Prayer News

Previous Prayer News

Prayer News at 19 September 2004

Dear Friends,

In the synagogue at Nazareth, Jesus, quoting Isaiah, said, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor." Luke 4:18

Amidst the social and human tragedies that we see each day, there is always the danger of turning the gospel into a "social gospel". Responding to crying human need can easily become our priority, with "preaching good news" being what we do when we have met the human need. This was not Jesus' priority. Indeed, though no-one has ever shown the care and compassion for the needy that He showed, His priority was to bring the message of forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God.

Dr Francis, our Community Health doctor, left for South Africa yesterday, to attend a conference of the "Micah Network" on "Integral Mission and Advocacy" at the invitation of Tearfund. Before going he asked if we would pray for him. His work among the poor in many villages around Mandritsara has convinced him of the priority of the gospel in all our work. Malnutrition, venereal diseases and many social problems can all be traced back to the pagan culture and traditions. Francis said he hoped to have opportunity at the meeting to address this question, and asked us to pray that the priority of gospel preaching would not be lost.

ANTSIROMBATO

The children's holiday Bible club went really well with over 200 children attending. The village is full of darkness - a pagan altar is set right in the middle. The final meeting had to be postponed for a week, as there had been a death in the village. The next day we saw the funeral procession winding its way up the hill opposite our house. In the front were two men bearing the head of a cow suspended on a pole. The contrast between the village belief in the sacrifice of cattle, and the Bible club's teaching about the Lamb of God slain for the sin of the world was very stark. For the past couple of weeks a group of 20 or so children from Antsirombato have been coming to church on Sunday. Please pray that as the new Sunday school year starts next week, these children will settle in to regular weekly Bible teaching.

SUNDAY SCHOOL

Jane is very happy to have completed the Sunday school page on the web site. She is now back into the swing of lesson preparation for the term. The teaching this term is on the life of Moses.

RADIO

David has restarted gospel broadcasts in French. He is working through John' s Gospel - the broadcasts go out on the local radio at 5.30pm each Tuesday.

IS IT SERIOUS, DOCTOR?

Have you seen our tract on the web-site? We would like you to pray for various folk who are suffering from serious diseases and who have received this tract (the Malagasy translation of the one on the web site).

S is a lady of 46 with a lymphoma. She has had 18 courses of chemotherapy over the past 2 years or so. The tumour responded well at first, but then came back again and we are struggling to keep it at bay now. She is very brave, but realises the seriousness of her condition.

N is a lady of 70 on whom we operated in 1997 for breast cancer. We have operated 3 times since then, but it is no longer possible to do any more surgically for her. She is a quiet and simple lady who has started coming to church since she moved into Mandritsara from her village.

P is a young man of 25 with an advanced bladder cancer. He is very young for such an advanced disease, and we operated on him in the hope of finding a different diagnosis. However we now have a histological confirmation of the disease and not only is his prognosis poor, but his disease leaves him very uncomfortable.

B is a lady of 70 with a rare malignant abdominal condition. We operated on her some time ago, thinking she had an infection, but the diagnosis became clear at operation. The disease has now worsened and she is becoming weak. Last week Dr Adrien read the tract to her in his consulting room (she cannot read). The tract speaks of the uncertainty of life, the certainty of death and the reality of judgement. It then explains the gospel and what Jesus has done. It says:

"If you trust in Jesus, He will take away your fear and your loneliness. He will help you like no-one else can help you. Best of all He will prepare you to meet God when you die, for He has already paid to bring you forgiveness, new life and eternal hope. He passed through death Himself - then He rose again to live forever more. Put your trust in Him!"

B's face lit up and she thanked Adrien profusely for reading it. She came to church last Sunday beaming broadly. Please pray for these folk, that God would bring them to really know the joy of sins forgiven and the hope of eternal life.

