
helpers. God
had another plan.
Currently, we are pastoring a church that we planted back in 1999
called
City
Pentecostal
Church
. It
is in the heart of the commercial capital of
Malawi
called
Blantyre
. It
is named after the city in which David Livingstone was born back in
Scotland
. David
Livingstone’s influence in the country of
Malawi
was huge especially with respect to the abolition of the slave trade.
Our children now attend an international primary and secondary
school on the mission compound that was established by David Livingstone.
Our hearts’ desire was to build up a congregation that is
outward-looking therefore our church is very active in reaching out to
those in need.
We minister to the street children of
Blantyre
. They
come every Sunday for a meal and their Sunday school training.
We also sponsor many of them through school.
We purchase their uniforms and school supplies which they are
welcome to store at the church due to the dangers on the street.
Our big outreach in the city
happens from noon until 1 pm every weekday.
We hold inter-denominational services from Monday to Friday where
anyone can come and hear the word of God.
It helps to unify the Christians within the city of
Blantyre
.
Currently, our church meets in a rented building just down the road
from the main
Blantyre
mosque. Islam
has gained much ground as the first democratically elected president was a
Muslim and he was in power from 1994 until 2004.
The Muslim Indians have run the economy of
Malawi
for many years and their influence on people in power is substantial.
Unfortunately, in a country that is so poor, money talks.
Crime is a problem
which we deal with daily.
We had a
Chris
tmas eve service last year and someone came in for the service and hid in
one of the Sunday school rooms and when we locked up, he broke into
Glen’s office and helped himself to money and other items.
Stealing is a way of life for many and it can really get us down at
times. Glen
also had his wallet stolen out of his church office on a Sunday morning
and Kerry even had her Bible stolen on a Sunday morning.
It was eventually returned without the cover.
We do listen to the sound of gun fire on a weekly basis.
It is difficult when guests arrive and are not used to this sound.
It can be daunting.
We almost don’t hear it anymore.
We praise God that we have never had a major incident and we pray
every night over our property as do our boys.
Easter 2007 we had a
terrible event occur.
Glen was held at gun point in his office at the church downtown by
some thieves.
The safe was stolen and a car was hijacked outside the church to
get-away. Glen
did get the gun that they dropped while trying to load the safe in the
hijacked car.
This event really shook us up but we are thankful for God’s
protection over Glen in that situation.
Another challenge we face is illness.
Being in the heart of Africa, we have had to endure bouts of
malaria, hepatitis A and bilharzia (a parasite that you can get from
Lake Malawi
). We
do sleep under nets and keep the house tightly screened to try to
eliminate some of the risks of malaria.
We also have an expensive filter to keep the hepatitis away as we
used to boil our water but later found that it was ineffective against
viruses.
Life in
Africa
can also be a beautiful privilege.
Our boys live in a land of children.
There is never a time when there aren’t children around to play
with. The
weather is such that they can spend much of the day outside.
Without the trappings of movies theatres, fast food and malls, we
have a simple but very wholesome life.
In 2007, Madonna came to
Malawi
and began proceedings to adopt a baby boy.
With all the news about this, our eldest son Keagan (11 years old
at the time) said, “Who is Madonna?
Is that the famous football player from
Argentina
?” I
love that our children are still children and would rather play football
(soccer) on their self-made dirt soccer pitch than just about anything
else.
Are we making a
difference in
Malawi
? It
is very difficult to quantify “success” in ministry.
We don’t count numbers but smiles.
We don’t report financial gains, but how much did we give out.
The growth we see in people’s spiritual lives is so much more
important. How
much people are relying on God for their needs to be met…these are
success stories to us.
Where do we see ourselves in the next six months?
Only God knows.
We love to dream dreams for God.
Glen has dreamt of a Job Skills Training Centre to be established
to feed the street kids into once their education with the government is
complete. This
is a land of children due to the AIDS epidemic.
Skilled labour is decreasing rapidly due to the number of deaths.
As a minister in
Malawi
, Glen performs about 10 funerals for every wedding.
Looking to the future of this nation is important.
We have begun stock piling tools and have asked for old hand tools
(non-electric) for this project that we are dreaming of.
We would also love to purchase some property in
Blantyre
to make our church permanent in the city of
Blantyre
. Currently
we rent from Indians who raise the amount we pay every 3 months.
It is getting increasingly difficult to remain where we are.
There is an old theatre in town that we would love to purchase.
The Indian who owns it is very reluctant to sell it but we are
praying. We
don’t have the money to purchase it EVEN IF it went up for sale, but we
can dream. We
really want to keep the Christian influence in the heart of
Blantyre
.
Please pray with us
that God would bless and see these dreams to fulfilment. |
