A Light In the Darkness
Our headlady told us about the time the spirits which possess her forced her to run halfway across the island on swollen knees, running so fast that no one could catch her, then made her crawl around on all fours and start acting like a cow.
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VIDEO: On Distant Shores
This video is about our ongoing mission to reach the Antakarana people of Madagascar. It showcases the lifestyle of the Antakarana on Nosy Mitsio, their religious beliefs and rituals, and our team’s efforts at church-planting among them.
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Visiting the US Next Year!
That’s what our last few years have been like here on Nosy Mitsio: exciting! Challenging! Full of promise, hope, struggles, loss, and gain. In it all we see God at work. He’s maintained us, given us strength and perseverance when we’ve needed it most, and he’s opened our eyes to see…
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PHOTOS: Our Team Arrives on Nosy Mitsio! Nov 2014 – June 2015
In November 2014, our team finally arrived to join us on Nosy Mitsio, Madagascar! Here are photos of their first 8 months in Madagascar, activities and learning as a team, a Malagasy “rodeo”, a local funeral, a couple med-evac’s, and more. 110 photos
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Firm Foundations
As I was guiding our boat to shore, the passengers started pointing towards our village and shouting out, “what’s that?” “What happened!?” “Something looks wrong!” Rising from the ground next to our house was the peak of a roof…
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David Immanuel Willard is Here!
David Immanuel Willard has made his grand entrance! Born on Dec 6th at 3:17 am in Pretoria, South Africa (7:17 pm Dec 5th, CST), weighing 7.6 lbs. and 21 in. long, he’s a sight to behold!
Read MoreVIDEO: Nosy Mitsio | 001
A short video introducing the Antakarana people, our team, and our work on Nosy Mitsio. All the footage is of the Antakarana people. This video was made by Tori Alverson, an AIM TIMO member from the nearby island of Nosy Be where she worked among the Sakalava people.
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As a Child
Can you imagine being born again? Everything you see is for the first time. The world is bright and the sights are strange. Everyone’s talking at you and they’re clearly excited to see you, but none of it makes sense: it all just sounds like gibberish…
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PHOTOS: Living Life on Nosy Mitsio, Dec 2013 – Nov 2014
These are all the photos since we found and purchased our team boat (Dec 2013), finished building and stocking all the homes of our team members, and went to Tana to pick them up in Nov 2014. During that whole time, we continued learning language, building relationships, getting used to life on Nosy Mitsio, and just getting ready for our team’s arrival. 153 photos
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Latest News
We enjoyed taking the "Missionary Care Foundations Course" for the last few weeks here at YWAM Worcester. We think that what we learned and discussed will be really helpful for us with future teams in Madagascar!
Proud to have our son, Matimu, lead our family in our "discovery Bible study" this morning! He chose to study Jesus's resurrection in Luke's Gospel (23:55 - 24:12), which is of course appropriate as we anticipate Easter next weekend. (Though I don't think Matimu is really aware Easter is next weekend, nor which particular event it signifies - so what a happy coincidence!)
The line that really stuck out to us today was from verse 5, "Why do you look for the living among the dead?" We often get caught up in the grief of past injuries and deaths, so much so that we can even forget the incredible promises that Jesus made in the midst of them. Yet our God is alive! Even in horrible deaths and betrayals, he works his resurrection power, bringing a new life that far outshines the pain that came before. So why do we keep looking back to that place of death? Let us instead look and see what God has made alive!
I had an awesome week at the global YWAM Frontier Missions regional leaders' conference! It was our first time to be at a gathering like this and it was so encouraging to be with people who share with us the same passion for reaching the unreached and the same vision for seeing disciples and churches multiplied among them. We had so many great times of prayer and fellowship and discussion and feedback with one another.
Many of you know that we've been discouraged lately with the circumstances of the work in northern Madagascar and we've felt very much alone in our efforts. But being with our co-workers in YWAM Frontier Missions this past week has helped us see that we're not at all alone (even if we're often distant from others) and we can see that God is doing amazing works around the world! We also learned that it's not uncommon for many places and people groups to take many many years (many more years than we've already invested) of difficult work and perseverance before disciple-making movements can begin, yet God is faithful! So it's been so encouraging for us!
It was also my privilege to serve at the conference by being the primary driver for taking people to/from the airport, and to/from the conference facilities each day. During the last 9 days I drove over 2,200 km (1,350 miles)! And I was still able to participate in all the meetings and group sessions each day (and Lora Willard and the kids were able to join me for the last few days). So it was a very full week, but very much worth it! God is blessing us in this time!
So glad you're getting the encouragement you need. Blessings to you and your family.
Was an amazing time!
Amen
We had a really great time at the staff conference this week at YWAM Worcester! It was so refreshing to hear from others who've been led by God to pioneer new ministries in very challenging and sometimes dangerous situations, to hear of their perseverance and God's faithfulness to them and through them, and to hear about the principles and truths that God has taught them throughout it all. Much of it were things we've also learned over the last 5 years or so, but it was so great to also hear it from others, and to hear of the great results that God eventually accomplished through them, and to be encouraged to keep moving forward ourselves.
And this coming week I'm very excited to help support the global YWAM Frontier Missions regional leaders conference! It will be full of people whose passion and efforts are specifically geared towards reaching unreached people groups all around the world and who use the same sort of strategies and who have the same vision we do. I've already met a few of them and they've been super kind, and it's already been similarly refreshing to hear their stories of hardship, perseverance, and God's faithfulness. So I imagine a whole week with them will be awesome! Please pray for Lora and the kids though while I'll be gone for a week, because they aren't able to come with me this time.
This is an *excellent* article about fully discipling our children, and considering what that means even when following Jesus is hard.
Out of the few articles I've read that have considered similar topics, this is probably the best I've read. And though the writer is living in the US and not talking about overseas missions, her principles and practices still apply to us pretty much exactly the same.
If you have kids that you want to raise to follow Jesus, or if you ever consider what it means to "involve kids in ministry" (whether you think that might be positive or negative), then you should definitely read this!
www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/kids-must-count-cost/
thegospelcoalition.org
If we protect our kids from carrying crosses, we are stumbling blocks to them finding life in Christ.
Good evening, I would to find out how one can get in touch with you concerning your ministry