October Update

Greetings from hot and dry Mzimba;

We are managing to stay busy here. The True Love Waits training was a great success. 14 presenters were trained and they gave the presentation at two schools. The first school was a private boarding school. We were only able to present it to the boys. To make sure they understood about the commitment card and just not signing it because everyone else was, we had them come talk to one of the presenters. The majority of the students attending the presentation signed the commitment card. Their commitment is to practice abstinence until marriage. The program also talks about faithfulness to your spouse. Two of the three teaches that were there monitoring the students wants to be trained to present the TLW material. This can possibly become part of the curriculum of this school.

The second school was pretty much the same success as the first. The presentation was given to a classroom of male and female students. The signing of the commitment cards was handled in the same way and most of the students made the commitment.

The presenters that were trained were separated into three teams. One team is from Mzuzu. This team consists of four members. The second team is from Mzimba. It is made up of seven members. There is a third team waiting to be formed in a village about 120kl from Mzimba. I say waiting to be formed because there was a pastor from that area here for the training. He is requesting that the Mzimba team come and help train some presenters.
An interesting side note, this pastor’s first name is Starvewell. There is another presenter named Gift, and he is just a natural at presenting the material. There is a person on the Mzuzu team named Sky. He is also very good. Gift and Sky are the leaders of their teams. The Mzimba team has already given a presentation and the Mzuzu team has one scheduled for Oct. 3. Please pray that the Lord will give these teams the opportunity to present True Love Waits and the students will be open to this new concept of behavior. Also pray that Pastor Starvewell will be able to form a team in his area.

We had the pleasure of attending the graduation for the Bible School students last weekend. It was so exciting to see the enthusiasm of these students, 22men and 1 lady, having successfully completed this two-year study. These men are now equipped to accept the leadership role when new churches are planted in the villages. Some are already serving in these positions and some will be going on to seminary. The major obstacle here in starting new churches is the lack of trained church leaders. Many village churches struggle because the person leading the congregation will move to South Africa in search of work. Pray that these new graduates will find the place God has for them to serve. Pray that they will inspire others to follow their example and enter the Bible School for training.

The wives of the Bible School students are meeting here in Mzimba this week. On Sunday afternoon, Miriam Pumpelly, taught of health matters. She is a nurse, mother of three, and the wife of Chad. They went through FPO and 40/40 with us. They live in Lilongwe and he will be teaching at the seminary there. We have been having a debate about who lives on the roughest road. After the Pumpelly’s drove to our house, he graciously conceded defeat. Now, back to the ladies. They will be here until Thursday, Oct.1. This is a great opportunity for them to gain some much-needed knowledge of the Bible. Pray for these wives as they return home and resume their daily activities. They need to start teaching the Bible to their children or encourage their husbands to do so.

The hot dry season has arrived. The Mzimba River is almost dry. You could walk across it and barely get your shoes wet. The significance of this is that many people depend on this river for water, including us. Out of the last four-days, we have only had water for a few hours. This has barely been enough for us to refill our tank. We will have much adjusting to do because October is the worse month for lack of water and this is just Sept. 29th. Who needs to take a bath every week anyway? God never told us this was going to be easy but He did tell us He would be with us. What else can we ask for? Pray that the people around Mzimba will be able to find water during this dry season. These people also need the Living Water, which is Jesus Christ.

The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in an earthen furnace, purified seven times. Psalm 12:6

There is a church here called the New Apostolic Church that will not even allow the members to bring their Bibles to church. They teach that no one except the apostles can understand the Bible and they have to be members of New Apostolic Church to receive salvation. When witnessing to them, they claim to be Christian only because of membership in this church. They have no idea of what it means to be saved by grace. There is much to be done here in Malawi. Pray that God will give the true Christians of Malawi a vision for witnessing and disciplining new believers. Many of these people who claim to be Christian will go to church on Sunday and to the witch doctor on Monday. They just add Christianity to their traditional African beliefs. Malawi appears to be a Christian country but when you get below the surface you discover that it is far from Christian.

