What's up now?

Wow, it has been a whirlwind!!!  We have been back in the states for a month now and we are starting to get our feet under us and settle into a mission house in Boiling Springs, South Carolina (Spartanburg/Greenville area).  We were very blessed to spend a few weeks with family in Ohio.  It was so fun to reunite the cousins and meet our three new nephew/nieces that my sister, Rebekah, and her husband, James adopted this past December and of course our kids had much needed time with grandparents.  The time went quickly, but we were so thankful to finally see everyone and give lots of hugs!
We had a great group of friends who made us feel very welcome when we got back to Spartanburg.  They had stocked our pantry, fridge & freezer with all the necessities (and then some), left gifts on everyone's beds, put up a welcome back banner, registered the girls in school and bought the kid's school supplies.  What a HUGE blessing!!!!!!  We could not have been ready for school or transitioned very well without all their help-- thank you again to all who were a part of that!
We definitely have experienced a good bit of reverse culture shock as we adjust back to life here in the states.  Many things have changed in 2 & a half years and sometimes I (Ruth) miss the simpler life of Madagascar.  We are also adjusting to the faster pace of life here and trying to figure out how we can slow things down a bit so that we can have time to process our time in Madagascar and what God has for us right now.
God has blessed us with two nice used vehicles to accommodate our family's needs.  Andy is in the process of looking for a job at a local physician's office.  We have had a lot of decisions to make and quite a few more important ones in the near future.  Andy's allergies are only marginally better here, but he will be seeing an allergist a week from now.  Hopefully, we will have a better idea of his treatment and how long it will last after this appointment.  We have health concerns with our parents as well that weigh heavy on our hearts at this time.
All the kids have started school and are doing well.  Eli started 2nd grade at Anderson Mill Road Elementary School which is a great public school here in this area.  After his first day of school, he told his daddy that his favorite part of school was everything!  Zoey started Kindergarten at our church which has a great program and she has a wonderful teacher as well.  She loves school and being with her buddy, Bailey (a friend that she has caught up with very quickly) and she already has some boys who like her (how can this happen?-- she is only 5 years old!).  Alleluia started 2K three days a week at our church's preschool.  Though she had a bit of a rough start getting used to being dropped off, she now loves it and especially loves her teacher Ms. Ra Ra (Paula).
Our favorite part of moving back here is of course seeing our family (in Ohio) & catching up with church family and all our friends here in Spartanburg.  Please if you see us at church or around town say hello, we love seeing familiar faces everywhere.  You may not know what to say, but we aren't always sure where to start either, but we are always glad to see faces we know!!
Thanks again for your faithfulness to pray for our family!

Lasting Things

It is a strange feeling to be selling all of our things once again to move across the ocean for an uncertain amount of time.  There is a feeling of relief along with sadness in seeing them go because we become accustomed or sometimes attached to our things.  But I know that the sadness is short-lived when we move back to the land of over abundance and we will have opportunity to slowly buy back many similar things that we had before.  But then I ask myself:  To what end will we buy these things?  Will we buy them simply to satisfy a craving, to keep up with the Jones or to merely have them to collect dust because we know one day soon we will need said thing? 

Over the past several years, I have noticed that things collect similarly to dust.  You don’t realize how much is there until you try to organize the things or clean away the dust.  But I don’t want to be a collector of things (or dust for that matter which is attracted to all my things).  The more things I have the more time it takes for me to take care of the things or to be concerned that something might happen to that [important] thing. 

It is SO easy (for me) to become consumed with having nice things, maintaining those things and saving for the next best thing that I forget that Jesus wasn’t concerned with things at all.  His only concern was to do the will of His Father and His Father’s will was for Him to invest his time in people.  In fact, Jesus asked His disciples to go with very little on them; perhaps, it was because He knew there is a certain burden in having too many things. 

So the next logical question is: how do I have a more simplistic life with fewer things?  I am not really sure but maybe first, I need to redefine what an actual need is versus what a want is.   This does not mean that I can never satisfy my wants, but when I define them as wants I must realize that they are a luxury (a plus) and therefore they are not required for sustaining my life (our lives).  Naturally, I think that would lead me to more prayerfully consider my want purchases.

Don’t get me wrong I know that we all need certain things to live…but after living in one of the poorest countries of the world for 2+ years, it is obvious that many things are a luxury and/or comfort item to satisfy our own desires.  I just don’t want to waste my life/time on having all the nice things and maintaining them so that they last…instead of investing in the only thing that lasts forever His word and human souls. 

