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 We had the privilege to return to Malawi to work with our friends Pastor Peace, Bishop Malunga and Bishop Njaide. This time, we visited some old places again and went to some new places. We got to visit the village Pastor Peace grew up in on the shores of beautiful Lake Malawi and meet some of his family. Some of the homes in the village were built over 100 years ago. There is a huge baobab tree in the village said to be over 1,000 years old.
For this project, one of our board members, Steve, went to share in the work. He had an interesting experience during one of our epic seven hour bus rides. Shortly after the bus left the station, a man stood up with Bible in hand, leaning on his seat for balance and began preaching to the trapped crowd of people jammed on the bus. While we couldn't understand a word he said in Chichewa, we did hear about six different Bible references. Later on, the same man had an interesting statement and question for Steve. He said, "A pastor I have known and respected for many years was talking with me the other day. He said if I eat beef from the United States it will push sin out of my body. Is this true?" While the answer seems obvious to most of us, the man was very serious and wanted to know the theological truth behind American beef. Steve kindly shared the truth with the preacher.
The number of interesting and diverse beliefs based on information from an individual and ignoring the Bible are beyond our ability to count. It is extremely important for pastors, leaders and teachers to learn how to study and understand the Bible so they are not led astray by every kind of fallacy people dream up. Fortunately, this time in Malawi, we had the opportunity to teach hundreds of people how to read and study the Bible to learn what the Bible says instead of what a person wants the Bible to say.
 We traveled back to Mbayani New Christian Church in Blantyre to teach about 70 leaders for three days. Then, we took buses to various villages to teach pastors, church leaders and teachers as we slowly made our way from Blantyre to Lilongwe. People traveled for many hours to attend the training. Some people walked, rode on the back of bicycle taxis, took mini-buses and walked some more just to learn from us. What a privilege to spend time with God's people.
In Lilongwe, we met with some business people to provide leadership training. Part of our training explores the difference between a leader who is more dictatorial in style versus a style based on creating a team to work together. Most of the leaders in Malawi (and most everywhere) use a more dictatorial style. The people attending the conference quickly saw the differences in the two styles and benefits of working together as a team. Especially because the government was on a shut-down after the people got tired of their bosses being dictators, went on strike and even piled office furniture in the entrances of some government facilities to block the bosses from coming to work.
We are very thankful to everyone who partners with Clear Vision Ministries. Your prayers make a difference in our projects and in the lives of thousands of people. Your donations make it possible for us to help people who have never had formal training of any kind and to do much more. Please pray for the pastors in Malawi, some of whom don't even have a Bible to study.
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