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His Work Go ... and make disciples of all nations Matthew 28:19 |
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Volume
22, Number 2 |
February 2008 |
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The Barry Rosie family
have worked on the mission field in Africa for more than 23 years under the
oversight of the: |
Fraley’s Chapel |
Elders Mike Whitehurst -
662-287-7631 |
Doing Good to Others
“And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. . . . But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great” Luke 6:33, 35
I am sure many of us remember the old adage that says, “You scratch my back and I’ll scratch your back”. We can look at this as cooperation, but we can also look at is as saying, “You do something good for me and I’ll return the favor”. I have seen this happen many times over in the developing world. Many times as a family we were invited to someone’s home for a meal. Upon arriving and eating the meal there was often a request that was forthcoming from the family that invited us to eat with them. They are saying, “We have fed you now grant us our request”. Most of the time there seems to be an angle or motive for what someone does for another person. If help cannot be provided by a person, then there is no reason to invite that person into your home.
I know this sounds rather harsh (please bear with me here), but in reality it happens every day. Many times people have an ulterior motive for being in a relationship with another person. People are always looking to get ahead or looking out for themselves. If you agree to help them get ahead then all the better for them, if not, then they will look elsewhere for the help they require. In a developing world setting the things that are sought after are many times just the basic necessities of life. Such as: food, clothing, medical care, or some type of job to help the person or family. However, if these things are not provided by the missionary, or the local church, then families move on to other congregations or denominations seeking whoever will provide for their basic daily physical needs.
In the United States many of these same basic necessities are coveted. But many times we do things for better pay, a closer relationship with the boss, or to “keep up with the Jones’, as the expression goes. For instance, have you ever heard anyone say that they really do not want to go to the yearly Christmas party? If they do not go they may be looked down on or passed up for the next promotion. I think you can see where I am heading now. So, we all strive to get ahead in our daily lives no matter where we live. But there is a lack of understanding that I feel needs to be addressed when the Bible states, “do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again”.
Upon returning to Madagascar mid January 2008 I soon found out that there are some financial items at the Ambohimarina congregation that need to be straightened out. It seems that the congregation over extended itself while I was in the states and upon my return everyone just expected that I would “cough up” the needed funds and everything would be okay. During my absence the congregation decided that they wanted to have some pews constructed. So, money was given for buying wood and some of the needed supplies. The church account is now empty and the pews are not even half done. However, what really struck me was hearing a Christian man say that he was building the pews to help the congregation. Upon hearing this I first thought that he was donating his skill and time to help the local congregation. Upon listening further I soon realized that this Christian man had no intention of going unpaid for the “good deed” that he was providing to the congregation. He asked me outright when he was going to be paid for his work.
So, was he building the pews to help out the congregation, or was he building the pews to obtain some income for his family? Well, it recently struck me that in his mind he was helping the congregation as well as helping himself and his family. He was not doing good, hoping for nothing in return. Rather, he was doing good and expecting to profit from his good deed. The congregation understood that he was donating his time and skill, and he understood that he would be paid for his services, clearly showing a total lack of communication among Malagasy speaking people. (Now I don't feel near as bad when I do not fully understand what is going on in a Malagasy conversation or relationship).
For the last two weeks I have spent considerable time trying to teach concerning the difference in giving and not hoping for anything in return, and doing a job expecting to be repaid for services rendered. It has not been easy trying to get the Malagasy people to understand that sometimes you do things from the goodness of your heart out of love or compassion for the need at hand. We are not repaid in a physical way for these things we do, rather, it is our heavenly Father who sees and rewards us according to our servant attitudes.
The Apostle Paul stated, “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.” Galatians 6:10. Yes, we need to provide for our families. Yes, we need to be able to take care of those who are under our roofs. Yes, we all need some type of work that we do on a daily basis that will allow us to provide for all of our physical needs. However, let us not forget that we also need to “do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again”. It is then and only then, that God will be able to work in our lives to nurture the love and compassion that we are to have for mankind. It is then and only then, that we will be able to truly reach out and touch the lives of those around us in a way that is different from the normal worldly lifestyle that everyone else is following. We need to look for opportunities so that we can do good to all men without expecting anything in return.
I recently told the members of the Ambohimarina congregation that if a person is paid to do something then that person has received recompense for their services rendered. I tried to impress upon them that recompense for services rendered is necessary in our daily lives if we are going to survive. However, I told them that receiving recompense for services rendered does not fall into the category of doing good to others. I stated that we all need jobs, but it is also our Christian duty to look for ways that we can help other people or each other with our daily needs. Helping people with their needs without expecting them to give us a gift or feel obligated to help us at some time in the future is what the Apostle Paul was writing about when he told the Christians in Galatia to seek opportunities to do good.
Please pray for us as we work together and learn together in Madagascar. Pray that the Malagasy Christians can learn to do good to others without hoping to be repaid in some way for their good deeds. It is only then that God will start blessing them.
