Seasons Greetings!

Happy Christmas!

We returned from a 4 night break to Zomba mountain.  It was cold and we had log fires!  It's Christmas day now, and we are having a lovely day with Tom & Ali and their kids.  We are here for 2 nights, and while it's a bit weird as it's hot, it's been really great so far.  Santa got us a dart board!

Anyway, just a quick one to say: have a great day and I'll update you more after Christmas x x x

Farming again!

     (Rural Church Leaders Training with Dalitso)

      (Lusekero in a training session)

On Friday I visited hope missions, a Christian charity working in Educating rural Malawians much like ourselves.  They needed some Agricultural advice, as they recently purchased land to provide a meal a day in their nursery schools.  It was great to do some farming again, and over the next 3 weeks I will be visiting them once a week.  It works out well as the Dalitso team are on a 3 week break as from the end of the week.

I also visited the prison.  Emanuel visits once a week to teach and offer the Christians there some support.  It was tough.  The prison accommodates 800 prisoners, but there are 2200 there!  It means they all can't sleep at once because they can't all physically lye down at the same time!  They also have a food shortage, and for days at a time they go without food.  It was a bit scary, but I had a chance to talk from the bible, pray for and encourage about 200 of the prisoners.  It was a real privilege.

We've had some crazy storms here recently, we haven't seen the sun for a few days!  It means our phones and the internet have been down quite a bit.  

All our love x

Termite control, or Dog poison?

Some of you may know, due to our email updates, that our Dogs were poisoned on Friday night. they have survived, and are certainly on the mend.  The vet has told us that it's really common for this type of poisoning to occur, and the thieves use a substance which controls termites.  She also told us nearly all of the dogs die within 20 minutes, so we were really lucky.  No one was hurt in the break in, which was actually in our friends home.

I must apologise for the lack of Photo's and videos.  We have a bandwidth limit that means we cannot do media type things at them moment.  However, at some point we hope to get an unlimited account, and then the photo's and videos will follow!

We have nearly finished the fence to keep our dogs in, which is going to be really nice.  It's been a lot more costly than first anticipated, but we think it will be worth it.  It's really raining here now, and it's meant that the weather has cooled right down - it's really pleasant.

Work wise things are very much the same as in the last time I updated you.  It's really progressing well and I'm really excited about it.  Please pray for the families we will be working closely with, this will start after Christmas and is really looking positive.  Please also pray for our protection, over our home and over our health.  God has been so faithful to us, we are really grateful.

Loads of love and hugs x

 

Salt Water

I've been swimming in African Bible College's salt water pool 3 times a week to keep fit and help my knee out a bit, and I've been thinking why doesn't every pool have use saline solutions rather than chlorine?  Maybe it's more expensive, I don't know, but it's so much nicer than chlorine pools!

Things are still going really well here.  The Flood church side of things is progressing along nicely, with our first day in the village of Kudokow scheduled for Sunday.  This will be a great chance to meet some of the families we will be working with, and assess the situation there.  I have also been watching some of the football academies that Lusekero (1 of the leaders in Flood Church) runs, and we have decided to start a youth football team!  A life long ambition of mine will be realized a lot sooner than I imagined!  We are holding try-outs next week, and we are also going to be the only christian team in the league, so it will be interesting!  Especially because a lot of teams use superstions and black magic!  It makes me laugh watching the lengths players go to avoid "dew dew" as the call it.  They will often jump the fence to avoid the "cursed" gateway.  But we will be using the power of prayer!  We will also be doing some life skills training, and bible studies with the team.

I have also been attending Floods growth group for young men.  It's been really great, we spend the time sharing stories about life and praying for each other.  This week it's my turn to share, which will be very interesting as I'm a westerner sharing about life to a load of Malawians!  Lusekero started this group, and runs it, and it's helping me to get to know him even better, and something that I will be helping him with more and more. Jo attends the female equivalent, and I've heard great things about that too!     

