Back to School!

I’m starting seminary!

When I graduated from college, I knew I needed a “break” from school. At that time, I was already making plans to come to Madagascar. Unfortunately, that feeling of needing a break had worn off after a couple of months, and I’ve been excited about starting school again ever since (for about the last 4 years!). I continued to put off seminary plans, because for a while I really wasn’t sure what those plans should be, but now, finally I’m enrolled in an online class at Southeastern Seminary! I’ll continue this class (and possibly one more) for the next six months while I’m still here in Madagascar. I’m excited to be back in school, even with such a light load, and I’m especially excited to see how the Lord continues to lead and guide me in the next steps!  

Happy New Year!

New year’s celebrations are very important here in Madagascar. All of our churches had parties for prayer, singing, and sharing special food together! I was with my family in Paris for Christmas, so I missed all the church celebrations, but I was very thankful to be able to visit three churches on New Years’ Eve! First, I had a time of worship with the church in Andakoro, where Pastor Jonoro and Noelle and several others from my story-crafting groups go. Then, we went to a sort of dance-worship party with the youth at my church. They LOVE singing and dancing, and they led us in some games as well. These youth work so hard, and have so much responsibility in our church—it was nice just to see them having fun! Finally, we met up with some of our other teammates, as well as a volunteer team from Southwestern Seminary, at a third church. There, we welcomed in the new year with listening to special music,  hearing some encouraging Scriptures read, wishing everyone a happy new year, and singing about how our love for each other glorifies God! Join me in praying that this year, I would truly love the Lord with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love others as myself! 

All Together Again!

Two years ago, we hosted a workshop here in Tulear. For the first time, we met with believers from a variety of churches and people groups, and began teaching them the process of crafting Biblical stories. Since then, the groups and I have continued to meet separately, by dialects. Each group is different, but all have been growing and learning, and I’ve been blessed over the last two years to learn from all that they are gleaning from the stories, as well as to watch them share those stories with those around them.

During the first two weeks of December, I had the chance to meet with members of each group together again! We worked through a composite story beginning with creation and spanning to the resurrection of Christ. This story is an amazing testament of the unified consistency of Scripture, and a beautiful picture of God’s plan of redemption from the beginning.

Each night as we studied different segments of the story, I was blessed by all that the believers were learning from it. After we had worked through several parts of it, I split the groups up, and let them repeat it in their dialects.

When we all came back together to share, the groups’ stories were amazing! I remember our first workshop, and how challenging and new the process was for them. I also remember how much they struggled to put the stories into their own words. When they began repeating this story for the larger group, it was beautiful to hear the same concepts and ideas and events in completely different words, phrases, and expressions! Each group, and each individual, was sharing the truths of Scripture from their heart, and in their own words! His Word is so true, and powerful, and life-changing! It is truly a sharp sword, a searing fire, and the rain that falls on hearts to bring about a harvest! I am so, so thankful for the chance the Lord has given me to watch His Word truly enter and transform and grow in the lives of these believers! 

Streams in the desert

Sometimes out on village trips, I find I struggle more with spending daily time with the Lord. I’m sort of addicted to quiet mornings by myself with my Bible and my coffee, and so, for better or for worse, when this routine is interrupted I often have a hard time focusing.

When I went to the forest in November, I was really in need of some time with Him, but just couldn’t seem to find a private place without distractions. One morning I went to eat breakfast with Pastor Jonoro and Robine, my friend who went with me. I was feeling frustrated, knowing that the day was starting and just wishing I had had more time to read.

As we ate, Pastor Jonoro began talking about some of the lessons that were rising to the surface of our discussions of the stories with the groups. We had been learning stories from the life of David. In the first story, God promises David that his descendants will inherit his kingdom. God also promises that He will never take His love from them, but that He will correct them when they stray. Then we looked at the story of David and Bathsheba, and Nathan’s confrontation of David’s sin. Pastor Jonoro talked about times in his life when he could see that the Lord allowed him to go his own way, even into sin, but that in retrospect he could see how the Lord had corrected him, and brought him back on track in love. The pastor was explaining that in his life, God’s love is not necessarily shown in never letting him make mistakes or fall into problems, even problems of his own making, but rather in God’s presence in those problems, and salvation from them, through them.

As he spoke, I had tears running down my face. I’m sure you’re all tired of reading about how much I try to be perfect, and fail, and about how God’s grace in these failures, and repeated assurances of the fact that perfection isn’t even the goal, are what often make me love Him most . . . but there it is. The sweetest part of hearing from Pastor Jonoro was that I knew the Lord was using him to speak truth into my heart, even though I hadn’t had time to read, I wasn’t alone with my coffee in my house—the Lord wanted to meet with me, and did, right there! I'm deeply thankful for the community of believers He’s given me here, and how He uses that community, and all circumstances, to teach me and guide me and make His presence known to me! Even if I’m in the “desert”, or the middle of the Masikoro forest with no time and no privacy, He can send me streams of living water to transform and refresh my heart!  

Forest Trips

The last two trips to the forest have been very encouraging! As always, I’m amazed and blessed to watch the Lord grow the group and use them to accomplish His good works! On the first trip in November, we actually crafted three stories in three days—this is great progress! We had several new people in the group also, which makes me excited to see the group continue to grow in the future.

