Hello to all!
It is a beautiful Monday morning here at Rainbow! It's about 60 degrees with a strong east breeze blowing through the house. I'm in sweatpants and a long sweater, sipping my instant coffee. I can hear the sounds of the cornstalks being chopped down out in the big garden where we are beginning our harvest. We are expecting another bountiful harvest this year. We have ordered 2 more silos for maize storage and they are being built. God has been good to us here at Rainbow. He continues to show His mighty hand and to pour out blessings upon us.
I want to apologize to those I have promised to send pictures on CD. I do have that project in the works, but I ran into some snags getting it done before the mission team left. I will try to get it completed and in the mail by the end of the month.
We are looking forward to the arrival of Lucas House on 29 April. He is a young man with an enthusiasm and zeal for serving God! The church at Salumbwa where he was preaching last year is anxiously awaiting his return. And we have been asked to preach in another church also! They are currently putting together a structure where we can come and preach, and also teach the BUSH Ministry class. John and Lucas will alternate preaching for them. How refreshing and encouraging it is to have people come to us, and ask us to please come preach and teach them God's Word!! Lucas will have to hit the ground running--he will be very busy with preaching and almost daily BUSH Ministry classes! Not to mention, our tomatoes need his attention too!! And yes, our kids are really excited that he's coming back as well!
This week we will be finishing the work we can do with the money we had budgeted for the brick church construction. (It would have been last week, but we recently received a nice gift for the work on the church...this gift is providing the ceiling in the Sanctuary and the cement floors in the classrooms.) We've had several requests for information about the church construction and related financial needs. So in response, here is a list of projects that are remaining to be done and their estimated costs:
To plaster and paint the inside walls of the Sanctuary $2,000
Install 15 flourescent light fixtures in the Sanctuary $400
To pour cement rain gutters around the building $300
To pour cement steps for doorway entrances $600
To make awnings for the Sanctuary entrances $300
To build mens and womens toilets (outhouses) $300
To build mens and womens shower houses** $300
To build a cooking shed** $200
** The shower houses and cooking shed will be needed when we host Bible conferences. We hope to have Bible teachers come from the US and stay with us in the mission house. They will teach intensive Bible studies in the brick church for several days. The people who wish to attend can come and stay at the church, using the classrooms for sleeping quarters and doing their own cooking. We're also needing teams of teachers willing to come teach, once the facilities are in place!!
Please join us in prayer for God's provision in completing these items.
Other specific prayer needs that we have this week:
*Our children's health--we seem to be having 2-3 kids each week with illness, from malaria to headaches to coughing.
*Our construction foreman, Milisoni, was recently diagnosed with HIV and will be starting ARV meds soon.
*Safety for our workers putting in the ceiling for the Sanctuary and for harvesting the maize.
*for me--I have too many "open" projects. The more projects I start, the less progress I make on any of them. I need to get a few things finished and marked off my list!!
*for Martin--he is awaiting a call from African Bible College to come for an oral interview. They had about 3,000 people take their entrance exam, and will only be accepting about 30 for their seminary program.
*for Nasson and Glory--they will be joining our staff on May 3rd as houseparents. Nasson will be trying to fill Martin's shoes when he leaves to start seminary classes at ABC in August. Nasson and Glory are both secondary school teachers and they will also help us make plans for our Rainbow school next year.
We've started using Flannelgram stories to do a children's story/sermon as part of our worship service on Sunday mornings...so if anyone has any old flannelgram supplies lying around not being used...we know a place that could use them!!!
We covet your prayers and support. We need to be bathed in your prayers daily. John and I both know that we don't bring any special skills or knowledge to this mission field...we're just willing to go where God tells us to go...God is the One who is making a difference here, and we are grateful to have the opportunity to be in a place where we can see His hand at work.
Mulungu akudalitseni! God bless you!
Lea Anne
April 2, 2010
Hello to all!
WHEW!! We've been busy!!! We had our first mission team of the year arrive 17 March, for 2 weeks. They were a group of 8, mostly from our home church and our ministry board. It was a great joy having them with us, and we were very sad to see them go! I even made a picture of their airplane flying overhead as they left!!! Besides the encouragement and uplifting of OUR spirits, they were able to minister to many people in the surrounding villages, sharing Jesus with them and encouraging them in their daily walk with Him. There were also many medical problems addressed both in the villages and at the Rainbow campus. And they all did a GREAT job of spoiling our kids!!! ALL OF US at Rainbow are missing them very much!!!
