Our youth ministry team shared this verse with the Malagasy youth on our first day with them Wednesday morning. It was our goal to strengthen them with the gifts God has given us, but we also wanted to be strengthened by their faith and the gifts God had given them. It did not take long for us to be mutually encouraged. They love meeting together, singing beautiful Malagasy songs to God, and find joy in the activities we did together. One person from our team shares their testimony in the morning session and one of the youth shares their testimony in the afternoon session. It has been encouraging to hear how God has changed their lives through a relationship with Jesus. We learned that an older man who has been sitting in on our sessions is a Wycliffe Bible translator for his tribal people in Madagascar. He is studying God's Word so that he can accurately translate it into his people's tongue. It is encouraging to see this work in progress!
We have been teaching through the gospel narrative during our sessions and in the afternoon we do a follow up to answer questions. Day one was Creation; Day two was the fall; Today was Redemption; Tomorrow is Restoration. Today, we discussed the death and resurrection of Christ and in our follow up groups we asked the students if they had put their faith in Christ's work for us. One particular young man was not able to answer this question for himself and has asked us many good questions. Tonight, he walked with us back to the Waller's house still probing and before he left, he emphatically announced, "Jesus is my God!" We hope to follow up with him tomorrow to understand his reason in exclaiming this. We are encouraged that the Holy Spirit is working in the hearts of the youth.
We have had limited contact with our team in the bush, but they also have shared with us ways they have been making progress and seeing fruit from their preparation and labor. We will let them fully explain their experiences when they get back Saturday night. Until then keep praying for them as well as the last day of our youth outreach. Also pray for our physical health as many of us are struggling from different kinds of ailments.
Acts 11:23 When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.
May this be our focus as we continue to support the Wallers. Thanks for checking back!
Love the pics, especially the one of JD speaking since he is my brother-in-law. What a blessed opportunity! Keep serving and loving each other and those precious people!
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