Innovation

Throughout these years, the Lord has provided us with various strategies to reach the Bara people and, more recently, the Mahafaly people.

However, we realize the need to INNOVATE our approach, as Technology has finally reached Betroka. Yes, Facebook and all media have reached us.

Last week, in partnership with GNPI (Good News Productions International), the NOMAD Academy (National Outreach using Media And Discipleship) offered us valuable training on producing biblical stories, short films, testimonies, as well as media editing and assembly.

Our primary goal is to create material for projectors that weekly proclaim the message of Jesus in various places in southern Madagascar. Additionally, we aim to develop contextualized content for discipleship and missionary mobilization among local churches, using videos, interviews, and other resources.

By all possible means, we want the Name of Jesus to be known, as we truly are co-workers with Him.

Glorious day!

This last week brought a remarkable event in the children’s ministry, it was truly amazing. On Wednesday, over 600 children came. During the gathering, one of our coworkers, a Malagasy partner, asked who among them wanted to accepted Christ and, to our surprise, many raised their hands. Subsequently, they were guided to a separate room for a detailed explanation of the Gospel, ensuring their understanding, and there they invited Christ into their hearts.

It was a glorious day, witnessing the power of the Gospel. May God continue to add daily to His kingdom among the Bara People.

Oral translation

Pray for the Bible translation that is going on. It is taking longer than we planned. The desire is to record the Bible orally in the Bara language since 80% of the Bara can’t read their own language.

See deceptiveness

Pray for the Bara to have open hearts for true spiritual things. That they may see the deceptiveness of witchcraft and false hope of ancestor worship.
Pray for the 25 local partners that work alongside the Coworker Project in evangelism and discipleship. That God will give them a deep love for the lost and help them to keep up the hard work.

Children learning to read and write

Pray for the Bara children who are learning to read and write in the Be Fitia Project. More than 800 children come to listen to the Bible stories. We estimate that at least 25% are Bara.
Pray that God will save them from the bondages of witchcraft and use them to reach their own families.
Parents from the far way mountains have heard about the project and are bringing their children. (Bara Zafindravala – one of the most difficult sub-Ethiopia Bara to reach with the Gospel.) The Gospel is preached everyday to the children through stories and songs while they learn to read and write their own language and the government official language.

2024 Goal

Pray for our goal of reaching 200 new villages with the Jesus Film in 2024. The whole program is run by Malagasy partners and the head of it is a Bara Pastor. Pray that God will send funds and help us go alongside them. Pray for many in these villages to respond to the Gospel and be saved.

Empower the youth

In a town where opportunities are scarce for young people, Jana dedicates Sundays to instilling wisdom through Bible teachings and practical skills like frying ‘mofo-sakay.’ It’s more than a snack; it’s a strategy to draw them closer to the transformative message of Jesus. Please pray for these teenagers. “Empower the youth of Betroka with grace and knowledge in the face of adversity.”

396 villages!

Since 2017 we have been broadcasting the Jesus Film among the Bara. By the grace of God, we only have 4 more villages to go to reach 400 Bara villages with the Jesus Film.
At least 15 churches have been planted. Please pray that God will raise up faithful Bara followers of Jesus and they desire Christ with all their hearts.
Pray that all these places that have watched the Film will be awakened by God and that a revival occurs among the Bara.

Build His church

Please pray for the work among the Bara children. The children’s ministry has more than 700 children and 1/3 of them are Bara.
Pray that God would save them and build His Christ- centered indigenous church.

Church burned

Last week a church in Baraland was burned. This is the second church this year that has been burned by witchdoctors. The Gospel is spreading and the devil is not happy.
The other church had 48 people that accepted Christ after watching the Jesus Film; they built the church in the region of Ianakafy, and it was burned a while ago.
Pray for God’s encouragement and protection of believers, help to rebuild, and mercy for the witchdoctors to repent.

The whole village came!

One night we went to this village called “Apitoara”,  to broadcast the Jesus Film. When we arrived, we saw that the whole village was doing the “BILO” ceremony. The Bilo is a ritual that happens when someone is possessed by demons. They call the witch doctors and sacrifice cows to the ancestors and demons, asking for deliverance. The ritual involves alcohol and dancing. The blood of the cows is sprinkled over the people, as a “covering” to pacify the demons. The music was loud and people going up and down the road crazily.
I thought with myself: No Film today. But, we set up anyway.  We started projecting some songs (videoclips) until the time we had set for the film. Unexpectedly, people started appearing, and the place started to fill up. By the time we started the film, the place was completely full! The ceremony of the BILO had finished, and almost the whole village came to watch the movie. I was amazed! The BILO is an important thing to the BARA and usually lasts the whole night. However, people left the ceremony to come and watch the film. What an amazing GOD. One of the pastors preached 10 minutes about our hope in Christ. I gave my testimony and we let the JESUS FILM  do its work.
In my spirit, the Spirit of God said: Do you understand this? People are thirsty for something new! YES! For the GOOD News!

