We have returned from Madagascar. Thanks to your passion-filled prayers, we were able to experience the Lord¹s grace in taking care of pastoral training and mobile clinic ministries safely. It was with joy and thanks, seeing Our Lord who was shouting victory!
Upon leaving the airport of Madagascar however, we prayed with wet eyes in frustration:
Lord! Protect Madagascar. The people are sheep without a shepherd. The politicians are occupied in greed and do not consider the people’s hunger and pain. Many church leaders have gotten involved with the politics; many people have left the church. The shamans are talking about the ancestral ghosts and making fools out of the people of Madagascar. The economy moves in the hands of foreigners who only take away. People are worrying every day about what to eat, what to wear, searching all day for what’s false. The country is being eaten up by lies, obscurity, and self-gratification. Lord, show your mercy over the 20 million Madagascarians.
Through this mission, we had a great opportunity to train 270 attending church leaders in the capital Antananarivo and the city Tamatave, near the airport. We discussed about 4 books on leadership and pastoral training, and shared about the kingdom of God. Seeing how eager they were to write down everything and not wanting to miss a word We saw the hope of our Lord in
them. When the time came for them to ask all the questions they had, we prayed for the blessing of the Lord upon them as He had promised to provide to those who asked. Of note, most of the questions were on the ancestral gods. They are people who had worshipped their ancestral ghosts from generation to generationŠ people who seek church in the morning, shaman at night people who try to live faithful lives but cannot escape from the ideas of their tradition of finding the bones of their dead ancestors at the grave, washing them and organizing them every now and then. Reflecting upon our own past of worshipping ancestors in the Korean tradition, we shared
about what it is that God wants what it is to glorify our God. May they change to people who would only worship our God, from those who were couldn’t abandon worshipping their ancestral ghosts of Madagascar through these trainings. May they not be slaves to what is not truth, and let them
know the freedom that comes from the truth. Through Jesus, may they be free and peaceful, away from the fear of ancestral ghosts.
In God¹s grace, the mobile clinic ministry is in good progress. This past March 15, we started the mobile clinic ministry. Since it was a region of hurricane where even 4-by-4 vehicles couldn¹t drive, we arrived in a town after 5 hours of driving and 1 hour on a boat. Seeing those busy doctors and joyful volunteers of Madagascar who were seeing 112 patients, we were deeply thankful and joyful they were just like angels in our eyes.
Lord! Thank you for reaching out your hand to many of those sufferers through the mobile clinic ministry. May they be freed not only from their physical suffering but also from their spiritual sufferings. There is a lot to report back to you regarding the mobile clinic. We will shortly give you the detailed content with a report, and ask for your prayer support.
Please pray:
1. for political settlement of MadagascarŠ with the president being only 34 years old and everything being in halt due to the insecure political movements, countless citizens are undergoing difficulties. May they become leaders who fear the Lord, and love and serve the citizens.
2. Through the pastoral training which took place in Tamatave, may there be established a place for pastoral lectures so that those pastors who are hungry for the word can be well nourished and trained.
3. May those doctors and health care professionals who volunteered in the mobile clinic learn about the Lord¹s blessing, and be able to commit themselves regularly in joy and thanks.
4. May those patients who were treated learn about the Lord¹s love, and have chance to meet Jesus personally.
5. May there be found God¹s people who will take part in maintenance of the greatly needed medicines and vehicles need for the ministry, and the cost for the ministry.
Easter is coming. We picture Jesus, who had suffered, carried, and died on the cross for us. And we look at the people of Africa who are suffering and agonizing in Africa. Then we shout towards Africa, with the blessings, grace, and joy of Jesus Christ who had resurrected and have become our eternal hope. Jesus had resurrected. Jesus is the hope of Africa.
For His Kingdom, (the picture is the first mobile clinic team)
Missionaries Young Ohm, Young-Ae Yoo, Kyung-Hwan and Mi-Jeong.
