Surveys here on the island these last few weeks have revealed three other villages open to hearing the gospel. The first village has offered to give a plot for missionaries to build their house on. The second village has offered a house for the missionaries to stay. The third village has openly expressed their desire to have a service held in their village every Sunday. We praise the Lord for these opportunities and need wisdom in organizing our time well. Praise the Lord for these new opportunities of ministry and pray for wisdom for our Malagasy missionaries (Melias, Lebaba, Noel and Jean) as they organize outreach to these villages.

We are so delighted to see many people in our village listening to the gospel of Matthew and songs in Sakalava on their phones. We have given out a few phone cards to villagers and there are still others asking to have it as well. Thank the Lord for this way of getting the gospel into the homes of the Sakalava people. Please pray that many Sakalava will come to faith in Christ through this outreach ministry. People here like playing music loud! May the whole village be filled with the gospel of Matthew and Sakalava songs.

After doing a survey in a new village this weekend, the FUEL team had the opportunity to share the gospel with the villagers of this new village. The villagers were so open! The young guys in the village went door to door to invite the villagers to the gathering and many children came. An old man said he thought of the team as his children. A piece of land was offered to the team if they wanted to stay. Amazing!! Visitation to this village by the FUEL team will continue every Saturday. Praise the Lord for this new opportunity of ministry here on Nosybe. Please pray for the Lord to work in hearts of the villagers and that they will be open and receptive to the gospel!

We have started distributing memory cards with Matthew, Ephesians, and many Scripture songs on them. Pray as people listen to them that the words will enter their hearts and that they will share what they learn with their friends.

We have lots of finished projects over here in Nosy Be: Caleb and Groupe Tsinfitika (the Sakalava music group) finished their album this week! Please pray that these scripture-songs reach the Sakalava far and wide with the gospel. Also, we completed the translation of Sally Lloyd Jones’ “Jesus Storybook Bible” into the Sakalava language. We’ve been reading the stories on Sunday as they come out, and the kids love them! Continue to pray for the salvation of many Sakalava people!

There is a lot of interest in the village of Antsahabe. It is only in this past year that missionaries have gone there regularly to share the gospel, but already there are believers and several of them are interested in being baptized. Praise God for this! Also pray that these new believers would be grounded in their faith and excited to tell others of the hope they have found.

“This time of the year is the difficult one for people as the fields are still green and there’s no harvest. There’s been an outbreak of measles, which has caused much suffering as well. The situation is not yet under control. But vaccinations have been done in villages. Children have died in our village these last weeks and many others are sick. Please pray for God’s protection.”

This Thursday the musicians in Nosy Be will be filming a music video in Hellville. The song, “Lay Mazava,” is all about the light of Christ, so pray that His light would shine as they play this song all over town. (It’s way cooler than “This Little Light of Mine” by the way. But same basic idea…)

Pray for Armand who leads the Catholic church in his village. He, like many others in his village, are interested in following Jesus, but have been caught up in the works-based and syncretistic teachings of the Catholic church. Pray that they would truly understand the gospel and worship Jesus in spirit and in truth.

Mama Anita wants to follow Jesus, but she is having trouble loving her enemy. Pray that she would have courage to do what Jesus says.

There is a good group of new believers who need discipling and church leaders who need training. Pray for wisdom in knowing who to invest in, and that those people would be faithful and passionate to pass on to others what they are learning.

There is a project called “Mama VaoVao”, which is encouraging Sakalava women in the village to use their skills- hand stitching, sewing sacks, bags, pillows, and hand towels. They have just celebrated their one year anniversary. Many women gave their testimonies at the celebration. One said, “My life has changed, I am now able to care for my household with the money I get. I was just able to buy a table. And I have come to know Jesus!” A little thing can do a great thing in peoples’ lives! Pray for “Mama VaoVao” project to achieve great things in these Sakalava women’s lives, helping them to know Jesus as their Savior.

In Sakalava culture, having a funeral or building a grave always involves ancestral worship. This weekend a Christian family, having finished the grave of their mum, will have a party, inviting all their families and friends to worship God. Please pray that it would have a great impact on the attendees, helping them to see who should be worshipped!

The former team made great strides in translations of several books of Scripture into the Sakalava dialect but the work ended as there was a lack of people able to help. Please pray for us to find new people skilled in English who will be interested in translating the Bible into Sakalava. With those identified, the team would be able to get the translation project up and running again.

