July 4, 2009
Happy 4th of July Weekend to our churches and supporters in America!
While you are enjoying warm weather and sunshine, our weekend will be cold (40's at night and 50's to 60s during the day) as it is wintertime here on the big island of Madagascar. So gathering around a barbecue grill here is for warmth, not to cook hot dogs. But while you are celebrating living in a country that practices democracy, please remember to keep praying for Madagascar as the political crisis continues to go on here. The former President was overthrown in March, and until now there doesn't appear to be a solution to the problem. Thankfully, violence has decreased from the early part of the year, but problems still continue. In the last two weeks there has been one bomb explosion and at least two other bombs found as people have moved to terrorist type actions to have their voices heard. Political resisters continue to be arrested. Unemployment continues to climb. And the poor find it harder just to survive. So please continue to pray for God's divine intervention in the lives of the people and government of Madagascar.
Milestones
In other news, we (Carey & I) have celebrated two milestones this month. First and most importantly, we celebrated 20 years of marriage. God has blessed us with a wonderful life and love together. We are amazed at God's rich blessings upon our lives and the wonderful gifts he has given us in four beautiful daughters who all love the Lord. Secondly, we have also celebrated 20 years in active ministry. When God called us as young people to the ministry & more specifically the mission field, we trusted God would bring it to pass. Then after 12 years of pastoral ministry, it became a reality. Now we wake up everyday realizing that we are living out the dream God gave us. God is so good!
How did we celebrate these two anniversaries? For our wedding anniversary, we were able to spend a couple of days on the east coast of the island with our 4 girls, enjoying some sun, sand & ocean. But then we traveled into the bush together to celebrate our ministry anniversary. Carey & I spoke in a men's & women's ministry conference with 8 bush churches in attendance. Then we spent the rest of the time ministering in evangelism as a family in two other villages. When it was all over with, over 1000 people had made decisions for Christ! That is the only way to celebrate!
How can you pray?
Continue to pray for the political crisis of Madagascar. Thousands are suffering because of the ongoing unrest.
Continue to pray for Carey & I as we work to learn the Malagasy language. We have been studying full time trying to grasp this ancient and marvelous language. But trying to pack a third language in your head (after English & French) can be a challenge.
Please be in prayer for future church planting endeavors. We are scheduling for the rest of the year the places we want to strategically plant churches in.
Pray for Carey & Jordan during the school break. Carey is teaching English to some of our pastors wives, as well as helping some young people develop their skills in leading worship. Jordan is teaching dance and human videos to some of the youth of our churches as well as some missionary children in our community.
Thank you again for your love, support and prayers. We value you each and every one of you.
Blessings!
Jay