We're Back From Discipleship & Church Planting!

We are back from our latest trip to Malawi! Here are some highlights:

To continue or to begin supporting the work we're doing in Malawi, click HERE, and to find out more about Discipleship Journeys with Jesus, click HERE.

Discipleship & Church Planting w/ Dr. Mark Williams

Donate Online: Venmo & PayPal

OR

Donate through Mail: Check payable to 

Reaching The Hungry  to

1018 Ranger Rd. Fallbrook, CA 92028

Malawi Mission Trip - August 2018

A collection of our Malawi Team's posts while we were in country:

Days 1-3

Christy Carter: We were able to travel 22 hours and meet some of the most wonderful people I’ve ever met in my life! Our team of 7 helped to put in 8 water wells and bring joy and the story of Jesus to 3 different villages, a total of over 72 families!!! God is good!!

Zac Beougher: Had a fantastic 2nd day here in Malawi, Africa!! The Reaching the Hungry team divided and conquered 3 wells along with games and coloring and bracelets with the women and children in each village. What a joy it is was to share the hope of Jesus with the whole village that I was at after installing the well. The Jesus film went great! Thank you, Norma, for sharing your story with the crowd there.

Day 4

Christy Carter: We were able to visit our partners orphanage. She runs the orphanage with little no help with 21 + children sometimes. She needs more support financially for those beautiful babies ....
Wade Campbell: Today RTH Team moved to Nkhoma in the south to spend time with an amazing lady, Nicole, doing God’s work for orphans. Currently, there are 21 children ranging from 3 weeks to 9 years old. As you can see affection, love, tickling and laughter are the same on this side of the world. The children sang songs like “Jesus in the King of the Jungle” and “Jesus is the King of the Universe”. God’s spirit was high amongst us. After a short break we are heading back now to spend the evening with them.

Day 5

Norma Puerta: Blessed Sunday. - Our RtH team spent the day worshipping and connecting with the people of Dowa District. Our team leader, Zac, had an opportunity to share and encourage the congregation to preservere. After the service, the Chiefs meeting was held. Multiple Chiefs shared their testimonies of abandoning their faith in charms to place their faith in Jesus Christ; they encouraged and challenged one another to be the Christian leaders their villages need. Amen! We also held an reading glasses clinic and presented Talking Bibles to village chiefs to take back to their villages. This will help the villages continue strong in their faith and walk with Christ. Thank you to all of our supporters. The LORD is blessing Malawi.
Christy Carter: Africa Day 5 - we drove 3.5 hours to attend a chiefs’ meeting of over 50 chiefs and many village members, a church service, and an eyeglass fitting for the people of the villages.
Zac Beougher: This Sunday in Malawi included a church service out in the bush in which we had the opportunity to preach, reading glasses clinic, share with the chiefs at their meeting, and then present them with Talking Bibles (audio recordings of the New Testament). Nicole (our friend who runs the orphanage we visited) was able to join us. Just a solid day 😊

Day 6

Christy Carter: Truly needed days of rest and reflection. The days in the villages were very long days and very emotional and thought-provoking days ... thank God for His beautiful creation of this world. There is so much to see and be thankful for!!
Ty Campbell: Our Malawi team enjoyed a nice rest day after the last four days of work installing a record 8 water wells, spending time with the Chief Ministries, and playing with the children at an orphanage. We enjoyed some beautiful African landscapes and animals. Sharing the word of God with some of the locals that were our escorts is what our team is here to accomplish. Tomorrow, we’ll start with devotionals and another beautiful blessed day in Africa.

Days 7-9

Nathan Giles: Today was our day of rest and reflection here in Malawi. We’ve come to the last couple days of our time here and are starting to process through everything we have experienced. With four people on our team who have never been to Malawi before, it has been amazing to see how their perspectives have changed. At the same time, my fourth trip feels so much different from my first. No matter how many times I leave the U.S., I always seem to return changed in some way. It is this time of reflection that allows us to take a step back and discover how God has used these new experiences and relationships to shape us and our futures.
Zac Beougher: The last days that brought this incredible trip to an end were full of rest, reflection and saying goodbye to our friends. It was also good to spend some time taking through how God has used this trip and process what happened. We gathered together as one team united, the Reaching the Hungry US and Malawi team for a Partners Dinner. Then, unfortunately, we had to say goodbye and the team has safely arrived back in LA. Thank you for everyone’s prayers and supporters for making this possible!! What an immense joy it is to be a part of what the Lord is doing and see how He is working in Malawi.

