Listen to Adam and Lora share a message about working among the Antakarana tribe in Madagascar, and about pursuing the work of God and the dreams he’s placed on your heart, even when fruitfulness seems far away.
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We’ve been working on our travel and speaking schedule while here in the US, and we’re excited about all the opportunities that have come up. Read here for an up-to-date list of our travel and speaking schedule while in the US.
Read MoreThis 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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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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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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I knelt down and put my hand on the young boy’s foot, right next to the gaping wound made from an ax that chopped in the wrong direction. I bowed my head, closed my eyes, and asked God to heal the injured boy. When I finished praying, I opened my eyes…
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We had a great meeting this morning with one of our local ministry partners! It was so refreshing to pray and discuss ministry with her because the Holy Spirit has really convicted and taught her things such that we're totally on the same page with our ministry goals and strategies. Being with her and discussing these things together is such a breath of fresh air! We hope to make our first efforts together to reach some of the local Antakarana villages surrounding Ambilobe very soon. We're praying over a list of potential villages and seeking God's leading to know where to begin, so please pray that God will speak clearly and give us one mind about where and how to begin, hopefully starting next week. Also please pray that God would give us more ministry partners that we can be of one mind and heart together with, to see his Kingdom advance among the Antakarana of Madagsacar!
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Maharavoravo maharegny raha karah zegny ai.Mahereza mivavaka fa misy olo agny mitady Zagnahary fa tsy mahay ino atao.Boaka amy vavaka ataonarô Zagnahary Magnano fomba itondrasagna irô olo io magnatogno Izy.
Here's our latest ministry update from Madagascar! In this story I talk about seeing the first signs of success after so many years of working with the same people group - the Antakarana people of northern Madagascar. I also talk about how to overcome some overlooked obstacles that the church has had in the past when trying to reach this people group. You might find something to learn or consider in my story. Or at the very least, you can praise God with me for these first positive results!
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A Sprout of Hope | Madagascar Missions
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When you bury a seed, it's always a gamble. It may take weeks, months, or even years before it germinates... Finally, we've begun to see some positive results!Amen to that thanks be to God for the work you do for the Kingdom of God bless you & your family in Jesus name
Praise The Lord !
Please pray urgently for Ambilobe and the people here. There's a big mob growing in town, trying to enact some "community justice" against a murder that happened here in town last night. They're currently in a standoff with the police/military. They closed all the schools early, in hopes that children can get home before the situation escalates, and all the market sellers have fled the market also.
The murderer was caught and was supposed to be sent to another town, but the victim's family wanted to get their own justice. So they called together relatives and friends from far and wide until now it's a very large mob formed. The police and military personnel have also been called in from the surrounding area to deal with the mob, and by now we've heard at least a dozen gunshots. There are many rumors going around, but people say that looting has already begun (particularly against those shop-owners who are from the tribal groups in the highlands) and that at least one member of the crowd has been shot. We really don't know the current situation, but we're staying home and away from the main roads. We should be completely safe here.
Please pray for peace, for supernatural protection of everyone involved, and for order to be quickly returned. Pray that justice would grow in Madagascar, and that both the people and the authorities would be able to trust each other that they're seeking justice and the best interests of everyone involved. God help the people here.
We just heard an update from someone who was down on the main roads with the crowds. The mob apparently burnt down two police vehicles. They've also barricaded all the main roads in/out of town and say they won't let any more police or armed forces in until the accused murderer is given to them (so they can kill him). They say that a few people have been shot by now, but apparently none of the injuries seemed to be life-threatening. People are still debating on whether or not the accused murderer is even still here in town - some say he's already been taken to the other town, some say he's still here. If he's already been taken away though, I don't see this mob situation ending any time soon. If he's still here, I think eventually he'll be given up to the mob. We haven't heard any gunshots for a few hours now - at that time it was just a few far off and a few much nearer by. Apparently the situation still isn't resolved. Please keep praying!
So, we've got quite a bit of an update today (though we're not entirely sure how much of it is rumors and how much is exactly true). The thing that's for sure though and great news is that the big conflict between the crowd/mob and the police/authorities is finished for now. It finished sometime yesterday afternoon. No one is sure how many people were shot, but it sounds like for sure no one was shot badly (no deaths) and maybe there were 1-2 shot in the leg or somewhere with minor injuries. Apparently the governor of the province came out to talk with the crowd. The crowd demanded justice, they asked for the investigation to be carried out quickly, and for the man's accomplices to also be found. We've heard different stories about where the court case will be (because there's no court here in Ambilobe), but it sounds like the crowd is hoping/expecting that when the court case is finished, the guilty person will be brought back to them so they can kill him. That doesn't sound (to me) like it's likely to happen, but who knows. The governor told everyone to calm things down again so kids can go back to school and the markets can start selling again, etc. Some schools were back in session today and the market was mostly open as well (though the trouble yesterday meant some produce wasn't available again yet). According to more details we've received today (who knows the full truth of these details?), this man was apparently some sort of serial killer/kidnapper. The new story we heard is that it *wasn't* the police who investigated and arrested him, but some local people went and found and caught the guy. Apparently when they caught him he told the crowd that he's already killed/kidnapped 9 people (including some children). Then, when they caught him, the police heard about it and went and took him from the crowd (and sent him off to another town). Regarding his criminal history, apparently in the past, others have plead guilty on his behalf, apparently because he paid them? People are saying he's probably been paying off the police too. It's important to remember that these are all second- or third-hand tellings (i.e. rumor) and we have no idea of the truth of it all. But the stories going around are that this man has been doing this a lot in this area for going on 5 years or so, that this particular murder wasn't just a murder but *really* nasty and sickening the way he did it, and that the police haven't tried to stop him because of corruption, etc. So, we don't know how many of these details are true, but we know these are the general sentiments of the people going around. To me, this means that depending on the outcome of the case, and whether they catch and investigate his supposed accomplices, it's possible that there could be some protests again in the future. Our good friend telling us all of this thinks there probably won't be though, and she should have a better feel on it all than we do, so we hope that's true. Anyway, we want to thank all of you so much for your prayers! Please keep praying for justice to be done in Madagascar, for peace to return to the people, and above all for them to know the true peace and love of Jesus. Pray that through this we would also have some special opportunities to pray with people and share more about who Jesus is. Thank you!
