SouthBridge Update

Well, the Southbridge Team has come and gone - but we are so thankful for their coming!!  This was a partner church with our supervisors, the Wallers.  They have made several trips out to the red island and we were grateful for the opportunity to meet them this year!  Steve (along with many other members of our team) went out with them to help with translating and such.  It was a really great time for Steve to see how teams can be used effectively in the bush and will hopefully provide a lot of insight for future teams who are wanting to partner with us in bush ministry.

The team spent the majority of their time out in the bush. They split the week up doing 2 days worth of teachings in three different villages.  The team did a fantastic job.  Their teachings focused on medical care, leadership, agriculture, and the book of James.  In each village they met with the elders and other men and women to discuss the topics and hopefully change the daily and eternal lives of the Mahafaly. 

Kelly, the PA that came, taught on what symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke looked like.  She also made "hut to hut" visits with Tessa to see different people with various illnesses.  Many opportunities were presented to pray over the sick.  In the village of Kilimary, she visited with two that were sick.  The first one was an older woman who had to have help to even sit up in bed.  The second was a baby boy who had an extremely high fever.  They were both prayed over before the team left for the evening.  The following night Steve spent the night in Kilimary.  He and the others who were staying the night there asked how the two who were sick were doing.  They were told they had been healed.  The woman had been up, moving around on her own, and even cooking all day.  The baby boy's fever was gone.  PRAISE HIM!!  He is the Great Physician!!

Michael, Kelly's husband, brought new seeds for them to try in their fields.  The seeds were for a type of tree that thrives in hot & sandy areas that also provides food.  He also taught them about how to use fertilizer and the benefits of doing so.

The team taught on seeking wisdom as King Solomon did when they are in a leadership position. Through teaching on this, we were able to gain a lot of cultural insight into how leadership works in a village.  Their Bible study focused on faith and deeds using James as a base to study from. 

All of the information was well taken and the villages were very responsive to the teachings. There was great dialogue about what was being learned and good questions were asked. Overall, the villages learned a great deal of new information and it strengthened their relationship with the Southbridge and Southwest team.