The Latest from Mada

Life on the Red Island keeps us plenty busy during the day and leaves us plenty tired by the end of the day. Thanks to all of you who pray for us as we seek to shed the light of the gospel here in Madagascar. We apologize that we haven't stayed in better contact with updates over the past couple of months, so here we are attempting to make things right with you by giving a brief review of 2011's end and 2012's beginning.

About Our Neighbors

Many of you have prayed for and asked about the family with whom we spent a lot of time in our first couple of months here. As you know, we had just started discipling Lantu in December when, without notice, she and her family left Antsirabe. We did find out that her two oldest sons, Zaka and Yasina, stayed behind to watch over their home until the family was able to return. We were happy to hear that they would return at some point, but that was around the week before Christmas, and now with one full month of 2012 behind us, they still have yet to return. We don't know exactly what the situation is, but we are taking this to mean their residence in Tana is permanent.

Christmas in Mada

As you can imagine, Christmas-time is a good bit different here than in America. We enjoyed our little Christmas tree and the few decorations that were available to us (thanks Michael and Michelle). This much can be said without reservation, listening to Christmas music is a lot more enjoyable when it's not forced on you 24 hours a day like every radio station in America. While we did our best to maintain some of our home culture's holiday practices, we could not simulate typical American Christmas-time weather. (By far this was the warmest Christmas we have experienced; Adam even got his first ever December sunburn.) We had a Christmas party with our workers (i.e. night guards and nanny) and their families. That was great fun as we had about 30 guests in our house. And guess what? Even Malagasy people like to play Twister. On Christmas day we opened gifts, went to church, then joined the other missionary families here in Antsirabe for lunch, games, and presents. Quite a day!

Language School Fun

We have been in language school for a little over 3 months now, and the difference between when we began and now is amazing. We are learning a lot, but even as we do that, we realize there is so much more to learn. We are still doing 16 hours of school a week with additional study and practice time outside of that. One of the challenges/joys of school is that we have reached the point where we are now taking weekly "field trips" for language practice. Of course, this is challenging because in a lot of cases we are put on the spot by having to talk about ourselves, what we are doing, and then answer all sorts of other questions. But there is great joy in this as well; we have visited a school for the blind two times, an orphanage, and a couple of weeks ago we visited a school for the deaf and mute. Witnessing a blind child read braille or a deaf child accurately read lips is truly a wonder to behold and a beautiful testimony to God's grace. This past week we went to a school and taught from the Bible for the first time in Malagasy (we have separate blog posts describing that experience, go check them out). All that to say, it is a privilege to learn a new language for the purpose of sharing the gospel in another's heart language. It's not easy, but worth it.

Friday Bible Club

In a place like this it doesn't take long for the

neighborhood kids to find the foreigners. About a month ago, some children started hanging out near our house, at first just to see if we would talk to them or not. Not long after that, April invited a few of these children into our front yard to play. Word travels fast when access is gained to the front yard, and soon more and more kids were showing up almost daily, yelling for Emma to come out and play. Those of you who know April are well acquainted with her gracious hospitality, so what was becoming a little overwhelming, that is, having persistent boys and girls stand outside our gate while letting us know clearly that they want in, has become a "Friday Bible Club." Now the kids know that every Friday at 3pm our gate is open for about two hours. We have snacks, crafts, sports (sort of), and a Bible story; this past Friday we had 16 Malagasy children in our front yard. It is amazing to see how content and happy they are with a piece of paper and crayons, especially since most of them don't attend school.

The kids range from 3-12 years old and most of them are extremely dirty, so we make sure they get washed up in our backyard sink while they are here. We have given some of them clothes, but they usually wear the same dirty ones every day and save their new clothes for a "special occasion" even though they would be basic play clothes to us. Of the adults present in their lives, we have only met one grandmother so far. It is very different since they have no adults in sight taking care of them. We sent them home with Malagasy tracts and we pray that they will understand Jesus' sacrifice for them.

Emma and Corinne

Emma is doing much better in homeschooling, although we still have some really challenging days of her missing "a real class" with other students her age. We have greatly enjoyed reading and discussing books together; we read Little House on the Prairie just recently. Emma usually does really well playing with the Malagasy children. Sometimes, though, she gets tired and would rather her play-time be with Corinne only. We are excited because she has learned quite a bit of Malagasy vocabulary. Also, God is really working in Emma's heart (we've had several long conversations about repentance, faith, and following Jesus), but she's not quite ready to give her life to Him. Please pray for Emma to understand God's love more fully, and not to lean on her own understanding.

Corinne is adapting much better now. She's had some hard days of being angry about living in Madagascar, but last night she told us she was getting used to it and that "tomorrow, I think I'll like it." She plays with the Malagasy children some, but at other times she doesn't really want to. Her imagination is growing like crazy. She does great playing with dolls on her own when April is teaching Emma. She and Emma love playing together most of the time and we believe our time here has brought them closer.

Well, that about does it. Two months of life wrapped up in a few short paragraphs. Again, we thank you so much for you prayers. Hopefully we will do a better job in the future of keeping you updated.

--Adam and April