When we first moved to Malawi, Matt was hesitant to teach the youth at church because he didn’t want to get labeled as “the youth guy.”  Over the last couple years, we’ve joked about this frequently because we quickly grew to LOVE the youth groups!  Matt now teaches one group every Tuesday night, and he also jumps in occasionally to teach the older youth group on Fridays nights.  This youth camp was a combination of both groups, but mostly for the older youth.

The theme for this year’s camp was “Do You Love Me?”  It’s the question that Jesus asked Peter in John 21:15-17, and so we looked both at that and at the book of 1 John asking ourselves “Do I really love Christ?”  It was a great topic for the weekend, and applicable to all of us.

Another element of camp is the Q&A time both nights around the campfire.  The youth submit questions anonymously to the question box, and Matt goes through and answers all the questions in the group setting.  The questions these guys were asking are great!  Here’s a few: 1) How can I truly repent?  2) I have heard that being afraid is not trusting God.  Is that true?  If is is, does that make it a sin?  3) Why did Jesus have to be resurrected?  Wouldn’t he have paid for our sins even if he had stayed dead?  4) When does talking about others turn into gossip or slander?  Matt is careful to direct the students to God’s Word at every point so that the answers he gives come from God’s Word and not his own opinion.  Some of the questions turned into discussions over the next days as the students considered how to apply what they had learned.

You can’t have camp without a little bit of fun!  We had our own little section of Senga Bay at Lake Malawi, with rocks to jump off of and plenty of space for water games.  Not to mention a great view.

Abigail came along for camp too, though she was definitely more interested in the grass, bugs, and sand than in what Dada was saying…

(Rachel)  Previously, I shared a bit about our ladies’ Bible study in the book of Ezra.  Another major women’s event at our church is a Biblical counseling series I’ve been teaching on Thursday evenings.  We just finished a series on the philosophy and methodology of Biblical counseling, wrapping it up by looking at 2 specific topics, Marriage Problems and Eating Issues – Anorexia, Bulimia, and Over-Eating.  We did this series a couple times last year too, and looked at the topics Worry, Fear, and Anxiety, and Abuse.

My goal with this series is not that the ladies will be able to go out and set up shop as counselors, but rather that they would be better equipped to care for one another right where they are.  As women, we talk with one another about a lot of things, and we do counsel one another, for good or bad! My hope is that these series would help the ladies to turn to Scripture as all-sufficient for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3), and that the conversations we have with one another would be edifying, encouraging, and wise.  This is the third time I’ve done this counseling series, so the base of women who understand these concepts is growing! Pray for these ladies who are encountering new truths about themselves and God’s Word, that they would apply what they’ve learned in their relationships with others. Pray for us as we make plans for the next series – at least 6 more ladies are interested!  And pray for me also as I prepare two new topics, that God would make my study of these topics profitable in my own life, and that He would grant me the ability to communicate with the ladies clearly and accurately.

(Rachel)  I love spending time with the ladies of our church. I like getting together with them for tea, or chatting with them after the service on Sunday, but most of all I like studying the Bible with them. I feel like I’m sounding over-spiritual when I say that, but here’s what I mean: I believe that the Bible is true and that it changes my life as I study it. It’s full of deep, thought-provoking, soul-challenging truth. When I study it with other ladies, we share the experience of God’s Word and His Spirit changing our lives. We learn things together and help one another know how to apply what we’ve learned. It’s a group context, but what happens is deeply personal. The ladies I study the Bible with are the ones who know me, and I know them. I laugh more readily with them, and I cry more readily with them, because I know their hearts.

These past couple months I have had 2 opportunities every week to study the Bible with the ladies from International Bible Fellowship Church. I’ll just talk about one of them today: our regular Tuesday morning Bible study.  We’re about to finish a study of the book of Ezra.  This study is pretty intense with lessons and homework that involves lots of searching through the Bible to understand what’s happening in the book and what God is doing in the grand scheme of history at the time this book takes place. When the ladies showed up at our house a couple weeks ago, I thought they were going to mutiny!

“Do you think I went to theological school?!”

“Rachel, this is hard!”

And you know what? They’re right. It is hard. But by the end of the morning, the comments were a little different.

“This is good for us.”

“We need to get our mushy brains going!”

“Vacation is over; we have to study now!”

I’m so thankful for these ladies and that they’re willing to work hard to understand the rich truths of God’s Word!  Please be praying for us that we’ll be faithful to study diligently so that we can present ourselves to God as “workwomen” who do not need to be ashamed, rightly handing the Word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).