Malawi Mission's Trip - May 17-29, 2015 by Nathan Giles (Trip Leader)

Lately, life has been a bit like one of those dreams so vivid that even upon waking, you think it might have actually happened. Stepping out of the airport in Lilongwe, the capital city of Malawi, and seeing my friends Wonderful and Deni again felt a lot like waking up from one of those dreams. It felt like the 6 months since my last trip had only been a dream; then suddenly, I was awake, ready to get back to work.

Our work began the next day at Mtema Village- an area I had visited in October last year known to be a stronghold for witchcraft and masked dancing. Upon arrival, we discovered that the well was a bit too wide at the top to set the pump equipment on. A bit discouraged, we took a few minutes’ drive to a second location, my mind still on the first well. We had prayed that morning during our devotional time for God to reveal solutions to us so that we could accomplish our assigned tasks. Just before we arrived at the second site, I noticed that we had many more metal rods than we needed for the depth of the well and that we could use the extra as supports for a concrete platform to cover the over-sized hole. We were immediately encouraged and confident in God’s involvement in our trip. The rest of the well went in without any problems. Later that night, we were able to show the Jesus Film (an incredible tool for evangelism when your audience has never seen a movie before). Our teammate David, a college student and former Marine, took advantage of the opportunity created by the well installation to share the Gospel with several hundred people in the surrounding area. With well over one hundred people responding in prayer to God, our first day was a tremendous success.

Our next outing took us to Mponda Village in Kasungu. After a late night, we pulled up to the well moments after a man had climbed out of the newly dug bore-hole (quite an impressive feet). We quickly forgot our own tiredness and began the installation process with a new burst of energy. We were able to finish the well with time to spare before our drive to Nkhoma and took a look at the village’s old well. It was a hole about 5 feet across with nothing to keep children, animals, and contaminants from falling inside. With a new source of water, there are able to seal up the old well and stop worrying about its dangers. We ended the day with a drive to Nkhoma where we met with and had dinner with a close friend and partner of Reaching the Hungry, Hamilton Yassin. He and his wife opened their home to us again and prepared a wonderful dinner as I introduced the RtH team for our May 2015 trip, David and Wade (my uncle and still active duty Marine).

We enjoyed a bit of a late start the next day and had the honor of presenting Hamilton, along with the rest of his class and teachers, with solar-powered talking Bibles. The new pastors and graduates of the Nkhoma Theology school can now use these tools to expand God’s kingdom throughout Malawi as they are assigned to congregations in early June. It was very humbling to present gifts that were received with such reverence and thankfulness. We took a walk through the mission station, hospital, nearby market, and up into the hills before loading up for our second showing of the Jesus Film. David spoke again along with Hamilton at the end of the film to kick off a several day long revival meeting on the outskirts the of Nkhoma region. Before departing for Mtakataka, we reluctantly said goodbye to Hamilton and his wife and congratulated them again on his graduation and upcoming move to a new congregation.

We arrived in Mtakataka, ready to hit the ground running, but found that the well was not suitable for a pump. We made plans for a well to be placed there later this year, giving time to better fortify the well and ensure that it will be a long-lasting well in the future. Wonderful took us to a secondary location where a single well (installed in October 2014) has been serving more than 1,500 families in several villages. The well is so busy that it often pumps day and night to meet the needs of the people. Nearby, a second well had been dug in hopes of receiving a pump. The well had more than 3 times the needed amount of water for a pump to be installed and was nearly 50 feet down. Once we took the measurements, the team began working quickly to finish before the sun went down. I then left to meet local village group heads with Amos (Wonderful’s father) who coordinates the Chiefs’ Ministry. I saw many familiar faces from my last trip and had the opportunity to share a message of encouragement. Amos and I also spoke to them on the importance of legacy, not in worldly terms, but in leaving behind a legacy of Godly children leaders in their villages. The chiefs were presented with and extremely grateful for a number of talking Bibles currently being used in Bible studies throughout the area. Amos and I returned to the rest of the team who were putting the finishing touches on the well after taking some time to perform some maintenance on the nearby well.

We were blessed with a meal prepared by some of the women in a nearby village. As we sat in the small hut, I thought about how many people were directly contributing to the work we were doing. Of course there are those who traveled on the team, as well as our ministry partners in Malawi. However, the list goes on from there, well sponsors, team members’ financial supporters, prayer teams, and even the numerous donors who supply us with clothing and soccer balls to take to the villages. Even the people who we thought we were coming to serve were involved in God’s work. Children gathered water, rocks, and sand for the cement; men prepared bricks for the platform and helped assemble the well; and the women had prepared meals for us. Realistically, the team (including Wonderful, Deni, and Amos) could have had a great deal of success responding to God’s call; however, when God’s children each take up a bit of the weight, the results are beyond anything we can imagine.