In the story-crafting, our goal is to craft Bible stories that are truly in the dialects, born out of the minds and hearts and good understanding of the believers in the groups. In this way, the stories will be more clear and accessible to other dialect-speakers hearing them for the first time. As we worked on the first story during the November trip, I told it a couple of times first, as I usually do. It became clear that some of the new people in the group weren’t understanding very well, so Brigitta, an older woman in the group, came up with a plan. She said, “Tessa, I think it’s better if after you tell it, we retell it in our own words to help our new friends understand it better.” I was thrilled! She basically summed up our entire story-crafting goal in this one sentence! How exciting for the group to see the need for the work they’re doing, and also to see the results in their own community!

Then on the December trip, Pastor Jonoro and I were able to watch as the group members shared an overarching story spanning from creation to the resurrection of Jesus with a group of non-believers from deep in the forest. The story was clear, and our group did a great job leading the others in discussing it, and gleaning scriptural truths from it. Join us in praying for wisdom for our group as they seek how to continue their work with this new group. Pray for this deeper forest group of non-believers, as well, that the Lord would continue to open their eyes and hearts to truths from His Word. 

The Holidays: Hot, Cold, Fun-Filled and Special

In the last few years, I’ve realized that not everyone in the world associates Christmas with cold weather, scarves, hot chocolate, and snow . . . but for me, these aspects are still inextricably linked with the overall feeling of Christmastime. So, as Christmas approached in Madagascar, the usual dilemma presented itself—with temperatures climbing into the hundreds, and my wardrobe consisting purely of tank tops and flip-flops, “It just doesn’t feel like Christmas!”

But it is Christmas, and starting with Thanksgiving, the Lord has blessed me this year with some precious times with friends, family, and loved ones. The six short-term personnel on our team celebrated Thanksgiving together this year, complete with turkey, dressing, biscuits and Spanikopita! We also took a beach day trip—might as well celebrate the heat! J

Then, I was able to visit my family for a few days in Paris—I am so thankful to have been able to see them at Christmas! And, I got my fill of cold weather for the year! I spent the whole trip bundled up in my sister’s clothes J On our last night there, we went to a Christmas Eve Mass at Notre Dame. Though unlike any Christmas Eve service I’ve ever been to, being in the beautiful cathedral and listening to worship music in French and Latin, I was struck with the ageless message of grace that Jesus’ birth brought to all of us. He is indeed the Savior of the World . . . and His death and resurrection are what makes our individual relationships with Him possible! How truly glorious is the salvation He wrought!

But my holidays aren’t over! This morning I got to have Christmas breakfast with my teammates here in Tulear, and enjoy a Christmas movie! And depending on what’s been going on at my Malagasy church while I’ve been gone (they’ve been working on building a new building!), there may be a few more Christmas, or at least New Years, celebrations yet to come! I feel so blessed to be able to spend time with so many people I love this season, and to remember that it is only His love and grace that makes all these relationships possible! 

Four Years!

This month marks four years from the time I first moved to Madagascar. I can’t believe it’s been that long! I know that God has truly changed my life forever through what He’s allowed me to experience here.

He has blessed me abundantly in relationships here. He’s given me Malagasy friends who have taught me about language, culture, life, and His nature. He’s also given me a mission family who constantly inspire me to be more like Him through their love and example.

He has blessed me with experiences I could never have imagined . . . some painful, some hilarious, some deeply fulfilling—all meaningful.

He’s given me new skills! I never thought I could learn to drive stick-shift, or cook, or throw out old water without it splashing back on me, or sing in another language, or drive a moped, or jump into a moving car . . .

He’s shown me all I’m not. It seems that with every new piece of language or cultural information I may discover, I’m stunned to realize how much more exists to be learned! It seems that with each victory, and each failure, what shows most clearly is what I’m lacking. But the very best part is that all that I’m not, He Is. He has been so, so faithful to me. When I have been weak, or happy, or afraid, or excited, or bewildered, or surprised, or faithless—He has been with me; He has been Himself!

He is Himself—His huge, beautiful, active, glorious Self! Somehow, in the depths of His grace, He chose to take me on this journey with Him. He chose to let me see that His is, and has been, active on an island the size of Texas in the middle of the Indian Ocean from the beginning, and that He has set eternity in the hearts of people here.

When I moved here, I wondered if I would one day love Madagascar. By His grace, I do—I love this place, and these people. But my love is selfish, impure, and is as nothing to His! His loving, pursuing activity in the lives of people, families, villages here takes my breath away. And somehow He’s let me be a part of this activity!

When I first arrived here, I had no idea what my time here would come to mean to me. Even now, I can’t see the full picture of what God is doing, either in my life or in the lives of people here. I’ve been thinking about a line C. S. Lewis wrote in Out of the Silent Planet:

“A pleasure is full grown only when it is remembered. You are speaking, [man], as if the pleasure were one thing and the memory another. It is all one thing . . . What you call remembering is the last part of the pleasure . . . When you and I met, the meeting was over very shortly, it was nothing. Now it is growing something as we remember it. But still we know very little about it. What it will be when I remember it as I lie down to die, what it makes in me all my days till then—that is the real meeting. The other is only the beginning of it.”

When I think about Madagascar, I “still know very little about it”. I still know very little, too, about what God is doing here, and what He’s doing in my life through my time here. But I truly believe that this place and these relationships will “make [something] in me all my days” . . . that I’ll never be the same.

And yet, even if my life has been shifted, knocked in its course by these last few years, I am just one person. How unfathomable that He is at work like this, changing lives and redirecting histories all over the world and throughout time according to His glorious plan!

“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!

How unsearchable his judgments,
    

and his paths beyond tracing out!

“Who has known the mind of the Lord?
    

Or who has been his counselor?”

“Who has ever given to God,
    

that God should repay them?”

For from him and through him and for him are all things.

To him be the glory forever! Amen.”

Romans 11:33-36