P.S.  To be honest, I think this is all surfacing now because I am nervous about coming back to the land of excess.  I am afraid I will not have self-control to resist buying WAY too many things at Target (for example) or wanting to buy every toy that my kids ask for at the store.  I have by no means mastered living the simple life, but I want it more than ever because of what God has been teaching me and what I have seen living overseas. 

Pass the tissues, please.

I really wish that we could sit down with everyone who has been our prayer warriors, encouragers, package/letter senders, mission team members and have a heart-to-heart conversation with you about what God is doing in our lives. 

First, we would tell each of you how incredibly blessed and deeply touched we are by your love shown to our family.  We cannot say this enough!  We are completely overwhelmed by your faithfulness, by His faithfulness!

Then I would pull out a package of tissues, or a big roll of toilet paper (because we always have it handy for noses or bottoms—but in this case for my nose), and tell you that I am not sure how to begin and I don’t know where this story will end. 

A little over 2 years ago God brought our family of 4 (with one in the oven) to an island that no one had heard of except those that were sure we were coming to see Alex, Marty, and the lemurs and to make the next Madagascar movie.  From the time we got here until now, God was, and is, hard at work refining us into what He wants us to be.  We have had joys, but we have had even more challenges. 

As most of you know Andy has struggled constantly with his allergies, leading our family to move multiple times here in Madagascar.  As we reflect back on when it all began, we realized that it began earlier than we originally thought—before we moved to Tana.  Though it quickly & progressively got worse when we moved to Tana as Andy needed to add more to his normal allergy medicine.  Soon he was taking 3 and 4 medicines with very little relief.  At the beginning of this year, he added another new medicine that we hoped would give him relief.  But in the end, he was becoming more and more miserable with fewer and fewer days of relief.

After dealing with persistent red, puffy eyes, itchiness all over the body, headaches, dizziness and constant coughing and such, Andy contacted our medical department for our company.  Since we have great medical care with our company, Andy was very quickly on a plane to Johannesburg to see an allergist.  The allergist was able to determine all of the various allergens that bother Andy and recommended that he avoid all of them as much as possible and that he also receive allergy shots.  Unfortunately, allergy shots are not available anywhere on the island. 

We quickly scrambled for another option, since we did not want to leave Mada.  From what we remembered it had seemed that Andy was doing better in Antsirabe (where we had lived for language school) and perhaps the big thing that was different was that it is a much smaller town with a lot less pollution.  Andy had discovered fairly quickly after moving to Tana that the diesel fumes were very irritating to him (and the allergist had said that it could be lowering his threshold for fighting his allergies).  We were certain that we had to do something soon and moving to Antsirabe was our only hope for staying in Mada (apart from God healing him, which we have prayed for often over the last several months). 

Well…we have been here in Antsirabe for almost 3 months now and much to our dismay, Andy has not experienced relief.  We have come to realize that the burning of trash and the fumes it produces (that occurs all over the island) is also an irritating factor for him.  It is made worse by the fact that homes here are not sealed well even when all the windows and doors are closed, a lot of air can get in (mice too!).

After Andy returned from his most recent bush trip, he hit a really low point again where he was coughing incessantly and contacted our medical department again.  We were both really sad at this point because we knew that this meant a big change was coming.  Our company has tried hard to find a place to transfer us to, a place where Andy could get the necessary care and also take a new job that would fit his gifting.  A few days ago, we heard back from our supervisor that they could not find any place in Africa that would fit our needs.  Instead they offered us a medical leave of absence in the states.  We were both relieved and very sad because we had never wanted to leave Mada before our term ended.

Throughout all of this we have seen God’s hand and faithfulness.  We feel like God has been trying to show us that this is His plan for a while, but we resisted because we could not understand why He would want us to leave.  We have been grieving leaving Madagascar even before we officially knew, and now I see that as God’s grace.  At times it has been very overwhelming, but on the other hand we have felt relief to know that there is a plan for Andy to be well again.  There have been many times that Andy has told me that he is ready to be well and after reflecting on that, I came to a sad realization that over the past 2+ years here, he has been sick more than he has been well.  Especially since our move back here to Antsirabe, we have cried out so many times for Andy’s healing and this is God’s answer to us. 

