Merry Christmas and Happy New Year: Arman 2018 YIR

Throughout the course of our lives we have circumstances that come and go.  Many of which rob our joy and have us focused in shortsightedness of what we are going through.  One great way to combat such thinking is to go through the past and recall some great things that God has done.  Psalm 68:19 - “Blessed be the Lord who daily loads us with benefits, even the God of our salvation.” We as a family are so thankful for all the unspoken things that you have done for us, many things that we may not even know about, but God has led you.  The following things are a review of what God has done this past year that we do know about.

Jan - God miraculously spared a young child: Steven George Dulli from drowning in a local well.   If you recall, the 3 year old fell down an uncovered well and braced himself with his arms until help came. It was just his birthday 2 weeks ago.

Feb - We finally fulfilled a long standing desire - to do a mission trip to a Muslim City of Mangoci.  What we thought would be oppressive was, in fact, very open. We did sketch board and gave an opportunity for receiving Christ. At first it seemed like no one was receptive but a baby girl tied on the back of her mother raised her hand breaking the atmosphere and 6 others followed.

Mar - We had Brigida Calhoun, a Senior from Maryland Bible College, come for the Semester to stay and serve with us. 

April - We hosted our Annual Conference, Malawicon, with churches around the region visiting us. Visitors came from 8 different countries and had over 600 attendees. 93 students graduated from Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Malawi all together.

May- We finished Bible College Classes and prepared to return to Baltimore. Our two new pastors took over for the Summer.

June - Our annual Convention took place in Baltimore. It was such a time of encouragement for all of us, especially our children reconnecting with their friends.

July - Our family visits a number of churches in North America: Marlboro, Utica, Houston, and Montreal.

Aug - We return to Africa and our girls begin learning in an American Christian School.

Sep - We receive the Sliva Family back in Malawi as well as my Parents for their 5th year living in Malawi. Bible College begins our 6th year.

Oct - We have a new addition to our team: Pr Albert and Mclean have a new baby girl, Nkumbu Chloe Ntalasha.

Nov - Craig Awad visits us for Thanksgiving from the Philippines and serves with us in the Church

Dec - Had our Christmas Banquet where our two churches come together to eat and fellowship.

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God Bless You,

The Arman Family

Partner With Us To Reach Africa through God's Grace. Donate at:

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Thankfulness

       We have had an awesome month, full of excitement and ministry.  For many of us this month is a time to reflect on the many things for which we are thankful to God.  

Zamcon. Every October we bring our leaders to Zambia for a leadership conference joining the other churches in Southern Africa. This year was special because the Zambians had their graduation added to the conference.  It was such a joy to be part of the graduation; it was also a testimony to the faithfulness of God in the ministry.  To see the men and women that we played a role in training, continuing in the call of God and running the Bible School encouraged us thoroughly.

       Another ministry was added to our weekly schedule, a chapel service for the Public School that we rent our hall from.  It is so wonderful when God gives you favor with people that are around you.  The principal of the elementary school that we rent from is a magnificent Christian.  He has always spoken for us and argued even with his board not to raise our rent.  He has gone so far as to join our Bible College with his wife and loves every class.  He asked us if we could help the existing Bible clubs in the school, so once a week we have one grade and do a message for them.  Our hearts melted the first day we had the 5th grade students.  If you could imagine the same room that we struggle to fit 200+ adults in for Bible College, we fit about 300+ children without chairs; a room that was full of children was a gross understatement. It was astounding how the 2 women in charge of the Bible club could control those kids, what a lesson of classroom management; and to see the attentiveness and respect of these children.  To get the attention of the children the teachers would say, “Grade 5 Bible Club!” and the children would respond, “Fire, Fire, Fire!”  I assumed it meant the fire of the Holy Spirit, but it could have meant her wrath also the way the children were so well behaved.  The same women led all the children in some praise songs and the room thundered.  “Allow the little children to come to me, and forbid them not: for such is the kingdom of heaven. – Matt 19:14.