The day before the team arrived, we had a visit from Teethsavers, Int'l. This is a ministry based out of Lubbock, TX, providing basic dental care and education. They came in and taught our kids and staff about proper brushing and dental care, then they inspected each child's teeth. Several of the kids were treated for cavities, but overall they got a good report. This service is a tremendous blessing, as it would have been quite expensive if we had to take them all to the dentist in town.
Last Sunday while the team was still with us, we celebrated our first service in the new brick church building. It was a wonderful service! The church is far from being complete, but we were able to hold service there. After the service, we had 2 chiefs from surrounding villages who came forward to receive Christ. They are talking about building a church between their villages and having John and Lucas preach there. That will make 3 area churches where the true Gospel of Jesus Christ will be proclaimed regularly.
Speaking of Lucas, we are anxiously awaiting his return to Rainbow. He is scheduled to arrive on 29 April, and he is planning to be with us until next January. We are all looking forward to having him back with us!
We wish everyone a blessed Easter! Mulungu akudalitseni! God bless you!
Lea Anne
March 13, 2010
Hello to all!
Well, we FINALLY hosted our big meeting with the Ministry of Gender (like Social Services). We were all ready for Wednesday...then they cancelled and moved it to Thursday! So Thursday morning, we were all ready....and they came. Mr. Phiri is our District Officer and he arrived first (at 9:45) to begin setting up chairs, etc. People began filtering in about the time he arrived. The Minister was to arrive about 10 and we were to give her a tour. Well, at 11 Mr. Phiri said "she is coming" and around 11:15, the Deputy Minister arrived instead. (There's the "1st" Minister, then the Deputy Minister under her.) Anyway, John gave her a very quick tour. They sat on the porch and gave a couple of speeches to the people, and dismissed the crowd around 1:00 pm. They had a brief discussion period with key organizations for about 30 minutes. They came into the mission house for a bite of cake and lemonade, and finally left about 2 pm!! Supposedly, the meeting was a success. We learned that Mr. Phiri was the one who suggested Rainbow, so we are pleased to know he thinks so highly of us. We have great respect for Mr. Phiri and the work he does.
As for the church construction, we have put up the metal trusses and the long boards that go across to hold the tin sheets on the classrooms. We will pick up the tin sheets on Monday (hopefully!) and get the classrooms "in the dry" next week. Also, we hope to get the metal trusses for the church next week and possibly get it done too! It is looking really nice and will be a great blessing.
The kids are doing well. They are back in school. Collins is our oldest; he's in Standard 8 (the last grade for primary school). He will take his "exam" in August, and begin Form 1 (1st level of High School) in October (or Nov). He asked John last week where he will go to attend Secondary School (Form 1), and John told him Rainbow! So we are proceeding in faith that God will send someone to us to help us get our school organized and started this fall.
1. We need an American educator to help us organize/develop/layout our school;
2. We need an American educator to help us assess and place our children into an American curriculum;
3. We need donations of Christian homeschool materials to teach from.
Along these lines, we have interviewed and hired several new staff members. We hired a lady with 2 girls to come and assist in cooking, specifically to help with managing supplies. She arrived yesterday. We also interviewed a couple with 3 children to be houseparents for the boys. They are both currently teaching secondary school, so they will be a great help also when we begin our school. They will help us in teaching the "Chichewa/Malawian" curriculum side! They must fulfill their commitment to their current employment, and will join us around the 1st of May. Martin and his family will be with us until August, so he will be able to help "train" him to take over before he leaves us.
As for Martin, he will be sitting for the ABC (African Bible College) entrance exam on Mar 27th, and he's nervous about it! Please keep him in your prayers. We have great confidence that he will do very well and that ABC will "steal" him away from us! It is a blessing to watch God working and moving in Martin's life, and we look forward to seeing what God has for his future.
We are excited about our first mission team arriving next Wednesday! This group is from our "home" area and made up of dear family and friends. We are very anxious for them to see firsthand all the changes and improvements we have talked to them about for so long. (We are also very selfishly looking forward to spending time with them!!!) They will arrive on Wed and stay with us for almost 2 weeks. Please keep them in your prayers as they travel and that God will bless them during their stay here.
Please pray for us! We need to be "bathed" in prayers DAILY!!! And we covet your prayers!!!
Mulungu akudalitseni! God bless you!
Lea Anne
Hello to all!
We've had an interesting week here at Rainbow! The big meeting we were to have last Monday, was moved to next Monday, then moved to next Wednesday! So hopefully, they will quit moving it back and go ahead and get it over with! As far as we know, there should only be about 40 people to attend, and they are to begin around 10 am and meet for about 1-2 hours. John is to give the "top" Minister and a few selected others a tour of our facilities. We will have to borrow plastic chairs from our local school for them to have a place to sit. They are planning to set up on our front lawn, so hopefully it won't rain!!! There is a crisis situation in town with huge numbers of "street kids"--kids who are on their own living in the streets and surviving however they can. This meeting is to discuss this crisis and ideas for dealing with it. Please pray things will go smoothly and efficiently, and no rain!
