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.

Friday May 25, 2007

Hey Everybody! Today was another full day. We did alot of stuff, and my heart was made full.
This morning we were able to give our testimony of how God has been changing our lives in the last couple years, and about why we came to Madagascar. I shared a bit about how God had guided us through our miscarriage, giving us strength and hope from James chapter 1. (Go read it now- God is so awesome.)
We were able to share with 90 students (18-27 years old). Some of them are Muslim, some Catholic, some ancestor worship, and some Christian. They had great questions at the end of each class period. Out of that, there were 3 students who expressed a great interest in an Illustration class, which I will hold at 3 p.m. everyday that we have classes. (Tuesday-Friday) Please pray for my students Mohammed, Benjamin and Ilyani. I have been told that Mohammed is a devout Muslim, but I don't know about Benjamin and Ilyani yet. I am praying that in this class they will learn how to draw, and God will draw close to them and dramatically change their lives. Pray for me too, I have never taught art before, but I am excited about it. Our first class was today- it went really well. They want me to teach them how to draw people, about different styles of illustration, and also how to photograph stuff for reference to draw.
Brad had a good class today, too. It is still somewhat frustrating to have a French version of an old VB program, but they are pushing through it.
Tonight we went out to eat at this really cool restaurant that had a swimming pool. The kids loved the swimming, even Nickolas splashed around and laughed. We had a great meal there- I had chicken breast with a vanilla white sauce. It cost us about the same as going to Culvers, but in the States it probably would have been about $75-$80.
That was today. SUPER DAY. I am so glad we are here. You have no idea. God is so good. Please, please tell everyone you know about Him. Once your in heaven, it will be too late. Today's a good day.
By the way, I found out for certain today that there are parts of Madagascar that have never been visited by anyone with the Gospel. These areas are so remote, you can only get to them by boat or helicopter. Who will be first? Is it you?

Kim

Thursday May 24, 2007

Kim says-Hi everybody. Today I went into town with Crystal, Crystal is 28 and from Juno, Alaska. We needed to pick up some supplies for our trip to the caves with Rich and everybody. (BTW, when I say our trip to the caves- it will be the Baergs and the 2 volunteers and Rich- and a couple of flashlights. Now I know some of you are drooling and some of you are gasping. It will be awesome...and yes, we will be careful :)
Anyway, it was quite a trip. First we walked about a mile to the bus "stop". An old BMer van slows down long enough for us to squeeze in the back, and really squeeze. Imagine fitting about 30 people in the church van. (Some of you might not have to imagine- maybe that's already been done!) It was pretty exciting to just remain standing without falling on the lady next to me. (Though it would have been a pretty short fall) We got into town and walked to the market to get some mandarins and carrots. Then we went to the ATM machine (yes, they do have them) but Crystal's money got sucked back into the machine. She went into the bank and left me hanging out "guarding" the machine. I'm glad no one came by, because I have no clue how to say "out of order" in Malagasy or French. She came back after about 10 minutes and said she would have to talk to her bank when she got home. Then, we went to the "SCORE", which is kind of like the grocery store in Waterville- except they don't have as much stuff. We got a couple liters of Coke (in glass bottles) and some other stuff for the trip on Saturday. Got back home fine, and now we will prepare to give our testimonies to the students tomorrow.

Jasmine says- "I saw some geckos. Then can be called lizards, too. And I hope to see some lemurs, especially baby ones. I caught a baby lizard. He was really little, but he was cute and fast. Also, there are really nice people here and I like it. Did I say that we are going to a cave? Also, we are going to go swimming, and I can't wait. I was sleeping when Zakary saw the lemur, because I slept in, but it was okay because I probably will see another one. And I will take some more pictures for you to see, and I will probably take lots of pictures so you can see all the different colors "

Zakary says -"I called one of the lizards Zakary. I saw a lemur but I didn't get to hold it. It was alive. And I saw one, too, and I really liked it, so maybe I smiled. And I know it was a lemur, too.
I saw the airplanes, too."

