July 2019 – Reda

A new adventure! Friday morning I left home with a group of 14 (10 teens and 4 adults) from church to travel 93 miles to Savage Gulf State Natural Area. We set up our camp at # 4 Group site. With hammocks hung and tents assembled we were ready for some fun before dinner.

Some of us decided to explore the falls while some stayed behind to play games. The hike to the falls started at the Ranger station. About 300 yards from our campsite was the Ranger station, so we had an easy time of it! It was 1.5 mile hike to the falls from the Ranger station. One plus to having the Ranger station nearby was that it has flushable toilets!

We crossed two suspension bridges on our way to the falls which were really cool. The hike was fairly easy. It was very humid but as we neared the falls the air got cooler and cooler. There were pools that ran over huge rocks. The kids stopped and climbed down the rocks to play in the pools.

Peeking through some giant honeysuckles I could see the pool but not the falls. We stood on the top of the giant rocks and looked over into a larger pool. I walked on down the path to the bottom of the falls where the water cascaded over the rocks from above and dropped into a beautiful pool surrounded by natural rock walls. As I was watching my son climbed around on the giant rocks surrounding the pool. It was beautiful! It was a fun place to climb around. Then I climbed back up the steps. Those steps were the hardest part of the hike for me. Getting my breath I started the 1.5 mile hike back to camp.

The next morning we decided to leave camp at 8 am to hike to the falls again with our whole group. It was actually much more humid than the evening before. Trees which must have blown over in the recent storms were uprooted and fallen along the path. A deer silently watched us from amid the trees. Crossing the suspension bridges took a bit longer with a larger group. We crossed two at a time stopping in the middle to look at the stream before stepping on to the end. When we had all crossed we continued on down the trail toward the falls.

No one was in sight when we arrived at the falls. It was very still and beautiful. The pool was shadowed because of the time of day but soon the sun reached us from between the high canopy of trees. Everyone decided to go swimming. There are too many huge rocks beneath the surface to allow jumping or diving but there were plenty of places to swim and play in the water. The group had a great time climbing around and standing beneath the water fall to get a shower. We explored the rocks and swam for a couple of hours and then headed toward our campsite.

As we started the return hike we met several groups out for a day hike. There were several family groups with young and old hikers. One group was 11 ladies, old college friends, who meet-up every year for a reunion. Everyone on the trail was friendly to our group. By the time we arrived at the Ranger station we were all hot and sweaty and ready for the bathroom and some water.

I had fun hiking in Tennessee!

Malawi Young women receiving hygiene bags with great joy. — Young women receiving hygiene bags with great joy.

Billiwiri Church of Christ - Malawi — Billiwiri Church of Christ

My journey to Malawi was an amazing experience! My husband and I spent two weeks traveling and teaching in Malawi. It was the most wonderful ministry experience of my life!

What did we pack for Malawi?

It took a lot of planning and decision making to get ready for our trip. Every day I watched the airlines for tickets so that when the price dropped I was quickly able to purchase our tickets.

We packed and repacked to keep our bag within the weight limit. How could we make the best use of our bag space? What would we take with us? We had some direction from our friends in Malawi about what we should bring. Missionary friends who had gone to Africa also shared ideas with us. Lawrence and I were each allowed a carryon bag, a personal item and one 50 lb. checked bag. What did we carry in our bags? Our personal item was our laptop and lessons. In our carry on bags we packed our clothing. We packed gifts, teaching materials, soccer balls, hygiene bags, protein bars, sheets, and mosquito netting in our checked luggage.

What did we teach?

For weeks Lawrence and I prepared for our lessons. You see Lawrence had been teaching World Bible School lessons for about a year and having a great response from his students. Our contact in Malawi asked us to come and see the work first hand. We were very excited to make this trip.

As we prepared our lessons, I discovered a lot of my teaching was very Americanized. I did not realize how much of my culture was infused in my Bible teaching. Even though I tried to be aware of this I still found surprises.