For our final day of planned outreaches, we visited a church in Salima. This area rarely sees outsiders and is extremely hungry for God’s word. We attended morning service and worshiped with a small congregation which grew and grew as the morning went on (it takes a long time for people to walk from miles away to the only local church in the area). David encouraged the congregation with a message about turning to God knowing that He will help us grow through them. We also had the chance to answer some questions you normally only hear in theology classes. It is a one-of-a-kind experience to worship our Creator with our brothers and sisters on the other side of the world. Later, we sat in on a Chiefs’ Ministry Bible study. We had another wonderful time of worship and teaching before the RtH team was invited to speak. I spoke to the chiefs about living out our faith with urgency and how we prepare for spiritually dry and stormy seasons just as we prepare for those seasons in farming. We then presented the trans-denominational group with talking Bibles to start ministries in their own villages.

We ended the night with another wonderful dinner in a local family’s home before the trip’s final showing of the Jesus Film. That night, the crowd grew to around 1,000 people with more hands than could be counted during the prayer time receiving salvation in Jesus Christ. It was incredible to see how God enabled each member of our team to perform the tasks at hand despite our perceived flaws. There is no amount of skill that can prepare you for ministry, just as there is no amount required before you are useful to God. Our final two days were spent admiring God’s creation and trying to wrap our heads around everything we had seen and done. The time of reflection allowed us to solidify our understanding of all that God had shown us and helped us determine where we would go from there in our spiritual walks.

We would like to give special thanks to all who were involved in this trip. Thank you for partnering with us in supplying 3 new water wells serving over 2,000 families! Your efforts have also sent more than 50 talking Bibles to Malawi and allowed our small 3 man team to reach thousands with the Gospel!

A Humbling Journey by Skip Phillips

One of our Mozambique Mission's Team members, Skip Phillips, wrote the follow article that has been published in various pool industry publications. Skip is a world renown pool designer.

I recently had the honor of taking a trip that has forever changed the way I look at the world. For two and a half weeks I traveled in South Africa and Mozambique on a humanitarian mission organized by Father’s House, and Reaching the Hungry, two faith-based organizations that bring supplies and other forms of much-needed relief to areas where disease, hunger and lack of water have created pandemics of human suffering.

On a personal level, the trip was part of my own re-awakening of faith. It was something I wanted to do as a way to express my faith in Christ and do what I could to help others in need. Going in I had done some fairly extensive reading about African relief efforts and had some lengthy conversations with people who had been there before.

Once our journey was underway, however, and we came face to face with the people impacted by extreme poverty, I quickly realized that nothing could possibly prepare me for the experience that was about to unfold.

Prior to the trip, which included seven others and me, I was feeling pretty good about our efforts raising money and assembling resources. We had put together more than $82,000 in donations, which is about 10 times that of a typical mission of this kind. My friend and industry colleague, Chuck Baumann, and his family supplied 85 pairs of shoes — these were given to people that had never even worn shoes. We supplied school clothes to an entire school, soccer jerseys, kids clothing, and 350 solar bibles in their own language. Incredibly, not one cent or pair of shoes was lost to extortion or “taxes” through at least a dozen armed checkpoints.

The pride I felt at the start was quickly supplanted by a profound sense of humility. During the trip I attended church services in multiple small villages and schools, as well as in Vilancoulos, a large coastal town in Mozambique. I helped pull in a fishing net in the Indian ocean, slept on the sand under a net for eight days, witnessed the security measures necessary to survive in Johannesburg, took 1,400-plus images of people and towns/shops, as well as animals on the Savannah and beached boats on the ocean front. I came to understand the incredible difference a well or chicken farm makes to a village; I enjoyed an African bush dinner of corn mash and impala, cooked over an open fire.

After driving approximately 1500 miles, I saw many areas that most newcomers don’t see. Imagine clean-swept “dirt” floors in huts and clean villages — not the squalor you see in the city. I also found there are a lot of people in the pool and spa industry funding and accomplishing significant efforts globally, and it has nothing to do with marketing. This is work that is done strictly for the sake of doing good.

I’m overwhelmed at the success of this outreach, as well as the dozens of other viable programs that members of the business community fund. But I also believe this is only the beginning.

We all need to use our gifts to help others, not as a wasteful government mandate, but as an ongoing voluntary outreach. The government aid, whether American, U.N. or others, unfortunately funds the very structures and governments that have destroyed these countries in the first place. Faith based organizations are far and away the most effective at getting aid directly to the people that need it the most, and with those resources comes a message of hope as a bonus.

