A glimpse of Malagasy life...

In September, I was able to visit a famadihana, or turning of the bones here in Antsirabe.  Every 7 years, usually, the Malagasy people will gather with their extended families and friends and celebrate their ancestors.  The family tombs are opened up and the ancestors’ bodies are removed and then paraded around-either through the streets or just around the area where the tomb is located.  Many times people will take a part of their ancestor to help with a physical problem they are suffering.  For instance, teeth are taken and placed in a person’s mouth if they are missing teeth; a tea is made of remains of the corpse and drunk to help cure various ailments; sometimes bones are carried home for ‘good luck’ or viewed as the ancestor’s blessing.  Loud music and a lot of alcohol are enjoyed by the families during these celebrations.  

As more people are moving to the cities looking for work and younger generations are becoming ‘westernized,’ this tradition is slowly going out of style in Madagascar.  The famadihana that I was able to go to exhibited many of the above characteristics, although thankfully none of the corpse eating/mutilating.  There was a lot of dancing to live music played by a small band.  Then, a witch doctor came to preside over the opening of the tomb and then one of the elder males in the family spoke a prayer to the ancestors they were honoring that day (a total of 6, I believe).  A sad realization swept over me standing there watching, as I realized many of these people would soon be sitting in their local Lutheran, Catholic, or other church the following Sunday morning-and yet here they were praying to dead bodies to help them with their problems!  I am so thankful that Jesus has conquered the grave and that we no longer need to fear death!  

“through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, ¹⁵ and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.” ^[1]

A song kept coming to mind as the Malagasy were singing and dancing in worship to their ancestors: click here to watch it. 

This is what God has called us to Madagascar to proclaim; 

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,

because the Lord has anointed me

          to bring good news to the poor;

he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

          to proclaim liberty to the captives,

and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

     ²     to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,

and the day of vengeance of our God;

to comfort all who mourn;

     ³     to grant to those who mourn in Zion—

to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,

          the oil of gladness instead of mourning,

the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit”^[2]

---

^[1]The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Heb 2:14-15.

^[2]The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Is 61:1-3.

Beginning...again...

Malagasy man that Andy was able to meet

The Lord is developing in us a love for the people here. We appreciate, more & more, who God as made them to be. The Malagasy are usually always smiling, very friendly, polite, ingenuitive, and willing to help.

A story to illustrate:

Saturday night, our upstairs faucet in our tub broke. When Ruth was filling up a bucket with water in order to fill the washing machine, of course) the rusty pipe snapped in two and water was shooting out of the wall! Fortunately, Andy was able to shut the water off pretty quickly. Andy & our night guard (Tolotra) tried to figure out how to shut off the water to just the upstairs, but they  were unable to. Thankfully, we live next door to a plumber! Around 10 pm, Tolotra was standing on the outdoor sink trying to get our neighbor’s attention. Though we had woken up our neighbor, he was very pleasant & helpful. Not only did he help us with our immediate problem that night, but he came back Sunday morning to finish fixing the faucet.

The kids outside their classrooms @ College Francais Jules Verne

This month has been busy with reacclimating to life here in Mada; we started back to language class with a 2 month-old and the ‘big kids’ started French school.  It has also been a challenging month for us as we miss our family & friends back in America.  Each of us (except for Alleluia) has been going through some culture shock at one time or another, adjusting to our new normal here & the stresses involved. But one thing remains the same: our God is always with us, is faithful & gracious to us every step of the way!

1st day of school!

Thank you for your faithful prayers, love & support. Thanks to our SBC partners for giving to Lottie Moon! We could not do what we are doing without your prayers!

We always appreciate hearing from you as well .

Zeke

This is Zeke, our new Great Dane puppy!  We bought him from a local breeder here in Antsirabe.  He is a very sweet & gentle dog, and the kids get along really well with him as well.

We will be putting up some more posts about some of the other things about we have been able to see & experience this past month.