Two of our greatest burdens in leaving this beautiful island have already been lifted by our loving and faithful Heavenly Father.  Our first burden was for our many people groups to continue to have hope of hearing the gospel.  Some of our missionary friends on the island will be stepping into our role when we leave and they already know Malagasy and are so excited to work with our people groups.  Our second burden was for our Malagasy family (Rinah, Zo, and their son Nambina) to have work and their needs provided for.  This same missionary family will be providing Rinah with some work and they already love them as family, like we do. 

Yesterday we told Rinah and Zo our news and it was difficult and very sad.  They were more surprised than we thought they would be and we all cried together (ok, truthfully most of the tears were mine but all the eyes were sorrowful).  Zo didn’t say a lot because she was especially sad thinking of Alleluia and how she had taken care of her from when she was so young (about 7-8 months old).  Rinah was also sad but encouraging as well saying that God’s ways are higher than our ways, but that we would be missed.  As sad as it was to talk to them, we have felt a lot of relief to finally tell them—I guess, what God had been trying to show us for a few months.  We have started the dreaded lists for packing and selling, and started going through everything again.  But, oddly enough, there is relief again.  It is so strange and yet so refreshing because I know now that it is His amazing grace to us.

We will be returning to the States in August for Andy to begin receiving allergy shots.  We don’t know how long we will be in the States, but we know that we can trust the One who knows.  We are still certain of our original call as missionaries, but we don’t know what the future holds for us in missions right now and we are ok with that.  We are just planning on following Him…wherever He will lead us.

           

How far is too far to carry the gospel?

Vondrozo

Farafangana is a small city on the SE coast of Madagascar.  Traditionally it is the home of the Antefasy people; although other peoples live among the Antefasy here.  My trip to Farafangana this past week with my friend, Pastor Kris, was for the purpose of discovering some of the smaller people groups that live in the region around Farafangana.  In the past I have gone out with a small list of peoples to look for and most of the time I find at most one, or even none on my list.  For this trip I had 3 peoples I was looking for...and God lead us to find 3 people groups!  We were able to locate the Antevato-Be, Sahafatra & Sahavoay in our short 3 days in the region! 

 Overall we drove 1330km (~850 miles) on mostly poor roads, with ~155miles being truly off-road in our 4x4.  We were able to see parts of Madagascar that I have never seen before-and even my Malagasy friend, Pastor Kris, had never seen before. 

The "national" road to Vondrozo

On our first day in Farafangana we teamed up with some short-term Journey-women missionaries who work with the Antefasy to visit some villages along the road to Vondrozo.  We were able to find more Antefasy, as well as one our people groups called the Sahavoay in a large market village called Lohatranambo.  On the second day we were on the road before the sun was up and were able to make it all the way to Vondrozo, home of the Sahafatra.  Vondrozo is home to about 20,000 and is a large market town that sits on what used to be the major road before it fell into disrepair over the last 20+ years.  Now, the road beyond Vondrozo is impassable to all but a motocross style motorcycle. 

Vondrozo

We had the privilege of meeting with the Mayor of the town/region of Vondrozo as well as the President of the fokontany (tribal leadership), and other leaders of the area.  We sat & talked with these men for quite awhile and then they offered to walk us around their town, showing us the major things to see & do.  This is the method they use to show the community that we have been accepted, and are therefore given the Mayor's & fokontany president's protection while we are there.  We discovered that there is zero evangelical Christian presence in Vondrozo—but they seem to be open to the message of the Gospel. 

I have been to many villages here in Madagascar, and we always look for a “person of peace,” that person who becomes a figurative door-opener for ministry to be done.  Never before has the person of peace been the Mayor of the town/region!  

The last few months on the Mahoney front

I loved doing my 1st 5K with the bigs!

Helping Zoey finish strong in the 5K

So... here's what we have been doing from the end of March through May. I will save June for another time... 

March 31st-April 10th :

My green ninja (VBS performance)

We were in S. Africa for a company meeting.  It was a very busy time, but we loved getting to see and talk to many of our friends on this island and meeting new people from other nearby countries.  The kids had a blast participating in VBS while we were in class.  Also the bigs and I did our first 5K together.  We were so proud of them for finishing.

My blue avenger (VBS performance)

Zoey & Mommy pampering time in Jo-burg

April 17th-May 17th:
We moved back to the language city, Antsirabe.  We had very rocky beginnings, but God has brought us through.  About a week after we moved, Eli started back to school at his old French school.  Several children were very happy to have him back at the school (including his good friend) and Eli was very happy too!  Huge blessing and praise!  Added bonus...he gets to sleep in a little longer and has less homework at his new school. This makes his mommy happy too. :)

Eli and Madame Sandrine (his new teacher)

First day of school

May 18-25th:
The kids & I enjoyed some time with Jason and Adam on the beginning and end of their time here.  The kids had fun playing games with the guys and singing for them-- and the guys especially loved watching the Wiggles with the kids! ;)  Allie still tries to imitate a game that Jason taught the kids while he was here.

