Dear co-fishers,
Debbie has spent the last three weeks in Malawi, conducting training in family strengthening and child development as well as evaluation research in our Families for Life program and HIV/AIDS programs in Malawi.
In the picture you see Ramroth from Cambodia where less than 1% of the population are Christians and Gertrude from Burundi—two countries still reeling from the trauma of genocide and conflict and the multigenerational consequences on marriages and families. Burundi is ranked the poorest country in the world, with Malawi close behind. Over dinner with them, I learned a deep lesson from the driver of the vehicle taking me up and down Malawi. He grew up on the lakeshore of Malawi and explained the distant boats in the lake that I saw many nights. The lights on the boats were easily visible late at night on the beach. I learned they are part of a three-boat platoon to catch fish. Working together, the first wooden canoe with the light takes the lead and is known as the signal boat. It goes into deep waters. The light attracts the fish at night and he slowly leads them with the light, bringing more and more fish into the swarm of fish following the light. The other two boats watch the signal boat and at a given signal are called to join him, slowly and quietly with their nets down. The two canoes circle the signal boat and the fish swarming around the light. They swoop up nets heavy with fish, mostly tilapia. I was attracted to the light myself, curious to know how they fish at night with a lamp, but it is a fitting metaphor for our mission. The Lord Jesus is the light and he attracts fish to himself—leading them gently. As Christians when we witness to the Lord’s grace and forgiveness, we don’t know who will be responsive to God’s truth. That is God’s part—he is in the signal boat, leading them to himself. As missionaries, which we all are, we paddle our canoes behind and wait for the signal, the calling. Responding to his call, we lower our nets and follow Christ. Many drawn to the Light are gathered together. Thank you for being in the canoe and lowering the nets with us. We could not paddle into the lake or pull up the heavy nets without your help. We keenly feel your strength in prayer and support. We are so very grateful. Please pray that we remain faithful to the Lord, going where he leads, and being responsive to his call. Families for Life is a family strengthening ministry seeking to enrich the marriage relationship to reflect God’s design for marriage. Many marriages are struggling with cultural issues, no job and sense of hopelessness that leads to heavy drinking, beating of wife and children and abandonment. The program addresses each country in a customized way and looks heavily at culture. Through a workshop we utilize the wisdom from church couples to develop lessons built on Scripture. A curriculum is developed to be used in small gatherings of couples. We now have curriculum for South India, North India (Hindi belt), East India (Misoram), Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Papua, Irian Jyra, Malawi, Haiti and Burundi. There is deep interest to develop more. In Malawi the evaluation of our program was to better discern the effectiveness and opportunities before us. The workshops had 5 participants from 4 countries. Our learning was rich and useful. We also did focus group discussions to be better learn how people who were trained are using the program. We are thankful that the last quarterly report showed Malawi reaching nearly 800 couples and Burundi has reached 18,000. We expect both countries to expand and to add more countries this next year. One observer from the focus group in Ntchisi District said, “Before the program we quarreled a lot in marriage. Now we don’t”; and from a chief: “I was from a broken home and as a consequence I had no confidence in myself. I was always behind. I know how important this program is, it has helped change me.”
With thanks,
Karl and Debbie have gone fishing
