March 2010
Dear Friends,
We are sending you a wonderful, warm greeting from Malawi. The rains are starting to slow down and we are seeing a bit of sun now. The people of Malawi are getting ready to harvest their crops and we are praying that there will be enough food in the country to care for each family.
It has been a busy year so far with many things happening both around the world and in Malawi. As with many other countries, Malawi had a devastating earthquake back in December that many are still recovering from. The quake had a magnitude of 6.0 and many homes were destroyed. Thankfully only 3 people were killed with about 200 people being injured. Glen will be heading up to Karonga (the area most affected by the earthquake) with our National General Superintendent to take food, household supplies and funds to help the churches and families in that area. We are stock piling many items at City Pentecostal Church such as clothing, shoes, blankets, pots and pans…to bless the people with.
The Rape Crisis Centre project is moving forward and we have a wonderful team of women assembled to be ministers of hope to women across Malawi who are affected by abuse. It was decided to call the ministry “Fountain of Life” as it sounded so positive and hopeful as opposed to “Rape Crisis Centre”. We will keep you updated about all new developments.
Glen was also able to fulfil a life-long dream of climbing to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro in February this year! It was a very gruelling climb through snow and ice on the last day but he managed to make it to the summit and enjoy the view of God’s creation from way above the cloud level.
A big thank you to all our supporters for your continued love and belief in our ministry! We have managed to erase our ministry debt from 2009 and go forward into 2010 with a balanced budget! I know many went above and beyond to make this happen for us and we are so very thankful. We pray God’s blessing on your lives and ministries in 2010.
December 2009
To Our Wonderful Friends!
We are exceedingly thankful to all of you for your love and support throughout 2009. We have felt your prayers through our difficulties. You “rejoiced when we rejoiced” when we celebrated! We enjoyed many cards and messages of encouragement just when we needed it.
This year your prayers have brought us through another Malawi National election with all the uncertainty and isolated violence associated with it. We felt you lifting us up as Malawi continued to regress in many ways. Our electricity and water supply is interrupted daily and most-recently, there is a country-wide fuel shortage which has kept us from traveling. Your love was evident as many dug deep to help us financially this year as we continue to try to reach our goal of balancing our budget by the end of 2009. We also enjoyed preparing for Joyce Meyers to come and minister in Malawi. It is wonderful to see so many touched by her ministry.
This weekend was also marked by triumph and trial. We hosted a wonderful Street Kids Christmas Party at a Game Reserve and transported 50 Street Kids in to enjoy a day of games, songs, animals, gifts and food. It was a wonderful day. Two days later we woke up to find out that the church had been broken into and many things have been stolen. It was disappointing but not completely surprising as it has happened many times before.
What will be for 2010? We trust that God will continue to lead and guide as we minister in Malawi. We are so thankful to many churches and individuals who have already communicated their commitment to continued partnership with us. We can never sufficiently convey our gratitude to you all.
Be blessed as you celebrate Christ’s birth
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May 2009
Thanks to all who prayed for Malawi during the National Election period. Malawi was a model to other African nations as they voted peacefully and patiently.
Today the incumbent president was inaugurated at Kamuzu Stadium here in Blantyre. He gained twice as many votes as his closest competitor. Although his competitor has challenged the results, most people are in agreement that the elections were certainly “free and fair” and Bingu wa Mutharika won a resounding victory.
