Posts Tagged ‘partners in hope’

Training Day

Friday, September 24th, 2010

Steve and I had the privilege of being part of a training day at Kawiya Village outside of  Zomba. We knew to bring head scarves and panties to distribute and you would have thought is was Christmas!!! The singing and dancing that the Gogos did with their new bandanas ( tied all sorts of ways) and the children, many who immediately put on their new underwear.

We prepared and ate lunch with the village and presented knit quilts to the 2 chiefs. We were there about 5 hours.

Soy Grinding

As we were leaving and hugging and singing and dancing, a Gogo in tears thanked us and said ” the Love of God brought you here.” And I’m thinking in my mind,  “wait a minute, lots of planning, lots of money, and lots of sacrifice got us to that crazy place.”  But in an instant, I was shown a bigger picture.  Because I love the Lord, retired, joined SEEDS, see others putting their faith in action, decided to step out, had Partners in Hope and Gogos capture my heart (and it catching many of you)…Yes, I joined her in tears because God loved me enough to bring me there.

Winding Down In Lilongwe

Wednesday, September 15th, 2010

We have a bunch of painting to finish tomorrow, our last full day here at Partners in Hope.  But the BIG project is done. We were to paint a peaceful African scene in the Education Room. It is where newly diagnosed AIDS patients come to learn how to live with the virus. So it is a fearful and stressful time for them.

Our goal was to give them some tranquility. The painting was massive and there are lots of landmarks represented:  Mt.Mulanje, Zomba Plateau, Lake Malawi, Liwonde game preserve, tea plantations, and Psalm. 121:1-2


We are thrilled that on Friday morning they want to dedicate all our work during their morning devotion service.  They want to talk about the efforts and then for us to give them all a tour. That’s quite an honor we don’t take lightly. It has been an amazing blessing to US!

Prayer Letter

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

“As you help us by your prayers many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.” 2 Corinthians 1:11

Malawi FlagWe are excited to have the opportunity to go to Malawi, Africa from Aug. 19th – Sept. 28th.  In retirement we thought it was time to we checked up on some of the folks we have supported in ministry over the years.  You might say we are leaving our comfort zone, and putting feet on our faith.

First we visit Dr. Perry and Brenda Jansen in the capitol of Lilongwe.  They were teens in Debbie’s youth choir back in the mid 1970’s.   We hope to paint murals and graphics on the walls of a new 3 story hospital.  Debbie is thrilled that she gets to paint on more walls (a hobby) .

After about 3 1/2 weeks we will get ourselves to Zomba and Blantyre in southern Malawi, to visit an organization called GoGo Grandmothers (‘GoGo’ is the word for grandmother in their language).  The grandparents are raising their grandchildren because their parents have died of AIDS.  These dear hearts are learning to raise a soy crop for more protein, and also being educated on how to teach their young ‘Reasons For Waiting Until Marriage’.  We have gathered underwear, baby caps, sewing kits, and head scarves to let them know that friends in America care.  Four + full suitcases!!

Our request of you is that if we come to mind, please pray.  Tuck our little mission in a spot in your brain and keep us lifted up.  We know God can take care of the health & travel issues as well as protection from the forces of evil when we come to Him in prayer.

Also from our little website [morales22.com], we will keep you updated on our experiences.  We understand they have Internet randomly in the country as only 6% have electricity, but we will do our best to stay in touch. (God bless the Internet and Skype for keeping us close)

The prayers of friends and family have carried us through some amazing times, Thank you.

Blessings,
Debbie and Steve

We covet your prayers, but several friends have asked where they could send a financial gift. If this is on your heart, you can mail a tax deductible check to Partners in Malawi (see below) with our name on the memo line. This will help pay for the projects we hope to undertake.  We can’t fly with paint, so that will be an expensive purchase on that end.  However, this letter is meant only to solicit prayer.

Send checks to:
Pam Douglas, Director
Partners in Malawi
2948 Colorado Avenue
Santa Monica, CA 90404