The kids have been doing well overall. Our little boy with HIV was checked at the clinic last Monday, and got a good report. He seems to be doing well on the ARV meds. They gave him a different ARV med to take for this whole month, and he doesn't seem to be having as many headaches. It's so wonderful to see him running and playing with a big smile on his face! He has such a sweet nature about him. We have had several come down with Malaria lately. We take them to the clinic, they start medicine, and bounce back quickly. Even with screens on all the windows, we still fight to keep the mosquitoes out of the dorms.
The church construction has reached a turning point. It had seemed to be going quickly--you could look each day and see the progress being made. Now, the men are still working every day, but you can't always see what they've done! You can't necessarily see the progress now. They are working to prepare for the trusses which are still being welded together. If our "big meeting" doesn't interfere too much, maybe we will get some of them installed next week!
Our maize garden looks very nice! Some of our maize has already finished producing, and has started drying. The rest should finish producing soon. We are still receiving steady rains, but the rainy season should be nearing the end. It won't be long before we will begin preparations for our harvest! We are still having maize from last year's harvest and have been able to share with many needy ladies from the village. God seems to blessing our silos like the widow's oil and flour! They just aren't running out!!
I've had several requests lately for pictures to be added into these updates. Oh, how I wish I could!!! BUT...we are in a third world country, listed among some of the most poor nations of the world. Our internet service is so slow and limited that it is just not possible at this time. But there's always hope for the future! Perhaps in time we will be able to do that.
We thank God for His continued blessings! And we thank you for your prayers and support! Please keep us in your prayers!
Mulungu akudalitseni! God bless you!
Lea Anne
February 27, 2010
Hello to all!
I began thinking this morning about what to write in this update. It seems that I start each one with the same line..."it's been another good week!" But it has! We've been receiving regular showers and the grass, flowers, and crops are all growing nicely. As I sat at the computer this morning sipping my coffee, it was a very pleasant 70 degrees.
We've made several trips to the doctor this week with different ones. Most had malaria, but they respond quickly to the medication. They all seem to be doing fine now. They have been out of school this week between terms. They will be out again next week before starting the next term.
The church construction is going well. They have completed all the gables and should finish the last side walls of the church section maybe Monday. The walls are completed for the classrooms. The next major step will be placing the trusses for the roof. It is going to be very nice once it is completed. And it won't be a moment too soon! We had one of the roofing poles break on the grass church and part of the roof is sagging very badly now.
This morning we will take Bro. Tom back to the airport. It has been wonderful having him with us. The Bible study classes and the church at Salumbwa are already asking who will come to preach and teach for them now. What a joy it is to be around people who are hungering for God's Word!! We are grateful for Bro. Tom's willingness to come stay with us and lead these believers into a deeper faith in God.
Well, you never know what's going to happen around here! A man came from the Ministry of Gender (like our Social Welfare Dept) yesterday afternoon. He said the Minister wants to have a meeting on Monday and they want to hold it on our soccer field!!! Apparently they want to show off Rainbow as a good example for other orphan care centers! Please be in prayer for us as we deal with these government officials and as we make preparations for this meeting!! In the past, we've had some "miscommunications" about what is "culturally" expected or proper at events such as this. As a result, we have a feeling of uneasiness as we wait to see what "problems" will present themselves! Please ask God to lead us into what HE wants us to do, and not what is "culturally" expected. After all, HE is the true "owner" of Rainbow and HE is infinitely able to do whatever HE wants done! We praise God that HE is in control, and we are not!!
Please keep us all in your prayers! We need to be "bathed" in prayer everyday!!
Mulungu akudalitseni! God bless you!
Lea Anne
Hello to all!!
We've had another good week here at Rainbow! God is continuing to show His mighty hand of blessing to us.
The church construction is going well. The walls are up to roof height now, with windows and doors installed. We are waiting for the metal trusses to be completed so we can begin work on the roof. It is looking very nice, and our church members, kids and staff, are all getting excited about having it completed. We are all looking forward to celebrating our first service in the new building. It will be a wonderful addition to our campus and outreach activities.
The kids have been doing well. They had exams this week to complete the first term. The school year here has 3 terms with nice breaks in between. They are excited to be out of school for the next couple of weeks!! (Imagine kids being excited about being out of school!!!) Most of our kids did VERY WELL for the first term--most finished in the top positions of their classes! Of course there were a few of the younger boys who are reported to "enjoy playing too much!!" Bambo John will have to sit them down for his "school is important--you must work harder" lecture next week!! Overall, we are very proud of them all.