===== April 2009
Hello from green Malawi. We have had a wonderful rainy season this year and are looking forward to a good harvest for the Malawian people. There will always be areas of need but we believe this year many will have “enough”.Update on the Street KidsIn January, we mentioned Grey who finished his Primary School education. We can now report that Grey is now enrolled in a secondary school that specializes in “older” students. He is able to stay in Blantyre and continue schooling and continues to play the drums in our worship team at City Pentecostal Church. Yohane is also doing well at the Blantyre School of Accountancy and is working very hard there.The newest addition to our CPC team is Macdonald “Mac” Nkhutabasa. He is a seasoned “street kid” worker with a lot of experience and is bringing some leadership to our many street kid volunteer workers at the church. He will be taking a leave of absence from the church shortly to head to America with one of the street kids, Vasco Sylvester, who is in desperate need of heart surgery. He is being sponsored through donations that have come through the Chicago Sun-Times. You can read more about this on http://www.vascosheart.blogspot.com/
Upcoming Elections
Please pray for our upcoming presidential elections that are to take place on May 19th this year. Our current president, Bingu wa Mutharika is being challenged by many other candidates including our past president, Bakili Muluzi. We pray that God will have His way in these elections and that peace will abound despite the hotly contested political race. Glen will get the opportunity to speak about the elections from a Biblical point of view on his radio programme, “The Truth Will Set You Free” in the weeks leading up to the elections.
We are sending you our love and thanks for all your support and prayers. We also wish you all a very pleasant Easter Season as you celebrate our Lord’s victory!
===== January 13, 2009Warm wishes to you all in this new year of 2009!! We are looking forward to seeing how God is going to move and the new challenges it will bring. We have much to be thankful for as we move into a new year.
We are thankful that our Street Kids ministry is going forward. This week we had a few challenges and some victories. Four of our boys were arrested last weekend and Glen spent the better part of Monday trying to sort out the issue. Three boys were innocent and released later that day while one boy was guilty of stealing from a car in town. One in that “innocent group” that was released is named Grey. He has not been so innocent in year’s past but has made a real change in his life. This Sunday he informed us that he passed his “Primary School Leaving Exam”. This is a big victory in Grey’s life. He is far past the age for Primary school but due to his life challenges, he was delayed in reaching this goal. His goal was reached due to the help of some friends in Finland that contributed to his basic needs with finances. He is now looking forward to starting secondary school. He is also a regular drummer in our worship team at the church. Well done Grey! Let’s see what God will do in 2009!
Another young man who has been with us for some time is named Yohane Howard. He lost his father while he was very young and his mother ran away from the family when Yohane was only 8 years old. He and his two young siblings (Chikondi and Thokozani) have also been helped through friends in Finland. While the twins have just started Year 6 in school, Yohane has written his Secondary School Leaving Examination and had a dream to go to the School of Accountancy in Blantyre. Kerry had the pleasure of accompanying him and enrolling him for his courses this term. He was extremely excited as he stood there in his “McDonald’s” employee shirt that he must have bought from the market as there is no “McDonald’s” in Malawi! He is one of the blessed ones who have a chance to change his future. We are so thankful to those who have contributed to the lives of these boys who would otherwise still be on the streets. Thank you to everyone who supports our family with love and prayers throughout the year. We can get weary and wonder if what we do will make any difference but we are so encouraged this week and look forward to a wonderful 2009.
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December, 2008
To Our Dear Friends,
We are wishing you blessed Christmas season and a Happy New Year. We are exceptionally thankful to all of you for your love and support throughout 2008.
It has been another busy year but one of great joy as we are so blessed to continue to be a part of what God is doing in Malawi. As in every year, there have been times of struggle and times of great rejoicing. God is always faithful! We see this year after year and despite the economic condition of the world and the uncertain times, we continue to be encouraged by what God does in us and through us.
We look forward to 2009 with great anticipation knowing that God is in control of every aspect of our life and the ministry in Malawi. We pray that you will continue being a part of what we do in Malawi through prayer, communication and giving. We take none of this for granted.
With Much Love and Thanks
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November 24, 2008
Dear Friends,
Where’s the beef?!?! It has been a frustrating time for consumers of beef in Malawi this past month. Malawi’s beef stock has been declared unfit for consumption due to the ongoing issue of “Hoof and Mouth Disease”. All the beef was pulled off the shelves in stores across Malawi for a period of a week and a half. It appeared again briefly for about a week and then it disappeared again. It is amazing how much you crave a juicy hamburger when you can’t have one. We are not a huge beef-eating family but when it is unavailable, you seem to want it more than usual. Hopefully, the issue can be resolved quickly.