Having never been to Africa I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect or who my audience would be. Each day I had several opportunities for teaching so I had to be ready to teach at any moment. I did not know when I would be teaching or whom I would be teaching.

Colossians 3 was the text I chose that would apply to everyone. I talked about things we as Christians need to rid from our lives and things we need to incorporate. Starting with these paper dolls pictured below I made a book with the pictures of African women clothed in native attire.

We studied about clothing ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Each page featured one of these topics and had a pull out section with scriptures which we discussed. Many years ago I used a flip chart of the Gospel Presentation that I took with me to Africa and used many times. I was so thankful for the preparation I had done. Our brethren have very little in the way of possessions. Few Bibles, teaching materials, binders, office or craft supplies, etc. So I left almost everything I took with me with our Christian brothers and sisters.

Where did we teach?

We taught in prisons, churches, beside the road under trees, in small little rooms full of children and out back behind church buildings.

In the prison my work was a bit different. Being the only woman in our party, I was taken alone with a female guard back through the prison to the women’s section to teach. The number of women inmates was much less than the number of men. My largest number of inmates was 10 as compared to 500+ men inmates that my husband and other preachers were teaching. Sometimes I would teach outside in a courtyard or in a room. My students were inmates and guards. These students were eager for teaching and were very happy to sit for long periods of time to hear the Bible.

There were very few Bibles therefore I carried an extra Bible in my pack in Chichewa so that they could read the verses in their language. Most of my students knew some English. If asked what their greatest need is they would probably say Bibles. Sometimes they would sing for me and it was indeed a huge blessing to hear their lovely voices.

In one location 500 inmates were sharing two Bibles. The ladies section at that same prison had 1 Bible and a part of a Bible which was well used and they shared with one another. It was obvious they loved the word and wanted to learn more.

Results of our teaching in Malawi.

I saw many people obey the gospel. They were baptized in streams, in church and prison baptistries, and in portable baptistries as a result of our teaching and the teaching of our brothers in Malawi. One day we had to travel about 20 miles to find enough water to baptize. On another day I saw 32 obey the gospel. After my return several of the women I taught continued to study World Bible School and obeyed the gospel. One of my sweet guards wrote and thanked us for showing her the way. I am able to communicate occasionally with her through Whatsapp and continue to share studies from the Bible with her.

What did we eat?

We were in Malawi during a time when there seemed to be plenty of food. As we traveled along the roads or through the markets we would see produce stacked in pyramid shapes for sale. However, the natives did not eat three times a day as Americans are accustomed to doing. Nor did they eat the amount of food we eat.

For breakfast we had eggs (fried, boiled, etc), potatoes, toast, omelets, hot tea, coffee. At our second meal we ate chicken, goat, eggs, tomatoes, onions potatoes, rice, nsima, and pasta. There was a bit of fruit available in the markets and English biscuits that we purchased to keep with us. Every day we had to purchase water. I purchased “sweets” to share with the village children and many times the adults too.

Sometimes we would go all day without stopping for a meal so the snacks we had packed helped hold us over until dinner. We shared the snacks we brought from home with our traveling companions. These snacks were new to our friends and they enjoyed them very much! They especially liked the tuna pouches.

We are going again!

After coming back to the states it was very hard to go back to normal. We left so much of our hearts in Malawi. The students studying through World Bible School continue to increase and many obey the gospel every month. We are working for and with Malawi on a daily basis. We are excited to begin planning our return trip this September to Malawi.

Let Me Share My Story with You.

There is so much more that I could share. I would love to share my story about the work in Malawi. If you have questions about our trip or the work we do in Malawi please just ask. I would love to talk about it!!

If you would like to help with the work I can tell you how to do that too! If you know someone you think would like to hear about our work please share our contact information. My husband would be happy to come and talk with your church or eldership.

Invite me to speak to your ladies group or organization. redaredding@gmail.com

Smyrna Church of Christ

Malawi Missions

P.O. Box 314

Smyrna, Tn 37167