Brad says - It's been an interesting day again. We started out the day observing the basic and intermediate English classes. Everyone said their name and how old they were. Most everyone was 18 or older. Some of the guys that help out in the computer lab expressed an interest in learning more about Visual Basic. The copy they have is VB6 in French no less. Most of them can read and speak French as well as Malagasy. English is still not very easy for them. Let's just say our forrey into VB has gone rather slowly due to the language barier and the fact that it is hard for me to remember back to the VB6 IDE. Hopefully tomorow we will be able to get the MSDN documentation installed so that they will be able to do more reaserch on each of the VB functions available to them when I am not here. I had to come up with a project for them to do so they are working on a project to keep track of the books in the library. The lemur was cute as well it was a baby so it was really tame. Zakary thought it was really cool. Last night I was able to get connected to the internet over here. Connections are a little diffferent here than at home. Land lines are not being repaired here so the most reliable connections are of the cellular kind. The missionary has a cellular phone that looks like a regular desk phone but it also a cellular modem built into it. This allows it to be used for data connections up to about 230 kps (almost broadband speed :) The funky thing about buying internet is that you buy it in the form of prepaid cards kind of like a phone card. When the card runs out you buy another. It's different. Not the first not the last :)

We made it!

We got to experience a miracle this week. As many of you know, we were waiting and calling the Passport Agency to get Nickolas' passport. After much prayer, persistence, and patience we were able to pick up Nick's passport at the Fed Ex office in Mankato at 11 a.m. on Saturday. all 5 of us got to the Minneapolis airport and breezed through the security and were leaving on a plane at 1:40 p.m. Here we are. We made it over here without any big problems. Our flight connections were all made on time, and we even had a little time in Chicago to play on the floor while we waited for the plane to load. Now that we are here in Majunga, everyone is adjusting to living here. It is much different than living in the states. We got here yesterday morning. Jasmine caught a baby gecko yesterday- it was only about 2 inches long. She found another big green one, about 7 or 8 inches long, but it was a little big to pick up.
We went into town last night for Malagasy pizza. It was great. Very similar to thin crust at home. We went with Rich, Crystal and Stephanie. Rich is the missionary we are working with, and Crystal and Stephanie are volunteers. It was great to be able to sit down and talk about stuff in person. We talked about the importance of spiritual growth in life, and the need to not get stuck in traditions and "religion" without a relationship with Christ.

It is about 9:15 a.m., and the kids just woke up. I am glad they were able to get in about 11 hours of sleep last night. It is 9 hours later here than in Minnesota, but I think they will adjust to the time difference pretty quickly.
We will be sitting in on some of the English classes at the BAO school this week, because Crystal and Stephanie will be leaving next week- so we will be teaching for the last 2 weeks of their school year. Jasmine and I helped Stephanie dry a whole bunch of bananas for her trip home.

This Saturday we will be going to some caves, about a 4 hour drive away. It should be fun.


Wednesday
Today was great. We are living at Rich and Bonnie's house with Stephanie and Crystal, the other volunteers. Brad taught his first computer class at 3. This morning, we sat in on Crystal's English classes that we will be "creatively" teaching when she has to leave next Thursday. Yesterday, Brad and Rich fixed the shower that hadn't worked for the last couple weeks. We are just doing whatever we can to help out with everything. I am just writing out random thoughts as they come to me. We finally got onto the internet today, so I figured I should at least let everyone know we are here. There is much more to write, but since Nick was up from 1-3 last night, I am tired and will write more tomorrow. Please keep praying for us, as we have already begun developing relationships with the young people that come to the school. Pray that their hearts are open to the truth of the message and transforming power of God.

Missin' you all and full of joy-
The Baergs

Time to tie our shoes

We are leaving in one week. We are all very excited and ready to be available for what God has for us in Madagascar. Madagascar is an island about the size of Texas- and is off the south east coast of Africa. We will be living and teaching at the BAO school, which is like a college that offers Computer, English and Bible courses.
What will God have for us in Madagascar? We are not certain, but we are looking forward to it! And, yes, we are a little nervous about all of the unknowns. But, who is BIGGER than the unknowns? Whose POWER are we using? Not ours, thankfully! We wouldn't make it on our own. I read this promise-filled verse again, today- check it out....
Isaiah 40:31 - But those who wait for the Lord’s help find renewed strength; they rise up as if they had eagles’ wings, they run without growing weary, they walk without getting tired.
I know we will need this verse this month. What a huge promise from God! We have personally seen His strength in the past, and we will remember that He will give us His strength now. No matter what we encounter, He is leading us through it- HOW GREAT IS THAT!
I can't wait to start building some relationships with the wonderful people that we will meet on our journey. Pray for us as we tie our shoes and go.