Back to the Bush

Steve leaves today for a week in the bush with Nathan, Doug, & Adam.  Thankfully, due to a change in his school schedule, Brilliant is able to travel with them this week too!  Brilliant has been out with Steve before when the Vansant team was here, and we are looking forward to him going out as much as his schedule will allow.  He has been helping us with the Mahafaly dialect and has become a good national (Malagasy) friend. 

Steve, Nathan, Brilliant, & the Vansant team

The guys will be traveling to Besatra, Kilimary, Tanantsoa, and Andremba.  They will be sharing the next stories in the set for each village.  Please pray for the time set aside to tell these stories.  Pray that those who need to hear will be present.  Pray for clear communication through each of our team members.  Lift up Steve as he is still a "newbie" at sharing the stories among the Mahafaly.  He will be sharing the call of Moses with Andremba.  Thank you for interceding!

Kissing Daddy goodbye :)

Andranahare

"Andranahare" is the word for God in southern dialect.  The exact translation would be "The Prince Who Created".  The Malagasy (and the Mahafaly for that matter) acknowledge who God is...they are aware that He created everything.  However, they do not know who Jesus is. 

Growing up in a Christian home and in "Bible Belt" USA - that still blows my mind.  In my little box, I assume if you know who God is and acknowledge that He is indeed God then how in the world could you NOT know about Jesus?!?!  You can't know about one without knowing about the other.

The sad truth is that it is indeed possible.  We see it everyday.  We are living among a people that seems to not fit in my "little box" that I've categorized things into my whole life.  They believe in God - even the witchdoctors - they just don't believe they have access to Him.  They consult their ancestors, they pray for the spirits to be kind to the harvest, they follow custom after custom that leads them farther into a web of lies.  How great the Deceiver is! 

As I was reading in Isaiah this past week, I came across this verse..."Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living?" (8:19)  It jumped off the page at me.  Should they?  Absolutely not.  Do they?  Absolutely.  They know of nothing else.  They do not know there is a pathway to the Creator.  The Mahafaly do not understand that they can communicate with the Creator instead of just His creation.  They must be told.  They must hear the Truth so that they can believe. 

The exciting thing is when they do hear, they want more.  They are hungry for His words and the freedom that His abundant life brings.  Please pray for His Truth to penetrate the darkness that surrounds them.  Pray that as they hear the stories they will trust in their Creator and ONLY in Him.  Pray.

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.