The girls enjoyed Adam

Adam was sad to say goodbye ;)

Adam paid the bigs to take a pic with him :)

Dragon game

Jason's response to Eli's stink

Fun times

Also while the team was gone, God blessed me with courage and boldness to get out and about through the town taking a pousse-pousse wherever I went and meeting many new people and becoming comfortable again with my surroundings.  This was the result of what God had been trying to teach me through a difficult time recently-- that I needed to not close myself in, but to get out and be with the Malagasy even when it was the opposite of what I wanted. 

May 31st:
Zoey and I enjoyed going to Rina's (our friend & guard) youngest sister's wedding.  It was our first Malagasy wedding and we even got to take the bride and groom to the church which was way out in the countryside (which meant that I did some off-roading!).  Zo (Rina's wife) informed me that it was Malagasy custom to honk the horn to announce the bride and groom, so of course I very gladly obliged (perhaps I enjoyed it a little too much). ;)  I was very happy to see Zoey enjoying some play time in a big pile of hay at the church and she even made a new friend.

Rina, Zo & Nambina with the bride & groom

Rina and Zoey

Zoey and her new friend

Zoey is really getting the hang of school and she is even teaching her mommy new things.  She enjoys learning French via Rosetta Stone, she is beginning to learn to read and she is getting better at her numbers and math.  And as always she can make a new friend anywhere.



Recent Alleluia stories:  One day last month when I put her down for a nap,

She is a "mess"!

she was not very happy to be in her bed.  So she proceeded to make a lot of noise.  First, she called , "DA-DDY" (in the loudest voice she could muster) multiple times for a few minutes.  But daddy didn't come.  So next, she called,

Sassy...

"MO-MMY" (also as loud as she could) for a few minutes.  But mommy didn't come.  Finally, in hopes of getting a better response, she called out, "JE-SUS! JE-SUS!"
On another occasion, I asked her, "What is your name?"  She responds very matter-of-factly, "Jesus." 

But always fun!

Ok, last story I promise...a few weeks ago, we met up with some missionary

Love her smile!

friends from another part of the island.  It was so great to catch up with them
and to have their kids play with our kids.  But for me, the highlight of our time was when Alleluia ordered our friend, Tim, to pray with her.  First they bowed their heads to pray, but that was not enough for Miss Allie, next we see her showing, no more like coercing, Tim how to prostrate himself flat on the ground to the "accurate" prayer position.  I wish I had been quick enough with the camera to catch that in a picture (oh, and just for the record she does not practice the same form that she was showing Tim that day--LOL).
Praise
Shortly after we moved, God answered a prayer that I didn't think I had even voiced, but probably some of you were praying it.  A few days after we got here, we heard a ring at our doorbell and there were several neighbor kids who wanted to play with Eli and Zoey.  This was/is a big deal for Zoey since I am homeschooling her and she loves being with other kids, but also our new yard is very small so the kids have nowhere to play, but now they can play in the neighbor's yard.  Praise God for His goodness and kindness!

Flying kites with our neighbors

How do we get there from here...?

The last couple months have been an extra busy time for us here in Madagascar! We appreciate all of your prayers as we seek to reach the micro people groups living in difficult to reach places. Sometimes we need to use creative means in order to merely have access to some of our peoples.

The region around Andilamena is very difficult to travel through...

For instance; in March I (Andy) had to use a helicopter to be able to visit Andilamena, home to the Tanosimbohangy people. I got together with some friends from the Tana area to use a Helimission helicopter (what a great organization!). When I tried to drive to Andilamena in January it took me the better part of 2 days, and I still never made it! With the assistance of Helimission I was there in 90 minutes! Our landing caused quite a stir in such a small town, on market day nonetheless! Market day is the time when people living in all of the smaller outlying villages come to town in order to buy certain foods & sundries that they cannot make or grow on their own. We knew no one in Andilamena before we left Tana, so we prayed that God would introduce us to the people we needed to meet once we landed there. Enter Jermaine; from the moment we landed he became our helper and guide as we went around Andilamena! He even steered us through an hour long meeting with the Town leadership (10-12 people) consisting of mayor, town president, elders, police & military. While walking around town, I was able to talk of spiritual things with Jermaine and discovered that he is a believer, and he volunteered to help take part in any church work we would do there in Andilamena! What an answer to prayer! We do have a church lined up to partner with the Tanosimbohangy, and hope to have our first team going there later this year!

