We eat a late supper in our home.  Routine activities and demands, as well as the frequently unexpected, keep us hopping until after sunset on most days and when one must cook everything from scratch in order to prepare a meal, 7:00 pm or even 8:00 pm finds this family just sitting down to share their evening supper.  And so it was on one particular day.  Kit and Havilah had already bathed and were in their pajamas.  Barry had ushered the last person out of the yard and locked the doors.  The sun was long gone.  We were planning a quick supper, Bible study, and bed.
          Three of our number were already sitting at the table.  I had just set down the dish of rice, folded my hands and Barry led us in prayer.  At the last amen all four of us heaved a sigh of relief as we filled our bowls.  Finally, we could sit quietly and enjoy a family meal with no hurrying and hopefully with no interruptions.
           Barry had the advantage over me.  He had already taken a few bites.  I didn’t even have time to get the first spoonful of rice to my mouth when Havilah announced, “Can you believe it?  Odette (our neighbor) got angry with me and yelled at me because I planted two little onions in my garden today?  She said an earthquake would come and destroy our whole neighborhood.  Can you believe that?” 
          Barry’s spoon stopped halfway to his mouth, mine fell back into my plate.  Havilah sat still watching our reaction.  Kit, always intent on filling up his empty legs as fast as possible these days, looked up when it got quiet.  For ten seconds we sat motionless staring at one another.  Then, it was goodbye supper.  We were in a state of instant fast forward.  Barry rifted through his pockets in search of his keys as he catapulted himself out of his chair.  I ran in search of a flash light.  Havilah, fast on my heals in puzzlement, demanded an explanation.  Kit followed along behind mumbling to himself about Malagasy customs but was too interested to stay behind and eat.  We trooped out into the front yard sending Havilah in search of the garden hoe.  As Barry held the flashlight, there in the dark stood Havilah, in pajamas, and her mom sifting through the soil trying to find those two onion bulbs in Havilah’s newly planted garden, all the while Havilah asking what she had done wrong. 
          We must have looked a sight.  If an American had happened upon us, he would have quickly arranged our tickets home to America for immediate psychiatric treatment.  We have no doubt that our Malagasy neighbors were peeping through cracks in their shutters.  They, however, viewed the scene through different eyes and applauded our actions as we saved their whole neighborhood, and all over two measly little onion bulbs. 

“Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak . . .Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.”  I Corinthians 8:9 and 13.