We love all of you and enjoy getting your emails. Let us know what is happening in your busy lives. You are our link to home. We will also answer any questions you may have. Who knows, your questions may inspire a topic for a future update. Also suggestions, like, “Hey, your updates are to long”, will be appreciated.

Thanks for all your prayers. We use all of them.

Al and Claudia

Our 40/40 African Culture Adeventure

We have been in Africa for about 7 weeks now. Most of that was in Zambia going through the orientation they call 40/40. What an experience that was. We were in Lusaka for the first 12 day. Our accommodations were somewhat modern, by African standards. We stayed at the Baptist Seminary of Lusaka. There were about 20 rooms that shared 1 ladies bathroom and 1 mens bathroom. The largest cemetery I have ever seen surrounds the seminary. It is called Leopards Hill cemetery. It is not what we picture when we Americans think of a cemetery. There was everything from well-manicured grave sites to just unmarked mounds of dirt. The whole cemetery was over grown with weeds and bushes. The people attending a funeral would arrive on the back of a large flatbed truck and I don’t mean a Ford F-150. It was a large transport type truck. One that carries building materials in the U.S. This group of funeral goer’s could be heard from a distance because of their beautiful singing. One would have thought the Mormon Tabernacle Choir was in town.

We were divided into teams of 2 with a Zambian helper and sent into the communities and market areas to do specific DFAs, Daily Field Assignments. We started by going and just observing. We were to learn by just watching. We also had to learn to ride the mini busses. These are small vans that are packed with riders. Learning to ride a mini bus sounds simple enough but there is not a set fair so that has to be negotiated with the driver. Of course the price is doubled when they see our white faces. I was the one assigned the task of negotiating the price for the groups that were in the same market place we were. The price started at 5,000 Kwacha per person. That sounds like a lot but in Zambia, 1 U.S. dollar is equal to ZK 5,000 (Zambian Kwacha). I was able to negotiate the fair down to ZK 2,000. I guess this was a fair price because the mini bus driver would come to the seminary each day to pick us up. Riding a mini bus is the next best thing to buying a ticket at Six Flags and riding the most outrageous roller coaster there. The only difference is that we didn’t go upside down. I’m not sure all mini bus riders can say that.

The last day we went into the market in Lusaka, our DFA was to eat in a local restaurant, and I use the word restaurant very loosely. I think there is nothing in the U.S I can compare it to. It was a very pleasant experience. I had nsima, beans, sweet potato leaves, and a small piece of beef. Nsima is the staple food of this part of Africa. It is made of finely ground maze (corn) and is the consistency of play dough. The way it is eaten is to pinch off a portion and roll it in the right hand using your fingers until it resembles a golf ball, without the little dimples. Then you take this ball and press some of what they call garnish against it and shoot it into your mouth. Just like a hole in one! There is really an art to it. You are really viewed as an amateur if you require a spoon or fork. Another tasty treat that I tried in the market was fried, well they kind of looked fried, caterpillar. It was crunchy but had a surprisingly pleasant taste. No, it did not taste like chicken. I also tried Capenta, which is a small dead dried minnow (fish). It tasted just like a small dead dried minnow smells. I can’t be too critical because the African way is to cook it with tomatoes and oil, and I was not fortunate enough to try it that way.

The next part of the adventure was a 6-hour bus ride to a smaller town called Petauke. There we had the good fortune of living in a tent. I must admit it was a nice tent but sleeping on the floor, tent floor that is, did take away from the glamor. The roots under our too thin mattress experienced a growth spurt just after we got there. I told Claudia I thought a large turtle had crawled under our tent and died. Do you remember soap on a rope? Our shower was a bucket on a rope. The ladies showers were small canvas enclosures. The men’s were a different story. The showers were grass matt enclosures. We had the real experience of communing with nature.