The Pangalana Canal in Mananjary

Last week, I had the privilege of taking a small team from Anderson Mill Road Baptist Church (The Mill) out to Mananjary, along the eastern coast of Madagascar. Mananjary is home for the Antambahoaka people; although many other peoples call it home as well. Our fist time to Mananjary with the Mill we used a Mission Aviation Fellowship flight to travel there, taking about 1.5 hours. This trip we drove 1.5 days often on pot-hole filled, narrow 2-lane roads to get to Mananjary. During this trip we were able to meet with Pastor Gaetan, a Malagasy Pastor who is a pioneer evangelist and leads 19 churches in the area! He works mainly in the rural setting around Mananjary, extending northward along the coast to Nosy Varika. He is someone that we look forward to partnering with in the future. Since his work focuses on the village setting, we are hoping to work in the larger market towns to start churches and then train people who can work with Pastor Gaetan in starting more churches out in the smaller bush villages. 

Pastor Gaetan & his family

During this trip we got to meet with Pastor Gaetan who shared with us how he was healed from a sickness that he had suffered from for more than 10 years! We worked alongside Pastor Gaetan each of the 3 full days we were in Mananjary. We visited the sick, prayed for people who had lost loved ones, taught some kids how to play tic-tac-toe in the sand, and then shared the Good News of Jesus Christ with them. Additionally, we played basketball with some of the local young men at a public court and shared with them as well. They had many questions about the Christian life, and we pray that some will take the message to heart and choose to follow Jesus. We visited the village of Amboanato, our main location on our November, 2013 trip. The village king was very happy to see us-he even smiled & made jokes! We gave him a gift of a Bible, in Malagasy, for him and his family to share, as well as some soccer balls for the kids to enjoy. 

We also made some good preparations for a medical team to come and serve the people in Mananjary, and Amboanato in September of this year. Please pray for the planning and preparations for this upcoming trip. We will be doing some medical education at the regional hospital, as well as seeing some patients. Then we will go up to Amboanato for some time to see patients there as well! 

 

God has certainly gone before us, and has opened some great opportunities for us that we did not see our first couple times to the region. We are so thankful for your prayer support and your giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and the Cooperative Program. Because of your giving, we are able to go to these difficult to reach places and share the life-giving Message of Jesus Christ! Thanks to The Mill for sending Adam & Jason, and thanks to Adam's & Jason's families for sacrificing so that they could come and work along side of us!!

Adam & Jason, from The Mill. 

Our Grief and His Glory

Lamentations 3:32-33

​​​​​​​​“but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men.”

When God created us, He created us for one purpose: to worship Him, to bring glory to His wonderful name.  John Piper says it this way, “Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn't.”

I agree with that statement, but what I didn’t know before becoming a missionary was that true worship is not easier when you become a missionary.  Sure there are days that we can truly and easily worship our Savior because of His glory and goodness revealed, but then I must confess there are many other days that we personally become distracted by our own griefs or grievances of this other life.  We grieve over our distance from family and friends, we grieve over all the many transitions that we & our kids must endure, not to mention the grievances we have from lack of many modern conveniences that we were accustomed to.  All of these things become greatly magnified when we struggle often with sickness, experience loss, and encounter the enemy’s attacks.  We become weary, tired and homesick.

I say all that to say that we have had real struggles with these things, but our desire remains the same, we want to glorify God and some day we want to see our people groups gathered around His throne worshiping our Savior. 

·         Please pray that we would truly worship our Savior in spirit and in truth no matter what path He has for us.

·         Please pray that our grief would be used for His glory.

·         Please pray that our knees would become sore because of the time spent together in prayer.

We don’t pretend to understand Job’s suffering, but please use this verse to pray for us at this time:

Job 3:10b “‘Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?’ In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.”

Please know that we are very much aware that all of you have your own struggles and sorrows and we would be honored to help carry the burden with you.  Even though we can’t walk with you in person, we would love to uplift you in prayer.  Please tell us how we can pray for you!

Silence in the Storm…is God sleeping? But then there is Peace…He is Peace.

