If you are interested in joining our WhatsApp group for up-to-date prayer requests, updates, and pictures from our family here in Zambia, please send us a message and we will happily add you to our group. Bless you all.

We are almost halfway through the year. Unbelievable! There are weeks where I look back at a week and say to Sara wow I can’t believe it’s already the weekend. A lot has been going on both personally and in ministry. Lots of tears and testimonies but above all in the ups and down, God has been so faithful and good to us. These beautiful words remind us of that verse, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭10‬:‭23‬

So it’s never too late for us to apologize for being quiet here right? Some of you we have been able to talk to in emails, WhatsApps, and texts. We were so blessed to have had sister Ruth come visit us. She brought lots of love from you all (and cards). The boys loved it so much—playtime, dinner, and just talking. Peter loved walking her back to her flat and making sure he had a torch to light the way for her. How wonderful it is to be loved and prayed for! Thank you so much. We hope and trust that we will be able to soon communicate when we are coming for a visit. We remember you all in our prayers. It’s always a blessing to be able to watch all the different services online!

Our family traveled to South Africa for some doctors’ visits and check-ups, as well as to spend time with family, especially to visit relatives who have lost loved ones during the year. It is hard to be far from family and friends when they are going through hard times. We are so thankful to have had Mom visit us from the US, and I know Sara was grateful for the time they spent together, but sad that it felt like it went quickly. Peter and Nathan are excited for their next visit to New York.

We are taking a week away to reflect on the year we have had in Zambia, the ups and downs, and we are praying for the year ahead. God has been faithful each year to give us a personal watchword that we can hold on to even when things are tough. Sometimes we are tempted to lose hope, but we know that He who has called us by name will never leave us nor forsake us. Please pray with us. Thank you so much for your love and support that has kept us going throughout the year.

Last September, I had the opportunity to spend some time in Malawi. I have been wanting to visit there for a long time but had not been able to until this trip. Early in 2021, Sara, Peter, and I were ready to move to Malawi but that plan was put on hold when we found out we were expecting Nathan. Sara worked closely with our team in Malawi for a few years and had the privilege of visiting them a number of times. Sara loves Malawi and its people. Fast forward to 2022, I finally made it there. The first thing I heard from our taxi driver who picked me up at the airport was, “Welcome to Malawi, Sara’s husband!” Whichever community I visited, all the care workers referred to me as Sara’s husband (although I think part of the reason was because they couldn’t pronounce the click in my name). It showed me how much my wife is loved and remembered there. While I was there, we had leaders’ meetings where we worshipped, prayed, and made plans for our work.

It’s amazing how wherever you are in Africa, the Ubuntu principle lives on. We have different cultural customs from country to country, and even from tribe to tribe within countries, but Ubuntu crosses African countries. One cultural difference in Malawi is that a newlywed husband moves into the wife’s house with her entire family for couple of years to show to the family that he can care and provide for her. Often he is given a big field to cultivate and produce a harvest. I was fascinated by many different cultural things. That’s one of the beautiful things of serving in Africa where the culture is so diverse and so rich. However, often some of the cultural practices are not good and they go against Kingdom culture. 

I had the chance to visit the community of Fosa, where we we had a prayer meeting with our care workers and church leaders. It’s such a tough, poor community with a lot of spiritual things happening. I remember walking to a home visit and while we were on the road, I heard loud voices of men groaning. When I turned around, I saw men walking fast toward us with long sticks and faces painted white and red, wearing cow-skin underwear. I have seen many traditional healers/witchcraft/ancestral worshipers back in South Africa, but this was different. I was with three ladies, one Zimbabwean lady also visiting and two local volunteers, so I got myself ready to stand my ground to buy time for these ladies to run if they needed to. They got closer to us. They were singing and shouting strange things. They continued walking past us on their way to a home where someone had just passed away. They were the men who would do some sort of spiritual cleansing with the body. The local ladies explained it to us. Young boys join this cult to become prophets who can cleanse the community. They have to drop out of school, leave their church and spend time in the graveyard communicating with ancestors before they are initiated. I could share a lot about things like that, which are fascinating, but that I don’t want to be our focus. But this example shines a light into why this community is so tough and why the children that we feed and care for at our care points are at such risk. Our children face witchcraft, rituals, early marriages, alcohol abuse, lack of education, and abuse.

