Our Time Here is just about over.

Well this is the last blog post from Majunga. Our plane to Tanna leaves at 1:00 on Wednesday afternoon. It has been interesting and enjoyable time to live in Madagascar for a whole month. We feel like we have been living here longer than a month as we have grown rather comfortable living here. It will be a bit of an adjustment to come back to the states.

Brad needed to go to the bank today to get some cash and he went with Rich and Yves (one of the guys that will run BAO school next year) to get his name put on Rich’s Bank account so that bills can be paid and so forth. Well come to find out the bank needed to update rich’s information on the account as well. So what followed was about 2 hours of chasing around town getting this stamped and that notarized so that everything was official. Brad found it rather interesting since in the States if the bank wants a picture of you they just take a photocopy of your driver’s license or picture Id and it’s all done. No hassle or fuss, over here it just does not work that way. Meanwhile back at the ranch Kim got to watch “Princess Bride” and eat cookies with a few of the students who had come over.

After the mornings adventure Rich invited us out to the beach for a little swim (Everybody but Nick) and eating of sand (Nick). And then the rest of us had dinner later. We were able to see a beautiful sunset over the water and then had a good talk with Rich as our time here comes to a close.

Thanks for all of your prayers and encouragement as we have been on this adventure.
Brad, Kim, Jasmine, Zakary, and Nickolas

let's see if I can post these photos

This is a picture of the church we went to on Sunday, and also the graduation ceremony. I have lots more- but I will wait until we are home to pubish them.

random thoughts sunday and monday

Saturday was graduation. It was really nice. The students were all dressed up; some of the guys even wore 3 piece suits. It was great to meet some of the families of our students. I’ll admit it was interesting as the students went through and accepted their certificates to shake their hands and then have them give me a kiss where they touch their cheek to my cheek on both sides of the face. This is a French custom- I hope you have seen this before, and then you might know what I mean. (My Americanness was a little weirded-out by the closeness of it, but I made it through) After the official ceremony was over, we all had some snacks and took lots of pictures. It was so much fun.
Sunday we went to church with Rich. This church was also very small in size- about 36 people- 1/3 were kids. Lebena, one of my Advanced English students, sat next to me and was nice enough to interpret most of it. It was great! He also pointed out some of his sisters, his mom, and nieces and nephews. (Lebena is from a family of 11 kids, so almost all the kids that were there were related to him.) Lebena will be teaching at BAO school next year- school starts in October! Yes- I am excited to say that they will have school even though Bonnie and Rich will be in the states with Bonnie recovering from chemo. There are enough great students that will be able to teach all the classes. Isn’t that great? The only bummer part is that there is no one to cover teaching Bible all 4 days of the school week, but they are going to try to have a local pastor come to teach at least 1 day.
We are going to be going to the beach again tomorrow. We have gotten to go 2 times already- so this is a great treat to go one last time. The ocean is pretty warm- kind of like our lakes feel around the middle of July. We are usually the only ones out on the beach. (When I get home I will post pictures- sorry, it just doesn’t work well for publishing from this end of the world)

It’s great to get the E-news from church. We are praying for you. Thayer’s- have a super great trip. I am excited for you like you wouldn’t believe. God is with you and in control.
Love, Kim

Friday June 15th, 2007

We have learned a lot about what missionaries do. One interesting thing I never thought about is deciding where the support money will go. Rich was telling us today about one of the students who wants to go to the university next year. She is very bright. For a whole year, the cost is only $700 U.S. Her family is not helping her out at all with the cost- her dad said he is “all out of money”. Rich said that since her family is not helping at all, he is not going to either. She is very good at speaking and writing English- she might be able to teach at BAO or a different school, to raise the money to go to the university. This was a very difficult decision for him. Rich and Bonnie help out many of the pastors around Madagascar with training and sometimes financial needs as well. It is interesting to know that although the Malagasy will come to hear a non-Malagasy speak, it is usually out of curiosity or want for money, but not out of real interest. That is why it is so important to train Nationals and then support them by keeping up the training and encouragement.

A big Nickolas update for Grandma and Grandpa-
Nick is now a little over 7 months old. He is sitting on his own really well, and also likes to pull himself up and stand next to Dad’s leg and grab on. (Dad’s lost a bit of leg hair because of it  ) Nick’s first tooth poked through on Brad’s birthday- June 11. He loves to clap with the music when we are at song time. He also started waving today.

June 6, 2007 - Music and Life

A little about music and stuff…

Everyone who lives around here seems to enjoy music. If there is a get together, there is always lots of music included. (And usually dancing too.) On Fridays at the BAO school, they have a wonderful singing time. We have enjoyed singing to God with them- some songs in English and some in Malagasy. “Here I am to Worship” and “Hosanna in the Highest” might be some you will recognize.