Overseas, we have also been hit very hard with the devaluation of the Canadian dollar. Our salary and ministry budget is now about 76% of what it was some months ago. Please remember to pray for missionaries around the world who are trying to manage their ministry and personal finances during this economic crisis. We have heard that the cost of fuel in Canada is low again. Just in comparison, our fuel in Malawi is now costing us $2.28 per litre. It is a difficult time for many missionaries who are trying to stretch their budgets to last until the end of the month.
Thank you to everyone who prayed for us after our car accident a month ago. Both Jesse and Kerry were in some discomfort for a few weeks but they are both well. Sadly, the car is still not repaired due to the incompetence of the police. We have submitted the necessary quotations to the insurance company and the only remaining requirement is an accident report from the police. We are checking daily and they still haven’t managed to type the report. We have been advised to supply the paper and it may be completed quicker. Ah Malawi!
There is nothing new to report regarding Glen’s car accident from May 2006. It remains with the courts and may remain there forever at this rate!
Yesterday, Seth was playing by the wood shed and spotted a snake slithering up the wall. He quickly went for help and we managed to kill it. We are not sure of the species but with the number of children on our property, we never like to take a chance. If you can recognize the type of snake, please let us know.
We have just finished two weeks of poor health in our home. We started with a stomach virus that had us down for a week and then were hit with a bad head cold and fever. We are thankful to be out of bed again. We feel that we should be the healthiest family at Christmas time as we have had EVERYTHING!
With Much Love and Thanks
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October 15, 2008
Just a quick prayer request for Kerry, Keagan and Jesse as they were involved in a rear-end collision yesterday after Kerry collected two of the boys from school. A driver who was not paying attention hit into the back of Kerry’s car with full force as she was stopped in a queue of vehicles at a round-about. Jesse was in the back seat and is having neck pain from whiplash. Kerry is having lower back spasms. So far Keagan seems o.k. but sometimes the effects take a few days.
Thank you for your prayers. We are thankful that everyone was wearing seatbelts and much of the force was taken by the spare tire that sits on the back of Kerry’s vehicle. We are busy getting estimates for repairs and it looks like the man who was charged with “inconsiderate driving” had insurance and will cover the cost of the repairs.
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October 1, 2008
Greetings from steamy, hot and dry Malawi! What a change from the green wet summer in Ontario! It is hard to believe that one month today we arrived back in Malawi after a six week visit to Canada. Since returning to Malawi, we have had many issues to sort out and get our feet back under us again, but we finally feel that life is back into “routine”. The boys are back at school again and we are busy!
We really enjoyed the time we had in Canada. We were very busy trying to care for some medical issues as well as reconnect with as many of our family, friends and supporting churches as possible. If we didn’t get in to see you this time, please forgive us. We did try our best to get our newest DVD and some cards out to everyone. Please let us know if you need any additional cards or DVDs.
While in Canada, we were able to enjoy a few truly Canadian events. While in the Bracebridge area we enjoyed the Muskoka Wildlife Sanctuary where the boys were able to see some Canadian animals for a change. They were able to pet a wolf and see many other distinctly Canadian critters. They also took part in some tree climbing. It was so nice to see the beautiful tall trees in Canada. One of the challenges we have in Malawi is keeping all our trees from being cut down for firewood!
The work in Malawi continues! We were happy to see the wall around our property almost complete! That is very encouraging! We hope to start putting in a foundation for a multi-purpose building after the rainy season. This is very exciting as we hope to begin a Job-Skills training Centre for the street kids on that property. Also, our Recreation Centre continues to develop. This week we installed a much-needed bathroom and continued cleaning and painting. We know that we have a “real” Rec Centre now as we have a “Coca Cola Refrigerator”.
Pray for Malawi. We will be having our National Elections in 2009 and all the political “fun” has begun as the two candidates try to win the votes of the people. We pray for God’s hand on the whole process.
With Much Love and Thanks
The Halliwells