Do you recall the flat bed trucks I mentioned earlier? That was our “mini bus” at the bush camp. We would all load up in this lorry, which is what a truck is called in Africa, and head off to town or boma, as it is called. The Zambians sure got a laugh out of seeing a truckload of “Muzingas”. That is what the African lovingly call white folks. We were about 6 kilometers from town. ( I’m surprised they didn’t make us walk. Now don’t repeat that to any leadership around these parts!!)

Our daily assignments were pretty much the same as in Lusaka. We were to learn the difference in the culture between a large city and a smaller town. After doing this a few days we transitioned to walking to villages with the same daily assignments. We discovered that the small town culture was more formal than the large city and the village are even more culturally formal. Greetings are very important in the African culture. Business is never conducted until you take the time to find our about the family, their health, if the maze crop was good, if not, why not, and anything else that seem appropriate at the time. The relationship is much more important than anything else.

After our stint at the bush camp, we moved into the homes of a Zambian family in the village. Claudia and I stayed with Eric Ngoma and his wife Margaret. Eric is 58 and Margaret is 48. They treated us like visiting royalty. You have heard of “free range chickens”. Well, there were free range chickens, free range pigs, free range goats, free range dogs, free range children, and the cows were kind of free range. They did have young herd boys attending them. These young herd boys will watch the cattle for 4 years in exchange for a calf of their own to start their own herd. I can’t even imagine what that pay scale would be.

Our food at the home stay was great. Lots of nsima, a little cabbage, beans, sweet potato leaves, and a little chicken. I don’t mean a small chicken, I mean a small amount. We were familiar with the chicken in the yard where we spent most of our time so we stared trying to figure out who was missing. No, it’s not the brown and white one. There she is. There is the bronze one. Where is the white one? I don’t see the white one!

There is no electricity in the village so there are no lights after dark. I have never seen so many stars. The Milky Way is like a cloud of stars and the Big Dipper is upside down. I can’t say the nights were quiet. There were howls, growls, grunts, snorts, squeals, and unrecognizable sounds of all sorts. The roosters started their pre-sunrise serenade around 4:00am and the herd boys bring the cattle through shortly after that. The cows are definitely not morning people and protested loudly about being up so early. By 6:00 the village is alive with activity.

On Monday, after the village stay, we were whisked away to Ibis Gardens. I’m not sure a 7 hour bus ride over rough roads, without a bathroom can be considered whisking though. At Ibis Gardens we actually slept in real beds and ate food from a buffet.

We were at Ibis for about 4 days before returning to Lilongwe, Malawi. Our house is almost ready so we will be traveling there tomorrow.

The Power of Prayer

I realize that these post are not very exciting yet. The key word here is "yet." In less than two weeks, actually in 12 days, we will be landing in Lilongwe, Malawi.

Our time of training at Field Personnel Orientation (FPO) was one awesome experience. I wished we had time to sit down and go over our note with you but that would take about eight weeks. Thanks to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we feel better prepared now, for this journey, than we did two months ago.

We face many unknowns but know that the Holy Spirit will be guiding us all the way. He has been working among the Tumbuka people long before we even knew who the Tumbuka were. He will be working among them long after we are gone. The ideal situation is that we will help them start a healthy church planting movement, give them guidance and train the local leaders that God calls out and we will leave. It is not the missionaries from the U.S that will bring Christ to the Tumbuka people but the Tumbuka people themselves.

The first and most important ingredient in a healthy church planting movement is where you come in. That is prayer. The power of God can be called down from Heaven by prayer. Elijah knew that when he challenged the prophets of Baal. They prepared the alter, placed the sacrifice on it, and earnestly prayed all day with no results. Then Elijah prepared the alter, and placed a cut up bull on the wood to be sacrificed. To further demonstrate the awesome power of God he soaked everything with water. He even dug a trench and filled it. He then stepped up to the alter and prayed to God. God sent His fire from Heaven and consumed the offering, wood, stone alter, and the dust. The fire even lapped the water from the trench. When the people of Israel witnessed this, they fell on their face and proclaimed, "Yahweh is God." (1 Kings 18:20-40)

Don't worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. Philippians 4:6

Please come again. As the snail said to his friend, as they climbed on the back of the turtle, "Hang on Ralph, here we go." The excite is just beginning.

