Friday, May 3rd.  For a few blessed minutes, the Ankadivato congregation was able to put aside worries about two presidents, worries about a lack of jobs, worries about food and medicine, and worries about life on this earth, while with the help of Dinand, (a faithful servant of the Father), Tovo Ratsimilao Joseph put on his Savior in baptism and became a new child in the family of God.

Dinand and Tovo	Tovo Happy After Baptism

          I have a neighbor who is a Christian.  She’s a lovely person and is trying to walk with the Savior.  Her name is Voahirana.  Voahirana is an upper class Malagasy.  Her husband holds a high management position in one of the handful of indigenous companies of Madagascar.  They live in a beautiful, new two-story house.  They have leather furniture in their living room and a fully matching set of dining room furniture that seats 12 and is made of a very rare Malagasy hardwood.  Their television is one of those wide screen variety that takes up on whole living room wall.  Andreo and Voahirana’s children attend an expensive French private school.  They have 3 vehicles and even in this time of barricades and non-existent fuel, Andreo’s company has steadily provided him with 10 liters of fuel each week (enough to drive back and forth to work daily and to take his wife grocery shopping weekly).
          Voahirana and I visit back and forth often.  Last week when I went to visit her, she thoroughly surprised me by her state of unrest.  Her world is coming crashing down around her feet.  The company Andreo works for can no longer supply fuel.  She’s worried about how she will get to the store.  (Most Malagasy have been without any fuel for almost 5 months now.)  Andreo will be reduced to riding a bicycle to work (he works less than 3 miles from where he lives).  On a trip into town a few weeks ago, Voahirana was held at knife point and forced to give up some of her gold jewelry.  She and her husband are from a tribe of Malagasy called Betsileo and they live in the stronghold of the Imerina tribe.  Because this political problem has reverted to tribalism, Voahirana and Andreo no longer feel safe in their home.  They are trying to decide if they should pack up and move south into the Betsileo stronghold.  During a recent political discussion between myself and Voahirana, she begged me not to tell anyone here in Madagascar the things she has told me about the political situation in this country.  She fears that “they” (I’m not exactly sure who she is referring to) will come and burn down her beautiful new home.  Some of her family who live in the southern part of Madagascar have already had their homes burned.
          I went to Voahirana’s with the express purpose of trying to encourage her, and trying to remind her to lean on her Savior.  “If God knew, in the time of Elijah, that there were exactly 7,000 people who never bowed down to Baal in all of Israel, surely He knows that you worship Him only.  He’s looking out for you, Voahirana”, I told her.  I fear though that my words were falling on deaf ears.  She talked politics and I tried to talk God, but we weren’t communicating very well.
          Voahirana is just one example.  If the rich Malagasy are reacting with such discouragement and fear, imagine how the Malagasy poor are struggling.  The Malagasy poor are the ones who have not only lost their source of fuel, they have lost jobs (with no hope of a job when this is over, for many foreign companies have already picked up and moved out), and they grapple daily to feed families when food prices have tripled and food stores have become scarce. They can’t get necessary medicines.  Their children’s schooling has been disrupted in a major way.  They are becoming bored and angry with it all. 
          Discouragement has settled over this city and this whole country like a huge black cloud and it’s getting thicker every day.  The Rosie family are finding themselves firmly playing the role of encouragers.  Most days it seems like we are struggling to hold up everyone we meet with words of encouragement.  That’s a wonderful way to initiate a discussion about the Bible.  But we too are not immune from that thickening cloud of discouragement.  Often times, more often than not, we feel like no one wants to listen.  We are beginning to wonder if God is letting this problem drag on and on because He wants the Malagasy to turn to Him.  Instead it seems as if they have forgotten Him in their efforts to solve their own problems.  They have been severely inconvenienced in these last five months but they are not suffering.  They are hungry but not yet starving.  They are not suffering enough to turn to God.  Perhaps God is bringing them to a point where they will want and need to turn to Him.  But it doesn’t seem as if that point has come yet. Discouragement prevails.
          Until this last week we had been feeling pretty discouraged ourselves.  That’s when Tovo (see front page) came forth and expressed his deep need to put on the Savior.  On the same day that Tovo was baptized, we spoke to the preacher’s wife from the other congregation in town.  They too had a baptism at almost exactly the same time.  Christ is shining through that thick black cloud of discouragement and showing us that there are Malagasy out there who feel the need and are indeed listening to the Savior.
          We have several other interesting individual Bible studies in progress.  The daily Bible study at the orphanage land continues.  Several there have expressed that they are thinking deeply about what they have learned.  The oldest orphanage child, Robert, has caught the fever and is expressing the desire to live for Christ.  We have the task of continuing to teach Tovo, and of course we continue to encourage as much as possible through this political crisis.  When you pray, please ask fervently for God to do whatever is necessary to turn these people towards Him.  Pray for Him to help us to do whatever is necessary to teach and encourage and to open eyes regarding the One that is truly in control.

Dinand gets the credit
          Dinand, caregiver at the orphanage, faithful Christian, our little brother in Christ gets the credit this time for the fruit he has produced for the Savior.  While the orphanage children are in school, part of Dinand’s responsibilities at the Center are to field inquiries about the Centre d’Etude Biblique.  Tovo walked in off the street with an inquiry.  Dinand piqued his interest in a Bible study and opened the Word to Him.  Dinand (see page 1 photo) continued to teach and Dinand did the baptizing.  Way to go, Dinand!

• Pray for Tovo as he starts his walk with Christ and for Dinand as he works to strengthen Tovo on a daily basis.
• Pray for the Rosie family as we continue to serve and try to encourage the Malagasy towards following Christ.
• Pray for the political situation here in Madagascar as we still see no easy end to this situation.
• Pray for the masses of Malagasy people that are struggling to make ends meet during this time of unrest and lack of jobs in Madagascar.
• Pray that the Malagasy Christians may stay centered on Christ and His will, as it is becoming increasingly harder to get food and the other items that are necessary for daily life.