We have received several good rains this week. It has helped the temperature to cool down a bit, and it has been extremely pleasant. As I'm typing this, we are having a heavy shower and all the kids are scattered along the porch of the dorm building playing. Our crops are looking very nice. These rains will help our last plantings of corn to fill out nicely.
Martin submitted his initial application to attend the African Bible College (ABC) this week. They were very pleased with his scores. ABC has their own entrance exam, so Martin will be sitting for this exam on the 27th of March. We are confident that he will do very well on this exam, but please remember him in your prayers. He is a little anxious about it!
Please continue to pray for Masautso also. He is our little boy who has HIV/AIDS. He has begun taking the ARV meds, and they are making him feel terrible. He has gone from a happy smiling boy running and playing with his friends, to a little boy with no energy to play and struggling with a headache each day. We are hoping that his body will adjust to the strong meds after a week or so, and they won't make him feel SO bad each day. Please pray for God's hedge of protection from infection for him daily. We thank God for bringing Masa to us so that he can receive the meds and adequate nutrition in a compassionate, loving home. We feel priviledged to be a part of his precious life at this time.
Also please continue to pray for our staff needs. We know Martin will be leaving in the fall to attend seminary at ABC. We also know that we need to hire a cook to help organize supplies and inventories better. We are continuing to look for candidates who could serve as both houseparents and teachers for our "homeschool" next year. Please pray for God to bring us the people He has prepared to fill these needs.
Finally, we ask for your continued prayers for us personally. You would think after being here for several years now, that it would get easier--it doesn't. We don't seem to struggle as much with the same issues as we did in the beginning, but we still struggle with issues of being so far removed from family and friends, of feeling inadequate or unprepared for the work that needs to be done, of hungering for God's touch--His movement among the people here (and us too!), of the discouragement that seems to constantly "sneak up" on us. Please pray for God's continued guidance and provision as we seek to do what He would have us to do. Above all, we desire that He be glorified in this place, on this campus, in our lives.
Mulungu akudalitseni!! God bless you!!
Lea Anne
John & Lea Anne Campbell, Promise of Christ Ministries
PO Box 127, Summerfield, LA 71079 318-285-9602
serving as volunteers at
Rainbow Children's Development Center
PO Box 1261, Lilongwe, Malawi 011-265-99-920-3282
February 10, 2010
Hello to all!
We've had another good week here at Rainbow. We've had reports from home of the SNOW!!! WOW!!! It's hard to imagine sitting at the computer at 7am in my capris and T-shirt, enjoying the "cool of the day" at 72 degrees!!!
The brick church is looking nice! It's already to the top of the walls. They will make the "ring-beam" next week. That is a band of reinforcement around the top of the walls. Construction seems to be going quickly. It will be so nice when it is completed.
The kids have been doing well. They are like a bunch of ants--just so busy all the time--in constant motion!! And almost always with the biggest smiles on their faces! Well, most of the time anyway!!
The crops are looking nice. We have been getting a really good shower about every 2-3 days. We drove over to another place about 5 miles away, and their crops are very small and wilted looking, not good at all. It just reminded us of how God is blessing us with good rains.
And just as He waters the soil to nourish our physical food, we can see Him watering the soil of our hearts to nourish us spiritually. Please keep our kids and staff and church members in your prayers for spiritual understanding as we teach them God's Word--pray they will understand it is not just a book of historical stories that we should know about, but it is God's LIVING WORD to us to show us how to live daily in a way that is pleasing to Him.
Also pray for our school program. We are still hoping to build our school building before we come home this fall. We also are continuing to pray for TEACHERS!!! This project is larger than John or I can tackle on our own, and we need help getting it started, organized, and off the ground!! We also need Christian homeschool materials to teach from, as well as assistance in getting the materials that we need for the children that we have. If anyone wants to dedicate their VBS offerings this summer toward school desks, chalkboards, etc., it would be greatly appreciated!!!
We miss you all! And we covet your prayers!!
Mulungu akudalitseni!! God bless you!!
Lea Anne
February 4, 2010
WAHOO!!! We are celebrating at Rainbow today!!! Yesu wabwino!! Nthawi Zonse!!!! God is good!!! All the time!!!
We have had a very busy week. Construction is going amazingly fast on the new church. It is already up to window level all the way around, and looking very nice. It will be such a blessing to have a solid roof over our heads on rainy Sunday mornings, and to have places to hold Sunday School classes, instead of scattered around the yard. Sitting around the yard is nice, unless it's rainy or wet!!!