Did
You Know . . .
. . . that the number of Madagascar’s natural resources is on the rise. It was recently reported in the international news that there is as much oil off the coast of Madagascar as there are oil reserves in all of Canada (some 17,000,000,000 barrels of oil (or 17 billion for those of you who do not want to count the zeros) if estimates are correct). Also, recently operations are getting underway to mine another natural resource of Madagascar. For a long time Sapphires have played a prominent role in Madagascar’s exports. Now we hear that Nickel is to be added to the list. It is reported that once the mining operations are in full swing the company involved in the mining of Nickel expects to extract the sum of $300,000,000.00 (three hundred million dollars) of Nickel each day. Yes, you read it right EACH DAY not every year. That is, needless to say, a very large amount of Nickel.
Miniature Missionaries
Upon my arrival in Madagascar I found that for the most part things were progressing. I did have a few items to take care of that could not be handled by Stacy or Havilah. I heard that Havilah was a great help during my prolonged absence, and that she is continuing to do well in the academic setting that is provided by the American School of Antananarivo. Havilah still enjoys sports of all kinds during and after school hours. She is also excelling in French and in her musical endeavors. Recently Havilah added the Saxophone to the list of musical instruments that she plays. Now we never know what we are going to hear around the house in the evenings. There are just to many different instruments for Havilah to choose from with the piano, flute, African drums, guitar and saxophone within her reach each day. I guess we are blessed that she only has two hands and one mouth or we might be hearing several of the instruments at the same time. :-)
this and that
Visitors
to Madagascar
This year looks like it will be very busy with visitors coming to Madagascar for several different reasons. First, Brooke McInerney will be coming to volunteer at Betikara during the months of February and March 2008. She will be going to South Africa first and then coming to Madagascar. Brooke will arrive in Madagascar on February 15, 2008 at 2:00 p.m. Brooke wants to spend about a month with Betikara helping in various ways.
Second, Eddie and Carol Hendrix are planning on coming to Madagascar on April 7, 2008. Eddie was previously the preacher for the Three Chopt Church of Christ (one of our supporting congregations) in Richmond, VA. Presently he and his wife are travelling and visiting missionaries in various parts of the world in order to facilitate good communication between missionaries and their supporting churches in the United States.
Third, in July of 2008 twenty four Malagasy students will be graduating from Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas. The students will all be coming back to Madagascar with representatives from the university. There will be a big ceremony for these students which the president of Madagascar will attend, and they will be given their diplomas at that time.
Some of the Christians from the Abilene area will be coming with them. However, this is not the main reason for their coming to Madagascar. Several people that are in the medical profession would like to come and hold a health clinic for the churches, Betikara Orphanage and the surrounding communities.
Fourth, Ben Opsahl would like to come and visit Madagascar again during the month of June or July of 2008. Ben originally came to Madagascar with his mother and another woman to visit the Betikara Orphanage. During their visit Ben’s mother took pictures of the Lambs for a book that she is writing.
Upcoming
trip for Stacy
Stacy is continuing her studies with the University of Phoenix. During her Doctoral studies most of what Stacy does will be online. However, in order to complete all of the requirements for her doctoral degree Stacy is required to take 3 or 4 one week courses on campus at either the Phoenix or Seattle campus of the university. This figures out to be about one trip to the United States every year during the estimated three and one half years that it will take for Stacy to finish this degree.
Stacy will be leaving Madagascar on March 10, 2008 and returning to Madagascar on March 29, 2008. Since the course is only one week long Stacy will have a little bit of time to visit with her family, especially her father. While we were in the states last year Stacy only was able to spend 5 days with her father. This added time will give her a chance to catch up on family happenings that Stacy has not been a part of for several years.
Please pray for this upcoming trip and for safety in all of the travelling that Stacy will be undertaking. Pray also for Havilah and I who will be holding down the fort in Madagascar while Stacy is away studying.
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EXPENDITURES JANUARY |
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Diesel |
$ 435.15 |
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Vehicle maintenance |
147.20 |
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Rent and Utilities |
844.59 |
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Office |
802.60 |
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Travel |
185.00 |
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Misc. |
2.94 |
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Total expenses |
$ 2,417.48 |
What
can you do?
You
can pray!
¨ Pray
for all of the upcoming visitors to Madagascar. Pray that they will have safe
travels and that their time spent in Madagascar will enrich their lives and
help further His Work in Madagascar.
¨ Pray
for the church at Ambohimarina as they work through this time of trial and
growth. Pray that they can see the difference between truly serving others and
doing things that benefit their own lives.
¨ Pray for the Rosie family as we get back into the work. There are a lot of things that need to be done both physically and spiritually. Pray that we can be strengthened and ready for whatever the Lord needs for us to do in His service.
We welcome you to join us in this work for Him . . .
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Barry,
Stacy, Kit and Havilah Rosie Tel. 011-261-32-02-081-14 |