SALAMA is her name. She is a Sakalava woman seriously practicing her mu$lim faith from childhood. It happens that she is a helper in a Christian home for the last couple of months. She openly talks about her faith and respects the Christian faith her boss has. She has heard about Jesus but is not excited about it. As the month of fasting is getting closer she is so excited and has prepared herself for the event in a big way. She has asked she would be given a break every Friday from next week so she could go to mosque, which her employer agreed to. Please pray for Salama that she would meet Jesus in her dreams during this time.

In our village, one missionary had noticed the skills of many Sakalava women in sewing and hand stitching. She helped them to get together, work together, and sell their products together. Those women felt helped and valued and are able to earn money to help their households. Recently they got an order for about 300 of their products. It was very exciting that last Sunday they came to church. Pray that through their skills they would come to know that this is a gift from God and they would see Him as a caring and loving Father who wants the best for them: their salvation.

Sakalava fishermen in Nosybe are facing a big challenge with providing for their families for a couple of months now. This has never happened to them before. Please pray for the few believers who are convicted to reach out to their own people, yet passing through the same challenge. Pray that they will stand firm in their faith. Many fishermen question them, “Where is your God in this situation?” Pray for strength and boldness of witness as well as how to answer wisely. Pray that they will not feel intimidated or hopeless.

Pray for Pastor Guillaume as he gets training in church planting movements, to know how to apply what he’s learning to the Sakalava church plants he’s involved with. Pray for these churches to have the vision of sharing their faith and planting many more churches!

It’s common and admired for Sakalava to be possessed by evil spirits. One Sakalava gentleman recently put his faith in Jesus and wants to be set free from the demons. He was in the capital but wanted to go to Nosy Be to retrieve his fetishes etc to be burned, however a huge cyclone is preventing him from going. Please pray for A and his wife, who is also a follower of Jesus. Pray for their families who are still bound by witchcraft and fear and don’t know yet about A’s decision. It may result in great shock and rejection. Please pray for God’s glory to be revealed in the community through this couple.

Pastor Guillaume, a Malagasy pastor, based in Mahajanga in North West Madagascar, has seen God bless his ministry amongst the Sakalava people recently. Pastor Guillaume planted six churches amongst Sakalava people in and around Mahajanga a few years ago but none of the churches were really growing. However from September to November 2016 Pastor Guillaume was able to visit the churches and using a mixture of the Jesus video in the Sakalava dialect and a new T4T curriculum he has seen a total of about 70 new believers coming to faith. The local churches are continuing to disciple the new believers using the T4T short term discipleship programme.

Because of the rainy season Pastor Guillaume won’t be able to visit any of these places (many of which are in the bush) until about May  this year. Pray for the new Sakalava believers that they would grow in their new faith and  share it with others. Pray also that the churches would start to plant new churches.

There are 6 Sakalava churches around Mahajanga! Pray for pastor Guillaume and pastor Juno. Ask God to give the believers vision for sharing their faith and starting new churches.

Praise the Lord! One of the Sakalava musicians that came to Christ would like to be a pastor and is being sent for training. (News from Missionary, Rosina, Nosy Be)

We prayed for Angela when her little boy died 3 months ago. She is from the village of the first believers. She has just put her trust in Jesus! Continue to pray for her and that many will be drawn to His light.

Five young men, good musicians have said they want to follow Jesus. Matis is one. He just lost his mom. Pray that he would not lose sight of Jesus at this sad time. I would like to take the band to play at a Christian Conference. Pray it would grow their faith.

We prayed for Angela when her little boy dies 3 months ago. She is from the village of the first believers. She has just put her trust in Jesus!Continue to pray for her and that many will be drawn to His light.

Five young me, good musicians have said they want to follow Jesus. Matis is one. He just lost his mom. Pray that he would not lose sight of Jesus at this sad time. I would like to take the band to play at a Christian Conference. Pray it would grow their faith.

Rosina writes,”The church service in Sakalava that started a couple of months ago, will continue after the team has left…with the first 4 Sakalava believers and friends in the area. We had a meal together last Sunday after the service, and we were joined by the local village people. Pray that more local people will join us on the path of Jesus.”

Ramadan Day 28
Pray for a community of believers to rise up amongst the Sakalava who are committed to spreading Gospel truth in their own language.

Praise the Lord for Alexis, Mbotizara and Blandine who came to know Christ as teir Saviour. These 3 believers met to worship the Lord together in Alexis’ yard – this marking the first gathering of the first Sakalava church! There were a few other adults and children attending too.
Praise God for what He is doing. The TIMO team will be completing their assignemnt in August, and God is just now starting the Sakalava church! Awesome! God is great! Please pray for the new believers and their walk with Jesus. Pray for Rosina and the TIMO team as they walk alongside them.

