April/May Update

To say that time is moving quickly here in Madagascar would be an understatement. Our last update, which I'm ashamed to say was well over a month ago, had us finishing up language school, preparing for a trip to South Africa, and gearing up for our move to Diego. Well, all of those things have happened, which means I'm happy to say this update is coming from our new home in Diego.

We finished our study of what is referred to as "official Malagasy" on March 22nd. This proved to be a bittersweet time for us; no doubt we were excited to be done with our first five months of language school, but it also marked the end of our time in Antsirabe. There are aspects of Antsirabe that we will miss, especially the great friends we made and the opportunity we had to study language and hang out with the Hailes (precious missionary friends we had seen nearly everyday since the end of last July).

Our language teachers Andry and Madame Lalao

April and I giving our "goodbye speeches" at a local school

After the completion of language school, we spent nearly three weeks in South Africa for a conference held by the organization we work for. We anticipated great things for our time in South Africa, such as a short return to civilization, malls, McDonald's, interstate highways, and most importantly, the opportunity to worship in our heart language. We were not disappointed. However, we were thrown off our plan a bit as we were forced to stay in Johannesburg a week longer than expected because I had to have a follow-up doctor's appointment concerning my back. This pushed our move to Diego back one week, but we did receive good news about my back; the doctor saw no serious issues based on x-rays and mri, but apparently, driving in Africa can cause back pain. Who knew?

Sheer delight

In what was a blur, we returned to Madagascar (April 14; Emma's birthday), packed our belongings over the next few days, and left Antsirabe for Diego on April 23. We drove to the capital city, Antananarivo, stayed overnight there, then for the next two days took in views of Madagascar we had yet to see as we wound our way to Diego. Overall, the drive from Antsirabe took about 21 hours over the course of three days, and we traveled on some of the worst roads I've ever seen. Needless to say, my back was more than a little sore when we arrived in Diego. But we made it, the moving truck made it, and we are pretty settled into our new home.

Scariest bridge I've ever driven on

April and the girls taking a break from the truck.

A Madagascar sunset

To be honest, it's a little hard to believe that we're actually here in Diego, although the heat and wind are good reminders. The beach is a pretty nice indicator, too. We are excited that we have finally joined the other families on our team, the Allens and Berrys, here in northern Madagascar. We look forward to working with them.
 

Didn't take us long to make our way to the beach

The Northern Madagascar Team

We are doing our best to jump right into the work here. I went last week with the Allens to Mahamasina, a village about 2.5 hours south of Diego. There is a small group of believers there that is really close to becoming a church. Michael is teaching core Christian doctrines right now and there are two Malagasy men who have the potential to step up and lead this small group. Hoping and praying they do.

Michael teaching the small group of believers in Mahamasina

April, the girls, and I went to the market last week looking for mosquito nets among other things, and while we were there we met a lady named Isabelle. As usual, she was pretty shocked that a white foreigner knew Malagasy and wanted to converse with her. She stated that she would like to meet with us to study English. This gave us the opportunity to let her know why we are here and to share the gospel with her and the others who were around. She admitted she didn't know the story of Jesus well, so we said we would meet with her to study the Bible and help her with English. April and I met with her last night for the first time, and it was a good time of explaining more about salvation from the Bible and from April sharing her testimony.

The next two weeks we will go through Malagasy cultural immersion. This week we are staying in a tiny hut in Mahamasina, while next week we will stay with a Malagasy family here in Diego. During this time we will get a lot of practice speaking and listening to the northern dialect, plus we have assignments to complete that will clue us in on Malagasy lifestyle, religion, healthcare, politics, etc. We are looking forward to this time of learning.
 

Our home for the next few days

That about does it for now, but we do have some things you can be praying for.

1. The Allens and Berrys, our teammates here in Diego.
2. The small group of believers in Mahamasina.
3. Isabelle, the Malagasy lady we met with last night. Pray that the Spirit would open her heart to receive the Gospel.
4. More missionaries to come to northern Madagascar. Right now, I believe there are 3 "job requests" with our organization here in the north that need to be filled.
5. April and the girls as they continue to homeschool. Corinne now joins the fray as a kindergartner.
6. Our time out this week in Mahamasina and next week with the family here in Diego.
7. Our study of the northern dialect.
8. Wisdom for April and I as we seek God's direction for what is in store for our family after this first term, which ends July, 2013.
9. Pray for us to be filled fresh with the Spirit each day, full of joy, and ready to share the truth about Jesus boldly .