Last update from Madagascar

Well our time in the bush is offically over. This past 10 days has
been incredible. We had a week in the Bush; followed by an amazing
team debrief time on the Island of Santa Marie. Through a long and
complex series of events, Jason, Cedric and myself, along with our
translator Theo, were by ourselves in the bush... and we felt God was
telling us to do some trecking. So we found out about nearbye
villages without churches, sent letters telling them we were coming;
and journeyed into the bush to villages that no white person has been
to before, or so they told us. We did evangelism, testimonies from
our lives, stories from the bible and played a few games of soccer
while managing to travel about 75 Kilometers, by foot, in 5 days.
46 people prayed to recieve Jesus, and the villlage we visited
farthest away from civilization was planning on starting a church
after we shared with them. We were not around sunday to see how that
went, but you can be praying for the village; which name translated
means village of many stones, which has 46 new believers, and
hopefully a new church. Pray that many stones would become living
stones through the work that the Holy spirit is doing there. We also
were able to preach again in the village we planted a church the first
week. Saw some new faces, and some friends, and I think the church
was really encouraged to see us again. That is the same village the
lame boy was healed last month, he came running out to meet us, no
trace of a limp or deformation or anything, God is amazing.
Thursday we met the rest of the team, along with Pierre; our
schools co leader. We took a bush taxi, then a boat to the Island of
Santa Marie; which you all should google right now and see pictures
because it is amazing. We had three days of really nice weather; and
great teambuilding and fellowship time, snorkeling, fishing, hiking,
visiting pirate graveyards... you know. Our day of departure turned
out to be a hurricane, the boat was canceled and we were stuck for an
extra day; watching the rain come down in sheets. The next day the
boat was in danger of being canceled again, and it eventually was, so
we ended up getting on a little puddle jumper plane and flying back to
Tamatave so we wouldnt miss our departure arrangements. So, a little
crazy, a little hecktic, but God is good and we are on our way. God
bless you guys, thanks for all the prayers, remember us as we have a
day of car travel, a day of plane travel and a day of train travel
still ahead of us before we reach burtigny.
Andrew

Another day another story

Dear friends,
Well our third trip to the bush has been fantastic, We got to go
back to the village where we had planted a church on our first visit,
and really worked on some discipleship and relationship building with
the Christians there. Being back with the English speaking team was
great... dont know why that is. The part of the team Ive been with
for the past 10 days had experienced some spiritual attack the week
before, and some of our mornings were devoted to processing that; in
bible study; prayer and worship, but I saw the students all grow so
much through those times, and they were able to take what they are
learning and apply it in discipling others.
Much of our ministry has been relational, as we invite people to
our house for meals, and bible studies; as well as visiting them in
their own homes. We were able to do church services both in the
church in the villge we have been staying at, and the new church plant
in the village across the river. In our team, I would lead the group
in morning devotions and bible study; then in the afternoons the
students would take turns leading bible studies for the believers
there. We were also able to do some ministry with the children as
well as the youth there, hosting a soccer game and then sharing
testimonies afterwards.
On the days we would go to visit peple in their houses; sometimes
we would visit christians, encouraging and praying for them. We saw
several people get healed, children with malaria symptoms and one of
the village elders, who had been sick the week before we came. We
were also able to speak with an old man who has been a witch doctor in
the village for 10 years. We shared with him the gospel message, and
got to pray with him, as he renounced witchcraft and gave his heart to
Jesus. He has started coming to church, and also attended some of the
bible studies we had for adults. Praise God,
I dont think I have ever written a more sparatic update before. I
dont know exactly what is going on; but I am finidng it extremely
difficult to think in a linear progression, or produce a written
report that reflects such thought, hope you like the attempt. Please
keep us in your prayers as we finish our time in Madagascar these next
two weeks. Pray that we would finish strong in the work God has
called us here to do. Pray for continued health for everyone here on
the team and pray for continued good weather. There was supposed to be
a Typhoon here this week; but one of you must have been praying
because it shrunk... into a low pressure zone, and passed us to the
south. Hope you all are having a great winter. Its about 95 degrees
here. Love In Christ,
Andrew