FPO Update

As most of you know, we are at Field Personnel Orientation (FPO) just outside of Richmond, VA. We have been here for about a month and have another 3 ½ weeks to go. I say this to explain why I have not updated the blog is some time. This is a very busy but rewarding time of transition for us. Soon we will be in Malawi and after a month in Zambia, the blog updates should come in a timelier manner. I must make a disclaimer at this point. From my understanding we will have an Internet connection that approaches dial-up. From which direction I do not know. Hopefully, it will be from the faster side. If at all possible, we will be including photographs with my attempt at the written word.

This last week, one of our studies was on the persecuted church. This was such an awesome view of Christians that live in an oppressive society/country. The persecuted church is experiencing tremendous growth in many areas. This study has changed the way I pray for the persecuted. In the past, I have prayed that the persecution would be lifted from them, but this would probably affect their explosive growth. Instead, we should be praying for grace as they are persecuted. In the west, we Christians often pray that God will take away our burdens. The Christians in the persecuted church pray that God will give them strength to bare these burdens. According to scripture, persecution is the normal and freedom from persecution is the exception.

We also had an introduction to telling Bible stories. This will especially be helpful to us, as we will be serving in a country where most of the population is illiterate. Please don’t mistake illiterate with ignorant. We will be learning much from these people who simply don’t read. They are great storytellers and we will be training them to share the Gospel through Bible stories. In turn, they will teach others who will teach others. Southern Baptist Missionaries refer to this as T4T, Training for Trainers. We realize the task of reaching the entire world for Christ is a monumental task even for 5000+ missionaries. We did an exercise in class where two people from one table would train another table. Two people from the second table would train another table. This went on until the entire class was taught. Some teaching couples would have two or three generations of teachers. Others had as many as five generations. We were told that if we could have continued this for 35 generations the whole world would have been taught this little story. From this, you can see the value of training trainers.

If you would like to receive our news/prayer request letter, just drop us a line, I mean email and we will add you to the list. We try to send one out at least once a week at this point. You can reach us at: mailto:alrudd47@gmail.com
We would love to hear from you.

I love You, Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my mountain where I seek refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. Psalm 18:1-2

First Week at FPO

Well, we are at the SBC IMB ILC for FPO. What does al this mean? It means that every organization has it own peculiar set of acronyms. Let me explain what I just said.

We are at the Southern Baptist Conference International Mission Board International Learning Center for Field Personal Orientation.

Now isn’t the first sentence much easier to read using the acronyms? Just think, we have to learn a whole bunch of new terms and acronyms and believe me, these are used on a daily basis here. It’s like a foreign language.

We have finished our first week and have already learned so much. The high light of the week was the personal retreat we did Friday from 11:00am until 2:00pm. We were asked to not speak to anyone except God and listen to what He had to say to us. This was so refreshing. With our busy lifestyle here in the U.S. we seldom have three hours that we speak to no one except the Lord.

What He impressed on me was that time is so short. At my age, that kind of made me nervous. When you hear from God and He says your time is short. I started checking my pulse to make sure my heart was not skipping a beat or something. Actually, I hope, He was tell me that there are so many people that need to receive the good news that He loves them and died on the cross for the forgiveness of their sins. I must be more diligent in my witnessing to the lost.

I do not, let me rephrase that, I did not read much. I seldom read a book. I’m not proud of that but I read slowly and our microwave society did not give me much time for reading. I am proud to say that I have already read a book. It was given to us to read last Wednesday. That’s four day ago. I know that no big deal for most of you but it is for me.