There are so many rumors going around that we don't know the real facts about the situation. People are saying that the murderer actually killed a pregnant woman, took the baby from her belly, and took her eyeballs as well. (This story is consistent with everyone so far.) People say that presumably the murderer did that because someone asked for those body parts and that they want to purchase them. No one has yet said *who* might want to actually do that, and no one believes that anyone here in Ambilobe is the person who purchases those sort of body parts. So this part of the story is very strange. Some people are saying that the accused murderer has already been sent to the other city, some people are saying that he hasn't been sent away yet. In Madagascar, people are usually quickly aware of *who* is doing *what* crime (because it's so much harder to keep things secret and private here, due to the strongly community-centered nature of life). But there's certainly a chance that it's the wrong person that the police caught and that the mob is seeking to kill. Regardless, pray for everyone's lives and safety, for people to truly trust God to bring justice, and for people to work peacefully towards justice for everyone.
A big very heavy rainstorm just swept through. Let's hope that if there was anyone still there in the mob, that this would have scattered them.
Praying for all involved and for your family’s safety!
Heard about it in early morning. Praying for you and all people there to be safe and for calm to be back. God protect you
Hope so!! God's response to our prayers. We keep praying
Have a look at the Infoseg com's page. It is the official information from the gendarmerie
In today's midi Madagasikara
Praying for you
I had a good time with the people in the Bible study at the prison again today. We only had 4 other people today (not including the prison guard) because several of the others were apparently away, but I didn't quite understand why. However, with the small group size I felt like we were all able to connect more personally, both to the story (the story of Abraham) and to each other.
A couple people mentioned that, as they were faithful to seek out God regularly over the previous week, they really noticed a positive difference in their own personal lives. One young man mentioned that he was struggling with a personal issue, but as he asked God for strength to handle it, he felt like God responded and strengthened him. I noticed more overall eagerness in those present today, even from one of the men who's still too shy to speak up about much of anything other than simple agreement with everyone else.
I also had the chance to share a few personal testimonies that related to the story. And we were able to talk about the long-term goal of those who were there being able to make disciples of others when they finally have a chance to leave prison. And since many were missing from the Bible study today, I was able to challenge those there to share the Bible story with those who weren't present. (This is a regular part of the "discovery Bible study" format, but for those in prison, they don't usually see other people to share with during the week. So this actually presented a great opportunity for them to practice this aspect.) They all agreed that it would be great to go over the story more for themselves and then share it with those who were absent. I also asked the attendees which tribal groups they're from - the lady was a Tsimihety lady and the men were all Antakarana (our target people group).
Overall, I really enjoyed the time there today and I feel like we're making some positive progress together, that God is moving in their lives! The pictures below are of the prison and grounds (none of the prisoners wanted to be in the photos). There's also a photo of a couple of kids who live there at the prison together with a relative who works there, and the man in the picture is the main prison guard - a very friendly guy who's very supportive of the Bible study times. He gave me a ride back on his motorbike! You can also read the picture captions for a few more details.
We had a good time meeting at the prison here in town again today, discussing the next Bible story in the set that we have translated into the local language. We were happy to hear a couple of the participants share openly about their efforts and their struggles with following God during the past week.
Many of the people showed a lot of spiritual hunger today, though several were strongly hoping we would give them some sort of quick fix solution, some spiritual act that we could do for them. After some discussion, we let them know that we don't have any quick fixes to offer them, that discipleship is something one pursues directly with God and that no other person can truly meet their spiritual needs for them. We also explained how the work that God does in an individual's life is often one of slow incremental growth, as long as the person is continuing to trust God and return to him for their needs.
We used the story we shared today to explain how ever since mankind first became separated from God, God has been working to restore their relationship... and so far he has spent many thousands of years doing it. All during this time he has been speaking to people, if they would listen to his voice and obey him. And through that, God has continued his work in the world for many thousands of years. So I encouraged each of them to accept and to trust what they've received from God so far, to directly ask him for anything else they lack, and to obey everything he speaks to them. It may not usually be fast, but it's the only way to follow God - to follow him faithfully in what he's given us so far. Then God will be the one to make us grow, not any other person who tries to speed it up.
Most of them seem like they're willing to give it more time, to keep seeking after God, and they invited us to continue coming to share more every week.
