As many of you know, we have been in the application process with the International Mission Board for over a year. Throughout this time, we have had interviews, medical questionnaires to fill out, and potential jobs to sort through. Even though it has been a long process, it has been very rewarding to see God moving, especially with the arrival of Hudson in January.
Last October, we had the opportunity to see what jobs were available in many different parts of the world. Seeing the need for workers was almost overwhelming, and we spent a couple of days in prayer, searching out where God would have us go and serve. In the end, we felt God leading us to serve in Malawi, a narrow, landlocked country in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Our main job will involve Joseph teaching at the Baptist Theological Seminary of Malawi, located in the capital city of Lilongwe. Lily will also have opportunities to minister to the student's wives during each school session. There will be further ministry opportunities outside the seminary, such as literacy and education in villages and church planting with the students among their own people throughout the country. We also feel a burden for the four unreached people groups in Malawi, two of which will be located mostly in our city.
We ask that you would please begin praying now, not only for us, but also for the people of Malawi and the groups working with them. Specifically, pray for the following:
- Pray for us as we will be moving from Roanoke at the beginning of June and visiting family across the United States.
- Pray as we raise financial support for Joseph's school expenses, which are separate from our IMB support.
- Pray for the other IMB workers in Malawi, as two new families have joined this last year.
- Pray for God to raise up leaders in the Malawian churches and give them a vision to plant churches among the least reached of their own people.
- Pray that God would begin to prepare the hearts and the minds of the unreached people groups to receive the gospel.
If you would like to commit to pray for us, please sign up for our email newsletter by entering your information in the upper right hand side of this page or by sending us an email. Once we begin our training this summer and are in Malawi this fall, we will be sending out monthly emails, and the blog will be updated on a more frequent basis. If you would like to contact us at anytime, we would love to hear from you at: veresfamilyinmalawi@gmail.com.
Thanks for partnering with us!
