March Update

Hi everyone. Thank you so much for your much needed prayers. Here's a little update about what's going on with us.

What we've realized over five months is that daily life here is rewarding but also very draining at times. There are needs all around us...spiritual and physical. However, I can tell you that God's strength and peace have been so evident in our lives. Before our arrival in Madagascar, I definitely had moments of wondering how I would do being surrounded by so many needy people. I really struggle sometimes with the hard things of this world like poverty and disease, but I am truly thankful to the Lord that He has given me everything I've needed to handle these situations well.

This past month has been good as we've focused on language a lot and have been practicing more and more since we finished up grammar a couple of weeks ago. Yea!! We got to go share our testimony at the same school we taught at last month. Adam and I both shared with two classes of 60-80 kids each. They seemed to understand us and we answered some questions, at least we think we did. We are so thankful for these opportunities to share even though they seem so overwhelming when we are preparing. A lot of the time we feel like we aren't ready, but we know He can speak clearly even when we mess up and we know His strength is made perfect in our weakness.

Adam and Adam Hailes (our missionary friend going to Tulear when done with language school) have been doing a bible study with Andry, one of our language teachers. This has been a great time for all of them, both for language practice and for discipleship. Suzie Hailes (Adam Hailes' wife) and I have begun having a bible study with Andry's wife and her friend. At first, we felt a little apprehensive about this because the biblical language is even more challenging with so many words we still need to learn and we are really busy with all we do. Andry and his wife truly desire to learn and grow while we are here, so we are trying. We are excited about their dedication and desire to learn the Bible.

We had two "Friday Clubs" during February. We discussed salvation one week and this week I shared my testimony and talked more about salvation. They listened really well and I pray God is speaking to them through the time we have. They love playing here with Emma and Corinne, and we enjoy them as well.

We have visited a Catholic school and orphanage with our language teacher a couple of times now. It is heartbreaking in some respects because all the kids there are really poor. The kids who live there have no family or family too poor to care for them. We would've taken one little boy home if we could have. He was so precious. He is 1 1/2 years old, but he's still the size of a 6 month old; we are sure he has some sort of physical problem, although we don't know what. Usually, the kids live there until they are around 5-6 and then go live with extended family or in a government orphanage. They were at least clean, well fed, and appeared to be well cared for. While there, we talked to the older kids as they played games. Other trips include visits to a soap maker (nothing like U.S. soap and it doesn't smell like it would make you clean), a pousse-pousse maker, and a scale maker, which is all a part of our language school and practice.

We will be going to South Africa at the end of this month for a meeting with all the Sub-Saharan African missionaries. We will be there for about 1 1/2 weeks, return to Antsirabe, pack up our belongings, and move to Diego on April 16th. Our schedule is as full as we want it to be right now, but we are excited to begin the work in the area we came to serve.

Please pray for :

-us to finish strong in our language studies so that we can communicate God's love well.

-the girls' continued adjustment here and adjusting to a new place soon.

-our supervisors, Michael and Michelle Allen as they train us and share God's love in Diego.

-the Berry family (Andy, Christina, Walker, and Delaney) with whom we will also be working in Diego.

-Andry, Zoe and their children as they seek to grow in their knowledge of and love for Jesus and His Word.

-the neighborhood kids we see often and share with about Jesus.

-the government of Madagascar as it is corrupt and there are so many very poor, jobless people.

Praise God for:

-His provision of grace, strength and peace for us.

-how far we've come in the Malagasy language.

-how we've all adjusted to live in Mada so far.

-new friends we've made so.
-the opportunity to share God's love this month.

--April