I'm also involved in the Flood band!  I'm helping Guise the worship leader learn about all the stuff we use.  A few months ago a church in San-Diego gave us a load of equipment and money for equipment, which is wonderful, but obviously very new for these guys, so it's a real privilege to be able to help, as I was in a band for a few years!  Guise is a really anointed guy, who getting better and better each week!  I've developed a real heart for him and hope to able to spend more time with him, and go a bit deeper into the whole thing of worship.

Yesterday I was in Malingunde with Tom and the Dalitso staff.  It was a good day, and we had a real laugh as a team playing some games.  Limon is still away with his exams, and Christmas is coming up where they all get a few weeks off, so I'm not to sure when we will get started again with the families, but for now it's nice spending time with the Dalitso team again.  As you may know, Maryann and Emanuel will be leaving the Dalitso trust in a couple of weeks, which is really sad for us as they have become great friends, but for now Jo's babysat for them with their new baby a couple of times to get some practice!  She has also taken on an admin type role for Sean, the leader of Flood, and helping him with things like keeping a diary, and taking team meeting minutes.

So we are really enjoying things here, it's feeling more homely all the time, and we even have christmas decorations up!  We would appreciate your continuing prayers for our baby and Jo.  It's so exciting to know that our baby is growing in there!  Please also pray for the exchange rate.  With everything that going on our money has devalued here, and we are now receiving 2/3rds of what we were 4 months ago to the pound.  It's actually hit us really hard. Lastly for Sunday when we will be in Kudokow village for the 1st time. 

Be blessed! 

Thousands of wings and big ants!

We heard a lot of "fluttering" during the night, and the woke up to find rather large insect wings around the house, and literally thousands of them out the front of the house.  Turns out they are large flying ants that come out in their masses, drop the wings of and then bury themselves into the ground.  It also turns out they are the ants that I enjoy eating as a snack in the village!

We have finally finished filling our spare room with the furniture and kids stuff that we have been moving into our house.  We "bought" (Was a very cheap price) from our friends who are leaving next week.  We now have all kinds of things including a nice big bed, camping gear, chairs, kitchen appliances, kids beds, toys, to be honest the list is endless!  It was so kind of them.  We are now going to build a fence around our house and then we can get our dogs back! (and also keep out any rabid dogs!)

Flood church is going great.  We had a leaders meeting on Monday and the church is making some great progress.  I have also met with Lusekero (many times), Harrison and Blessings, and started to work out what the work will look like in Floods Village (Kudoko).  Please pray for these guys as it will be unfamiliar ground for them, and also pray for the materials we end up using, pray that we will pick the right stuff!

The Dalitso side of things is going a little slower.  Limon, who I will be continuing to work with alongside the families that we have been with since we started in Malawi, has been away this week, so I'm waiting until next week to get together with him and decide how we will continue the work there.  However I've been involved with the team in Malingunde, been to visit the families and had a few meetings with Tom H.

Jo is still well, she's been spending time at Crisis nursery, and really enjoying giving the kids some quality time out of their cots playing.  We are into our second trimester now!  Thats pretty exciting!

Lots of love and blessings x  

Lightening and Seeds

Worship time at Flood

We've had some major lightening storms over the last few nights which brought some rain with them too!  Thats meant it's cooled down ever so slightly!

It's been a wonderful week since I last updated you.  We've had some really positive meetings with people and it's amazing to see some little seeds that we sowed over the last year start to take root and grow! (Sorry for the Christian Jargon, but we are missionaries!).

The missionary term is something I really struggled with at first, as it's something that all Christians should be anyway.  Because of that we ended up being very "project" focused, and almost forgetting the fact the Jesus will make the difference.  Because of that, it's taken a real shift in our focus and almost an acceptance of the missionary tag for us to find ourselves doing what we are doing.

Last week we put some things in place with a few individuals at Flood church, and tomorrow we are out in Malingunde with Tom of the Dalitso Trust to start to look at how can do something similar with his team there.  It's been a lot of meetings so far, but we've only been here a week and already things are building momentum.  We are learning it's not about the projects we end up doing, but about the individuals we do them with and through.  I want to do myself out of a job!  I want to see someone become better than me at it, and even to know God more than I do!  We are so excited about this new stage of our work here, and so thankful to find ourselves in this place.

