What's new

I returned to Madagascar on September 1, 2014.  Praise God no hurricanes stopped me this year.  Upon my return I started hosting a young girl of 17 years for the next 2 years while she finishes high school.  Her name is Sylvania,  she goes by Vanah.  She is from a fishing village in the north.  She is a wonderful young lady, studies hard and is in love with God.  She has been studding here in Tana for 8 or 9 years.  Previously she was with three other young people living with a guardian. Two graduated and are preparing to go to America to study and one was not accepted back in the school. So, Vanah is now living with me.  She is supported by a volunteer through another missionary.  It is nice having someone here with me.  I have attached her picture. Please keep her and her studies in your prayers.

My English club is back up and running.  This year I updated the beginners book and created a book for the intermediate group.  Burl sent me some Bible studies that I am using with the advanced group.  Right now we are doing the one on Angels.  It is really good to see them grow in both their English and their faith.  Praise God.


Last but not least, BB turned 1 on Sept 1 and has started going to school (obedience school) and aqua gym.  The first day I took him to stay the entire day by himself he cried the whole way there.  He will go one day for doggie daycare and one day training with me each week. He seems to enjoy the aqua gym.  Here is a picture of him swimming. 

November and December will be busy months.  In November our new missionaries will arrive.  Jamie and Alissa will come to Tana for their arrival.  Hopefully they will stay on a couple days and we can celebrate Thanksgiving as a team.  On November 22nd my friend Nicole will get married. Then comes December Tracy will get married on December 13th.  And of course all the Christmas things happening to celebrate the birth of Jesus.  I was very blessed last year with  the Christmas cards you all sent.  If you want to send cards again this year my address is Sandra Horen Lot 602III Ambohinambo, Talatamaty, Madagascar 105.  I suggest you send them by the middle of November to arrive before Christmas.  I am sorry sending you cards is not an option, but be sure you are all in my prayers. 

Blessings to you all.
Sandi

P.S. If you want to send care packages you can send them to the same address.  A few things I could always use is extra NIV Bibles to use with my Bible study classes.  Candy Canes (regular) since we can't get them here.  Packaged muffin mixes and or cookies mixes (all flavors except banana), shower gel, crystal light or wylers drink mixes. And any little surprises you want to add in. Oh I almost forgot raw hide bones or pigs ears for BB. The owner of the school he goes to told me to stop giving him regular bones.  They don't sell them here.

Ministry of Population English class graduates

The beginners class has ended so we had a graduation and they received certificates. I have added some of the pictures. Before completing the class they were required to write and present a one page report on the topic of their choice.  I want to share one of the girls topic.  She talked about liking the sport of running.  She said as she trained for her last 60k international run, this was her typical day:  First she gets up at 4am to go fetch water,(the place she goes to get water is up several stairs). She would make 6 trips to get water for the day for her house.  This takes her about an hour.  Then she runs for 1 hour from 5 am to 6am. She returns home to make breakfast and lunch for her family, get the kids ready for school, and take them to school.  She then returns home to get washed and dressed for work.  She leaves for work at 8:15 to arrive at work at 8:30.  She then works all day. When she returns home she needs to make dinner and do housework all before bed. 

Are you tired yet?  I was when she finished with her report. 

For many Malagasy they do not have water in their homes.  Some because they can not afford it some because where they live it isn't available.  Those who do not have water in their homes must either get up really early wait in line to buy it then haul it home or have someone deliver it each day. One person said her family of 5 uses about 10 containers a day.  This does not include water for laundry.  You can see in the picture the containers used to get water,

Sometimes because I am living in a nice home with running water and electricity, I forget how hard life is for some of the people here.  You can hire someone to deliver the water to you, but that too costs money.  So if they hire someone they pay about 300 ariary for a container.  I am told the price for 1 liter is about 1 ariary.  I'm not sure how much a container holds.  This routine is typical, except for the 1 hour run, for many  Malagasy people.  I personally don't like to get up early and for me early is 6:30 on days when I teach at the Ministry of Population. 

14 students completed the level one English class.  They can all communicate in simple English conversations.  In the beginning course I teach pronunciation and grammar. I have put together a book with different words that are hard to pronounce and much of the grammar we use in everyday English but don't think about.  I am not a teacher, nor good at English grammar, but God gives me the strength to teach English to about 100 students each week.

 

Happy New Year

Wow January is almost over already and I am just getting around to writing this.  News for Madagascar include a new president.  The election was on December 20, 2013 and the official results were announced last Friday.  The ceremony to put him into office will be this Saturday.  This being said the looser and his party are trying to get the African Union to say that the election was not a good one.  Always someone not willing to accept the results and move on.

As 2013 came to an end I celebrated the birth of Christ in many settings.  The first was with my bible study ladies group.  We finished our study of the patriarchs the end of November so we had a end of study Christmas gathering.  We shared Christmas goodies from all over the world.  What a wonderful group of missionary women.  The next  two was with my English clubs. We all had a good time except upon leaving the Ministry of Population I fell down the stairs and am still healing the wound o my led from that fall.  (no there wasn't any  alcohol at the party I was not drunk LOL). The next was just a small one with the children at church.  I am leading the children ministry team  and the children sang a couple songs for the adults then we went back to the class room and had snacks and juice.  The kids made a ornament out of the bottom of a soft drink bottle and then put glitter inside and tie a string to it.  They love glitter.  The next one was the same day when I along with my friend Mbola hosted the children's ministry team for lunch and gift exchange.  We had a really fun time.  Finally that same day I went to a gathering with the missionaries here in Tana to sing Christmas carols and enjoy a meal together.  (boy that was a long day)

Christmas day was quiet for me, after church I came back home and focused on the Lord.  It was a nice day.

I started out the new year with a summer cold.  It lasted 5 days and I am glad to say I am completely over it.  Yeah!  The weather is nice here during the day, but lots of rain.  Yesterday it was raining so hard I had to wait it out before heading to my car after church.   Of course I didn't have my umbrella.

I have received a lot of cards from family and friends all over the world.  I guess people really do read my facebook posts.  In November I posted I had not received any Christmas cards in the 6 years I have been here.  Now I was blessed beyond measures. I have put them on the wall in front of my computer and each day I open one and pray for that person or family.  It is a good way for me to remember you in my prayers.  Today I got a package from Burl and the mission prayer team at Craycroft Baptist Church.  I am always excited about a package from home.  Thanks for sending it.

I have decided to sell my car and look for a different one.  The one I bought 2 years ago has been broken down more than working.  It is all computerized and it appears when you fix something it needs to be re-programed each time.  So I had to put in a new fuel pump but it was not re-programed and now has no power.  You need to get a code to program it and the only way you can get the code is from the dealer and they want more than $1,000 to do it.  Then they will not give the code so you have to go back to them each time something goes wrong.  So if you could pray it sells quickly and I am able to get a fair price so I can get a different one I would appreciate it.

Blessings to you and may God bless you in 2014.

You can contact me either by facebook Sandi Horen or e-mail sandra.horen@gmail.com.  I no longer use the AOL account so please delete that from your contacts for me.

Love Sandi Horen