Children of God
Our children have become some of the regular village kids. They squat nearby as they watch a man build his canoe. They gather in the crowded cooking hut with all the other village kids to eat a plate of rice and sour mango salad…
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Our Double Lives
Where we are now is about as close as we can come to being on the exact opposite side of the world from where we were just a month ago. Sometimes that’s what it can feel like, going from one side of the planet to the other – like we’re standing upside down…
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Treasure
How could I take a 9-month-old, and a 2 ½-year-old and a 4-year-old to a place where they could get sick or hurt and be days away from medical care? A place with no schools, where my wife and I would have to struggle to educate them, where they would be exposed to demonic activity and where child trafficking happens? I was ashamed of myself that I was not strong enough to pay that price.
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Traveling in the US
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.
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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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New Life
And so begins our bold ministry to the Antakarana. Whether working in the rice fields, sitting on our porches or fishing, we will speak of the God of creation and boast of him in all that we do, lifting up prayers and thanks to him as our friends watch and see that he is a part of every aspect of our lives.
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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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The Mess of Life
It’s quiet here, nothing but the sound of light waves hitting the shore. Everybody’s gone to a spirit possession ceremony and party. Apparently the spirit of someone’s grandfather is sitting inside of her and has made her sick for two years. The spirit needs to be called out so it…
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His Only Son
At the bottom of the first five steps of our outdoor stairway, Matimu was laying, toppled over under his walker. He had just started to cry. Lora got there first and picked him up, but I was the first to see the blood pouring out of his mouth, dripping on the ground. I grabbed Matimu from Lora and started running…
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Latest News
We had a very fun experience yesterday! A man we met at a local church last weekend is in charge of hosting a weekly English teaching kids' show for the Madagascar national television station. He asked Matimu to come be a guest on the show and to help teach some lessons. So yesterday we went downtown to the school where he teaches and records the videos. It was mostly improv and Matimu did a great job! They recorded about 6 short episodes during that time, and Lora, David, and I even made a quick appearance on the last episode. The production quality seemed a bit low, but it'll still be a lot of fun to watch Matimu on national TV here. The episodes with Matimu will begin airing next week (Wed at 4:30pm with a rerun every Sat at 4:30pm) on the Malagasy National TV station (TVM), and should run for about 5-6 weeks. Matimu was very excited to be on TV and it was a fun experience for all of us. (While Matimu was filming and I was watching, Lora was having a Q&A with the older students from one of the classes... we can see that the quality of English teaching at this school is really good!) Now we just need to find some friends here with a TV, so we can watch the show when it first airs!
(And if you're friends of ours in Madagascar, even a different part of the country, and you have a TV, you should really try to watch this sometime when it airs! Matimu would love to hear that you saw him on TV!)
We've made it safely to Madagascar! About 19-20 hrs total, definitely our quickest flight ever. We arrived yesterday afternoon (local time) and it was a safe and smooth trip, so thank you to all of you for your prayers. Most of us have some jetlag to get over, but we hope it'll be a quick transition. We plan to stay here in the capital until we receive our visas, which we hope will only take 2-3 weeks (the process lately has been much faster than in the past). So please pray that it's finished quickly, with no unfortunate surprises, so that we can return to the north and get resettled there.
We had a great time in DC (and a short visit to NYC) this week. And we also loved the time we spent this week with our friend's family and we were blessed by their very generous hospitality. Now we're waiting at the airport and ready to leave for Madagascar again! Please pray for us for safe and smooth travel and for a breakthrough in reaching the Antakarana people.
Safe travels, you guys - it was so super-great to see you while you were here!
🙏 for your travels and for getting settled back into your Madagascar home! We’re so thankful that we crossed paths with you this summer!
Safe travels and blessings to you and your family.
Safe travels!! 🙏🏼
Tongava soa indray !
Soava dia!
We're headed to DC this morning! Looking forward to seeing an old friend and his family and to visiting and sharing with Parkway Bible Church. Of course, it'll also be a fun opportunity for us and our boys to do some sight-seeing around the nation's capital. We'll have about a week there before finally returning to Madagascar (flying direct from DC). We're excited about the good times ahead!
God bless you guys. We will keep you in our prayers. Safe travels
This is one of my all-time favorite photos I've ever taken in Madagascar, near the village where we worked on the east coast, about a year after we first moved to Madagascar. Looking forward to being back in Madagascar in just a few weeks!Leaving the village of Antenina at 6:30am yesterday. This is the river where we'd go to collect our water and bathe every day and wash our clothes. A beautiful place! (The village is off to the right.)