When we were walking down the road to catch our bus the other night, Jasmine began singing. “I have decided to follow Jesus” and then “Though no one join me, still I will follow” – “No turning back, no turning back” As my eyes got a bit damp, I was thankful that we were priveledged to all walk together on this part of our spiritual journeys, and I was also reminded that she is not mine, but a child of God. As a parent, this is both an exciting thing to know and difficult. Why difficult? I suppose because I think of who she is up against. Why exciting? Because the one she claims as her leader- God- knows the way and will lead her through this life and promises victory. How great is that!!!!!

We got on that bus to go home, and at the next stop a group of 10 students from the University got on. They began singing fantastic choral music that filled our hearts over. We didn’t want it to stop, blessings are so neat. This trip has been full of blessings from God. He promises us joy now- so take it!

We are finishing up teaching- finals are tomorrow and Friday. Graduation is June 16.

Have a super God-filled day- watch what He can do!!! Tell somebody.

p.s. Sometimes the blog entries are a little bit delayed. Internet connections here are kind of like dial-up but without the sure hope of actually getting a web site up on any given day. :) It has been interesting getting sites to load. Sometimes they do after a while and sometimes you just end up with a blank screen after all of the waiting. Patience is a key word :) By the way this is finally getting posted on Friday so all of the finals have been given. Now we have to correct them :O.

Brad, Kim, Jasmine, Zakary and Nickolas

The Week Sunday May 27 - Friday June 1

Sunday- Today we went to church. It was all in Malagasy, although someone who was sitting just behind Brad befriended him and then translated the sermon. We did know what the sermon was about, because Rich was preaching and he had told us his main points at lunch on Saturday. Rich is called on from a couple different churches to preach on Sundays. We will probably just go to whatever church he is going to each Sunday, so we can meet more people and see what we will see. I am glad we can read our Bibles and continue growing on our own at any time. Wouldn't it be awful if the only time we were able to be fed was at church on Sunday? or only by a preacher? I am so thankful God meets us and grows us from His word, and allows us to come to Him directly. What an awesome God we have.

Sunday night we went to the "Boulevard" with some of the students. The boulevard is the sidewalk along the ocean. Everyone just walks around talking and eating food from the many vendors there. We were walking along when suddenly a large motorcade pulled up just in front of us. I held onto the kids hands a bit tighter, not knowing exactly what was going to happen. Out stepped the President of Madagascar and his wife. It was pretty wild. It was not something that happens everyday- it would be like George W. showing up in Waterville. Needless to say, it was fun to see him and see the students reactions as well.

Friday-

Brad and I helped out teaching classes on Tuesday-Thursday. We said goodbye to Stephanie and Crystal yesterday, and taught all by ourselves today. We each are teaching 3 English classes in the morning. The kids help out, or hang out nearby, playing with some of Mama Taheri's kids. Nickolas usually just gets passed around the room! Everyone is really enjoying all that we have been able to do and encounter here. I could write much more, but I need to go get ready for lunch. Have a fantastic weekend.

Saturday May 26

Saturday-
Today we went to the caves. They are only about 35 miles away. It took us almost 4 hours to get there. Yes, 4 hours. It was an amazing ride! The road (trail) is very bumpy and rutty and slippery. It was a blast. Jasmine had a little problem with motion sickness on the way there, but on the way back she had no problems- and she thought it was great. We got to the caves at about 11:30 and had a quick picnic lunch. Then we went in the caves. It was breathtaking. No one else was around, it was just our little group. These pictures don't do it justice, but at least you can get an idea. There was a room in there that had thousands of bats- it was really weird to watch them and hear them for awhile. I wish we would have had more time to explore, but Rich had more suprises planned for the day. We went to the top of an amazing waterfall that you can swim under, then we went swimming. As we were getting our shoes and socks off, we saw a family of lemurs staring at us from a nearby tree. Zakary and Jasmine got to touch one's tail- they were so close.

They didn't like the sound of Brad's laugh- they all started grunting at him. It was hilarious. We went swimming and then piled back in the Prado for the ride back. It was fun. We saw a rainbow, tons of zebus, and listened to tunes on Rich's IPod. ("The Lion Sleeps Tonight" and "He's Alive and I'm Forgiven" were a couple of my favorites) I'm making it a quick one today, as I am a little fuzzy after all that bouncing around!!
I hope everybody is having a great week. We miss you, but we definately know that we are supposed to be here right now.
BTW - it is very difficult to get anything to load and work on the internet, so I am going to try to send my blogs when it might work, but that is never a certainty here.