Southbridge Aug 2014 Pt 4: Overview from Jodie

Having Southbridge come and work alongside us is always a highlight of the year.  And this trip was no exception!  This team consisted of 4 veterans: Bill, JD, Tessa and Nathan.  They hosted a training event at the local Baptist seminary, where church members and leaders from all over came to learn from God’s Word.  For several days, the team taught through the Ten Commandments using various Bible stories as teaching points.  Their emphasis was challenging students to grow themselves, their families, their neighborhoods, and their communities closer to Christ through a better understanding and following of the Ten Commandments.  The training went great.  We had a group of at least 30 everyday.  The conversations were open, and the questions were relevant.  I think everyone left the training feeling challenged! 

After that, the team broke up into two groups.  The northern group went to work with the Masikoro people, and the southern group, went to work with the Mahafaly.  Each group was accompanied by seminary students from the training.  So many signed up, that we had to tell many they would have to wait for another trip! Over the next few days the teams traveled north and south to continue spreading the training.

The team that went to the south included Bill, JD, Grant, and 5 Malagasy believers from Tulear.  They mainly focused on the remote village of Andremba.  The first day, the Malagasy believers from Tulear led the believers in Andremba in a shorter version of the training they had received during the week, going through the ten commandments and the stories that were used to teach them (the golden calf, David and Bathsheba, etc).  The believers in Andremba drank up the teaching, which lasted all day long!  How cool to see the believers in Tulear training up the believers in these remote areas!

The next day, the believers from Tulear went with the church body from Andremba to another village called Andre-Mihaga.  They walked for one hour to this remote village, which had never seen a white person before!  Grant said that a lady in a field ducked when she saw him, fearing for her life.  Another disabled lady, curled up and started sobbing.  She later explained that because she couldn’t move, she thought if she cried the white man might have mercy on her and not kill her!  Even more shocking than them having never seen a white person before, was that they had never heard the name of Jesus. 

Eventually the village gathered, and a formal time began.  The church leader of Andremba, Emasike, led the time and explained they had come to share about something that had changed their lives.  He told them that a seed had been sown in him, and that seed was the Word of God.  And because of that seed, his life had been changed and he wants to share that seed with others.  He also told them that if the seed begins to take root in them, they should also share it with others.  Over the next few hours, this new village listened as Emasike told the stories of creation, the fall, Abraham…The village received the stories and wanted to hear more. He told them if they wanted, he would return and continue telling the stories from the Bible. 

What a beautiful picture of the body of Christ.  There, in this remote village, a group of people from all over the world came together to get the Gospel to these people.  Believers from one place, training up believers in a different place, to take the Good News to a new place!  This is what it is all about!  Praise God for His amazing plans and for letting us be a part of it.