The people come out singing and dancing to greet us in Bangula

Local children pose for me barefoot in the dirt

All gather around the church in a circle to pray for the ground, the territory and the people

Our "Iris Partners in Harvest Church" sign is posted over the church door, African-style

Inside we worship with joy and excitement, and I ask everyone to greet all of you reading this newsletter

Bangula's dusty, almost empty downtown

Pam helps them a family of beggars, including an old blind man and two blind ladies.

A busy canoe crossing on the Mozambique border

The water is filled with crocodiles and hippos, but everyone carries their baskets, bicycles and whatever they need in these small, unstable canoes anyway

The children here are wretchedly poor, but resilient, and eagerly respond to the Gospel

Along the road we see fields of scorched millet, picked clean by birds

In hot, dusty Nsanje our country church group finds shelter under trees

On the ground an old man in rags claps along with us

We enjoy our cathedral against the backdrop of Africa's magnificent, wide-open wildness

Adults are on their knees before Him

Children come forward to pray and find Jesus, committing himself to the only Savior, God and King

Singing and bowing his head in prayer

Hiking the few hundred yards to Pastor Nsapi's clearing

Pastor Nsapi lines up with his twelve new children in front of the stick frame of their new home

We come to Pastor Nsapi's little mud and thatch hut where the ladies are cooking the maize we bought for everyone at church

In the dim light children gather around us in all their poverty, ready and willing to receive the love of Jesus

We press on to another village for a sunset service out on the dirt between mud huts