BP 5196
ANTANANARIVO 101
MADAGASCAR
Via France
jpitterle@simicro.mg
(261) 020 22 48155
- home
(261) 032 02 56393
- cell
Dear Friends and Family:
As we begin this new year, we pray that your longings are fixed on Jesus. In this letter, we want to let you know that the ministry of the Book of Hope (BoH) is off to a good start in Madagascar.
First, let us tell you that Grace is a very happy baby and she is doing just great! We often tell her, “You are ‘Amazing Grace.’” Perhaps we’ll write a song with this title. J
Stephen is doing well. He enjoyed a
break from home schooling when Leigh’s sister was here right
after Grace was born. Since then, Leigh and Stephen have
resumed third grade. During and since his CHRISTmas break,
Stephen has spent a lot of time playing (soccer, marbles, etc.)
with his Malagasy neighborhood friends.
Leigh regained her strength quickly after
Grace’s birth. Later in November, we took a few days
off to see many lemurs as well as other indigenous Madagascar
wildlife.
With much non-stop activity, we completed
the Book of Hope kickoff here in October and November. Training,
distributions, and special children’s meetings were done in
two major cities. 19,000 precious (primary school) children
received (Malagasy) books and 6,000 came to special programs for
young kids. Lives are being impacted and changed.
A multinational team from the U.S., South
Africa, and France came to help jumpstart the ministry here.
The training in the port city of Tamatave went well and many of
the trainees observed and helped with two days of distribution in
local schools. This was concluded with a special
celebration for 2,000 children who had an opportunity to hear the
awesome news of Jesus even more clearly. Many children
prayed to trust and follow Jesus.
In Antananarivo, we had more than 500
Christians come to the training. This was followed by five
days of distribution in area schools. Then we had several
special meetings for these children (see the above picture with
Stephen sitting in front of about 1,700 children) and many of
them prayed to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
Our highlights included seeing the first
child receive the first Book of Hope. After waiting for a long
time, it was very rewarding to see the first fruits of this
ministry here. It was so nice to see thousands of smiling
children, especially at the special children’s celebrations.
Since mid-November, the total has increased to more than 35,000
precious children who have received the Good News for children in
the Book of Hope. The work is just beginning, as there are
more than two million students who still have not received a
book.
John spent a lot of time and made
significant progress on the junior high version of the Malagasy
Book of Hope. We hope to have this and the almost completed
senior high version available later this year.
In addition to completing significant BoH
paperwork (expense reports, book inventory, etc.), we recently
received Grace’s American passport and a report of birth.
Physically, December was a challenging month
for us. John had a procedure (actually Nov. 30) to repair a
hairline fracture in his pinky that was untreated for a month.
The pin that was inserted was recently removed. We fought
fevers and other things. Nonetheless, we continue to stand
on God’s word and the provision for healing that Jesus made
at the cross.
Our current two-year term ends in June.
Because there are 2 more Malagasy Books of Hope (one for Jr. high
students and another for Sr. high) and millions of children yet
to receive books, our supervisors approved for us to return, Lord
willing, to Madagascar after being in the States from perhaps
June to September. Our next term will be for one year.
With this letter, we are starting our support raising. Our most critical need is for people to pray for the people of Madagascar and for us. We also need to receive monthly pledges and one-time contributions for our budgeted expenses. If you have any questions about this or the ministry here, please contact us.
Click here to see a
copy of our pledge form. (If you can not print this
form out, we can e-mail you a small MS Word file.) The last three
blanks, starting with “Church to credit,” are only for
people who attend Assembly of God (AoG) churches and are
optional. The “Donor a/c #” is for people who
have given previously to the AoG. If sending a check, it
would be helpful to put our name, MA (for Missionary Associate),
and our account number 292883 on the memo of the check.
The Book of Hope ministry continues in
Madagascar as the schools reopen after the CHRISTmas break.
Children and families are reading about Jesus in a book that is
very easy to understand. (This is helpful here because most
children do not even finish primary school.) Lives, and in
turn this nation, are being touched for eternity.
Thank you so much for your partnership in praying for and supporting this ministry to the children (and families) of Madagascar. If you have any prayer requests, please let us know.
In His infinite awesomeness
and awesome infiniteness,
John, Leigh, Stephen and Grace
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