We arrived at the home that we were visiting. There was a family of 17 people there, all women and children, but our focus that day was to visit a lady named Martha, and her 4 children, who are five of the 17. I mention her name here because I felt like God had sent us. The night before, I was reading an article in Ridgewood’s Things New and Old and it was about Martha and those beautiful words Jesus spoke to her. As I sat and heard her story and her struggles with caring for her family with a failed crop and not knowing where her husband is, I was heartbroken and deeply challenged. I can’t imagine not knowing how Sara and the kids are doing. Then I felt the Holy Spirit reminding me about Martha and what I had read. When she was hurting, she ran straight to Jesus with her problem. Then Jesus spoke those wonderful words to her, that He is the Resurrection and the Life. The article likened the forgiveness of sin to a spiritual resurrection from the dead. I encouraged Martha to turn her life to Jesus, run to him with her problem, pray, and believe. Sometimes it’s not easy to see people in such need and only be able to pray, but actually, praying for them is the most powerful thing we can do for them. Sometimes with the little God has given us, we can give and make a difference in people’s lives. When we have done that, we have seen God’s faithfulness; He gives us just what we need when we need it. Once you have tasted God’s goodness and faithful provision, you can be reckless with your generosity. But more often than not, what we physically give doesn’t change their lives. The only thing that will bring real change is prayer and the transforming power of Christ. We continue to pray for Martha and her children. We pray for a good harvest this year, for good health for them. (We had to take Emmanuel, her son, to the clinic while we were there.) We are thankful for the churches that are busy preaching Jesus, for the care point, and care workers that continue to stand for Christ and care for our children and their families. We pray for them and for those churches that their light will shine brightly in those communities.

Of course we did go to the famous Dedza market and I was able to enjoy some of the things my wife has told me about. We brought home to Zambia some Irish potatoes, Malawi’s sticky rice, some big fish from Lake Malawi, and some fresh ground nuts. I am always thankful for how our Father speaks to us when we are willing and open to Him. I am so privileged that I get to witness and experience many instances of God’s faithfulness and answers to prayer each week among the poorest who are faithful and hopeful each day. We want to share these stories with you so you can stand with us as Hands At Work and the Makwakwa family in prayer!

“Now unto Him who is able to keep us from falling and present us faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, and to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and honor, both now and forever. Amen.”

In the coming weeks and months, we will be doing a series of updates in which we will be sharing a bit more of our story, as well as testimonies of God’s faithfulness. Included in the series will be pictures and video clips that will be posted here as well as in our new social media account. We will share personal stories, cultural differences, our children, our ministry, our work within Hands at Work, families, and stories that have impacted us. We look forward to engaging better with you all. Thank you for all your love and prayers.

He is Risen!

This morning, Sara and I were reflecting on books of John and Mathew. As we took time to pray, we were so filled with thankfulness for what our Lord has done for us. We are sinners, unworthy, yet by His Grace we are redeemed. We are His children! In His great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade (1 Peter 1:3-4). This week, we went through the days before Jesus’ crucifixion. We read how one woman gave the most valuable thing she had in worship to Jesus when she anointed him with her jar of perfume. We were convicted as we asked ourselves if we give our all to Jesus. We read how Peter denied Jesus like we often do when we don’t love people, or by our attitude, or our pride or selfishness, just to name a few. Yet Jesus loved Peter so much. He forgave him in love and grace. We are so thankful for this Jesus who redeemed us out of the pit and loves us with an everlasting love, and showers His grace and forgiveness on us. We praise Him because we are redeemed!

May God bless you on this wonderful Easter Sunday. We are so thankful for all of you who continue to write us, call us, message us, and pray for us.

Love, Xolani, Sara, and Peter

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land.”

As I shared with you on Wednesday, I was expecting Thursday to be a tough day for me. And it was – for so many reasons. The boys had to come face to face with their abuser and I had to face an old friend who has hurt so many of us. I should have been angry and wanting to fight, but when I saw him, the only thing I saw was sadness. I saw my responsibility to pray for him, as well as to pray for justice for the boys. We serve a wonderful God – a God who is faithful, full of mercy and grace, a God of justice. We may not always understand how to reconcile these characteristics but that’s okay because we don’t trust in ourselves; we trust in a faithful, merciful, and just God. Thank you sincerely for your messages of support and prayers, both on here and via WhatsApp. Sara and I were very encouraged. We never feel alone as we continue to speak for those who can’t speak for themselves, for those who are oppressed and have no voice (Proverbs 31:8). Your prayers mean the world to us. At the moment, the plan is to pick up the trial again in April. We will keep you updated.

To update on another prayer request, we are so thankful that it has rained all week. We are starting to see rivers where there was just a little standing water. We see some green. People can now plow their fields! Thank you so much for standing with us in prayer for rain. We continue to pray for more rain to fill the dams, for the rivers to flow again, and for people’s fields to yield a harvest.

Luke 9:23 – “Then he said to them all: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.'”

