November 2004

Yes, there are connections in Malawi.

In August 2003, a group of us met at Nazareth, Kentucky, to discuss our common interest. We all represented organizations that were involved in ministry and mission in Malawi, “the warm heart of Africa.” We were brought together in a get-acquainted session by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which wanted to establish a “Malawian Connection.” Earline and I attended because we had recently received an invitation to minister in the Nkhoma Synod of the Central Church of Africa, Presbyterian (CCAP) in Malawi.

Members of group spent hours sharing the nature of their ministries in Malawi. Since we were new to mission, we did not know how the Connections was going to work. We only hoped that we could be in the “communication loop.” To be in this loop would guarantee that we would know which members were going to and from Malawi. We did not fully make the communication loop, but recent events have put us in the socio-religious loop

Saturday we took the rough back road to Livingstonia. We had been warned that our small car would not make the climb from the front lake area and that it might not make it up the back way to Livingstonia. Trusting God and our little Toyota, we spent Saturday morning traveling a road that appeared to be only a trail through the bush. By the grace of God, we made it to the top of the Khondowe plateau and saw what Dr. Robert Law saw more than 130 years ago. In the distant, we could see the clear blue waters of Lake Malawi. Sunday morning we worshiped at the campus church where we met Dr. Henry and Jenny Kirk. Dr. Kirk, who recently retired after a 40-year career in higher education, is now servicing as vice-chancellor of the University of Livingstonia. During worship, visitors were introduced and to our surprise, Jim Nussbaumer was introduced. Jim, an engineer for the shallow well project of Marion Medical Missions was also at the 2003 gathering in Nazareth, Kentucky.

Later that Sunday afternoon, as we traveled down from Livingstonia to Mzuzu, we blew out two tires at the same time. We had resigned ourselves to put the spare on the front and destroy the back rim as we slowly drove for help. However, just then Jim came by. He took the two busted tires and Earline into Mzuzu and returned within an hour with two good used tires. He brought with him Tom Logan, president of Marion Medical Mission (another Connection member we had met at Nazareth) and Jim McGill. By the grace of God, we continued our journey Monday, visiting places along Lake Malawi. We arrived home Monday night at 8:30 p.m., tired and beat.

On October 19, 2004 we visited the tenth anniversary celebration of the School for the Hard of Hearing at Embangweni, where we met Carol Nussbaumer, J. Logan, Tom Gagono, Bill and Beth Rule, Jeff Roth, and other members of the Connection. Therefore, we must conclude that the connections do work. They eliminate the duplication of services and allow the church to reach greater numbers in a larger area. As you can see in our case, they also aid and assist stranded missionaries.

We were scheduled to return to the United States prior to December 31, 2004, but we requested and received a 45-day extension. Earline needed additional time to assist the Nkhoma Synod to close out its 2004 financial records. We discovered that many of our friends had not given financially to support our ministry. Therefore, our ECO needs additional funds to support our extension request.

Contributions to our ministry may be sent to: Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Individual Remittance Processing, PO Box 643700, Pittsburgh, PA 15264-3700. Write the title (Support for Otis and Earline Smith) and the ECO number on the subject line (#E074539) of the check and put it on your cover letter, too. Send a copy of the cover letter to: Area Office for East and Southern Africaat 100 Witherspoon St. Louisville, KY 40202-1396.

Otis A and Earline F. Smith