Holiday Letter

For those of you that aren’t on our email list I thought I would send this Christmas letter to the blog minus the pictures.

 

Greetings in the name of JESUS

 

Last year’s Christmas letter to our friends and family ended with these words, “We will keep you posted on our little adventure and Lord willing, next year our Christmas letter will be from Africa.”  This holiday letter is being written in Africa as we moved to Malawi in June. We have been in Malawi for almost 7 months now and we are still adjusting.  We have had many trials but know that we are doing what God has called us to do.  He never said that obedience would be easy and actually tells us that we will experience trials and persecution when we do follow him.

“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.“ John 16:33 

“Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:  But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.”

 1 Peter 4:12-13

In the midst of our trials God has always been there with us.  He has said that “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee” and He hasn’t.  Only when we have taken our eyes off Him and His promises have we struggled.  We’ve experienced a myriad of illnesses since coming here—colds that won’t go away, repeated bouts with stomach flu, malaria, pneumonia, strep throat.  Through it all we have to stand on His promises.

“The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.”  Psalm 37:23-24

We opened our crisis nursery for orphaned infants in our home in August and received our first baby August 28^th.  Currently we have 7 babies that we are caring for, ranging from 2 months to 20 months of age.  We have experienced sorrow and joy in our nursery-the death of one of our babies and the soon to be adoption of little Leya. Our goal is to return these babies to their families if they are able or find a foster/adoptive home for them once they are no longer in a crisis situation.  This is a challenge since once the babies are here the families want us to keep them and Malawians don’t generally adopt someone outside of their family.  Please pray that God would open hearts and minds of people here to care for one of these babies.

I wish I had room to include the pictures of these babies when we got them.   Bridget was abandoned by her mother and was malnourished.  Mphatso’s mother died of AIDS and at 5 months was the size of a 2 month old.  Blessings mother is a blind beggar in town that can’t provide for him, Loti’s mother died when he was 2 months old; Samson was born premature and his mother died after childbirth. Leya’s mother died after childbirth too.  Gift’s mother is a mentally ill woman who can’t care for him.  We consider ourselves privileged to be a part of these little ones lives as each one are precious in the sight of Jesus.

We are praying about the ability to open a house exclusively for the babies that is separate from our home which would require someone to oversee the day to day operation of the nursery (Malawi anyone?).  In addition, we would like to provide on-site training and support to families of these babies to assist in returning the babies home.  In order to do this there are many things that must come together for it to happen.  All these plans are really in the hands of the Lord and we will continue to seek His will in this ministry.  Please pray for wisdom for us, health for our children and the babies, strength to carry on in the midst of trials, that the hearts of the Malawian people we meet will be changed and that through it all God will be glorified. 

 

From our family to yours we are wishing you a Christ filled holiday season and a heart to serve Him in all you do.

The Langdons—Andy, Lisa, Jared, Kris, Matthew, Andrew, Sarah and Alina