Story number 2 for 17 Jul 2002

(Malawi)-Next, Malawi joins six other Sub-Saharan African nations suffering from a combination of drought, food shortage and disease. Health officials say under these conditions, the people’s life spans have shortened dramatically. It is because of this new challenge, that Bible Literature International’s Jim Falkenberg is going this week to Malawi for a Scripture distribution. “I have met some of these pastors in other African countries who have not ever had a full Bible; you can’t imagine the excitement in their eyes and in their faces that overwhelms them when they get a Bible of their own for the very first time.” Falkenberg says it is through the enormous tragedy that the pastors have opportunity to work unlike any other time “Pastors have an immediate audience with people who are dying; with people who have loved ones who are dying, or they’re trying to cope with the recent death of a loved one.”