In terms of life here things are great.  Jo is the best pregnant women.  Sometimes I just check the scan, because rather than draining her or making her sick she seems energized and all glowey (I know thats not a word!).  In-fact last Thursday I was violently ill, nearly a hospital case, and Jo managed to combine a maternity check up, picking up stuff from our friends who are leaving Malawi and giving us all of their furniture etc, getting dinner at their house, cleaning up after me, (I was that ill) going to the doctors for me and spending time saying kind words to me!  Wonder women I must say.  In term of me being sick, it was horrific, I have never been that out of control! But it only lasted 12 hours, and then after a nights sleep I was right as rain.

O.K. so signing off, God bless x

Home and hot again!

Maybe it's just because we were scrapping ice of the car windows on Thursday, but boy is it hot!  Apparently this, however, is nothing and we should have been here last week before the spot of rain cooled everything down!  

We are back safe and sound.  We had great flights and connections, as ever, and every time we thank God for no delays no turbulence  and no lost luggage.  It's amazing to wave good bye to our bags in Heathrow, and to see them turn up in the Dusty little Lilongwe airport.  This may change once we have kids, but right now I love flying.  The only downside is my knee tends to swell up, as it had done this time.

We were greeted yesterday by Danny, a guy we are sharing a house with until another house is finished.  When we left, all they needed to do was hook the water and electricity up, that's still all they need to do!  It's great to see him again.  Then Sean, the leader of Flood church, popped over to say hi, followed by Ian and Jessica and their 3 kids, and then Tom & Alison and their 3 kids.  At one point there was 13 of us and it seemed like a welcome party!  Very nice.  Today we walked over to Maryann and Emanuel's house to have lunch and while Jo went to buy us a very much needed fan (it was terrible trying to sleep in the heat last night), I managed to get out to area 49 (an area right outside the city) with Sean and his brother (avid Arsenal fans) and watch Arsenal vs Man U (Sorry Man U fans, but it was great!).  I'm always surprised to find sky T.V in these places considering I can't afford it at home!

So we are great, struggling with the heat, but really great.  Sorry no pics as of yet, but I will get some!

Lots of love

Flights booked, bags packed!

Just a quick note to say that our flights our booked and 2 out of our 4 suite cases are packed!  We are leaving on Thursday 6th November, and can't wait!

Scan Results!

(Baby, 30/10/08, 14.25)

The scan was fine!  The baby is in fact younger than we were told - only 8 weeks, but other than that everything seemed in place.

We are about to book flights at last!  Thanks for all your prayers x

Scan Day!

We'll update more later, but at 2.30pm we have our 1st scan!  Lets pray it's a good'un

Romford Family

(Together with the guys in Romford)

An Evening at home

It was wonderful on Tuesday to be "back home" with our friends in Romford.  Jo grew up in the area, and when she really started following God got involved with a church called Kamoflage,  and then while I lived in the area for 3 years I was involved too!   Since then the group has changed and Kamo is no longer, but there still exists a group of people, who in our eyes are expressing church, that get together to pray, eat and generally help each other in their christian lives. 

For us as a couple, it often feels like we are returning home when we are with them.  Anyway, they prayed for us, asked questions, and generally continued to support us in a way that we are so grateful for.  We realised the unique position we have of being linked into 2 main groups of people, and how releasing it is not to have to tour the country speaking to people who we don't know, asking for their support.

So thanks to you guys and girls who have some of the softest hearts we know!  

Tom & Jo

You can see their blog site at: http://community-whispers.blogspot.com

Soon to return!

(With Mike, Global Generation Church leader)

Hi Hi!

So, still planning to go back to Malawi soon after the scan on the 30th.  If all's well with Jo and the baby then we will hop on the next flight outta here!

Finally we managed to get our supporters letters out last week, except for a couple of ones we couldn't find the address for.  If that's you, you should have an email or Facebook message waiting.

