*Please consider sharing our Teacher job posting below!
Change is finally coming! Madagascar’s borders have opened for the first time since COVID began in March 2020. Many teammates are in line to return throughout the next month, hopefully rested and encouraged after their much-needed time away. In addition to the 6 long-term missionaries returning, we have a new young family and 2 short-term medical staff who are arriving soon. One family has already made it into the country, and another is at the airport as I write, so this is hopeful!
As we welcome some, we also prepare say goodbye to others. The family who came around the same time as us will be leaving. They have become dear friends, and as their children are the similar in age to our oldest, this loss will be felt greatly. Our life requires flexibility, with so many comings and goings, but we feel it most for our children. God has always provided friends for them, though, and even though we don’t see any English kids their ages coming in the near future, we trust He has a plan. We are encouraged by their relationships with french-speaking friends at the local school, and hope to nurture those relationships even more as the children once again say goodbye.
It’s been amazing to see God move others as we work to get Engineering Ministries International here, as professionals like this team are not cheap to obtain. If you’d like to invest in the water and solar projects, please email us here.
The new Surgical Ward at the hospital is nearly complete, and an electrician will come from Ireland soon to help get everything hooked up. And after that will be a huge inauguration celebration in January. Rumour has it some very high-up dignitaries may come, so it’s a pretty big deal around here.
In addition, we have had an ongoing fundraising appeal happening with Fellowship International to raise the necessary funding for the residency program beginning in just a couple of months. Over $100,000 has come in from across Canada. Isn’t that awesome? Check out the video here.
I (Julie) have been supporting our guesthouse through this season of no visitors by using the extra time to teach new recipes to the staff. It's helped them stay employed, while increasing their skills for our team in the future. And it's been so fun to see (and eat!) their results, and hear they have even tried some at home for their families.
I have also been helping our team with administration, in addition to the administrative needs for our family and projects.
Through it all, we continue to plough ahead with our kids' education. While the children all attend some french classes at the local school, I am primarily responsible for their english learning. It's been neat to be so involved, but our capacity to keep up in this environment is limited.
We are looking and praying for an individual who might be willing to come and help us with their future education as they get into middle school years and their needs become more complex. Know anyone who might be interested? Please consider sending them this job posting.
So this is us right now!
Bless you as the seasons changes and we begin to anticipate the special holiday ahead!
As the heat is rising, I’m busy trying to incorporate mint and pumpkin spice into everything cold...
Enjoy getting cozy around there!
Julie, Jesh and the fam
