2013 for Jeremy and Madalo!

Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings! Many of you hear from me regularly while for some it may have been a while. In either case, I hope this letter finds you well! For me, this has been an exciting and fulfilling year. As you probably know, I am living and working in Malawi, Southern Africa with a non-profit organization called Children of the Nations (COTN). Of course, this year has also seen me marry the love of my life! Madalo and I have really been enjoying the blessings of married life and have together been involved in a local church called Capital City Baptist Church. I’m currently helping begin a men’s ministry at the church and Madalo is enjoying her work as a nurse at a local community clinic run by African Bible College.

If you aren’t yet familiar with the organization I work with, COTN focuses on improving the lives of orphans and vulnerable children in Africa and the Caribbean through holistic care which includes mental, physical, social, and spiritual support. Here in Malawi, many children have been orphaned due to HIV/AIDS. Although improvements have been made in recent years, there are still around 1 million children in the country who have lost one or both parents and as a result, are in destitute situations. COTN not only wishes to mitigate this impact but also seeks to improve the situation by empowering these children with life skills, leadership, and confidence that will allow them to one day be catalysts in their countries. Thus, the vision of COTN is “Raising children who transform nations.” To find out more, visit: www.cotni.org

The children celebrating as deep,
clean water is struck in Chilombo!

The work I have been doing with COTN as an In-Country Liaison primarily focuses on supporting and improving the flow of information between the local Malawi office and the international office located in Silverdale, Washington. This includes regular reports on how the operations in the country are going as well as photos, videos, and stories about major accomplishments and happenings in the lives of the children. I also have the opportunity to train local staff in proposal writing, goal setting, and program design and implementation. One major highlight this year has been the drilling of a clean-water well in one of the villages we support, Chilombo Village. Women are now able to walk a shorter distance to gather water, and children will be less likely to contract water-borne diseases which keep them out of school. One goal for 2013 is to help facilitate the funding and construction of a new community center in the same village. I truly love my work and look forward to continuing it in the coming years!

For this first year with COTN I have been privileged to be funded completely through the US Peace Corps. This was possible through a program called Peace Corps Response which places former volunteers in professional roles in local government or non-profit organizations. As I move into my second year with COTN, I will officially come on staff as a support raising missionary. As an organization, COTN has decided that in order to allow close to 87% of each child sponsorship dollar to go directly to in-country programs, their U.S. based staff members offset their own salaries through personal fundraising. This allows donors and child sponsors to have peace of mind in knowing that their money isn’t going towards an inflated administration budget, but as much of it as possible goes towards the programs in the countries where it is needed most.

As Madalo and I move into this season we are going to need support from our loved ones back home. The first thing we are asking for is prayer, encouraging thoughts, and emotional support. We know many of you are already doing this and we are very grateful. We ask that as many people as possible join us in regular prayer support. Our spirits will continually be strengthened and uplifted through your prayers and God’s presence in our lives.

Me with some of the teenagers
at the COTN Secondary School

Secondly, we will need financial support. Will you consider partnering with us in our call to live and work in Malawi? We need two types of financial partners.  First, up front we need our partners to make one-time donations in order to raise three months worth of salary as well as visa/work permit costs. COTN requires this as a cushion in case leaner times come. This will need to be raised by February 1^st and the amount needed is $5,620. Any amount is welcome and as you are thinking about where to do your year-end donating, please consider us. The other types of partners we need are those who will commit to monthly support towards my salary. My monthly salary need is $1,800 and I hope that you will prayerfully and thoughtfully consider making a commitment to partner with us and our work on a monthly basis. As COTN is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, all of your donations will be accompanied with receipts and are tax deductable. Donations to our ministry fund can be made online at: www.cotni.org/staff/jeremy-macias. Alternatively, if you prefer, checks can be sent with “Jeremy Macias staff support” on the memo line to:

                                 
                                    Children of the Nations

                                    P.O. Box 3970

                                    Silverdale, WA 98383

Regardless of whether you are able to partner with us financially, we definitely want to keep all of our loved ones updated so please reply if you want to be on our e-mail update list. We will regularly be sharing how things are going in our work and ministry as well as share prayer needs as they come.

Madalo and I really appreciate you taking the time to read this letter and consider becoming one of our partners. We do not take it for granted and wish we could see you in person to make this request. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask. We look forward to hearing from you! God Bless!

Much Love,

Jeremy and Madalo Macias
Jermacias@gmail.com
(+265) 881 517 672

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this:
to look after orphans and widows in their distress… James 1:27