It’s a very very common sight here in every channel and rice field in every spare corner of this city.  Usually we don’t even notice a sight like this anymore because it is so common, but today we did notice because of what we saw when we looked down on the other side of the dike into the other channel.  This is what we saw.

It was not only a joyful sight, but a rare sight.  One doesn’t see this often, a son baptizing his father.  Now you know why we were so happy this day.  As many Malagasy were busy with their usual task of washing clothes, Rivo was busy washing a soul.  Our hearts were rejoicing and they still are.  But, that wasn’t all we saw.  This is what else we saw.

Fishing is also a common sight in the canals and in the rice fields.  It’s something we are so used to seeing that normally we wouldn’t pay it any mind.  But today we did because when we looked back again we saw another striking sight.  This is what we saw.

We had lots of reasons for rejoicing.  Harisoa, the new wife of Rado, one of our longtime diehard young men of the church also put on her Savior that day.

          As Rivo was just finishing the second baptism, a man came walking along the dike behind us herding his 20 cows, and when we looked down into the canal again we saw that Rivo was herding souls.  It was a blessed morning.  A blessed worship service followed and we were happy for more reasons than just recognized presidents and downed barricades.  We rejoiced because when others were 

          Things are looking brighter here in Madagascar.  The old president is gone.  The new president has the recognition from other countries that he needs.  The barricades are down.  There is still very little fuel and food in this capital city but people are smiling again and we are smiling more than all of them for we have weathered the storm with our Savior to help and we’ve managed to help a few new children come into the fold.  Please pray for these two new children of the Father, Rivo’s dad and Rado’s wife.  And please pray for Rivo’s mom and sisters who continue to study. 

The Food Situation
Barricades have come down.  There are advertisements on television and radio telling about and showing abundant supplies of sugar and cooking oil coming into the city and being sold for pre-election prices, however, our little burg has no sugar and is selling oil for 150% to 200% of pre-election prices.  Generally, prices are still triple.  There is still no milk or any milk products in town.  Several world food organizations have made sizeable donations and emergency food packets are being distributed to the very poor of the city.  Hundreds of thousands are still without work and hungry.  For them, recovery will be even longer.

Lines, lines and more lines
Vehicle fuel continues to be a problem.  Lines are 5 miles or longer from the stations.  Folks are pushing their cars into line, sleeping in their vehicles, and waiting days to receive 2 gallons of fuel at increased rates.  The 40 liters (10 gallons) of fuel we received, courtesy of the government, to carry on orphanage work is almost used up.  Needless to say, we are not sitting in those lines.  Our time can be used much more efficiently if we continue to use bicycles until the fuel reserves are built back up.

A Pleasant Surprise
Cooking gas (propane) is back in town!  Hooray!  It’s been 7 months since I’ve been able to do anything more than boil something in a pot on a hotplate.  And when the electric pylons became targets for the retreating old president and the entire city was without electricity for several days, we were reduced to cooking over handmade charcoal burners in our fireplace.  Charcoal is also scarce and expensive in this country with its decimated forests.  Barry came home yesterday with 18 kilos of stove gas.  We were forced to buy new bottles and a new regulator ($80.00) but Oh is it nice being able to get back to normal food preparation.  A few weeks ago we received a box of goodies from a dear friend.  She decided faith was more important than a closed post office, enclosed a prayer in her box of goodies and sent it on to us.  Prayer works.  WE GOT THE BOX!  Most all of what was in the box was able to be used in a pot on a hotplate, except for a box of chocolate muffin mix.  That first ounce of new stove gas was used to cook those muffins and we enjoyed cake for the first time in months.  Economic recovery will be extremely slow and we don’t guess that prices will ever get back to what they were before the election, but things are looking up.

• Pray for Rivo’s father (Daniel) and Rado’s wife (Harisoa) as they begin their new life with our Lord and Savior.  Pray that they can grow and encourage others to commit their lives to Him as we continue to teach and reach out to the Malagasy people.
• Pray that the Malagasy people can be patient with their newly elected president.  Many hurdles have to be overcome in order to restore this country back to economic growth.
• Pray for Daniel (not Rivo’s father), who we have mentioned several times in the past.  Since Daniel’s marriage he has stopped worshipping.  Daniel is wanting to worship and serve the Savior, but is being pulled away by family, tradition and friends.