John, Leigh, & Stephen Pitterle

BP 5196

ANTANANARIVO 101

MADAGASCAR

Via France

jpitterle@simicro.mg

(261) 020 22 48155 - home

(261) 032 02 56393 - cell

Dear Friends and Family:

Greetings from the winter-wonderland of Madagascar.  The wonder is that it is usually bright, sunny and often warm.  Sometimes it is rather chilly at night and in the morning, especially without indoor heat.  After using all of our weather-stripping, we scotch-taped many large cracks around windows and doors to prevent the free flow of cold outside air. 

We are all doing well.  Leigh and the (pre-born) baby, due in early/mid October, are healthy.  Leigh says the baby is very active and usually does her/his nightly gymnastics.  We have decided on a birthing place and plan to continue going to a hospital recommended by some European mothers who gave birth here.  Thanks for your continued prayer.  Leigh recently started learning to keep the accounting books for the American Assemblies of God (AoG) missionaries here.  She plans to take on this responsibility in the future. 

Stephen finished second grade and is now enjoying his vacation.  He especially likes playing with his new puppy, Cuddles, a purebred Malagasy mutt.  Stephen also enjoys playing with his American missionary friends who are similar in age. 

We just saw 88% coverage of the solar eclipse on June 21.  Although it was cloudy south of us in the 100% zone, we saw only one small cloud in the sky during the close to two hours of the eclipse that was almost finished at sunset.  Our eclipse glasses worked great and enabled us to see the sun and the shadow created by the moon.  Many of the people here were afraid, possibly as a result of the government’s safety warnings. 

John finished teaching English at the Bible school and now is practicing conversational English with the pastors.  He also continues to teach computer basics to the general superintendent of the church here. 

Over the past few months, we have had several outdoor plumbing leaks.  We believe this speaks of the Lord’s desire to release His living waters through us and His people in Madagascar as He pours out His Spirit on all people in these last days. 

Progress is being made with the Book of Hope (BoH).  Official permission has been received to use the Malagasy scriptures.  The book for the youngest children (primary school) has been completed and is in India for printing.  Work continues on the other two books that we plan to start distributing next year. 

We plan to soon reserve an outdoor amphitheater for a large, celebration that should seat at least 4,000 and maybe around 6,000 if we use an adjacent area.  This evangelistic outreach is scheduled for Saturday, November 10.  Please pray for good weather especially since this will be in the beginning of the rainy season. 

John recently averaged 35 mph on the “interstate” during his trip to and from Tamatave/ Toamasina on the East Coast and had good meetings with Malagasy pastors and also with a key multi-/cross-denominational leader.  On the way back, the pickup did a significant double fishtail on a rainy road but Jesus kept the car under control the whole time.  Thank you everyone who has been praying for safe travel. 

As we approach the scheduled kickoff of the BoH program here in October, the amount of work has been increasing.  And, praise Jesus, it looks like a very qualified Malagasy BoH coordinator will be available to help with the work.  Starting October 20, we are planning to have a team come from America to train Malagasy Christians (prayerfully from various denominations here) and to begin distributions in the schools and possibly other locations.  But before then, much planning and preparation regarding budgets, reservations, creating ads, promotion, lining up schools, etc., have to be done.  Your prayers for the Lord’s direction in all of this would be greatly appreciated. 

We heard that there is a large, multi-denominational pastors meeting planned for August in a large indoor arena.  The leader of the Madagascar AoG has mentioned that he would like to ask if John could speak (briefly) about the Book of Hope at this meeting.  It is possible that this could be critical to the success of the BoH program here because we believe it is extremely important that different denominations work together. 

We convey our heart-felt thanks to everyone whose prayers, support, and financial gifts are contributing to a future Madagascar that will be eternally changed by Jesus and His word.  As the lives of children (and families) in this nation are touched, this country will be impacted for eternity!  Thank you very much for your continued prayer regarding the children and families of Madagascar, Book of Hope preparation, and us, in particular Leigh and the baby in her tranon-zaza (Malagasy for womb, literally house of the baby). 

If you change your (e-mail/snail-mail) address, please let us know.  If you want to pray for us in a more informed way, please contact us because we could send you a (usually) monthly e-mail update in addition to this quarterly newsletter.  And as always, if you have any prayer requests, please feel free to share them with us. 

In His infinite awesomeness and awesome infiniteness,

                         John, Leigh, and Stephen