 |
 Jesus’ kids! September 2001 Volume 4, Number 9 “Religion that God the Father accepts as pure and faultless is this:
to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself
from being polluted by the world.”
|
|
|
| The trip to Mahajanga is now history. It all started
a long time ago, with allot of planning and prayer. There was much preparation
to be done. A bus had to be found and negotiated for, so that the Lambs
would be assured transport to Mahajanga and back to Antananarivo. As with
all negotiating in Madagascar, it took a long time to strike a bargain
that was acceptable to us and the bus driver. Then there was all of the
food items that needed to be bought.
We did not stay in a hotel, or in a school as we had originally thought. So, we took along a lot of food and a gas burner that we could use for cooking our own food. We wound up staying at a radio station. (While at the radio station Rivo and Narivony were able to present the church to the listening audience, and the Lambs were allowed to sing and teach on the radio twice.) It turned out that some of the youth know the person that runs the radio station and he agreed for us all (31 in number) to stay. Why 31 in number when there are only 13 Lambs. We stipulated that if this trip was going to work, there was going to have to be at least one responsible youth or adult along for each Lamb. Everyone got into the spirit of the adventure and it was soon decided that each responsible youth or adult would have a Lamb for a "son" or "daughter" during the week in Mahajanga. All of the older folk had a lot of fun with their sons and daughters. And for the youth that are not yet married, they learned that taking care of one of the Lambs was quite a taxing responsibility. The trip itself was on some pretty good road, considering the roads in Madagascar. There were a few bad places with holes in the pavement, but there was pavement the whole way to Mahajanga. The trip was approximately 345 miles, and took us ten and one half hours by car. The bus was another story. It took them an additional 3 hours to reach Mahajanga. We left after Sunday morning worship and a fellowship meal at the building on the 12th of August (about 4:30 p.m.), and finally arrived at the radio station at about 3:00 in the morning on Monday the 13th. Then waited the extra three hours for the bus with the Lambs to arrive. Needless to say, none of us got any sleep in the car Sunday night, and those on the bus did not fare much better. Once everything was unloaded from the bus and the bus departed, we all working on getting settled in. But no one got any sleep. Everyone was to anxious to get to the ocean. Why? Because for most of the Lambs, and allot of the adults it was their first time to see the Indian Ocean. Kit and Havilah had assured me before the trip to Mahajanga, that some of the boys like Yosly and Fetra could swim. They said that they saw them swimming in the lake at the bottom of the Betikara land. So, I was not worried about at least some of them. Or, at least I thought that I did not need to worry about some of them. At first everyone was contented to swim at the local beach close to one of the Mahajanga hotels. In this area there was an almost enclosed area of the ocean that made it easy for the Lambs to get into the water and have some fun. (Everyone had to comment on how salty the water was in the Indian Ocean.) But, soon the novelty of that swimming place wore off and many of the older people in the group wanted to check out some of the other beaches along the coast. It was at this time I found out that almost no one that was with the group could swim. Except me of course, and on this particular day I was just along for the ride. I did not plan on going swimming. We arrived at a new beach location. This time it was all wide open ocean rolling in to the shore with a breeze from the land. Everyone got out of the car and decided to take their shoes and thongs off and walk barefoot in the sand. Quite American isn’t it? Well, the Lambs put their thongs to close to the ocean, and it wasn’t long before a larger wave came into shore. You guessed it. Many of the thongs and shoes started heading for the ocean. All but one thong was eventually saved. It happened to be Sedera’s thong. As I said before, I did not plan on going swimming that day. I was just along for the ride. So I quickly called to Fetra, remembering that Kit and Havilah said that he could swim. Well, Fetra got out into the water to follow after and bring back Sedera’s thong. I thought, good, no problem. Fetra will get the thong and all will be okay. Fetra got out into the ocean with the rolling waves coming into shore and stopped knee deep in the water. No matter how much I tried to coax him, he would budge no further. In the mean time, the wind was coming from the shore and continuing to push the thong further and further from the shore. What was I to do? I had two choices. Let the thong go, and buy another pair of thongs for Sedera once we returned to Antananarivo, or go into the ocean after the thong and try to teach the Lambs the importance of taking care of their things because they cannot always be replaced. So, I opted to go into the ocean. By the time I had shed everything that could possibly get lost or ruined in the salt water, Sedera’s thong was several hundred feet out into the ocean. It took me several minutes to get out to the thong and stick it into one of my pants pockets. Then I had to return to shore. Luckily salt water is more buoyant than fresh water, so I did not feel too dragged down by my pants and shirt. Looking back on that incident, I now am going to have to get involved in teaching swimming to all of the Lambs once we move them permanently to the Betikara property. It would bode no good to have one of them fall in the lake and drown. Swimming lessons for the Lambs coming up!! The trip to Mahajanga for the most part was a good experience for all concerned. Many new friendships were created, and we are still seeing an increased desire for those who went on the trip to be close together and spend allot of time talking to each other and worshiping together. Now the big question is, "when and where is the next trip for the Lambs going to take place? It will not be any time in the near future. School started this last week for the Lambs, and we need to get busy working on the future home of the Betikara Lambs. Please Pray
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
If you would like to help with a monetary donation, write your check out to BETIKARA and send it to: Indiana Church of Christ
“He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him
for what he has done.”
|