With the healthy balance of sunshine and rain we have been having in Lilongwe in the past few weeks, you could be mistaken for being in Ireland with the vivid green of the plants and almost fully grown maize. The only difference is that we are sitting in temperatures of 26oC rather than the 8oC in Northern Ireland!
So, from a very warm Lilongwe, Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!
The closest we have come to celebrating today has been to receive a visit with celtic connections. For the past few days there has been a team from Church of Scotland congregations in Argyll visiting Lilongwe. One of the team members, who is originally from Northern Ireland, came across the work Pamela and I are doing with Scripture Union in the Presbyterian Women’s Wider World magazine. She wanted to come and meet us and hear about the ministry of Scripture Union.
Our visitors from Scotland.
This afternoon we hosted 9 Scottish Presbyterians and four of their Malawian hosts. It was a lovely afternoon of hearing their stories about their time in Malawi so far and sharing with them the various things we are doing with SU. They have a full schedule of activities visiting schools, hospitals, care programmes and homes of church members, but for us they were a blessing to have visit. They encouraged us with by their interest in the work and the comments they offered on their observations of what God is doing in Malawi. It was also good to be able to say that we celebrated Saint Patrick’s Day with some folks not too far from the emerald isle!
The first corn to be harvested from the field behind the SU offices.
On another note, there was great excitement around the office this morning as the first few cobs of corn were harvested, boiled and eaten. The cob I tasted was good and the farmer who had grown the maize had a contented smile on his face. We continue to pray that the final weeks of growth will be good and that those areas who have had a poor growing season will know the blessing of receiving from those who have had a bountiful harvest.
