1998

A funny thing happened in Malawi

   10.35am. We are sitting on the bench beneath the cassia spectabilis. Freda has been writing to Helen & Malcolm while, a little earlier, I sat in the lobby where Banda, 32, an elder from Calvary Church, had come to seek my help. He failed his exams to study medicine, is working instead as a medical laboratory technician, and complained of an inferiority complex. We had nearly an hour together and he went away rejoicing. I gave him T.L. Osborn’s The Power of Positive Desire, which I brought to read but only managed to dip into.

   Our time here draws near to a close. We had a blessed meeting last night and as we were driven away afterwards, the thousands present seemed reluctant to disperse. Earlier we had been to the midday prayer meeting where 23 of us sat round discussing the implications of the Lord’s word to us on the need for Malawi to turn to the Lord. I told them about Ethiopia [1965].

   In the morning I was driven to MBC [the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation] to record two messages of 10 and 20 minutes each (the longer one first) to be broadcast on Sunday, simultaneously on Radio 1 and 2. The weekly audience for each of these programmes is (I was told before leaving the studio) 2 million.

   I made a most embarrassing mistake on Sunday morning when, thinking only of myself, I did not put a jacket on. I thought we were going to a small church, but when we got there it was HUGE — the largest in the country. I was met by the Moderator and about a dozen ministers, all immaculate in black clerical attire, and I in shirt-sleeves! Only when I stood reading at the lectern, did I realise it was a God-sent opportunity. When I stood up to preach in the great pulpit and announced my text as Matthew 5:40, and asked forgiveness [for my lapse], further quoting 6:14–15, the situation was redeemed.

   All eyes were fastened on me as I began — “And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.” And I explained, “No one has sued me at the law, and no one has taken away my coat — I simply forgot to put it on. I am very sorry about that, I do apologise. Will you please forgive me?” A thousand very serious faces began to nod, a little slowly, as though they needed more time to consider the matter. And then I thundered — “But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

   This gave me what I needed for the 5.45am Sunday broadcast, and when I recounted it in the meeting last evening — embellished with the account of my nervousness at the studio in the morning, with the enormous headphones I had been required to wear — it produced gales of laughter.

   In the afternoon we sat watching the birds visiting the birdbath, then went to the coffee shop, where we have all our meals, for a pot of tea.

   It was Justin who called for me in the morning. We gave him my shoes and pair of sandals which I have been wearing here, to be repaired and given to someone. We are also leaving behind three shirts and the two pairs of pyjamas I have been wearing here.

   11.25am. Back in our room before going to the post office and prayer meeting. I was awake well before dawn to see the Leonid meteors, and counted at least 12 crossing the tiny area of sky visible from my pillow, underneath the side window.