I don’t want to bore you too much now so I will SFN and TTYL.

Oh yeah, that’s: I don’t want to bore you too much now so I will stop for now and talk to you later.

TTFN. You figure that one out.

The Latest

Well, here is the latest. It seems that the IMB is serious about us going to Malawi. We received an email with our flight schedule. We leave Huntsville April 10 around noon. We will be able to sleep late that day, as if we have been able to sleep for the past week. We may have to get up and go have our last breakfast in the US for the next 18 months. What would you have if it were your last meal before the greatest adventure of your life?

Well anyway, we fly to Dallas, and I thought Africa was in the other direction, then overnight, over the Atlantic to London. Maybe they need to get a little extra running start for that distance over the water.

We arrive at Heathrow Saturday morning and stay there allllllll day. We leave from London at 7:05pm headed for Johannesburg, South Africa. They must have some new headlight on the plane they are trying to break in. When I was a Boy Scout we learned we should rest during the day and travel at night but I thought that was if we were lost in the desert. It could also be that they don't want to feed us and only travel between supper and breakfast.

We will land in Jo'berg at 6:55am. What did I tell you, just before breakfast and leave for Lilongwe just after lunch. We arrive, wouldn't you know it, just before supper. We have been traveling now for three day and haven't had a single meal. They must have hired a retired NASA rocket scientist to figure that schedule out.

Mzimba is a 3 and a half hour drive from Lilongwe. No McDonalds, no Crackerbarrels, not even a Waffle House. Just people selling "bush meat" on a stick. I guess if you are hungry enough, you will eat anything.

Well, maybe not grubs.

I just hope I don't have to drive us to Mzimba. Three day with out sleep or food and I'm expected to drive on the wrong (left) side of the road. Now that could be ugly.

Time line

I would like to give a time line to let everyone, all one or two of you, know where we are in the process of relocating to Mzimba, Malawi.

My last day at my current job is January 23. We have to be in Richmond, VA at the International Learning Center Monday January 26. We will be there for 8 weeks. This will be a time of training and transition. We will learn many things that will help us living in a foreign and maybe even a hostile country. We will learn things that will help us transition to a society where microwaves and can openers are totally useless items.

We will complete Field Personnel Orientation (FPO) around March 27. Our on field date is April 9. This will probably very a little depending on travel. We will spend a couple of weeks in our house in Mzimba getting settled and over jet lag. We will then travel to Zambia for what is called 40/40. I haven't the foggiest why it is called that. I do know that we will spend the first few days living in a tent and then move into the home of a local family. We will sleep where they sleep, eat what they eat, help them get water, and whatever else they do on a day-to-day basis to survive. We have been told that this is the hardest part of the 40/40 four weeks in country orientation but the most rewarding. We will then move to the city where we can actually shower. Let me see. If I have my figures correct, that's 8-10 days without a shower. Oh my. I may just have to accidentally slip and fall into the pond where we will get water. Unless there are crocks present. And I am not talking about the shoes.

In the city and after a looooong shower we will experience riding the public transit system. This could be riding on the back of a bicycle, motor scooter, pickup truck, van, or bus. If it moves and they will stop it public transportation. There is even "in-transit" meals. Every time the van/bus/whatever slows or stops vendors will crowd around the windows with some sort of roasted meat on sticks. Who knows what it is. And you complain about airline food. We will also do some shopping in the open air markets. Where is Walmart when you need one?

I'm thinking this 40/40 training will end sometime in May and we should be ready to start what we came to Africa to do. I imagine by that time we will no longer be Americans but Africans. Our Area Coordinator said this training will teach us to "walk as Africans". They must have a whole different way of walking.

Prayers are certainly appreciated during the 40/40. Especially when we are handed a freshly removed goat kidney to consume sushi style. Now that will be some interesting reading for a later blog entry.

Stay tuned, the best is yet to come.