Amazing work of salvation

Pray for Tsandy. She converted in 2010, from a very bad life; Christ changed her heart and till today she has been a faithful servant of Jesus and also my wife’s best friend. Jana has discipled her and now she is telling Bible stories to Bara children. A generation telling another generation about the Glory of Christ.
Please, take one minute to praise Christ for this amazing work of salvation.

God is at work!

Dear brothers, I want to report something really significant. Pastor Tomoeira is one of the 5 local pastors sponsored by the Coworker Project. This year he has visited 43 Bara Villages with the Jesus Film doing the work of an evangelist.
In one of these villages, Tanambao-avaratra, he went twice with the Jesus Film and a group of Bara decided to follow Jesus! The veracity of their decision is that they burned their witchcraft paraphernalia.
This reminded us of Acts 19:19, when the people burned their magic books.
God is at work! Pray for them.

Strength to withstand persecution

Pray for the churches born this year in the Villages of Ambohitsy with 40 converted and in Sakamahily with 120 converts.
Pray for strength to withstand persecution and deeper understanding of the gospel.

Seeds to grow

Pray for the 87 Bara villages visited just this year with the Jesus Film.
Pray for the seeds to grow and for a great revival to break out among the Bara.

Pray for resources for our team of local pastors to keep going to show the film, specially for gasoline for the motorcycles and for our sponsored 5 pastors working among the Bara.

Faithfulness and deep understanding

In the past year we have seen 4 churches birthed amongst the Bara and 10 more through the ministry of our partners! We rejoice that the Bara are being reached with the gospel. Pray for faithfulness and deep understanding of the Gospel for the new believers.

How they will come to Christ if they don’t know Christ?

Pray for the Bara children. What they know is only what the Witchdoctors and Kings of the tribe teach them through the Ancestor’s stories.
The Bara children are suffering. No hope! No future! Just a dread of what is to come. Or they will become malasos (cattle thieves) or will live in the shadow of fatalism.
However, this can be changed by the Gospel. Pray for our children’s ministry, for many to believe the gospel and be saved.

50 kids graduate

Another school year has come to an end and it is with hearts full of joy and gratitude to the Lord that we celebrate the graduation of 50 kids. Now they know how to read in their own language. The Literacy program, using the scriptures, aims not only to teach them to read and write, but also to love Jesus, to know his word and follow him!

Each graduate received a copy of the scriptures.
We had many presentations, meditation on the word and a delicious snack with the families.
Pray for these children to read God’s word, share it with their families, and for faith to believe it and be saved!

God is at work!

Our children ministry is growing! Last week about 1,200 children came. Thanks Jesus. Pray for the Holy Spirit to work in their lives.

The past 3 weeks our local team has shown the Jesus Film in 26 new villages and 40 people accepted Christ in Salaza (the village we went to last month with Pastor Emanoela) and 32 people in Ananbomary, with the work of Pastor Tomoeira.

God is at work!

Bara of Ihorombe

This is still a very dark land. The Gospel has not yet been proclaimed there though we have a few churches in the area.
Please pray for a revival in the local churches and believers so that they can accomplish their task of reaching their own people.

Difficult path

In the last week, at least 100 Bara have given their life to Christ. 60 in the region of Isoanala and 40 in Ihorombe.
Please pray that they will grow in the knowledge of Christ and faith.
They will have a very difficult path to walk once they reject all the ancestors worship.

Needing discipleship

Please pray for the church among the Bara. We have syncretism and lack of discipleship. Pray for opportunities for our team of coworkers (local Malagasy pastors) to disciple the believers and train others.
Pray for a growing interest of learning more about missions in the church as well.

Reaching children

This week in Betroka a training is being held for 30 Bible teachers under the subject: Reaching the UPG Children. The Training is in partnership with CEF (Children Evangelism Fellowship). Please pray that the attendees will be passionate to reach children in their villages and also that the Holy Spirit will remind them about all what they have learned and will put it into practice when they get home.

Believers trained

Pastor Emanoel has trained more than 80 believers this month in 3 different villages and visited 8 new villages with the Jesus Film. Pray for him and the Bara believers.

Remind them

Pray that the Holy Spirit reminds the people in Bara villages who have already watched the Jesus film about the Son of God and his unique sacrifice on the cross.
Pray that the Bara continue to open the doors of their villages so the gospel can enter and change their lives.

Fear of God

Pray for the cattle thieves that they will fear God and stop stealing. Pray that the fear of God falls on them and on all the Bara people, so like the Ninevites humbled themselves to the Lord, the Bara will also humble themselves to the King of Kings.

Baptized.

We are so glad that some of the teenagers that go to our youth program decided to be baptized. They went themselves to the local church and asked if they could be baptized. This is awesome! Pray they will grow and mature in the Lord and share with others the good things God has done for them.