I thought I was going to be instrumental in blessing the people less fortunate than myself, but the real blessing was for me. I am not the same person that left America September 6th, and I am pursuing the heartfelt joy that I witnessed in the local people, who are often forced to walk four hours every day in each direction to get a bucket of water.

On the subject of water, I couldn’t help but realize that in the U.S. my career is all about bringing the luxury of water to my clients, while in Africa, lack of water presents a brutally different set of issues. The region is in immediate need of countless wells to combat thirst, hunger and waterborne illness.

I’ve always known that here in the U.S. most of us have it pretty good. I have “1st world” problems, but I don’t have any 3rd world problems. We don’t want for clean water, safe food or clothing and we have opportunities to provide for our families and ourselves as we participate in the most affluent and abundant society in human history. By witnessing the dignity, strength and hopeful warmth of people who have nothing by comparison, I’ve realized not only how fortunate I am, but also the immediate need to do whatever can be done to relieve levels of suffering that most of us can barely even imagine.

Here are just a few of the pictures Skip took...

Mozambique Mission's Trip ~ Sept 2013

What an Amazing Trip

God started to stir the hearts of our team members as we studied "The Hole in Our Gospel" book together in preparation for our trip.  I met with Luke Rider our missionary partner in Mozambique to see how Reaching the Hungry could support them and help them become self-sustaining. We came up with this flyer of projects.  Our team raised over $81,000 for the projects!  In addition to the funds raised, God provided 900 pounds of donations (350 Talking Bibles, 140 little girls dresses, 100 running shoes, 200 soccer jerseys, set of Craftsman power tools, EvangelCubes, mosquito nets, hand sanitizers, etc.) that the team took to bless the people of Mozambique.

Our team packed with 900 pounds of donations.

We distributed hundreds of Audio Bibles.

Praying with those who received Audio Bibles.

Praying to accept Christ after EvangelCube presentation of the Gospel.

Our Team

We distributed 100 running shoes.

We gave out over 100 little girls dresses.

Luke & Pastor Dan share God's Word.

Showing the Jesus Film in their language.

We gave 140 school uniforms to a village school.

Carlos with Moz Missionaries Luke & Kristen Rider and children.

Why did God tell Gracie to cut her hair in Moz?
Click HERE to read why.

If you are interested in joining our RtH Team to make a difference for God's Kingdom, please contact me at Carlos@ReachingtheHungry.org or call , (760) 523-0777.

To our faithful and generous supporters and our sending team, We thank God for you and pray that His generosity will be poured on you in ways above and beyond your expectations!

Tax deductible gifts can be sent to "Reaching the Hungry" at 755 Vista Canyon Cir, Vista 92084, or by using the DONATE button on right margin.

Mozambique Mission's Trip

Talking Bibles Storyboard

The Kimyal People in Indonesia Receive the New Testament

Let's learn from these people how blessed we are to have God's Word.




If you are interested in being part of providing the New Testament to a group of people that do not have God's Word, please let me know.

Missionary overwhelmed with Talking Bible knowing impact it's going to make!

Last year I lead a team that recorded the New Testament in Tonga to be used in Talking Bibles.

Most of the Tonga people can not read.  When our team delivered the Talking Bibles to a missionary, that works with the Tonga people, she fell on her face weeping knowing what it would mean to have God's Word in audio form.  She has been working with the Tonga people for a long time and they only hear the Bible if she reads it to them.

One of the Tonga Bibles was given to a pastor's wife who started Bible Listening Groups.  After 6-months she reported to us that she had exposed 890 people to the Gospel in their own language for the first time.  380 people accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior.

What a GREAT investment in building the kingdom!

Cathey Anderson from Valley Center, California (She is on the Reaching the Hungry Board of Advisors) presents one of the first Tonga Talking Bibles to the Evangelical Association of Malawi.

If you would like to contribute to our Talking Bible Fund, please either send it to www.ReachingtheHungry.org or click on the donation button below...  

Specify Donation

Support for the Sales Family Purchase of Talking Bibles Purchase of Soccer Ballls Talking Bibles - Recording Fund Water Well - Drilling Fund Mission's Trip Fund Most Needed Other - will contact you.

4 Weeks in The Villages of Malawi

I'm back home after 31-days in Africa.

There is so much to tell after being there for a month with 80 people from 15 different US churches and about 50 Malawian missionary partners.  We had ministry partners working in the mission station hospital, leading kid's activities, farming, teaching sewing, teaching Bible classes, doing outreaches with the Jesus Film, doing construction, etc.

My Trip Highlights

• They haven't seen white people since 1963.   16 came to Christ.

