Cindy House
One woman's calling to do great things for the people of Malawi
Posted 06/09/2010
In 2003, God began to do a work in Cindy House. One day Cindy saw a missions brochure filled with pictures of all of the places that First Baptist Springdale and the Church of Pinnacle Hills travel to serve. When her eyes rested on the pictures of the people of Malawi, an unexplainable feeling filled her, and Cindy's heart was instantly and deeply touched for those people. Without hesitation, Cindy began making preparations to go to Malawi with the church that year. In the course of the next 7 years, Cindy traveled to Malawi 5 different times, being a part of evangelism, medical and building teams. The last time she left sobbing, torn apart over the thought of leaving those people and that place, knowing in her heart that she would eventually go to stay.
On Sunday, June 6, 2010, Cindy left Northwest Arkansas headed to Malawi, where she will be the Director of Operations of Esther's House Ministries for the next two years. Cindy's calling from God and subsequent agreement to go is an answered prayer. God is moving greatly in Malawi, but there is much work to be done. Cindy's presence in a full-time leader capacity will allow the ongoing work there to be pulled together in an exciting way.
Two missions interns will be partnering with Cindy for the first couple of months. Alyssa Stewart is approaching her senior year at Liberty University with a major in Childhood Development and Intercultural Studies. Derek Campbell just finished his first year of college; he has surrendered to the ministry and will soon be receiving his license to preach. Both are excited and eager to share their faith and teach God's word to the Malawi people. They will provide valuable help to Cindy as she begins her ministry in Malawi.
Q and A with Cindy:
What will your responsibilities include?
- Assess the condition of Esther's House. Is everything fully functional?
- Begin to train the staff in living and everyday activities in compliance with Malawi law for orphanages. Elevate what is already being done. Provide ongoing discipleship to the staff at Esther's House.
- Assess the health of the two boys that are currently living there. Find out what needs to be done in order to get more children enrolled.
- Hire more staff as needs arise.
- Work on getting electricity through a program that will not only provide the commodity to Esther's House, but also to the surrounding village area.
- Work with the widows through discipleship and Bible study lessons.
- Work with the area feeding center programs, assess what is being done, check accountability levels, and make sure every dollar is going as far as possible. Elevate the importance of the gospel presentation along with food distribution.
- Prepare for church teams when they come. Develop what teams will need to do on both spiritual and practical levels. Arrange to go to villages that are farther away from Esther's House, so that teams can evangelize in a larger radius.
- Supervising over two missions interns that will be there for the summer.
What are your concerns while in Malawi?
- Being received by the culture as a woman in a position of authority.
- Always being sensitive to the Malawian cultural standards. Not trying to Americanize their culture.
- Cooking food safely.
- Fighting loneliness for loved ones back home.
What do you anticipate learning while in Malawi?
- Absolute, utter dependence on God for everything. EVERYTHING.
- Surrendering all things to God, trusting and watching for Him to do all things.
- Dropping the weights of material things.
- More of the local Chichewa language.
Other than family, what will you miss most?
- My comfortable bed.
- Cheese!
Cindy House is a woman who is answering the call of God to go to a foreign land, lead by example and spread the message of Jesus through her partnership with Esther's House Ministries. However, Cindy does not act alone. Cindy needs the prayer and financial support of people like you to maximize the potential of her success in her ministry to the people of Malawi.
If you are interested in making a one-time or monthly financial contribution to Cindy, you can make a secure tax deductible donation online at www.puremission.org. Simply choose the Give link, followed by Send a Servant. Select the picture of Cindy House and the prompts will guide you through the rest of the process. Cindy will be posting frequent updates of her journey on her blog at www.cindyhouse.org, so check often for the latest news!
God bless you for your prayers and support and may God protect and bless Cindy on her incredible journey for Him.
