“He will defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy.”             Psalm 72:4

Hello,

          I’ll try to write a little of how I came to Madagascar and my experience here at the orphanage.  For those of you who know me know that it was a big step for me to go so far away from my familiar surroundings.  I must say God gave me the courage to pursue what He put in my heart many years ago already.  I am thankful to Him for opening this door and for the people back home (Nova Scotia, Canada) who encouraged me in this.
          The children are precious.  And they love to have any extra attention and love.  Several of them quite frequently come up real close so I can put my arm around them; or they’ll be the ones to give me a big hug.  Who is more blessed: they, or me?!  Through some drawing projects which another volunteer and I have had them do I’ve seen several “budding artists”.  One day we cut a calendar picture in half, pasted it onto a bigger piece of paper.  They then drew the rest of the picture.  Beautiful!  Lunch times are usually fun.  Lots of talking going on, passing rice that one can’t eat to someone who wants it; also always a few kids who want me to sit next to them at lunch.  A lot of them (the boys especially) play with metal bottle caps.  I haven’t figured out what the rules of the game are, but they know what they are doing.  The girls (and some boys) jump rope; they have some interesting steps and speeds.

          Blessings to you all.

          Love, Irma Friesen

Irma and one of her favorites (Tsiry) 
share an after lunch chore.

Volunteer #2, Sandy Lund, is here
and already busy with projects, fun, 
and just lots of kids to love.

Volunteer #2 is here.
          Volunteer #2 rolled in about mid-February just after we had volunteer #1 up and running.  Her name is Sandy Lund and she’s leaving a trail of love behind her everywhere she goes.  She’s willing to try anything once and about 99.99% of everything we ask her to do she’s willing to do twice, or thrice, or a million times. We can’t get her to kill a chicken for lunch though.  We are thankful for such a giving spirit as Sandy’s. 
          Sandy has a few special projects for the kids up her sleeve.  She is filing for papers through the government here to stay for a long term (1-2 years).  She’s going to be of value beyond measure to us as we attempt to relocate the 19 lambs from city center to 7+ acres of farmland and roaming space.  Sandy, and Irma both have caught the vision real fast of a home for the lambs with 7 acres to run around on, and Irma is already talking about coming back to Betikara for more fun and love. 
          In the meantime, Sandy has already begun regular practice reading sessions with the lambs in three different languages (Malagasy, French and English), no matter that she doesn’t know two of the languages herself.  A crash course in Malagasy phonetics, a generous measure of courage, and she’s on her way.  Next week, Sandy begins swimming lessons with the first four lambs.  We have been wondering how we could move those lambs to lakefront property with a huge fish pond smack dab in the middle of it without endangering their lives (none of them know how to swim or have any experience near the water), so we began to pray.  God dropped Sandy right in our laps; someone who swims well, taught her own children to swim, and someone who is not intimidated by children who don’t speak her language.  I’d love to be a fish in that swimming pool and get a first hand view of the lessons. 
          Thank you, Father, for two absolutely delightful blessings at Betikara!
 

  Indiana Church of Christ 
  225 East Pike Rd. 
  Indiana, PA  15701 

“He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done.” 
                           Proverbs 19:17