Ramadan Day 12
Pray for the Sakalava, that the word of God and the truth of the Gospel story might penetrate their hearts and cause them to turn from a life of fear to the power and sure salvation of Jesus Christ.

Sam and Ashley Barnhill have been learning the Vezo Sakalava language in the hope of a church plant in the village of Belitsaky, northern Tulear. Belitsaky has recently been overrun by bandits and most of the villagers have fled. Pray that the police and military can find a solution to the banditry and that the people of Belitsaky can return to their homes.

Mamy Rasolofondrainibe runs Real Mission Madagascar which trains Malagasy people to plant churches cross-culturally. RMM has begun a church planting effort in the Sakalava villages around Analalava. The effort started with much prayer last year, and now the trainees are ready for placement this year. Pray that they are received well and can begin engaging the Sakalava with the gospel in their dialect.

The Tana Focus Team is training 6 Malagasy missionaries who are preparing to live and plant a church in a Vezo Sakalava village early next year. Pray that the trainees bond together, overcome some of their preconceptions of what a missionary is supposed to be, and continue to sense the Lord’s calling in their lives.

The recent gatherings have gone well. We have noticed that we do not have many new people coming, rather a few regular attendees who continue to come each week.
The two last new villages we went to, Andimakabo and Andrafia, have been very welcoming and enthusiastic, and asked that we come again. The rhythm of the Sakalava music we sing is so familiar to their ears that spontaneously they begin clapping their hands and singing and dancing.
Our next gatherings will focus on challenging people to respond to the gospel. The talks will be on the sower’s parable, and the fool and the wise building a house on sand / rock. We will perform drama of the adulterous woman, the prodigal son and the ten lepers.
OLD VILLAGES NEW VILLAGES
May 8th : Bemanondrohely May 12th: Andimakabo
May 15th: Ankotorobe May 19th: Andrafia
PLEASE PRAY for these updcoming gathering events and for people to respond!
Please also pray for this list of people who have been coming to the gaterings regularly:
COUPLES YOUNG PEOPLE
Todivelo & Lorette Blandine The band: Ladys, Matis, Edme, Tino, Fabio
Armand & Cynthia Charline Zulietta, Francine; Patrick’s dad
Alexis & Mbotizara Meva Franklin, Rivaldo, Sanahoasy, Harlin, Tombo, Patrick
Martin & Brigitte Angela Grandmas: Dady, Landry’s grandma, Todivelo’s mom
PLEASE PRAY that these people who meet Christ as their Lord in the days ahead!

Pray for Sam and Ashley, who have just moved Belitsaky, a Vezo Sakalava village north of Tulear. They will be living there for 2 years as part of the Tulear FOCUS Team with the hope of seeing a multiplying Vezo church planted.

Rosina speaks from the island of Nosy Be…” A baby boy was born with a growth between the eyes. Everyone in our village views it as a curse. We want to help by taking him to a Neurosurgeon, 24hrs away. please pray as we interact with the family, that the love of Christ would be seen, Christ would be made known and that the surgery would be a success.”

We will have a Christmas event on December 14th, where we will focus on the Redemption story and scripture. We are working on this right now, trying to put together the scriptures, drama, songs, challenges, questions, holy night candles, etc.
– Pray for open hearts and open ears for those who have already heard the Creation story and The Fall story. Now they are going to hear the Redemption story, in their language! The past gatherings were well attended, more and more people came. Please pray that the people would see Jesus as their Savior, coming for them, on Dec 14th. Please pray for deep comprehension of the message.
– Pray for Ladys and Matis, the leaders of the band, to be touched by the words they sing, over and over, as they create the songs. How we long to see them to become believers!
– Please pray this scripture verse: “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world”. John 4:42

The story of Creation and the Fall from the Bible have been read and performed in a drama in our villages, accompanied by songs, all in the local language. Recently, discussions were focused on how God’s good world went bad. Pray for open hearts and good discussions as the team continues to interact with their neighbours. We can see some interest growing.

The team organised games for Madagascar’s Independence day. Many people came to watch. Pray that through the dipiction of “Jesus and the storm” many Sakalava will come to know Him!

A family from Côte-d’Ivoire has committed to church planting in a Sakalava village around Mahajanga in July. They are partnered from Mission à l’intérieur des Continents et des Iles (MICI) in Abidjan.