Total Helicopters in Mada = 2

Today we were talking with our team leaders. They nonchalantly made a comment about there being two helicopters in Madagascar--one belonging to the president & one belonging to Helimission. That's when I burst out laughing! I find it hard to believe that I live in a country where there are only two helicopters.

There are also only 2 CAT-scan machines in Mada but only one is accessible to the public. As you can imagine, the line to get a scan is exceptionally long & the cost expensive. There are also few reliable blood tests here. Rumor has it, almost every test you take will tell you that you have malaria or typhoid when perhaps neither one is the case.

That's when it hits you that you really & truly live in a third world country.

Team Conference Photos

Here are some photos from our conference with our AIM team. The first is of a bunch of the single women missionaries & myself. We have some amazing women who have been in Mada for a long time! I think the longest is 15 years...and they are single to boot! The second one is of our entire AIM team with the addition of a couple of Malagasy guys that watched the kids & the exception of our Dutch teammate, Gerla. Carel & Annetjie, our team leaders, are pictured near the top with us. This happens to be taken at the center of Madagascar which was really close to where we had our conference. We went for a picnic there (also pictured). The last one is of Daniel & Canadian missionary, Kevin, introducing our guest speaker, Jannie, from South Africa to true Malagasy coffee.

Greetings from rainy Antananarivo!

Greetings from rainy Antananarivo! There is a cyclone just north of Madagascar which is causing some early rain showers--what a blessing after months of dryness! However, it is unusual to have cyclones at this time of year, so we are praying that it will not hit the island but remain off the coast. Surely, there will be more cyclones to come during the usual season beginning in January.

On Sunday, we will go to Ampefy, a town about three hours west of Tana, for a weeklong conference (October 26-31) with our AIM Team here in Madagascar. Please pray for our safety in travel as well as for our discussions & fellowship. This is the annual time of decision-making so please pray that we will have a fruitful, uplifting time together.

Our October prayer letter is attached. We are so grateful for your prayers! There are many stressful days as well as fun ones; we couldn’t do it without you!

Our House "Tenants"

At the beginning of this month, we moved into a house near our language teacher, the marketplace, and many of our AIM teammates. We initially thought the house would be too big and empty but have discovered some previous tenants—cockroaches, ants, geckos, spiders, and mice! We even acquired a dog along with the house (she previously belonged to one of our teammates). Fotsifotsy (her English name is Whitey) has a fierce bark which discourages anyone from entering our yard unwelcome but she’s really pretty easy-going. Unfortunately, she keeps trying to invite more tenants—fleas! In all seriousness, we do love our house. It is helping us to connect with the neighborhood as there is a soccer field next door (below) where tournaments are held every Saturday and Sunday. Much of our time has been spent studying the Malagasy language. On page 1 of our newsletter, we are pictured with our language teacher, Chantal, who teaches us four mornings each week. We feel good about the progress we are making and can converse easily in every day situations but not quite well enough to have deep, spiritual conversations yet.