Malawi Sept 2023 Blog 4

Every mission team since the beginning of time experiences this phenomenon.   They see the struggles of a few and immediately start to thinks of ways to solve them for each person they encounter on their trip.

Yesterday we listened to student after student describe the hardships they have experienced in life and laid out the challenges they have going forward.  They also gave thanks for the education and training they have received and the blessing that it is for them now and will be in the future.

As a mission team we immediately started to brainstorm immediate solutions to each of their challenges.  It is human nature for us to want to do this.  The mission here is to provide training and education to many and not short term solutions for the few.

We saw first hand yesterday the value that training and education in  a field like tailoring, auto repair, plumbing and other trades can provide to these students.  With this they are striving to overcome their own challenges and remove their own obstacles.  Our job is to support them and rejoice in their successes.

Yesterday we provided training in business management and and personnel management.  We also spent time on mental health and discussed the value of seeking help if a student finds themselves in need if assistance.  We heard many stories from the students about the stress and pressure they feel in areas like food security, financial security and relationship issues.

At the end of the day they sang and danced which lifted the mood and for those few brief moments,  made all our problems go away.  They praised the lord with song and dance and the world was a better place in that moment.