Dear Friends
"For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon his shoulder" Isaiah 9:6
As we come again to Christmas, and into another New Year, how wonderful it is to know that Jesus, who was born in Bethlehem, who died at Calvary to be our Saviour, now governs the events of the world, as well as the small details of our lives. He is in control.
We are currently in London having come over unexpectedly to attend the funeral of David's father who died on December 3rd. He had been out at church two days previously and seemed well. The night he died he was awake and told the staff at the residential home that he had a pain in his stomach, and that he thought he was going to die. However he said he had had a good life and was now ready. Two hours later he died peacefully in his sleep. The funeral was in Cornwall last Friday, in the village where he and David's mother lived after retirement. We were so grateful to be able to return in time. It was very much a family occasion with several family members taking part including Reuben, who led in prayer, and David, who spoke from John 11 "I am the resurrection and the life".
This Bible story about Jesus coming to share the grief of Mary and Martha on the death of their brother Lazarus, and speaking words of hope to them, had been very much on David's mind. He wrote a tract based on this story just a few days before we heard of his father's death. When a patient dies in the hospital in Mandritsara, it is difficult, in the midst of all their emotion, to be able to say something meaningful to the relatives. The tract is for them to take away and read (or have read to them - many are illiterate). It is entitled "The one you love is dead" and seeks to point them to Jesus, the only one who can help them in their time of need.
Helimission is a Swiss missionary society working in Madagascar. At the end of November one of their helicopters spent 4 days at Mandritsara, flying Dr Francis and the Community Health team to a number of remote villages. The villages, some inaccessible by road, and a couple of days walk away, are only 15 minutes away by helicopter. The team were struck by the tremendous needs that they found. One village has 300 children. They have built a school, but have no teacher. Practically the whole village is illiterate. Zoky Solo, our evangelist, came back very hoarse from one large village of 3000 people, where he had preached the gospel to a vast crowd. It was spiritually very dark, he said. The team were doing vaccinations in some villages, and assessing the health care needs in the others. Please pray that we might know how we might continue to help these villages.
A few days after this, another "helicopter" arrived. We were sitting in the Sunday morning church service, held in the hospital waiting area, when 4 men carrying a lady in a deck-chair tied to 2 long poles walked in. They had left their village 62 kms away (40 miles) 24 hours previously, and had walked all day and all night, wading through 3 rivers on the way. She was suffering from a ruptured ectopic pregnancy with considerablke bleeding into the abdomen. Annie McColm quickly set to work in the laboratory to cross match blood from the 4 men and two ladies who had accompanied her. Although 3 were brothers and one a daughter, only one of the six had the right blood group. When we operated, we were also able to collect two bags of blood from her abdomen to transfuse back into her. By the time she left the hospital a few days later she had also been able to hear of the One who gave His blood to save us from our sins.
Three years ago David repaired the cleft lip of a little boy whose mother is called Nany. A few months ago Nany started working at the hospital as a gardener (we have a team of 4 lady gardeners now - we think they are better than men!). She then started coming to church and seemed very interested. In November we had the annual hospital board meetings. A number of the board members are pastors from Antananarivo or nearby, and so they also did some Bible teaching for our staff. We split into 2 groups, one group being for those who are not Christians, but who would like to study more about what it means to become a Christian. Nany attended this group. At the end of the day she stood up and said that she wanted to trust the Lord and follow Him. Please pray for her.
As the work grows, and we look towards the future, we are very conscious of the need for more long-term workers, both Malagasy and ex-patriate missionaries. Here are some of the needs:
In November we had a visit from a group from Canada representing Health Partners International, an organisation that collects medicines donated by drug companies, and distributes them to projects like ours. Their visit was a particular blessing. John Kelsall, their director, encouraged us as he spoke of the Lord's provision to them of staff - folk who had left well paid and secure jobs in order to join them. Then our hearts were deeply touched as Dr Bob Stephens, who is on the HPI board, told something of his life history. He went to Nyankunde in the Congo as a young doctor in 1949. Nyankunde grew to be a large referral and training mission hospital, with a wide gospel influence in that part of Congo. Dr Stephens left Congo to become director of Christian Medical Fellowship in Canada, and is now retired. But he left a big part of his heart, and life, in Congo. A year or so ago tribal warfare broke out at Nyankunde. Two thousand people were killed in the hospital area in one day. Patients had their throats cut in their beds if they happened to belong to a different tribe. After that the rebels started demolishing the hospital - taking away doors, windows and roofing. Today nothing is left - everything has been destroyed. As Bob spoke, tears came to all our eyes. He said that the thing that really helped him was reading about Noah. For 100 years Noah served God in building the ark. He gave his life, his strength, his resources, his family - everything to the task of building the ark. It was the means of salvation for him and his family. But after spending a year in the ark, God told Noah to go out and leave it behind. It must have been hard for Noah just to abandon the ark - he had given so much of his life to it. But it had served its purpose - and that's what had comforted Bob when Nyankunde was destroyed. And then he encouraged us to use the wonderful opportunity that God has given us at Mandritsara, to serve the people and make Jesus known. May God encourage us all as we come to 2004, to do all we can to make known His love and the good news of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
We are looking forward to spending Christmas with the family - the first
time for 7 years. We are due to return to Madagascar on 29 December.
Our sincere thanks to all who have prayed and supported the work in 2003.
A Happy Christmas to you all. David and Jane Mann
Gifts for the project should be sent to:
Mr Derek Alcock
Friends of Mandritsara Trust
244 Obelisk Rise
Northampton
NN2 8TW
email: derek@mandritsara.org.uk
Please make out cheques to "Friends of Mandritsara Trust" (F.O.M.T.) Gift Aid forms are available.