I took a small team on a several hour hike out to a remote village area that had not seen white people since 1963.  We did medical check-ups, kid's club activities, visited with groups of people, etc.  I personally had the honor of sharing with a small group of village chiefs and some of their wives.  After sharing the creation story and the Romans Road Scriptures, I drew the Bridge Illustration Story on the dirt (just as my mentor Steve Weik had taught me).  16 people prayed with me to accept Christ.  I gave them a Talking Bible in Chichewa, so that they can have a weekly Bible Study together.  ;-)  The need and would like more Talking Bibles... click HERE to see what a Chief or Chiefs said to me.

• I taught evangelists, pastors, & chiefs. 

I taught shepherding, evangelism, and Bible doctrine to 80+ evangelists from all over Malawi as part of their annual 2-week training program.  I was asked at the last minute to teach a marriage workshop. 

It was from 8am to 6pm and 135 people attended.  I gave a Gospel presentation to start the class off and 32 people prayed with me to accept Christ.  What a great way to start the day... it was a fun class to teach.  I learned that their marriage issues are similar to ours.  However, I did learn some interesting and fun things I can't talk about here.  ;-O

We took 200 EvangeCubes and I taught all our missionaries & the evangelists how to use them. As part of a class on AIDS I showed the chiefs & their wives how to use a HopeCube (about HIV/AIDS).

• Attended a friends wedding. 

I had a lot of fun attending the wedding of one of our local missionary's.  The church was shaped like a cross and the wedding party came in dancing. Groomsmen from one side and the brides maids from the other.  Even the bride and the groom came in dancing on the arms of their parents. They met in the center and danced around each other.  It was really cool.  They entered the reception dancing too.  The band would call up various groups and people would come up dancing, then they would throw money (bills) at the couple.  We did this for a few hours... I must have danced my way up to them about 20 times.  It was an amazing party! 

•  Watched several surgeries.

I was able to join several of our doctors as they did surgeries in our village hospital.

It was an unforgettably rewarding month...
God multiplied our resources and our efforts.  In just 30 days, a ministry training center was built, fields were planted, hundreds were taught Bible classes, several Jesus film outreaches were held with follow-up, many kids clubs were done, 1,000 new outfits of children clothing were distributed, hundreds were taught valuable sewing skills, many children were cared for by our physicians & nurses, many surgeries were performed each day, 150 soccer balls were distributed and many soccer matches were played, hundreds came to know Christ, and 80 exhausted Americans returned home richer because of the warm smiles and loving hospitality they received from the Malawians.   Start praying now about coming with me next summer! 

Click HERE to watch a picture Story Board of this trip.

Farming for the Hungry & Talking Bibles Mission Trip ~ October 6-21, 2009

Click HERE for Written Report.

Did you like this video? Share your COMMENTS below...

Hundreds Come to Know Christ

The Good New of the Gospel
Saving Hundreds of Lives

On my last trip in April 2009, I took 205 Talking Bibles to Malawi and started a new initiative of Talking Bible Listening Groups in the villages. Last week I received our first reports back...

655 people have accepted Christ through the Talking Bible Listening Groups. 4,661 people have heard the Gospel in our Talking Bible Listening Groups.

Amos Chibisa, the Director of our Chiefs Ministries,
presenting Village Chief with Talking Bible.

In July one of our mission's teams ran across this group of women listening to a
Talking Bible by one of the many schools we built in the villages.

"We are encouraging the people to know that God is not condemning them for their illiteracy, but He still loves them and wants them to be saved." Rose Kamwana

Leaving on October 6th
I'm taking a team of farmers to Malawi to teach Farming God's Way. This is a new initiative that will save lives physically by teaching them how to yield 7-10 times their typical harvest. This is so revolutionizing that World Vision and the Government Agriculture Officers will be attending our first training session.

Please pray that our trainings and meetings will lay a foundation that will replicate itself all over Malawi. We are taking 100 Talking Bibles. Please pray that they all make it there without problems.

Typical Malawian Corn Field

A Farming God's Way Field, A-MAZING! ;-)
(These two fields are right next to each other.)

Praise God with us!

I'm leading a group of pastors/leaders on a Mission's Vision Trip to Malawi. We are leaving for Malawi next week! Gracie (our 17-year-old daughter) and I have been trying to raise money for soccer balls, jump ropes, and Talking Bibles to take with us.

We went from 30 Talking Bibles to 250!
We went from 20 soccer balls to 50!

Plus... a small group at one of our Y-Malawi partner churches in Orange County put together some gifts for us to take too (how can we say "no"). Look how they worked to bless...

Please pray that we will have a safe trip, that we will be an encouragement to the people in Malawi, and that God will speak to each one of us with new vision and passion to join Him in what He is doing.