       We are so thankful for our team that is here: my wife and 3 children, my parents, the Slivas, and the Ntalashas.  With all of our powers combined and the joy of the Lord, it produces an environment of mass edification, especially during holidays, gastronomically (food-wise).  The ladies on the team know how to cook well. Although there are many foods that can’t be found here, turkey is not one of them. In fact, the turkeys travelled internationally. The turkeys were shipped to our supermarket from North Carolina, and one of them laid his life down for us. We welcomed Craig Awad from the Philippines who is with us for the next 2 weeks.  He has treated us with great messages and his friendship for the past 20 years. 

       Thank you for your prayers and support.  We know nothing would be possible without them.  God hears them and acts. We have been asking you to pray with us about finding land for the church. We have found a potential place. It is about a ½ acre of land with a wall already around it, and it is literally 5 minutes from where we already are. The price is reasonable at about $15,000. It lies on the main road and there is a bus stop right in front of the door. The location is everything.  There are also 4 small houses built into the wall that our orphanage could move right into to guard the place. It feels like the right place, but we don’t want to go by our feelings.  We are in the process of vetting the place.  Frequently in Malawi, people sell land that is not even theirs to sell and run away with the money, so we are going very slowly. We have prayed the prayer of Isaiah 22:22 – if its God’s will that the door would be open and no one could shut it and if it is not His will that the door would be shut and no one could open it. Our church has slowly saving money for land since its inception and we saved about 1/3 of the money being asked by the owner.  We are currently negotiating with her to see if she will allow us to pay in installments. Please pray for us to have God’s wisdom and protection.

Sunday morning with the children- "Train up a child in the way he should go and he will not depart from it." Prov22:6

“We have some used children's curriculum that we would like to donate to Africa. Can you use them for your Sunday school program there?”

It’s a question we are often asked as we travel to different churches or visit with friends in the US.  To be honest, it is a hard question we find to answer. Of course we are so thankful and excited that you want to donate and help. The lack of curriculum and resources is one of the most common challenges that churches struggle with here.

One reason it would not work would be because it is all in English and even though a lot of Malawians speak English, it is not the main and first language of Malawi and most children will not learn it until later in School. So a local teacher would have to translate it.

When we first arrived in Malawi, we rented a room from a government orphanage, so our first church members were about 15 children and 4 adults. We then moved our location across the street where all the children followed so we had to quickly start a Sunday school program. 

I had a donated curriculum from the US and was ready to start using it. I opened to the first lesson: 

  Creation. 

Opening activity: attach a large sheet of paper to the wall. As children enter the classroom, give them crayons and have them draw a mural of all things God created. 

Well, we had NO classroom and no walls and no paper and certainly no crayons. A lot of the children were not even going to school at all. We ended up outside, under a tree and we sang some english and chichewa songs and had a story of the creation with a translator.

Most churches have no Sunday school budget, even we didn't at the time and still don’t.

I realized quickly that we couldn't find the right resources and that most of the US curriculum was irrelevant because most of the ideas wouldn't work as written.

And none of it was culturally appropriate either. American curriculums are full of cultural pictures and references. Superheroes, spies, science, circus, adventure sports, all these themes that most children here would not relate too. The curriculum’s application to children's lives in America and the issues the children here are dealing with are very different. 

What I have seen as well, is a local teacher using a US curriculum and thinking they will use it and assumes either the Americans will have to provide all the resources like room, paper, crayons, books, chairs, light, in order for them to do the job or they will think without them, they cannot do Sunday school at all.

 I know what most people could think: isn't any curriculum better than nothing at all? Very few teachers here are experienced teachers and they wouldn't know what to do with it or how to adapt it. We had one teacher go to teach the 7-9 year old class using his Bible College notes and I was trying to figure out how any of the children could even follow anything. 

So what’s the solutions. We bring paper, some craft supplies and even a small table and use an open classroom with no windows or doors and even have a translator.
  

Now we have started all again; lack of teachers, children not coming consistently, and other factors led us to regroup. My mother in law started teaching a smaller class focusing on the most disruptive, problem children - the 3-4 year olds. It is a total miracle. These misfits would constantly run up and down the aisle making the ushers chase them. Amazingly, they all enjoy the Sunday school and are looking forward to it. Noah woke up saying, “Sunday School, Sunday School with Grandma!”