Have you ever prayed so much about something that you just knew God would surely make His will clear, but He seemed to remain silent no matter how often, how loud and how hard you cried out to Him during the storm?  Recently I felt like the disciples in the boat watching the storm wage around me, calling out for God to rescue us (simply to reveal His perfect will) only to wonder if He would continue to sleep while we poured out our hearts to Him.  Surely He knew our hearts desire and heard the constant knocking that beckoned Him to meet with us so that we might hear from Him.  Was that not what He meant when He asked us to be perseverant in prayer?

            We were eager to start our ministry here in Tana when we moved here over a year ago in the beginning of January 2013.  It took us a while to adjust, but after our second move here, we began to adjust, at least the kids and I did.  We had hoped that Andy’s allergies would get better after our move to this new house.  We loved the openness of our new house that let in a lot more sunshine and a nice breeze from our two big windows.  But Andy continued to struggle with little sleep, headaches, constant congestion & itchiness, puffy eyes and exhaustion.  I really didn’t realize the extent of his misery until he called our medical contact in the states (in the beginning of February) to be able to get to Johannesburg, South Africa to see an allergist (for the 2^nd time) there.  It was also apparent that all of the medicines he had been taking were not cutting it.

            It was our hope that when Andy got to Joburg, he would have some relief because we had begun to realize that the pollution in Tana was making his allergies quite a bit worse.  Unfortunately things did not get better there right away, and the allergist told Andy that he needed to have allergy shots or he needed to avoid the things that he was allergic to (which include dust, fresh cut grass, dogs/cats).  He was also told by the allergist that the pollution was lowering his threshold to combat his allergies (because he had been exposed to the same allergens in Antsirabe minus the pollution and he did not have these same problems).  The problem with allergy shots is that we can’t get them here in Tana and it is impossible for them to administer them to him as often as he would need with us being so far away and the cost being so great—we soon realized that this was not an option if we wanted to stay on the mission field.  So we were left with one other option, we must move again!

            So after much prayer, we have decided to move back to Antsirabe (the city we were in for language school).  This decision was very difficult for both of us, and personally, I wanted to kick and scream and say no, but I just couldn’t.  I am finally beginning to realize that I was in denial at first, not wanting to think about another possible move or transition for our family, but then God began to open my eyes to see how miserable Andy has been and how difficult it was for him to function, let alone do his job he was called here to do.  And I guess this is how God was showing us His answer, by me letting go of control of the situation and having all the signs point to yet another move.  Of course, there were many concerns for our family in this move, but we were also concerned with how this would affect all our workers (our Malagasy family).  Would they be able to get jobs?  How would they respond?  But our peace about this came only after we had already made the decision to move and began to tell them and others.  The most telling response was when Rinah (our day guard & close friend) told us that God had already revealed to him that we would have to move!  We had planned to take him & his wife, Zo, with us to Antsirabe because they are from Antsirabe to begin with.  They are very excited to be going back to be close to Rinah’s family again (side note: they had also been looking for another house here in Tana for a while, but they had not found anything).  It amazes me how good God is-- I couldn’t even see all these pieces of the puzzle until this very moment I wrote them down!

Thanks to our logistics coordinator, Taisir Emeish, we already have a house in Antsirabe.  We don’t have a set date for our move however, but we are hoping to move in mid to late April during Eli's school break.  We would ask that you pray for us to finish our time here in Tana well.  We would also ask you to pray for our family as we transition to a new city, new house and new school (for Eli) as this has already created a good bit of stress for all of us.  Pray for all of us as we say goodbye to good friends and finish discipleship relationships earlier than expected.  Please also pray specifically that we would have a lot of people that would help us as I (Ruth) will be doing a lot of the sorting, tossing and packing up (because of Andy’s allergy to dust).  Thank you so much for your partnership with us through prayer! 

Thank you also for your prayers for Andy’s day trip to Andilamena today!  He hopes to update soon.

Mud butter

I (Andy) want to thank everyone who prayed for me on my recent trip out to the bush as I went to visit the cities Ambatondrazaka & Andilamena!  We had a successful trip to Ambatondrazaka, and were able to meet with a small Baptist church there.  They even gave me some information about two people groups that I was searching for in the area.  One such people group, the Tanosimbohangy, live in a city about 150km from Ambatondrazaka—so I decided to take a ‘quick’ trip up there on Monday, January 20^th.  The story below is from my notes on the trip, with some explanations to make it more readable.

