Wait and See...and Pray!

Thank you for your prayers! There is little new with the political situation here. The former mayor (he was fired by the president last week) still claims he is in control of the country. The actual president is standing strong and had a rally with thousands of supporters in attendance earlier this week. Yet the mayor is still installing his own ministers in a kind of parallel illegal government. He does not have the necessary papers to impeach the presidents and the courts have said they do not have the necessary grounds to impeach him. We heard that there were to be talks between the two parties, mediated by leaders from the four main church denominations here (Catholic, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Anglican). Most of the information we receive is purely conjecture and rumor. This is partly because the Malagasy thrive on rumors and hearsay; it's part of the culture. But it also because the newspapers, radio and TV stations are all owned and operated by an involved party. Thus, it's difficult to get an unbiased opinion! Yet, it seems to me (obviously my opinion is also biased) that the majority of the people I interact with long for normal life to return. For the most part, they seem to disagree with the way the former mayor has tried to obtain power even if they agree that the president has done wrong in some areas.

We are well and safe. Our school held classes all this week. So now we wait and see...and pray that peace will remain and the government will become stable once again without further violence or detriment to the economy of this already very poor nation!