NEWS IN BRIEF

• We had a very happy visit from our daughter Rebecca and son-in-law Chris. We drove back from Tana - two long days, and although they are working on fixing the road it is currently worse than we have ever seen it. Chris used his lab experience to repair several of our microscopes, including the operating microscope that Dr Hanitra uses for eye surgery. It had broken a couple of days before he arrived and poor Hanitra was worried she would be unable to operate on all the patients coming for cataract surgery. It was "just a small job" Chris said. Everything is relative! We felt it was the Lord's providence in the timing of his coming. He also preached an encouraging message on Sunday. Unfortunately they both went down with a Malagasy bug for the last few days of their visit while we were in Ile Ste Marie. However at the airport on their departure, their names were called and they were asked if they would be willing to change their flights (the plane was overbooked). They readily agreed given that this meant a direct flight instead of going via Reunion, bump up to business class, a day room and meals at the Hilton hotel, and a considerable voucher for a further flight with Air France!
• Construction of our first gravity-fed water supply for a local village (Maetsamena), organised by Mat Linley when he was here, and funded by Tear Fund, is almost complete.
• Dr Francis and the Community Health team are very involved with a national measles vaccination programme. All children from 9 months to 14 years (almost half the population!) have to be vaccinated. This also is giving contact with a number of remote and needy villages for gospel witness.
• A TV crew from the Dutch Evangelical Broadcasting Association are due here from 21 - 29 October. This will be to make a programme to launch the appeal for funds for the maternity unit.
• Pastor Julien has started a new cell group in the village of Antsoha, about 2km north of here. There are two or three from the village who have started attending the church.
• The new school year of "Ecole Bonne Nouvelle" has begun, with 160 children in 7 classes. Please pray for Gisele and all the teachers.
• We are still waiting news of the departure of our container from England with the new Land Rover. We hope this will be able to leave soon, as it needs to get here before the rains start in view of the state of the road.
• We have added another tract to our series. This one is called "Your new baby". It should also be on the website shortly.
• The HVM board meeting is due to be held from 28-30 September. Please pray for us as we consider important issues for the future development of the work.
• Debbie Simpson, the Northern Irish lab technician, has settled into Malagasy language study in Antsirabe. She will be joined shortly by Robert & Christine Blondeel from Belgium. Their valedictory service is tomorrow (19 September) in Ypres. They are coming to start and run our guesthouse.
• Dorith Liniger, from Switzerland, is busy training as a midwife in South Africa.
• Estelle Ropp, nurse from Mulhouse in France, is due to come for 6 months from the beginning of December. She plans to spend the first couple of monthsi in language study in Antsirabe.
• John and Mair Pugh with Nel are still in France, and hoping to move to Madagascar in the New Year. They also plan to go to Antsirabe for language study at first before coming here to begin the nurse training programme.
• Liz Angell of TEAR fund is expected here for a visit to the Community Health project from 16-21 October.
• Dr Paul Steinkuller is planning to visit us from 6-17 December.
• The church roof is going up and should be finished fairly soon. The Association of Bible Baptist Churches of Madagascar has decided to hold the annual August conference in Mandritsara in 2005. It will then hopefully be the occasion to celebrate 15 years of the church in Mandritsara, 10 years of the hospital, and the inauguration of the new church building.
• We are beginning to plan a trip to the UK next Easter. We hope to have a "Mandritsara Prayer Day" in London on a Saturday in April - perhaps the 16th. We will let you know as soon as the date is firm.

David and Jane Mann

Prayer News 5 September 2004

A few updated prayer points:

1. The final meeting of the holiday children's Bible club took place at Antsirombato on Saturday 4 September. It had been postponed for a week. A man had died in the village the Friday of the previous week and the village elders had asked us to postpone the visit as they would be busy with the funeral ceremonies. On the Sunday afternoon we heard a lot of noise and saw the whole village climbing the hill above the village - about a mile from the hospital. Through binoculars we could see two men carrying something between poles in front of the four men carrying the dead body up to the tombs on the hill. It was a bull's head - they had just slaughtered the bull. It all looked very pagan. Today over 250 children and young people came to the Holiday Bible club closing meeting We are grateful to the Lord for this opportunity to present the gospel in an area of heathen darkness. Please pray that some of the children from the village will now start attending the Sunday school and the adults come to the services at our church.
2. We are constantly confronted with darkness as we seek to treat patients in the hospital. A boy of about 10 is unconscious in the hospital with severe meningitis. The nurses have passed a stomach tube to feed him, but are having considerable difficulty from the family - almost every kind of nourishing food is "fady" (tabou) for this boy. The boy had a convulsion today and the reaction of the mother was quite bizarre. Please pray for the power of the gospel to shine through this darkness.
3. Please pray for a series of weekly radio broadcasts that David Mann will be doing on the local radio starting on Tuesday afternoon. He is planning to work through John's gospel. It will be in French and aimed at the more educated folk in the town including the Indian traders and the professional classes.
4. The new Sunday school term is due to start on Sunday September 26. The theme this term will be the life of Moses for the older classes, and life of Jesus for the younger classes. Please pray for all the preparation of lessons (see the new Sunday school page).
5. The hospital has been exceptionally busy during July and August, with an increase of 50% in the number of operations performed. Please pray for all those carrying the extra burdens, particularly the doctors, laboratory staff and ward and theatre staff. Of course the more patients there are, the more opportunities to present the gospel. Please pray for the Holy Spirit to work among us bringing some to new life in Christ.
6. Ecole Bonne Nouvelle. The new term starts on September 6th with 162 pupils enrolled. Please pray for all the teachers and the new children particularly.
7. Debbie Simpson - lab technician from Northern Ireland - has now arrived in Madagascar after French language study in Albertville. She has gone to Antsirabe to study Malagasy for four months. Please pray for her - this is the second language she is learning this year!
8. The church roof is slowly going up - please keep praying for the builders. Each week Jimmy, our building engineer, and Pastor Julien, hold a gospel meeting to present the gospel to them.

Gifts for the project should be sent to Bryan Lumb, 41 Upper Tooting Park, London SW17 7SN.

Please make out cheques to "Friends of Mandritsara Trust" (F.O.M.T.) Gift Aid forms are available.

Previous Prayer News