We also are the proud new owners of a 3.5 "ton" truck. It will carry a load of 3500 kg, or about 7,000 lbs. It is used, but appears to be in very good condition. We have been borrowing one from another ministry to gather supplies for the church construction, and having our own will be a great blessing. The cost for hiring one has increased tremendously since last year.
We are still having some adjustment pains with the kids and the new staff, just trying to work into a routine of who will be responsible for which activities, and everyone needing to pitch in with a spirit of cooperation to help with all chores. Please keep us all in your prayers in this regard. Martin had a strong talk with the kids one night this week about how teasing leads to quarrels, so they shouldn't do that. Even in America, we can understand how difficult it is to choose a behavior that is different from those around us. We see this as one of the major visions for Rainbow--to raise up a generation of children who have a different mindset--a Christian mindset--who will live out a true Christian faith as adults within this country.
A couple of weeks ago, I had a list of all the kids with the birthdays on it, and the kids were all excited talking about their birthdays. As we chatted, they said they wanted birthday parties. When we returned to Rainbow, there were so many changes taking place that we never had a "Christmas party." So I thought it would be nice to plan a big birthday party instead, and we could give them all their gifts. So yesterday afternoon, that's what we did. John had them to put on their very best set of clothes as soon as they came in from school, and to put everything else out on the porch. With much grumbling and long faces, we finally got it done. But then we met in the grassy patch of the yard for the party. We played some balloon games, then had birthday cakes (with big pieces and lots of icing!). Then we passed out a new set of clothes to each one. These clothes were donated by the Dunn Ave Church in Baton Rouge, and we thank our "BR Girls"--Lauren, Stephanie, Rachel, and Emily--for organizing this for us. They were all very excited to have nice new clothes! Then we passed out small sacks full of all kinds of miscellaneous "stuff!" It was a great party! There wasn't a long face left in the bunch by the time it was over!
Last week, we received sad news about the newest boy, Masautso. His name is Fikitala, but he goes by Masautso. We sent him to the local hospital for a check up, and the report came back positive for HIV. He was retested at the hospital again this week, and it confirmed that he is HIV positive. So we will be taking him to the HIV clinic in town next week for a consultation on his current status and medications, which is based on a "CD4" count. Please be in special prayer for this little boy.
BUT....the GREATEST BLESSING OF ALL....came in the middle of the afternoon yesterday!!!! We had Gerald from Partners In Hope Clinic come out yesterday afternoon and do HIV testing on all our new kids who had not been tested yet. We also had our one kid who had tested positive 2 yrs before to be retested. ALL 11 KIDS TESTED NEGATIVE!!!! EVEN THE ONE WHO HAD TESTED POSITIVE BEFORE!!!! We praise God who is the Great Physician, who can do all things, for His marvelous blessings and goodness to us!!
We are so overjoyed at God's goodness to us, that I just had to send out this update a day early! I think I would bust open with joy if I got up tomorrow morning to send this and the power were out!!! Please keep us in your prayers--every day comes with its own unique challenges, and we covet your prayers for all of us.
Mulungu Akudalitseni!!! God bless you!!!
Lea Anne
January 29, 2010
Hello to all!
We have received our visitor! Mr. Tom Odom from Bernice, LA has arrived safe and sound, with all his luggage to boot!! We are very excited to have him with us for awhile. He will be teaching the BUSH Ministry classes that Bro. Lucas had started. He will also be preaching in our church at Rainbow, as well as the church at Salumba nearby. Please pray for him to have wisdom and insight to help the people understand as he's teaching.
Bro. Tom also brought with him a suitcase full of clothes for our kids. These were donated by the girls from Baton Rouge who came to stay with us last summer, and have been much needed by the kids.
The kids are all doing well, all 27 of them! We are still treating Malita for an infected toe, but it is looking much better. The staff are adjusting well and things seem to be running pretty smoothly at the moment.
Construction on the brick church is going well. They have finished the foundations and are working on the walls now. The door frames are to be delivered today. It's going to be a very nice addition.
We have received the most wonderful news this week!! Martin has passed his exams with flying colors! This exam is like a high school graduation exam or ACT test (but backwards--here the lower the score the better). They use the score to determine admission to colleges. Last year he repeated his final year of school in order to improve his score and qualify for admission to the African Bible College. He hopes to become a pastor one day. ABC requires a 30 or below, and Martin's former score was 32. This time, Martin scored a 23!!!!! He had the 5th best score out of over 2000 students!!!!! WAHOO!!!!!! And even better is that Martin praises God for the score and doesn't take credit himself!! He's going to be a great pastor someday!<
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