Dear Friends
"I have a Friend whose faithful love is more than all the world to me,
'Tis higher than the heights above, and deeper than the soundless sea; so
old, so new, so strong, so true;
Before the earth received its frame, He loved me - Blessed be His Name!
He held the highest place above, adored by all the sons of flame,
Yet, such His self-denying love, He laid aside His crown and came to seek
the lost,
and, at the cost of heavenly rank and earthly fame, He sought me - Blessed
be His Name!
It was a lonely path He trod, from every human soul apart,
Known only to Himself and God was all the grief that filled His heart;
Yet from the track He turned not back till where I lay in want and shame He
found me - Blessed be His Name!
Then dawned at last that day of dread when, desolate but undismayed,
With wearied frame and thorn-crowned head He, now forsaken and betrayed,
went up for me to Calvary,
And dying there in grief and shame He saved me - Blessed be His Name!
Long as I live my song shall tell the wonders of His matchless love:
And when at last I rise to dwell in the bright home prepared above, my joy
shall be His face to see,
And bowing then with loud acclaim, I'll praise Him - Blessed be His Name!
(C. A. Tydeman)
After lunch he had an emergency operation - a young woman on whom someone had performed a criminal abortion in her village. The technique, commonly used here, is to pass a piece of fine plastic tubing into the uterus. In this case the tubing had penetrated into the abdomen and was lost - setting up a massive infection. It is the third time we have removed a piece of tubing from a woman's abdomen in similar circumstances. At 4 pm was the afternoon service in the church and Adrien preaching again - this time on the humility of Abraham - allowing Lot first choice of land, then rescuing Lot from the kings and not accepting any of the bounty. We are grateful to God for colleagues like Adrien who give themselves unstintingly to the work of the gospel and bringing help to those in need. It is good to be doing good on the Lord's Day. The day was not finished for Adrien - in the late evening he had another major operation to do - a woman with a hydatidiform mole in the uterus bleeding heavily. She needed a hysterectomy. A busy day.
Last month we had our annual hospital board meeting (actually a rather late 2005 one!). Five men from the Association of Bible Baptist Churches (all pastors or church elders) met with the five of us here who are on the hospital management committee. Adrien prepared the agenda, and the day before the meeting we discussed the order of business. "What shall we put first?" "Let's put the most important thing first" "So what is the most important thing?" "Evangelism!" said Olivier, our administrator. Often our main discussions seem to centre on Personnel, or Finances or buildings - but this time we spent the whole of the first morning discussing evangelism. The overall goal of the project here is not simply to preach the gospel - but to gather together those who are converted into churches.
We had an excellent time, in which it became evident to us all that we need to be more co-ordinated in what we are doing. Ten years ago we were a small group that did everything together. It was not difficult to be co-ordinated. But now there are so many different strands to the work that there is no-one who really knows everything that is going on. So it was proposed we work on developing a "Strategy for Evangelism and Church Planting" for this region. Pastor Julien, pastor of our local church was also present for the discussions and this was most encouraging in ensuring that we move forward together. At present we are busy collecting information on the existing work and what we have available. We are also looking at what contacts, opportunities and invitations are before us.
On 7th - 9th March, two of the Bible Baptist Association men will be returning for further discussion on how to move ahead from here. Please pray for these meetings which will include not only our Management Committee and Pastor Julien, but also others closely involved in the work of the gospel.
Gloria was the 17 year old daughter of one of the prison guards. She had stabbed herself in an attempted suicide - and very nearly succeeded. The hospital driver rushed off to collect the theatre team and laboratory staff who had all gone home for lunch, while David, Dr Jeannine (anaesthetist) and Hilde (nurse) tried to resuscitate her. The knife had made a 3 inch hole in her upper abdomen, taken a slice off her liver, divided her large intestine clean in two, and penetrated her pancreas. It was a very weary David who emerged from the operating theatre around 4 pm, though very thankful to the Lord that Gloria was still alive.
But what did he meet as he came out of theatre? The hospital guard and a group of anxious folk marching toward the theatre carrying a boy of 2 called Adrien whose abdomen was wrapped in banana leaves. He had been gored by a bull. So another major operation - this time to repair a 2 inch hole in the stomach. Please pray for us as we seek to help these patients and their relatives. They all hear the gospel in the twice-daily ward services, receive tracts and are spoken to personally. Sadly Gloria, who seemed to be doing well after a week or so, and was already up and about and eating, deteriorated suddenly during one night and died. Her father was heart-broken.
Applause is not usually part of our church services here - but last month the whole congregation burst into applause as an expression both of joy and of wonder at God's working. In July 2001 the holiday Bible club was held in a village about half an hour's walk away. A lady from a neighbouring village heard about it and started to bring her own children and a number of others from her village. She herself was converted (and now works in the Community Health team). She continued faithfully to bring her children and the others from her village (they are the children of two sisters). The children are all keen members of Sunday school and the older ones also attend Adrien's Saturday meeting for young teenagers. But for four and a half years the mothers never came. Then last month they came to church for the first time. At the end of the service, Pastor Julien always invites new folk to come to the front and introduce themselves. He asked the children also to stand up and explained the story. We were so amazed at the work of God, and delighted for the children too, that we found ourselves clapping with everyone else.
Charles is currently planning a complete upgrade of our phone and bleep system and hoping to get sponsors for much of the equipment. We also discussed radio with him. He has much experience in this field and is keen to help us along the path of establishing our own FM local radio station for evangelism, Bible teaching and health education. We have also been in touch with a Swiss radio engineer, who used to work with Helimission in Madagascar and also set up a Christian radio station in Tulear (south Madagascar). He immediately wrote saying he may be able to obtain a 100 or 500 Watt radio transmitter for free and have it set up for Charles to install. Our next task is to obtain official permission from the radio licensing authority. Thank you for praying for this wonderful possibility!
We are so grateful for your prayers. "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us." (1John 5:14 NIV)
With our love
David and Jane David and Jane
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.