It’s been a very very busy last few months.  Havilah and I finished school on June 9th.  Most of the lambs finished school on that day too.  Kit pressed on until July 10th.  Barry was running in fifty directions at once intent on finishing the school end of the orphanage building in time for the arrival of our stateside visitors and the first World Wide Youth Camp Vacation Bible School ever held in Madagascar.  During the last five weeks of school, I was also finishing up the most demanding course of my master’s degree.  I pressed on for one week after school was out trying to finish the equivalent of my master’s thesis in the form of an Action Research Project.  At the same time, we were helping Hasina (a dear sister in Christ) put the final touches on her master’s thesis and prepare to defend her thesis at the university here in Madagascar. 
          I turned in my Action Research Project on Saturday morning, June 17th (two days early) and Barry, Havilah, and I flew to South Africa for some much needed rest and relaxation on the same day.  We enjoyed a whole week of down time, managed to supply Havilah with much needed school clothes for her next school year, and flew back to Madagascar exactly seven days later.  One week to prepare the house for seven more residents and we caught our WWYC visitors off the plane on Friday evening, July 7th. We gave them a brief weekend indoctrination to the work in Madagascar, introduced them to their personal interpreters (Malagasy co-teachers) and set them loose at the orphanage for Madagascar’s first ever WWYC Vacation Bible school on Wednesday, July 12th.  Seven teachers, seven co-teachers, supplies for the 200 children we anticipated might come to the Vacation Bible School and which the visitors brought all the way from the States and history was in the making. 
          Let us introduce you to our guests.

          The fun begins every morning at 9:00 am.  Three hours of Bible classes and stories.  The whole gang breaks for lunch at noon.  The community children go home for lunch and the teachers and co-teachers enjoy lunch with the lambs of Betikara.  At 2:00 pm., all the community children are back at Betikara and everyone is just itching for two hours of fun and games.  The schedule is working great and the VBS will continue for three weeks. 
          We guestimated just about right on the first day.  We had 234 children to kick off the VBS.  We were a tad bit off though for the rest of the first week.  We never imagined how quickly word would spread about how much fun these WWYC visitors are.  On day two, we had 361 children.  On day three, the numbers rose to an astounding 406 children!  On day four, the teachers got a bit of a breather, only 365 children showed up for the fun. 
 Our American guests were a little surprised and maybe a tad bitty bit intimidated by 60 children per class, but they rose to the occasion with grace and fun.  The Malagasy co-teachers and Havilah were not so surprised; 60 children per class is pretty usual for Madagascar.
 

First Day Worship after a Very Successful First Week of VBS
          Our WWYC visitors have so much energy I’m having trouble keeping up with them.  The first week of VBS wasn’t enough for them.  Yesterday, they graciously taught Bible class before Sunday worship.  One of them had 80 children in their classroom.  I had the opportunity to translate for one of the classes and enjoyed the experience.  I know the children’s minds were stretched and that they enjoyed the experience too.  Worship was equally uplifting.  We had 253 in attendance.  That’s 100 more than usual.  Lots of children came looking for more fun, but we also welcomed many parents who were curious about these people who were giving themselves to serve Malagasy children and no school fees required. 

Facts and Figures
          Several interesting facts and stories have come to our attention this past week.  One little church tyke who insisted that he was going to attend VBS despite a head injury that kept him home the first day convinced his dad on the second to ride him 12 kilometers (8 miles) to the orphanage on the family bicycle.  Several other church children walked more than 8 miles each way each day to attend the Bible classes.  Yesterday before worship, we learned that some children came as far as the town of Mary Mandroso (more than 8 miles away) when they heard about the fun.  Our visitors came expecting to plant seeds in little hearts that may bloom in the far future, but what they have done more immediately, they have made us more visible to the community and created a curiosity that natural Malagasy reticence couldn’t resist.  For this we are extremely thankful both to the visitors and to our Father and Lord. 
 

• Pray that the WWYC team can “keep on going” as the expression says.  They are all doing a great job.  Pray that they can reach out to the children that are coming each day.
• Pray for Kit and Havilah as they continue to grow up in the Lord and seek new ways to serve Him.
• Pray that the surrounding communities can be receptive to the gospel message.  Pray that they will be interested in getting to know the congregation at Ambohimarina and that the Ambohimarina Christians will reach out to the surrounding communities.
• Pray for us as we serve the WWYC team so that we can help them understand the Malagasy people and their traditional ways.