Families

Pray for holiness and effective witnessing of Bara believers to their families, that the Gospel will spread among them.
Pray for the Bara children that they can find Christ in the children’s programs. Pray for the Bara women that they can be set free from oppression.

New villages reached

Pastor Tomoeira has been broadcasting the Jesus Film for the past 3 months. He visited 21 villages and reported 25 Bara being baptized in one of these villages!
Blessed be the name of the Lord!

Burned

Our partnership with the FJKM ( Presbyterian church of Madagascar) has been fruitful. In February we visited a village together in the region of Anaviavy. The famine was killing people. We went with relief supplies and donated rice. The Bara of this village said: “No one has helped us! Thanks for helping.”
The result is last March, 40 Bara came to Christ, burned their witchcraft things and are being discipled. Praise the Lord.

Waiting for seeds to germinate

Mahabo Village is one of the most dangerous places in the Bara region. Home to many cattle rustlers and constant attacks on villages, rocky and slippery roads, dangers by night and day. However, it was in this region that the Lord opened an extraordinary door for us to preach the Gospel. Together with Pastor Eric Sy Mana and other dear workers, we visited two villages in the area.
Suspicious with the arrival of a “white man” for the first time in their village, they didn’t pay much attention at first. However, when they discovered that we spoke their language (something unbelievable for them), and that we were there to show a movie, they became friendlier and invited us to stay. The gospel was preached, the Jesus Film broadcast and now, with hope, we wait for the seeds to germinate.

Famine continues

We recently visited a village where 5 people have died of famine. Although the rains have come, they will not harvest until the end of April. Famine is still devastating the south of Madagascar.
With the local church (Reformed church of Madagascar) by the grace of God, and the help of donors, we brought some relief to the suffering and hope to the Soul.
Pray for many to believe the gospel message.

Village of Mahabo

Our Partners from FJKM church (reformed church of Madagascar) have also gotten the vision to evangelize! Blessed be the Lord who empowers and sends His church!
They have visited 7 villas in the village of Mahabo so far this year! Pray for the gospel seeds that were sown to bear much fruit.

Glory of Christ shown

The church is made of straw, but, in spite of the simplicity of the place, Christ’s Glory was shown today, when 5 old Bara ladies renounced their past ways and were baptized.
What a glorious moment in this remote rural area of south Madagascar.

Church growing

The church is growing. The Gospel is pushing back the darkness surrounding the Bara people. And new disciples are coming.
In partnership with the local church, a Bara church was born in the village of Matsinzo. It started small but today there are almost 180 Bara coming to learn about Jesus! Pray for these disciples to grow in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Common vision for 2023

This Tuesday (6 Dec) we will meet with our partners who work among the Bara. We need wisdom to develop strategies for 2023. We want to evangelize the Bara but also disciple and mobilize the churches to do evangelism and discipleship.
Pray for this meeting, for the partners and for resources. Please pray for our 6 sponsored evangelists: pastor Emanoel, Zoromana, Rema, Jelly, Elodry, and pastor Erik, that God give them grace for the work among the Bara and may they be fruitful.

2 years of drought

Our region is suffering from 2 years of drought. There’s been no rain at all! Even the manioc is dead. For this reason, and also because of Ukrainian war and COVID, the price of food has gone very high making Madagascar the fourth poorest country in the world. Pray for rain, please. Lots of rain! So people can plant and have life normalized.

Because of this insecurity, we’ve started having assaults, break- ins, and thefts.
People are hungry, jobless, there’s no food, no crops; they come to steal. Very sad and frightening. However, Tthe gospel is being preached throughout Bara land, please
pray for the seeds to germinate.

Two new churches!

1. We praise God that 2 churches are being born among Bara!
The village of Matsinzo ( Bara Tevondro) received us and the evangelist we sponsor to be there. Pray for people to believe the message and be saved.

2. We visited the village of Bekisoly on Saturday 24/09 and preached the Gospel.
Sunday, 86 Bara Tevondro people came to the “house church” of the evangelist Zoromana that we sponsor and said that they wanted to learn how to pray to God-Jesus. Pray they grow strong in the Lord.

Blessed be the name of the Lord!

Children’s ministry

The children’s ministry has started again in full force. The first day (today) more than 340 children came. Hallelujah! Pray for these children to learn and grow in faith.

Also we had 2 days of training with 5 pastors from the Reformed Church of Madagascar, and our partners visited 4 new villages with the Jesus Film.

We are not saved.

“The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved.”
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭8:20‬

This is the reality of millions of people and many UPGs.
The Bara are still one of these UPGs and maybe this is the cry of their soul, surrounded by the darkness of animism.

For this reason, we make every effort to bring Christ to them.
Maybe we can say with Paul, “I will spend for you everything I have and even my life”, till the Bara , instead of saying, “ We are still not saved”, say, “ Worthy is the Lamb!”

We keep announcing Christ from village to village; from mountains to mountains, until the last village is reached with the Good News of Christ.