Friday 23rd July Depart 9pm via Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) Saturday 24th July Arrive about 1pm Lilongwe (Malawi)

Sunday 25th July AM With Pastor Godfrey Kamwendo in Lilongwe church- Miles preaching one of the other three of us telling a Story/ songs for the children.

PM Visit to Kachule district where there is a church plant. Further meeting there with stories, songs, games for children.

Monday 26th July Drive to Cape Maclear area of lakeshore via Golimoti pass. Will and Sam stay at lakeshore until Thursday.

Tuesday 27th July Miles and Liz travel to Blantyre in South Malawi

Wednesday 28th July Miles and Liz to New Life HQ to see the church folk there and Finalize plans for the upcoming conference. Take part in youth/children's meeting in pm

Thursday 29th July Will and Sam travel to Blantyre by minibus. Pray for safety Please. Friday 30th - Local to Bvumbwe.

Saturday 31st July Take part in the youth conference at Ndirande township Sunday 1st August Zomba church. Moslem area. Now meeting in their own premises. We will be preaching/teaching/ singing/etc.

Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday 2nd-4th August Climb Mulanje Mountain. We will stay on the mountain in the huts on the plateau level.

Friday 5th New Life Conference about 400 delegates from Saturday 6th various churches. Miles will be involved in the preaching/ teaching Sunday 7th along with the Malawian pastors, Liz teaching ladies, Will and Sam with youth and children Monday 8th Local to Blantyre

Tuesday 9th / Wednesday 10th Liwonde safari - hoping to see elephants, hippos, crocs

Thursday 12th Return to Lilongwe via Livingstonia/ see Pastor Kamwendo

Friday 13th August 1pm  Flight departure from Lilongwe Saturday 14th August Arrive London UK

Prayer points  Please pray for safety in travel, both in flights and on the road. African flights are notorious for lost luggage so safety for luggage too please.

Please pray for good health, no malaria or nasty tummy bugs. Please pray for us all to a real BLESSING and encouragement to the Malawian church. Power in preaching and testimony and LOTS of fun. THANKYOU

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Download the Newsletter for full details and pictures

The 2010 New Life Church Conference

Miles & Liz Thomas together with their son William and his friend Sam will be helping with this conference in August. We are expecting over 400 delegates including young people from New Life Churches around Malawi. We are looking forward to 3 days of bible teaching, worship, youth activities & fellowship and would really value your prayers for an encouraging and fruitful time together.

Martin & Marian Williams

Martin & Marian are presently in South Africa prior to visiting their elder daughter Ruth in the UK who is expecting another baby in May. The monthly pastors teaching has been going well and will continue in their absence. Please continue to pray for progress on their application for a Permanent Residence Permit which has shown some signs of advancement also for good health for them both as they have had some recent challenges in this area!

Exciting times for 'Rock Springs' in Zomba

A few years ago Godfrey Chiunda and his wife Jane started the Rock Springs church in Zomba - the former colonial capital and now a strongly Moslem town. Godfrey himself was brought up in a Moslem family and became a Christian as a schoolboy. The church has been meeting in various rented venues and more recently in a very small private school. This property has now come up for sale and Chisomo Trust has just been able to help them purchase it. This is an exciting opportunity and will give the church a strategic position near the centre of town with facilities for a pastors house as well as rooms for their orphan work, church meetings and other ministries. Please pray for this church as they rise to the challenge God has given them and witness to the love of Christ.

Spreading the Word through 'TEE'

Jesus said 'Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God' - 'TEE' (theological education by extension) is a simple & effective bible teaching programme. The New Life churches will restart 'TEE' this month and would value your prayers for lasting fruit in their churches as members of all ages study the courses entitled The Life of Christ Part 1 & Christian Family Living.

Education Opportunities to Transform Lives

'Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life'. (Proverbs 4.13) Some of the young Christians in our churches have real potential and are hungry to learn but lack the opportunities of continuing or further education. With the help of church leaders with teaching experience we are beginning to identify those who, with extra support, could become people of character and influence - transforming their own lives as well as benefitting others. Two such youngsters are Estere and Sam.

Please visit our website for more information on HIV Care Group Widows Ministry Youth & Children How to donate More contact info

www.chisomotrust.org

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Our dear friends. We would like to begin by sending our best wishes to you and prayers that 2010 will be a year of great blessing from our Lord, and thanking those of you who have sent news via the internet, and some who actually sent Christmas cards! We found it an interesting exercise to try and guess who the senders were from the writing on the envelope-must be getting old!!

Family news :- In September 2009 we came of age in Africa-21years.Not sure whether we have the' key to the door'-- in fact pretty certain we haven't! Africa and Africans continue to surprise. Thank God for the fact that 'Jesus knew what was in man----' etc. May we continue to be His humble learners.

In November we were planning to take a break in South Africa, and meet Martin's sister and her husband. Just prior to this Marian was diagnosed with a parotid gland tumour which needed immediate excision. How wonderfully the Lord undertook-up to that point there was no specialist in Malawi. A general surgeon said he could operate but would rather not-(the op is delicate and entails laying open the facial nerve which controls among other things eye and mouth movement etc.) A scan had been done and to confirm the diagnosis this man sent the images to his son-in-law who happens to be a top radiologist with the U.S. navy. Then even better news - a Brazilian 'face and neck' surgeon who had been planning to work in Sierra Leone decided instead to come to Malawi .The man was a Christian, had just done a similar op. and in the theatre he offered up prayer before the op. all was successful. How good is the Lord!

We did go to S.A. but had to fly rather than drive. Our daughter Joanna and husband joined us there. Unfortunately Tom,(sports coach, P.E .teacher, and Mr Outdoor man), severed the tendon in his right arm, necessitating an operation - will not be right they say for a year. On top of that I,(Martin) have severe tendonitis in both upper arms/shoulders.

Any who know me and the practical work that surround us will understand I find this frustrating to say the least. But the Lord is still good!! Much of this letter seems to be about family so I think I must move on to:-

Country news:- This is interesting. During November when we were planning to drive to S.A. the whole country ran out of diesel! .Many hours were wasted queuing only to arrive at the pump to find all sold. A few weeks later - no petrol! The president won a landslide election victory recently and there is now no effective parliamentary opposition. He closed all the independent Forex bureaux in August saying that the Asians were cornering all the hard currency. None have been allowed to re-open However he has bought a private jet plane and apparently lent Zimbabwe K200 million US$. Some tobacco buyers have been deported, and the title 'Ngwazi' now appears before the President's title.(This was the title Dr Hastings Banda, Life President of Malawi used).So where is it all going to? Our recent visit to Immigration enquiring after our Permanent Resident Permit revealed that 'some papers have been lost'-we are told to re-submit whatever we have asap-you will remember our case of personal documents was stolen in March 2008 so we don't have much to submit!

Church news:- Things seem to have continued well in our absence .We will be sending further students to the Evangelical College of Malawi for some basic training and are thankful for extra sponsorship from unknown donors to facilitate this.

We were very happy to host a visit from Jeremy and Joyce Clarke in Oct/Nov .Our visitors ministered at the District Pastor's meeting, the churches, the widows meetings and Marian's ladies meeting. Thank you J&J for coming and the work you did Jerry on the bikes for our pastors. Points for prayer;-

*Our future here or wherever.

* Marian's health in particular- recovery seems slow.

* Students settling into college and support for their wives and families while they are away from home.

We send you our love in the Lord Jesus.

Martin and Marian

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