The Mahoneys on Mission: October 2013

On September 24th, I (Andy) was able to make contact with a small Malagasy people group located on the Southeast coast of the island, called the Antambahoaka.

Mananjary

Leaving the central plateau of Madagascar and entering the rainforest along the East Coast was a beautiful sight to see! We were not able to see all of the rain forest, merely drive through, but Jeremy, my boss, said, “it is a typical rainforest with the high canopy and animals” (including the many species of lemurs, frogs, snakes, birds and also fossa). The first leg of our trip took about 12 hours, which brought us to the hotel where we stayed. The next morning we made our way to the town of Mananjary, about a 2.5 hour drive from our hotel and explored the town and the surrounding area for 2 days. I was surprised that the town was probably less than 20% of the size of Antsirabe (the city we lived in for language), but there was still a good bit of tourism there. Also in comparison to the plateau there was very little to no rice fields and a lot fewer cattle (zebu).

The people listening to the gospel

After that we found a large village just north of town called Amboanato (about 850 people lived there). The women wore more traditional dress (a lamba; a piece of cloth used to wrap around the woman’s lower half of her body like a skirt) and the people looked similar to the people on the plateau in their facial features, but with darker skin tone (approaching the look of what people see as traditional African people). The people were welcoming and friendly and tried to help us find our way around as well as answer some of our other questions.

As we entered the village, a large meeting of the local chiefs, and government leaders, was finishing-so we were able to meet with 10 (or so) of the local leaders (with many other onlookers through windows and doors). Mostly we spent time listening to them talk about their people and culture. At the end of our time, they invited us to come back the next day. God truly went ahead of us to pave the way for us to be able to meet with so many influential people in this area!!

One thing the Antambahoaka shared with us was about one of their customs,

a ceremony called the Sambatra that they perform every 7 years to circumcise any

previously uncircumcised males. There are many aspects to the ceremony, including

setting the male child on the head of a bull after the bull has been decapitated and then

pouring holy water in a circle on the ground around him.

Jeremy talking about the wide & the narrow path

On our second day in the village, I was a little surprised that the people answered question after question about who God is, who Jesus is, and what He has done. The person who knew the most, and spoke the most, was drunk. 2 Timothy 3:5 says that many people “hav[ing] a form of godliness but deny[ing] its power.” In much the same way, the people of Amboanato knew a lot of the ‘right answers,’ about God—but they did not appear to really know God. Many seemed to mix a little of one religion (such as Catholicism) with ancestor worship, feeling like they have not offended anyone while still satisfying their ancestors! But Praise God, it is not up to us to save them, but we were faithful to share with them the truth of the gospel and we are praying that it will take root in their hearts!