I woke early in Ambatondrazaka so that I could make the 4-5 hour trip to Andilamena, where the Tanosimbohangy people live.  I went downstairs at 5:30am to discover that my rear tire was flat!  After about 30 minutes I got the tire changed out with the spare.  I did not feel safe trying to drive on rough roads with out a spare tire so I set about finding a place to get my spare fixed.  I had to wait about 45 minutes to an hour for the mpanamboatra pneus [aka: “tire fixer guy”] to open, and then he had the tire fixed and back in the spare tire spot in no time so I was on my way shortly after 8am.  I started feeling sick to my stomach about 45 minutes into my drive.  [I should mention at this point that we had eaten at a small Malagasy restaurant the night before my trip, and the food was not kind to my stomach] About an hour later, I was able to stop at the last gas station in a town called Tanambe-for which my stomach was thankful.  Then I made my way on the bad road from the north end of the loop road around Lake Alaotra towards Andilamena.  I should have known when I passed through the intersection and there were a lot of trucks parked there, that attempting the journey any further was a mistake.  There was definitely more water (about a foot deep) than when I went tried to go through the first part of the road 2 days prior, but it was passable so I kept on. [Again, I need to mention that there was a steady rain for most of the day Sunday, and it had started again as a constant drizzle at about 9 am, making everything even more wet]   After the early water, there was a few kilometers of better road.  During this stretch, my stomach started to protest again what I had eaten the night before, so I had to find a semi-secluded place to uhm…answer the call of nature.  After that job was done, I got back on the road to Andilamena. 

Then I hit the patch of mud butter, that's the best way I can describe the 1 foot thick mud that I was driving through.  I got stuck, briefly, a couple times and then almost slid slowly off the road due to the 'mud butter;' I even considered turning around at this point but I made it through that tough stretch, and decided to keep going.  I passed another SUV coming from the other direction and asked about the road condition.  He said it was rough but passable if I stayed in the middle of the road, mainly in the ruts left by the trucks that had gone before.  I decided to continue on.  Big.  Mistake. 

I was only able to go another 200-300 meters up the road before seeing nothing but 'mud butter' up ahead, and no real path through it.  I stopped and prayed, and felt that God was telling me that I was not going to get to Andilamena that day.  I was in a spot where I was able to turn around in the middle of this muddy road and started back towards Ambatondrazaka.  The problems got worse when I returned to the bad section of 'mud butter.'  The first time through I had gotten stuck trying to go outside of the ruts left by other vehicles so this time I resolved to follow the ruts and stay out of trouble.  Things were going well early on, then my stomach started to protest again.  I was following the ruts, and went into a large puddle (average size for my driving that day).  I knew as soon as I went in I was in trouble.  This puddle was not just muddy water, it was more like the consistency of a Frosty, and it was easily three feet deep.  So here I am, stuck in the mud, unable to get out of my car because it would have then been flooded with 'frosty mud' and the pain in my stomach has been slowly building telling me that I needed to be anywhere but where I was.  I prayed, and I tried to rock the car back and forth in the puddle in order to get the momentum and maybe even the traction necessary to get free, and the prayed some more.  It felt like forever being stuck in that mud, I truly started getting scared that I would be stuck and have to abandon the truck in the middle of nowhere.  The longer the truck sat the more it would sink into the bed of mud under the Frosty puddle.  I did not even dare climbing out in order to answer nature’s very insistent call because of this fear.  At this point, the nearest village is at least 3 km away and anyone with a truck capable of pulling me out is 10km back at the large intersection.  I prayed more.  I prayed harder.  After a long time (it felt like an hour but was probably like 10 minutes) and a lot of prayer, I was able to escape the 'Frosty mud' pit.  I still had to navigate the rest of the 'mud butter' at this point-but I was praising God.  After I finally made it to a point I could stop (with hopes of being able to move again) I was able to answer nature’s insistent call sheltered by my car.  

I am truly blessed!  God delivered me from being stuck and stranded in a mud pit; there is no other explanation for my escape.  There is no other way I could have gotten out- I had no tow rope, no boards to shim under the tires and I was alone.  As I drove, safely, back to Ambatondrazaka I thought of Psalm 40 and how God had gotten me out of this mess!  "I waited patiently for The Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry.  He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand." (Psalm 40:1-2, NIV)  Total dependence on God is scary, but it is so rewarding.  My reward is not being free of that slimy pit (although that is nice, too) but a closer walk/connection with Him. 

