the word from Madagascar

Hi Everyone,
Well I returned to semi civilization yesterday, and wanted to send
you an update of whats been going on here in the bush. This past two
weeks I have been in a little village called Ampasamazava with the
half of the team I was not with on my first trip to the bush. Our
team had a really intense time there, we were the first team from
outside ever to visit their village, and the few people who call themselves Christians really had very little of an idea what that
means. We spent a lot of time with them, teaching how to study the
Bible, answering questions like what is prayer and how does a person
come to faith in Jesus. We were able to get a lot of that sort of
thing done, and Gods revelation in that place is growing as the
believers there now understand that God wants to speak to them through
his word.
We were able to set up some church services in the school building
the two sundays we were there. The first time we ran the whole
service, and the second time we included the potental future leaders
in doing some of the things like bible reading and childrens ministry,
the chuch there still has a long way to go but we saw tremendous
growth in the 10 days we were there. One of the biggest trials for
the church in the bush is syncretism. This is where the christians
begin to incorporate parts of their old religon, anamism, into
christianity. We spent a good ammount of time combating that,
teaching and instructing in what the bible says about ancestor worship
and sacrafice and the practices of witch doctors.
One story about that: after our first sunday service we had a meal
with three of the Christian families and a few other men who had come
to the Bible studies of the week before. As we were taking it became
very clear that they were excited about the fact we were praying for
the sick, and they had seen people bee healed, they were really
convinced that this would bring the rest of the village to Christ. In
My spirit I was concerned at this point and God gave me a word to
share about the difference between belief in miracles and faith in who
God is. The main point of this message was that you cant build a
church on belief in miracles, and that God judges our faith in the
times we dont see those things happening, but must still trust in his
character, and who his word says he is. I was a little suprised at
this word because I was really excited to see miracles too, but I
realized this would be a dangerous foundation for a church with so
many recently broken ties to animism.
At the conclusion of this message we had a prayer time, and one of
the elders began to weep and cry out to God and tear at his clothes as
he fell on his knees. We were all really suprised at this because we
had been warned that the Madagassi people dont really show emotion a
lot, and up to this point what we had seen was consistant with that.
But this guy was really distressed, and with translation he told us he
was repenting because after the bible study on friday, he had gone to
the witch doctor for a fetish or a charm because his wife had left him
last week because he was an alcholic and he thought this charm would
get her back. After the sunday service he felt condemnation about
what he had done, and said that the fetish he got required blood, and
he was upset because he thought someone now must die because of what
he had done.
He then decided, sunday afternoon, that he would kill himself,
because he didnt want someone else to die for that sin, so he came to
the sunday evening meal having written a suicide letter; and intending
to kill himself afterwards. But during our conversation the Holy
spirit convicted him, and after he confessed we were able to share
with him about forgiveness, about the fact that Jesus already died for
his sin, to pray with him for forgiveness and for Gods spirit to be
with him in overcoming this area.
Thank you all so much for your prayers as they are felt in very real ways here in Madagascar. Never in my life have I lived in a place where the reality of spiritual warefare is so close, and a battle that is constantly raging for the souls of the
people of this country. The enemy is furious about what God is doing
here; but by the authority of Jesus christ he is powerless against us.
I do want to let you know that the group I was not with this time,
which my brother Jason is part of, came under some spiritual attack
they were not prepaired to deal with in their last few days in the
bush. We had some debriefing and prayer meeting times yesterday
however, and It was amazing to see the Holy Spirit strip the lies away
from what they thought was going on in the village of Antikafk. The
devil was robbed of all victory yesterday, and I believe each student
came away froml our debrief time with a new awareness of the reality
of spiritual warefare; and some solid, biblically grounded knowledge
of the enemy and his strategies.
One more story. In the village I was in, I was able to talk with
the village elder, the oldest man in the village who has a lot of
authority in the tribal system. We talked about Gods word, and he
said he had read some of the bible; and knew what christianity was
about, he even liked what he understood but said he could not be a
christian because he was responsible as the elder to uphold the
Madagassi traditions; and that it was impossible to do that and follow
the bible. I aksed him why he thought that, and he told me that the
ancestors are very important in Madagassi culture; that many people
even worship them, and the bible doesnt leave room for the ancestors.
I showed him Jesus geneologies in Matthew and Luke; and explained
that in the culture Jesus came from; who your ancestors were was maybe
even more important than in the Madagassi culture. I was able to
share with him that these geneologies showed respect for ancestors;
and the one in Matthew even goes back to the first man on earth; and
the creator God; who is the final person in this geneology. I also
shared the passage which says worship the Lord your God and serve him
only. I believe he really understood Christianity in a new way after
that, he asked several questions and has now started coming to
church. I dont know exactly how much influence this will have on the
rest of the village; but praise God; the creator of all cultures; who
bridged the gap in understaning in this mans life to reach into his
heart. Have a great week everyone,
In Christ,
Andrew