This is an update from us on one particular issue, as well as a plea for your prayers on our behalf. Tomorrow, I will be standing in court on behalf of three boys who were abused repeatedly by a close family relative. Sara and I were very close to their mother who passed away last November after a long illness. She was young and left three sons. She was a care worker in one of our communities and a friend to us. (Some of you who have come on teams met her, and all of you would have met her sons.) We visited her often in the months leading up to her death. One numerous occasions, she asked us to continue to love and care for her children after she was gone. We had walked with her for a number of years and she had come to know Christ. Now she is with our Father in Heaven.

After her death, a close relative of theirs went to live with the boys in order to take care of them. He was a friend of hers, and also a friend of ours. We had known him for about a year and we trusted him. We had hopes for him. Xolani invested time in him. In February, the boys told us that he had been abusing them since he moved in, and even earlier when their mom was sick. We didn’t want to believe it but there were a number of factors that led us to believe that it was true. We were fearful at the time but we knew that we had to fight for justice and go to the police. Often, communities and families want to hide things like this. They want to deal with it themselves and pretend nothing has happened. But we knew that God wanted us to stand up for the boys, His children. So we did. This has been a long process, and now the trial has begun. I have been called on to testify in court tomorrow.

When we think of discipleship, we often mix it with teaching, but it’s actually so much more. Of course our greatest example is Jesus, who took 12 ordinary men and invested so much of his time and energy in them. They often misunderstood him, they often thought of themselves and not him, one betrayed him, one denied him, some didn’t trust him. Discipleship is costly. Discipleship is about doing life together. It is a deep investment in someone, especially when that person could very well fail or hurt you. It is about being devoted to prayer for the person you are discipling. It is about sharing honestly with one another, and being accountable to one another. We see this often in the early church and the apostles. Accountability was important – a tough example of the importance of accountability is Ananias and Sapphira. Acts is filled with rich teachings of fellowship, which is a basis of discipleship.

If I could choose, I would choose not go to court. Well, if I am being honest, I would choose that this never would have happened, but especially that it would not have been done by a friend of mine. This man is someone I trusted, someone I invested time in, someone I hoped for, someone I prayed for, someone I had committed to. Even today I pray that he will have a repentant heart tomorrow even though he hasn’t shown one this whole time. As I think about my relationship with him, I question myself and wonder if it was really true discipleship. When we decide to commit to people, we need to remember that it will cost us. I think it is part of taking up our cross daily. Look at Jesus’ disciples, how they hurt him, and even us how he gives and gives and gives to us and how often we turn our backs on him or deny him. Discipling others can bear fruit or it can hurt us, probably both. We know that the harvest is plenty but the workers are few. Our cross is sometimes heavy but it is always worth it. Tomorrow I will be face to face with this man, and I know that I have to speak out against him for the sake of God’s children.

Please pray that the truth with come out. Pray for a change of heart for this man. Please pray for the boys. Please pray for peace in my heart. Please pray for God’s peace to reign in the whole situation. We serve a God who is both just and full of mercy. Please pray for both of those characteristics to shine through tomorrow. We are so thankful for God’s sovereignty and that is where we place our trust.

“Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for us in Christ Jesus.” I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving.

As I sat in Oshoek at our care center in the middle of a hot day, I heard some noise from behind our building. It was children as young as 2 up to age 8 laughing and singing. I thought to myself how wonderful this was. Their praise was life-giving and such encouragement in this dry season. Many people are worried about the rains being late and what they will do if they are unable to plow and plant. The wells and rivers, their source of water, were dry. For many of our families, if they miss planting season, there is no plan B. We spent that morning visiting families who are in need, and spent part of the afternoon meeting with the community people to pray for rains and share in some of their struggles. We dug deep into scripture and pleaded with God for breakthrough.

I listened to the children singing and laughing behind our small building made of mud and sticks. I got up to find a new spot with shade. As I walked around the building, I was surprised to see Sara surrounded by kids, playing and singing. Language wasn’t a barrier because everything was centered around Christ. She was almost 8 months pregnant, in the heat in a tough place. My amazing wife gave herself up to be there to bring Jesus’ hope. I was filled with thanks to know that God gave me a partner like her to walk this journey with. Before I knew it, a few more women joined, and suddenly there was life and hope and joy as they played. We had rain the following day! It has rained a few times since and now people are preparing their fields. We pray and trust God for a good harvest.

What a wonderful friend we have in Jesus! When we come humbly before Him, He hears our prayers. We only need to have faith like a child. We are so thankful to God that he chose us to be vessels and to carry his message. We have cried this year upon losing a couple of our children, and we have celebrated breakthroughs and victories at other times. More than anything, we are thankful for souls that have come to know Christ, and that is our biggest prayer looking forward, to bring souls to Christ. May each of us never give up in shining the light of Christ in this dark world, to make Jesus known, and our lives a testimony to His faithfulness. Let us not live for ourselves, but for Christ. Be joyful in hope, faithful in prayer, and share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Happy Thanksgiving!

With love, Xolani and Sara