"Going to Malawi for me was a big experience. I have travelled around the world and seen poverty. India was about the worst. But what I saw of the young children in Malawi was their warmth, happiness and strong commitment to God. I even experienced that in the prison I visited. The strength they had in God and Jesus Christ was far stronger than I have seen in some fellow Christians. To them it seems a way of life. An experience I will never forget." Desmond

"Malawi was an experience that was better than I could have imagined it to be. One of the things I have learnt is about my own relationship with God. By observing the enthusiasm the Malawians had for their faith, and the amount of time they were willing to give to God made me think about my own priorities." Hannah

"Visiting Malawi was something that I knew would be very moving for me; and this has proven true! I feel that I've learnt a lot about God's hand on believers around the world. I have had the insight of how other Christians think and act, which has made me re-evaluate my own actions and question the things I do and think." Ben

"To try and tell you about our trip to Malawi is going to prove to be an impossible task, Malawi is such a beautiful country, filled with such warm and giving people, and to say that going to Malawi was a life changing experience would not be an over-statement. I knew it would impact my life, but I don't think I realised how much. God spoke to me in a very real way during our visit, and challenged me in very specific areas of my life. As well as feeling challenged personally, I felt that as a team we've learnt a lot that we want to share with the fellowship at YBC. An example of a challenge I felt personally, was how I used my spare time. The Christians we met in Malawi were just so on fire for Christ, and all their time was spent on the word, in prayer and on winning souls for Christ, and I found that to be a real challenge to me. I also felt that God may be calling Rachael and me to overseas mission in one way or another; we'll just have to wait and see! " Doug

"Malawi is an amazing place. It's a beautiful country, but the beauty of the landscape is nothing compared to the beauty of the people who inhabit it. They are warm, loving, fun, generous, God-fearing people from whom we learned an awful lot. I wish everyone could have the opportunity to meet these amazing people, who we now have the privilege of calling 'friends'. Anyone who comes into contact with them will surely never be the same again and will come away blessed beyond belief. When is the next visit planned for and can I sign up now please?" Rachael

"I had a fab time in Malawi and I am so thankful to God. During the trip God taught me a lot of lessons that have really challenged me. I was also encouraged by the Christians we met there. It was really good to get to know Connex, Anthony and Praise and I am missing them already. It was also really great getting to know everyone in the team on a deeper level and we will all always remember the time we spent out there. One of my best bits was working with the children, especially those at Ntonda orphan day care centre. They are so friendly and fun and I was glad we could give something to them and share the gospel with them. Overall everything about the two weeks was fantastic. I would encourage anyone who is thinking about doing something similar to go for it! It is good to experience new things, but even better when you can learn from them and apply the lessons you have learnt to your life, as well as sharing them with others. So if anyone wants to know more about the time we spent out there, what we did or what we learnt, come and talk to me, I would love to share more about it." Heather

We give thanks to God for the opportunity to spend this time in Malawi and to cement further the links between York Baptist Church and ZEC and we look forward to further opportunities to work together. At the moment the people of Malawi are extremely receptive to the Gospel. Connex commented that "winning souls for Christ is not difficult; the challenge is to disciple them effectively." We look forward to helping him with this.

The UK team with their Malawian hosts

Back row from left to right: Ben Wajdner, Becky Green, Rachael Clark, Doug Clark, Esther Quinn, Heather Quinn, Hannah Jackson, Joyce Dean, Samalani Domoya, Praise Ijalasi.

Front row from left to right: Anthony Masala, Colin Stonelake, Connex Ijalasi, Malcolm Clark, Desmond O'Toole