Civil unrest and school trips

I was in Ndirande township near Blantyre yesterday evening for a weekly bible study with local pastors.

Having covered the 'Fatherhood of God', we are moving on to subject of the 'Holy Spirit'.

The pastors requested that we finish early, and also bring next week's study forward to 5.30pm so that they could get home earlier.

Apparently the civil unrest in Ndirande is continuing and becoming worse, with gangs of armed men roving around killing and robbing. It is not possible to be sure whether the unrest is politically motivated or just taking advantage of political change, but these events are certainly connected to a general upsurge of violence within the country.

In Bvumbwe near where we live, two people have been killed in the last week, and it is unsafe to be out at night. It is quite impossible to fortify our house without massive expense but we are gradually doing what we can to prevent trouble: buying a dog, fitting gates across the drive and repairing the fence.

Having done what we can do, we are looking to God to install His peace in our hearts and to be our protection. We have never been in a situation like this before but we do understand that the essential thing is to listen to God and to do to the letter anything He tells us. May He have His way in everything.

On Sunday I travel north from Blantyre with a Malawian pastor, Binson Musongole, and his wife Selina, for the one-hour drive to Balaka. We are going to spend the day with a group of churches with which he has contact. He has asked me to be prepared to do a short teaching session. This is really an introductory visit to the pastors in that area and I'm looking forward to it.

At Easter I am considering travelling down south to Nsanje, which is in the lower Shire, with Alan and Marion Turnbull, who have an invitation to speak at a convention down there from the Friday through to the Sunday.

At present we are considering hiring a Landcruiser or similar, with good ground clearance, because we hear that the roads may be impassable to conventional cars. Normally the roads are not repaired until well after the rainy season which may not be until about June. I have to decide as well whether it is sensible to leave Janet and the children at home for 4 to 5 days at the present time.

Tim has been at Lake Malawi for a school trip since yesterday, and will return tomorrow. They will be visiting places of historic and geographic interest, but also doing scuba diving in the lake.

I confessed to Janet, "I wouldn't mind going myself!"

Ben is taking part in some sort on Concert at Phoenix school from tonight for three nights. He is going to be very tired when it is all over.

The weekend after next he has been invited to his friend Sam's birthday party along with 3 or 4 other little boys! They are starting off on the Friday afternoon with games on the lawn followed by a barbecue. Then they are sleeping the night in the family tent. Following breakfast they go swimming in Limbe Club, and finish off with lunch at the Hong Kong restaurant in town.

I don't think I can keep up with this sort of thing!

Our telephone was connected two days ago and now functions.