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!