We have been eagerly getting ready to go back to Malawi, it's meant we have been pretty busy over the last couple of weeks, and looking at our diary for the next week that continues to be the case.  However, as usual, we are really enjoying ourselves.  Being pregnant is a strange thing, and I think for Tom the scan will make it all seem much more real.  

We have had some good chats with Flood Church recently, and can't wait to get going with the plans there.  

We also spent a lovely day with our friends in Ramsgate, Global generation church, guys that are a real part of our family, and a church that we work together with in almost everything. We are also visiting our friends in Romford today, another church that we consider more than friends.

So that's it for now.  Jo makes a good pregnant women, taking it all in her stride.  She's had no sickness so far.  Tom is struggling with the hormone changes, and sometimes needs a bit more sleep!

Please pray for protection on our baby, Jo's health continues to be good, for relationships in Malawi and for the return there.

All our love

Tom & Jo

09.10.08

http://tomandjoinmalawi.blogspot.com/
http://uk.youtube.com/user/tommygallagher27
http://picasaweb.google.com/tommygallagher27

Update 09.10.08

Hello everyone.

We have a lot to catch up on! The first bit of news is… Jo’s pregnant! These are happy days for us, we are so excited. We are having the first scan on the 30th October. So we’d really value prayers for the very little one, and for Jo’s health. We are also getting ready to go back to Malawi. The aim is to get back there in the first week of November. We have decided to come back to England to have the baby which means we’ll be returning in April. This is particularly due to it being our first as it is the safest way possible for Mum and Baby, but also it will be great to have our parents, family and friends around.

Over the last couple of months we have had a truly wonderful time. We saw Jo’s sister married, a really lovely day for everyone, worked on Lark in the Park for a whole month! It was so brilliant; we got to catch up with everyone and at the same time were involved in the truly inspiring event! This year was a great one, more people turning up than ever, God’s presence, really good fun and a time that the whole community can come together. We also went away for a long weekend with both of our parents camping. After that we went to Denmark. We were at a boarding school in Kolding where we took classes on Malawi, held workshops, P.E lessons and ran evening meetings; Tom even got to speak at one. Again, this was such a fun, positive time. We then spent a week in Centre parks on holiday with Jo’s sister and brother in law. We enjoyed ourselves playing badminton, swimming and generally doing woodland type things. After that we had the privilege of running the youth camp for the city farms annual show. Over 100 young people came, and cooking for that many people was a challenge on two BBQ’s and a camping stove! Tom also got to be a judge in the animal show which was a real honour.

That pretty much brings us up to now! We want to apologise for not sending our letter out sooner to those who sponsor us. We have a draft and are just waiting for one detail to be finalised before it gets posted. We had hoped it would get posted this week, but it looks like next week now.

We would also like to bring your attention to the fact we have given our communication systems a bit of a revamp. We now have a video channel on youtube, a photo gallery and a blog! We would love you to follow the following links to have a look. You can also subscribe, or follow, which means you get automatic emails when we update them. These are the links:

http://tomandjoinmalawi.blogspot.com/
http://uk.youtube.com/user/tommygallagher27
http://picasaweb.google.com/tommygallagher27

That’s about it for now. We are both doing really well, really excited about the baby, and really excited about going back to Malawi.

Lots of love

Tom & Jo

News Round!

(The day we told my Mum & Dad)

We have some news! Jo's pregnant! Very early days, we are having the first scan on 30'th October and can't wait.

We look forward to posting more information soon

Lots of love

Tom & Jo

1st Post!

(The Dalitso Trust Village Team)

Welcome

Thanks for tunning in!

We will endeavor to keep you up to date with everything thats going on in our world of Malawi.

Right now we are in the UK and getting ready to return to Malawi.

To watch videos, and subscribe to our video channel click follow the link:

http://uk.youtube.com/user/tommygallagher27

To View photo gallaries and subscribe, click the following link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/tommygallagher27

Lots of love

Tom & Jo

(Me with a village youth group)

(My Sister, Jon Barker and I blowing bubbles!)