OS NEWS

Mission Trip to Malawi, Africa
February 26-March 7, 2023

Our mission trip team was in Malawi just short of two weeks. They had a packed itinerary and were eager to share the love of Jesus.
 
The team visited a local prison in the Ntchisi District. The living conditions in the prisons are sub par to say the least. A 10x12 room sleeps 10 men with no mattresses, pillows, or blankets. They receive two meals per day and that consists of maize (corn meal) and relish (cabbage and tomato mixture). The bathroom at the prison was broken so the men were using the bathroom in a hole outside. When the missionaries arrived they held a Bible study followed by providing Bibles, cups and bowls to the Warden for the prisoners.
 
In 2022, Operation Save became aware of Dzaleka Refugee Camp Orphanage and the deplorable conditions that 70 children are living in. There are no sleeping quarters, the children are divvied out in groups of five to stay in mud huts with one mattress per hut. They receive two government funded meals of sub standard food daily. Operation Save has recently started a feeding program providing three meals per week. Our mission team visited the orphanage and had a meeting with the leaders to see where we could assist. Later they passed out school supplies and a large tote of clothes donated by Ms. Ingram's class along with Clinton Elementary School in Lancaster, South Carolina.
 
Our OS Women’s Ministry Director in the US attended this mission trip to provide our three tailors in Malawi with hands on training. When the team arrived, the sewing room was in the final stages of construction. The girls were shown how to cut and sew feminine hygiene products that will later be distributed to girls and women in local villages. Once the room was complete the team set up the sewing machines and put the final touches on the OS Women’s room.
 
The missionaries visited many churches and villages and had group Bible studies followed by handing out care packages, mosquito netting, tarps, cups, bowls and more. Our Evangelism Leader, Jeremiah, welcomed the team to his church where they watched him preform multiple baptisms in a near by creek. At a village in Katola, the missionaries were able to watch a well repair and held an eye glass clinic.
 
Operation Save currently has nine schools that benefit from our feeding program. Schools in Malawi are extremely underfunded and they do not have a budget for food. In most instances, school is the only meal the children receive throughout the day. Our missionaries visited Chikwete School in the Lilongwe District. They helped distribute food and spent time with the children.
 
Lastly, our mission team visited a hospital in Mponela. They prayed with the sick and their caregivers. In the outdoor chapel, the missionaries read scripture to the caregivers and handed out Bible tracks. They handed out blankets in the mother baby wing and Dolls on a Mission in the pediatric wing.
 
After almost two weeks of helping the people in Malawi the missionaries went back to the airport in Lilongwe and returned home with their hearts full of Jesus.