As I returned to Ambatondrazaka people were staring at me, in my mud covered car.  Usually people stare at us here because we are foreigners in their country, but they were genuinely impressed by what they thought my mud covered car signified--that I had conquered some tough road...and with God's help, I guess I had. 

Families and Traditions

            

Happy New Year from the Mahoneys!

         A few days ago, it was quite chilly outside (60 degrees or less, and yes that most certainly is chilly for this time of year here;)) because it had been raining so much…so I took the opportunity to make a wonderful, hot & creamy cup of hot chocolate—yum!  To most of you reading this, you might simply glance over the importance of what I just said.  Today is the 7th of January and we have already celebrated Christmas & New years without a bit of snow, “weather outside [being] frightful”, cold air or anything!!  I don’t even like the cold, but it doesn’t feel right to sing certain Christmas songs (especially “Frosty the Snowman” or “Walking in a Winter Wonderland”), hang stockings by the fireplace or wear a nice scarf or Christmas sweater (not the ugly ones that your grandma wears) when you are sweating much of the time.  Likewise, it doesn’t feel the same when your extended family is not with you to share this special time of year. 

            But nearly two years ago before we started this journey so far away from family, God showed me a promise that He had made long ago in Matthew 19:29—“And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold…” in another gospel (Mark) Jesus adds at the end “in this life and the life to come”….

Everyone except Eli (our photographer) & Allie who was asleep

     And He has certainly answered that prayer time and time again as we reflect on all His blessings this season.  First, we were so blessed to spend a Christmas meal with our ‘Malagasy family’ who also happen to be our workers.  We shared the Christmas story, ate together and laughed together—we thank God for each of them!!  

We ate together

We laughed together!

            

 Then Christmas Eve, we were blessed again to share a meal with our close friends here in Tana.  We enjoyed sharing in their new tradition of eating cheese fondue on and just enjoying time spent together.  The night ended with gingerbread cake, coffee and excited kids who didn’t want to go to bed!  

All the kids at Christmas Eve (except for Allie)

 

My friend Karina & I

Christmas day and New Year’s day, we enjoyed time with just our own family making new memories and traditions.  

Christmas Day: getting ready to hear the Christmas story

 Perhaps we started a new tradition that when there is no snow for a snowball fight, on Christmas day, you improvise with a water gun fight (especially when it is over 80 degrees outside).  

She loved getting wet!

Confetti!

Happy New Year from the Mahoneys!

 We enjoyed a new meal for Christmas of meatloaf and scalloped potatoes (maybe another tradition started with inspiration from Andy’s family).  We finished with a yummy chocolate birthday cake for Jesus with store bought frosting from America (thanks to our Mill Family)!  For New Years Eve, we baked homemade chocolate chip cookies and started a new tradition of making confetti to throw to bring in the New Year (or at least close enough for Eli’s sake).  The girls brought in the New year as the most adorable sleeping beauties! :)

Sleeping Beauty #2

Sleeping Beauty #1

More fun with confetti on New year's day

She was a big fan!

            

But by far, our favorite tradition we had this holiday season came after the new year.  We had the opportunity, as a family, to visit a nearby orphanage to love on the children and share the gospel with them.   

We talked to about 55 children plus some adults

What a huge blessing it was to our family, to share the gospel with the kids through making salvation bracelets with them, and loving on them (especially the babies)!  It truly warmed my heart so much to see Eli playing soccer with the older kids and holding hands with the director of the orphanage as we walked back from the baby's/ girl's home.  As we were driving home, the kids were talking about how they couldn’t wait to go back and love on the babies again.

      Then Eli asked, “Can’t we just ask them if we can adopt ‘em?”  I wish sweet boy—I really do. 

 

 Unfortunately, this organization doesn’t yet have the ability to legally do this.  Especially during this season when families gather together, it really saddens me to think that none of these precious children will have families to call their own.  But then I am encouraged when I think of what God did and what He has promised in Galatians 4:4-7— “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.  And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’  So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.”

       
          Just look how many times it mentions son or father or adoption!  You see, God allowed His Son to leave His forever home to live with an ‘adopted family’ in a temporary place, so that these children (& each of us) could be adopted by God, into His forever family, being co-heirs with Christ and living in His forever home that Jesus has prepared for us.  They (& each of us) can cry out to Him at any point in time, in any hour of need as our one and only Abba Father who loves us more than any earthly father or mother and can fully meet our needs.  He is the only gift at Christmas time that truly lasts and satisfies our souls!