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His Work Matthew 28:19 |
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Volume 24,
Number 5 |
May 2010 |
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The Barry Rosie family have worked on the mission
field in Africa for more than 24 years under the oversight of the: |
Fraleys Chapel |
Elders Mike Whitehurst - 662-287-7631 |
Weekly Meetings of the Men
Some
of the men and a couple of the teenage boys of the Ambohimarina
congregation
continue to meet weekly on Wednesday mornings. This is our third
attempt over
the years to have a weekly men's meeting. In the past we started out
well and
then slowly the enthusiasm for men's meetings fizzled out with fewer
and fewer
men attending each week until we finally cancelled the weekly meetings.
This
time around we are still gaining enthusiasm for the weekly meetings,
and the
attendance is, so far, continuing to remain steady. Just recently we
were
joined by a new young single man, named Njaka
that
started worshiping with us, and who is interested in learning more
about His
church. Njaka is a friend of Tiana who is
one of the
caregivers at Betikara. Presently we are 8 or 9 in number unless Solofo
and
Andry have to be in town for Andry's dialysis treatments. Sometimes
Andry is
required to have three treatments a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, and
Fridays.
Other weeks Andry is only required to have two treatments on Mondays
and
Fridays. We always feel encouraged by the fact that Andry is well
enough to
allow him and Solofo to join us for many of our biblical discussions.
For the time being we are blessed by the increased interest that the men of the Ambohimarina congregation are showing. We are finding that the more we meet together the more the men are willing to open up and be more active in our discussions. Some of the men, who in the past would sit for the entire discussion period without saying anything, are now becoming more outgoing and vocal in expressing their feelings about the chosen subject of the hour. It is interesting to see some of the men who are normally reserved become passionate and willing to speak out about items that they have never before mentioned. Sometimes we find that our scheduled one hour long discussions have turned into two hours because everyone is so interested in the subject of the day.
Just this last
week the subject for the hour was Forgiveness. We started discussing
the need
for forgiveness, and that forgiveness is a two way street. We not only
have to
ask for forgiveness, but we also need to be quick to forgive others
when they
seek forgiveness for some weakness on their part. All of a sudden,
right in the
middle of the discussion, Martin, who is one of the older Christians at
the
Ambohimarina congregation, wanted to chime in to the discussion. Most
of the
time Martin is the one who sits on the sidelines of a discussion, and
he rarely
makes any comments for or against a subject. However, this time Martin
was like
a person set on fire. He not only chimed in concerning forgiveness, but
he
continued to talk and express his opinions on the subject. Martin was
so
involved in the subject I looked at him and started wondering where all
of this
pent up passion that was being expressed by Martin concerning
forgiveness was
hidden for such a long time.
We are
continuing to see an increase in ability and willingness to serve. We
are also
seeing a desire for the discussions to be centered more on spiritual
matters
instead of the physical matters that surround us from day to day. Some
of the
men who have been hesitant in the past to take an active part in Sunday
worship
are now leading the worship service. We are also seeing increased
interest from
some of the Betikara boys that were not interested in a spiritual walk
at all
in the past.
There is also a willingness to be more open and to express different subjects for discussion from time to time by the men and the teenaged boys. When a person suggests a subject for discussion they must also be willing to lead the discussion of that subject for the hour that the subject is discussed. In the past I was in charge of choosing and teaching all of the subjects. The men and teenaged boys choosing subjects has worked well so far and not been found to be a deterrent to anyone's willingness to suggest different subjects for our weekly Wednesday meetings. Since they know in advance that they will be leading the discussion if they choose a subject they are not hesitant to speak up and they look forward to being able to lead the hour long discussions.
Having
Jules (the Betikara School Director) and his brother Dinand
present on Wednesdays for the weekly men's meetings is a big help. Dinand has been a faithful Christian for several
years. He
has a lot of experience in teaching bible and preaching, and his
brother Jules
that was baptized in January of 2009 is quickly taking an active role
in His
church at Ambohimarina by leading in the worship service and
contributing to
the Wednesday men's meetings.
The
spiritual lives of Dinand and Jules are a
good
catalyst that is helping the other men and teenaged boys be more
involved and
interested in their spiritual walk with our Savior. Lord willing we
will be
able to continue with this growing momentum that we are experiencing.
We covet
your prayers as we continue to serve Him and study together each
Wednesday
morning. Please pray for us, and the
country of
Madagascar as we continue to reach out to those who do not know the
Savior.
Did
You Know . . .