          In our particular case, that second scripture might more accurately be applied:  “Therefore, if the onion that I plant causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never plant an onion again, so that I will not cause him to fall.” 
          Witchdoctors are alive, well and prospering in Madagascar, just as they are in most of Africa.  Witchdoctors are one of Satan’s strongest tools in this country.  They outline and define a strict set of taboos designed to keep these people chained in superstition.  Malagasy have a million and one taboos and planting onions in our neighborhood is one of them. 
          Witchdoctors and taboo are not new to this missionary family who lived in Kenya for 12 years.  We remember well the sure curse that would come upon any person of the Kisii tribe who would dare cut down a dead tree that had been struck by lightening.  We remember well the show of faith and courage when two Kisii Christians came to the point of increased strength  in their Christian walk and became an example to their people (placing themselves in the way of supposed danger and curses) by cutting down such a tree and using the wood to fuel the cook ovens for a church meeting.  We remember well, the Luo Christian who dared endanger his own life to save his niece (our own Havilah) from death by starvation because of one of these taboos.  He also acted in strength and faith for the glory of Christ. 
          These tremendous victories over Satan, his witchdoctors, and his taboos were the result of years and years of patient teaching and encouraging by countless missionaries who took seriously the advice in I Corinthians 8 and did not use their freedoms to abuse the conscience of weak brethren no matter how ridiculous or senseless the taboo seemed to be.
          Our job here in Madagascar is much more difficult.  We don’t have the benefit of missionaries who have come before us paving the way with patient teaching so that we experience a victory for Christ, and these Malagasy witchdoctors are far more cunning than those in Kenya. 
          In most cases in Kenya, when one dared disobey a taboo, the curse and danger fell upon his own head.  The immediate community waited with bated breath for that one to become sick, meet with an accident, or die, but their fear was for a neighbor, not for themselves. 
          Here in Madagascar, taboo almost always involves a group of people, a family, a community of neighbors, sometimes a whole tribe.  When one breaks a taboo, he plunges more than just himself into danger or even death.  Two little onion bulbs planted in defiance of a taboo would bring an earthquake to an entire city.  How does one ever find the strength and faith to experience his freedom in Christ when he endangers those around him?  Even if his own faith has reached the point of exercising his freedom in Christ, he is unable to act because he will become a stumbling block to the weak.  How does one find a way to be an example to those around him by throwing off the fear and chains of such taboos?
          We don’t have the answer to those questions.  Missionaries never have all the answers, even if some think they should.  I myself still “see through the glass dimly” (I Cor. 13:11).  What I do know is this.  We will bridle our tendency to quickly judge the beliefs of others.  We will try as hard as we can not to flaunt our freedom in Christ if it abuses the conscience of a Malagasy.  We will continue to try to teach with patience and understanding.  And if necessary  we will do the absurd, even if it means digging up two measly onions in our pajamas in the dark after a long and busy day of work, if it will temporarily ease the mind of a Malagasy until we can teach him that Christ’s power is greater than the threat of a coming earthquake because we have planted an onion.
          In all this, I can’t help but wonder.  In all his travels to different countries to teach different kinds of people from many many different backgrounds, how often did Paul find himself doing something absurd, like digging up newly planted onions, in the hopes of eventually saving a soul? 
 

 Barry Rosie (only Barry’s name please)
 B.P. 7554
 Antananarivo 101
 Madagascar

We will be sure to let you know if we hear from you.

Congregation Update
Slowly but surely we are expanding.  This work started in city center about six years ago.  Today there are two strong and independent congregations in the city and two more small groups of Bible students near the outskirts of this capital city of Antananarivo.

Ambohijatovo Church of Christ is the oldest and largest of the congregations.  They have had over 100 baptisms and average 60-70 for Sunday worship.  Ambohijatovo has a full-time Malagasy preacher, Romain Rakotomala, who also runs a family counseling center.  Romain is an excellent speaker and teacher.  He does two radio programs weekly and is often invited to speak to business and university groups concerning God’s Word, marriage and the family.

Ankadivato Congregation is almost as old as the Ambohijatovo congregation.  They average 50 for Sunday worship.  Ankadivato does not have a full-time preacher.  Several men of the congregation share teaching duties.  The people at Ankadivato are known as true “servants of Christ”.  Ankadivato publishes a monthly teaching paper, runs the Betikara orphanage, and shares the responsibility for weekly prayer groups in Christian’s homes throughout town.

Ambohijanahary is just getting started as a direct result of the lack of fuel during the political upheaval in this country.  Several members from Ankadivato have been working in this new area.  There have been 3 baptisms and Sunday worship averages 16-18. 

Ivato is the smallest group though not the newest.  Six people meet faithfully each Sunday afternoon.   All of them are Christians.  Several meet with the congregations in town on Sunday mornings.  Others rejoice to have this group near their homes because they cannot afford the bus fares into town. 
 

• Pray that the Malagasy people may understand better the ways of Christ and the freedom that He allows us to have in our daily lives.
• Pray that the Malagasy people may overcome the chains of traditionalism that bind them so strongly to the past and their fleshly families.
• Pray that the Malagasy people may be strong and able to overcome the power of the fear of the ancestors and the witchdoctors that are set so deeply in their lives.
• Pray for the church of Christ in Madagascar and the Rosie family as we continue to encourage and uplift the people around us so they will not be dependent on earthly, but rather spiritual things that emanate from Christ.