News from the bush

Hey Hey,
so we are back from our first stint in the bush, In Tamatave for
the next three days and wanted to send out an update / praise report
before next year. Our time in the bush has been incredible, we
absolutely felt the effects of your prayers as we were able to witness
in two different villages, encourage believers, teach the word, pray
for the sick and start a new church in the village of Ambodiambolo, at
least the villages name sounds like that.
An interesting observation I made during this weeks travels is that
the bridge situation in Madagascar is very similar to that of
Landenberg, for those of you not from Landenberg that means half the
bridges are closed and dont work, and the other half arent there all
of the time. Every few kilometers of driving into the bush we would
literally have to get out of our bush taxi, a pick up truck with
benches in the back, rebuild a broken down old bridge, then cross
over, watching the bridge we made fall apart again behind us. We had
one popped tire in our travels, but other than that everything went
really well.
Some interesting, and unexpected, highlights: 1. Cooking the
Christmas goose, lacking any meat for a Christmas meal, I sent Jason
and Cedric out to forrage, they returned with a rather tasty looking
goose, and I had to um... kill it, clean it and cook it over a coal
fire. Add some homemade bbq sauce made from wild honey harvested from
our neighbors bee hives, fresh fruit and vegitables and the ever
present side of rice, and it was quite the feast. 2. Being part of an
all night Christmas eve service in the village church. Each of us
shared pretty much everything we could think of remotely related to
Christmas and Jesus birth once we realized it was going to be a 10
hour meeting from sunset to sunrise, but we still had plenty of time
to learn some Madagassi praise and worship songs. 3. Planting a
church in the next village a few Km. down the road. Through the week
we visited a second village, encouraging the few christians to start a
church in their own village, they had been walking to our village for
church before. We did some evangelism there as well and friday we had
a worship and planning meeting with around 20 people who wanted to see
a church started in their village: 4. Fording a swolen jungle river
to do the first church service at Ambodiambolo. Friday when we went
to the planning meeting, the water in the little creek was barely up
to our knees. After heavy rain saturday, it looked like a completely
different river Sunday morning, and the muddy current came up to our
chests as we went across, holding dry clothes to preach in over our
heads. Im really glad to say this river is known to have crocodiles,
but unfortunately I have to admit the part of the river we were in
evidently doesnt really appeal to them... I guess thats a good thing.
Anyway, there were 35 people at the first church service in that
village, and they were all pretty amawed that a couple of Vazas, white
people, crossed the flooded river to do the service 5. Seeing the lame
walk. Friday at our church planning meeting we had a prayer time for
the sick. A little boy was carried up to the front, he had what
appeared to be a deformed hip, and couldnt walk at all or even stand
on that leg. Sunday morning he came to our church service walking on
his own. I still dont have an exclamation button, shane sent me one
to copy but I forgot; but I would have put one there if I could. Have
a wonderful new year everyone; God bless; and everyone at my parents
house tonight, I hopê they read this and say hello to you all. Miss
you all very much and looking forward to seeing you after my time
here,
In Christ,
Andrew