. . . that there is a new World Bank study out on illiteracy and grade
completion
in Madagascar. The information was reported on the following website
for April
19, 2010 at 16:30 in the afternoon.
http://www.orange.mg/index.php?option=com_orangeinfo&Itemid=403&newscatid=4 . The website reports its information in the
French
language. If you have Google Translate installed in your browser you
can read
the report. For those of you who do not have a translating program here
is the
information. Fifty three percent of Malagasy people are still
illiterate. Only
9% of Malagasy students make it to the high school level and only 1.7%
of
Malagasy students reach a higher level of education than high school. I
tried
to find the actual World Bank study,
however, I was
unable to track it down on the Internet.
Not So Miniature Missionaries
Weheard from Kit recently. He is still
jobless. He has
signed up for three coursesthat he will take during the summer sessions
at
Faulkner University. Hisgrandparents were hopeful that he would be able
to
spend some time with them inMichigan during the summer, however, with
summer
courses to attend that will notbe possible.
Kit
mentioned that he is having problems with the '82
Honda that we left with him in2007. He had to replace some of the rims
and
tires after sliding into a curb onloose gravel. He also is having to
repair the
exhaust system. The exhaust brokewhile I was driving the car while on
furlough
in 2007. I had the exhaust weldedat the time. Maybe it is time to have
the
exhaust replaced. :-)
Havilah
is getting close to the end of her 11th grade
at the American School ofAntananarivo. She is busy these days with AP
exams.
She has AP exams in Frenchand English this week. Havilah's time at the
Betikara
Orphanage is limited thesedays due to all of the extra preparation for
these
big exams. Soon she will befree for the summer months and be able to
spend more
time at Betikara. I am surethat she is looking forward to sleeping at
Betikara
with the girls from time totime on Saturday and Sunday nights. It is
during
these times that they reallyare able to connect and to plan songs and
have
times of biblical teaching.Presently the boys and the girls are taking
turns
teaching the teenage boy andgirl bible classes on Sunday mornings.
Ongoing
Rhetoric
Madagascar is still no closer to
coming to an end of this political stalemate. We continue to press on
with our
daily activities, but are constantly reminded of the seemingly
insurmountable
problems that are facing the Malagasy people. More countries are
cutting
support to Madagascar. More and more people are getting upset by the
lack of
work and the lack of funding that Madagascar is accustomed to having on
a daily
basis from external sources. However, life seems to keep going on, as
the
pressure continues to keep building. One wonders just how much longer
this will
continue before something changes for the betterment of Madagascar or
for the
worse as people finally start letting their frustrations overflow out
onto the streets
in the form of violence.
Madagascar
Mission Website
For over a month now we have been experiencing problems with the
Madagascar
Mission website. I contacted our Christian friend in Arkansas that
helped us
set up the website in the beginning. He in turn contacted the host
server.
While we were complaining of not being able to access the website
properly from
Madagascar other people from around the world were evidently
complaining that they
were receiving spam messages that were originating from the Madagascar
Mission
website. We finally received a message from the host server that said
someone
was exploiting our website and sending out spam messages. The host
server
cleaned up the website and changed the password, which in turn caused
me to
have to log into the website as an administrator and create a new
password. All
is well now and the website seems to be functioning properly for the
time
being.
Baptism
teaching at Betikara
Yesterday after worship I was approached by two of the Betikara Lambs.
Yosly
and Elisoa requested that I teach them
about baptism.
I set up two different teaching times, once on Friday morning (May
21st) and
once on Saturday afternoon (May 22). Yosly will be present for both
times and Elisoa will be present on
Saturday afternoon. Elisoa is in school on
Friday morning. This will give me a
chance to talk one on one with Yosly concerning his commitment to
Christ and
his future involvement in the Ankadivato congregation.
Then this morning, when Dinand and I
arrived at
Betikara I was approached by Tiana. He stated that his oldest son, Tsetra, would also like to be included in the
teaching
about baptism. Tsetra is already finished
with high
school and is presently enrolled in a private auto mechanics course.
Please pray for all of us as we study together. Pray that I will be
able to
show these three teenaged young adults about the love of Christ and the
commitment that is necessary from them once they put on Christ in
baptism. Pray
that as they thirst for His word and as they seek His ways that they
will
become His children and also become active and strong assets in His
eternal
Kingdom. Pray that the Christians at the Ambohimarina congregation can
be good
examples for them, encourage them, and lead them to the Savior as they
study
about baptism.
