BP 5196
ANTANANARIVO 101
MADAGASCAR
Via
France
jpitterle@simicro.mg
(261)
032 02 56393
Dear Friends and Family:
We have some great news to share! But
first, to give you a better idea of what things are like here, we
thought we’d let you know that most churches we have visited
only have two or three light bulbs that are not used very much.
Instead, we know that Jesus is the light!
In January, Leigh had an infection (abscess)
in her leg. Jesus was so good as He sent two new students
to our Malagasy classes on one of her worst days. Both of
them are American doctors. The other American doctor Leigh
had seen in Antsirabe also agreed she needed to have the
infection cleaned out. We traveled to the capital and the
recommended doctor did a fine job. The Lord blessed
Leigh’s leg and she has healed very nicely.
About a week after we returned to Antsirabe,
the main road we had just driven on experienced some serious
erosion damage, perhaps 50 feet deep and more than 50 feet
across. (Please see the photo below.) It took two weeks for
a detour to be made but, praise Jesus, we did not need the road
during this time.
We remember telling Penn State international
students who we helped teach English that we would be very happy
when we speak Malagasy as well as they spoke English. Well,
we finished our Malagasy classes in March and returned to our
first house in Antananarivo, the capital. We are grateful
to now be at the point where we can usually have successful
person-to-person communication. We have opportunities to
practice what we learned every day.
Work with the Book of Hope (BoH) continues.
Computer versions of two editions (for different ages) of the
Malagasy Book of Hope have been finished and sent to Florida (one
month ahead of schedule)! We are so excited about this!
We are absolutely convinced that Jesus wants to birth something
significant in Madagascar!!!
Your
prayers would be greatly appreciated. Important planning
for the Book of Hope distribution will be ongoing. We
recently learned that 85% of the children in school here are in
elementary school and one-third of all the kids in school are in
first grade. Also about one-third of the children in many
grades will repeat the same grade the next year. Thus, it
will be very important to pray for and reach the youngest
children with the awesome, life-changing truth of Jesus.
When we mailed our first donation to the
Book of Hope (originally called the Book of Life) maybe nine
years ago and asked it to be used for Madagascar, we had no idea
that we would be working with the Book of Hope in this wonderful
but needy nation. Jesus is so incredible! We are
getting closer as we look forward to the first of many precious
children receiving the life-changing word of God.
Continuing prayer requests include: Spirit-led
intercession, the leading/direction of the BoH distribution by
the Assemblies of God Executive Committee (and us), churches
willing to buy the books (probably at a fraction of their actual
cost), churches/Christians in the six provinces to carry out the
distributions, printing in India, transportation and especially
customs in the port of Tamatave (aka Toamasina), visas for the
training/distribution team coming from the States, and
preparation for church growth and long-term discipleship of the
new believers.
We are a family of teachers now. Leigh
is doing a great job as she home-schools Stephen and he is
learning well. (By the way, Stephen is very happy to be
back in our original home in the capital because he loves playing
with his Malagasy friends in our neighborhood.) John is
teaching English to many pastors and 84 Bible school students on
Tuesday mornings and Wednesday afternoons, respectively. On
Fridays, John will also be teaching computer basics. On
Friday, April 20, John is scheduled to teach a two-hour class
about the beliefs of Islam. He is currently reading (parts
of) six books about this so that he will be able to teach on this
subject.
We love Madagascar and we love being here!
We are convinced that this is the Lord’s place for us at
this time and it is the (initial) fulfillment of a 13-year wait
since Jesus so clearly repeated, “Madagascar.”
Several people have told us that it is so
great that we can be involved in the Lord’s work here
in Madagascar. The great news is that we can all be
involved with the Father’s business wherever we are! It
is not primarily about physical location or even about being in
“ministry.” Rather, it is all about knowing the
Father’s will and doing it. Whether it is raising
children, working at a job, or whatever, we all have this
opportunity regardless of where we are! And the Lord wants
to speak to us and help us be His ambassadors in His will. Nothing
is more important than pleasing our Father.
We thought we would save our most exciting,
personal news for last. Leigh is pregnant and the baby is
due around the middle of October. We are very excited!
We had an ultrasound and saw the baby’s head, arms, legs,
and spine. We also saw the heart and heard it beating!
In typical fashion, Jesus has blessed us with friends who know
Americans and Europeans who have recently had babies here in the
capital. Already we have visited some nice hospitals and we
still plan to visit a few more. Could you please pray that
Jesus will make it very clear where to have the baby born?
Thank you very much for partnering with us via your prayer and support. This truly is a team effort and we appreciate you. Please do let us know if you have any prayer requests.
In His infinite awesomeness and awesome infiniteness,
John, Leigh, and Stephen
PS If you respond to e-mail, please do not
resend the entire original e-mail because our e-mail often
downloads slowly here. Rather, please only include the
parts you want to respond to directly. Also, although we
have three e-mail addresses, it is only necessary to use one.
We only need one copy of your message.