The Cookies That Had Gone Wrong

So just a little story to start off with.  For the last two weeks I have been craving chocolate chip cookies and I'm not sure what had first started this obsession.  Anyways I decied that I would be nice enough (I know how humble of me to say that) to make them and bring them to a missionary friend's house.  So their were two varibles that would make or break this recipe: the fact that I was using this fake margarine called Blue Band and the fact that I had this different kind of brown sugar that looked like white sugar but in a brown form.  So that is what I had to work with.  Well I went for it and just prayed because I really wanted Chocolate Chip Cookies, oh did I ever.  Well the batter did look kind of funny but it didn't taste too bad considering I suffocated it with chocolate chips.  The issue was that it would cook around the edges but wouldn't cook in the middle.  It was so sad; I had to throw them all out.

I am pretty  tired right now and have some company over but I promise to write again this week. 

Brownies, Birthday Wishes, And Goodbyes

This past week has been a trying week for all the mission team members. The beginning was not so bad; we got to celebrate Heidi's Birthday which was pretty exciting. I did not have any wrapping paper so I hid her gifts all over the house. Her Birthday gift consisted of brownies apon her request; the sad part is that she made them herself with the help of her roomate of course (me). I knew this was the first time she has spent her Birthday away from her family so I expected it would be hard. That night however an unexpected swerve in the road left the enter Missionary team devastated. We found out that one of the missionary families had to go home immediately due to their child becoming ill quite severely. Since they had only got to Madagascar about three weeks ago (just before I came) it seemed the best solution would be for their daughter to go to a doctor close to where they previously lived in the States. The missionary team was quite understanding as we all agree that the well being of your family is always first especially in this situation. We were saddened by being separated by a family we grow so close to in just a few weeks, especially Heidi and I since we lived in the flat just below them. The husband and wife were like second parents to us by looking out for us and giving us some much needed cooking advise. They should know though that they are in all of thoughts and prayers daily. We as their missionary family send many blessings with them as they follow God in his direction for them. We also thank the Lord for the friendship we made with them while they were here.

Hmmm with pains there are always blessings. A blessing for me was getting all those supportive emails from friends and family members. I get reminded that I have friends and family members that are here with me on this journey in spirit by the many prayers and thoughts. If I could now ask all of you to receive prayer requests for me at this time that would be great.

Prayer request #1: I ask that my spirit would be strong in the Lord at times; in times of sorrow, celebration and just those plain normal days. It is easy to forget who I am doing this for by getting caught of in the moment.

Prayer request #2: Pray for the Missions Conference that happens this week for all the AIM team members including myself. My we grow in knowledge and understanding in what it really means to be a missionary. May it also be a good time for team bonding.

Prayer request #3: Please pray that I can get retain as much vocabulary as possible through my language studies. I know that the best way to love the Malagasy people is by speaking their language. It is a difficult language to learn and for the most part takes a few years to learn it and I have just six months. Along with that request pray for my Ethnography study (study of the culture), as it is a big ordeal and requires some boldness on my part to interview people and put myself out there in order to understand their culture.

Prayer request #4: I have a week off from working at MCA (Madagascar Christian Academy) due to the conference but after that I will be teaching again. I just pray that the kids will be able to understand my speaking and learn was a native speaker of English sounds like so it can benefit them in when searching for future employment.

Prayer request 5: That I may push myself more and more to understand and love the Malagasy people as our heavenly Father does. I desire not to have the critical mind of a foreigner but to keep and open mind about everything.

 

 

Week Two

Sorry for waiting so long to create another post, Internet is kind of slow here depending on how many people in the building are trying to use it at once.  I may have a lot to update you with.  So the week I arrived I got right back into some more training but this time the focus was on training us for living in Madagascar specifically.  For the first three days we did this program called L-A-M-P which is basically this language training program.  We learned how to make lesson plans and do different activities doing our sessions with our language helpers.  My language helper is Florentine, this Malagasy woman who has been teaching missionaries English for years now.  She is very patient with me, which I am grateful for.

The second week which is the one I am currently working through has new challenges but at the same time they have been rewarding.  I moved in  my flat on Sunday with my new Roomate Heidi.  It is pretty nice in my mind, I never pictured a missionary living is such a nice place.  It is not fancy or anything but the everything works great and I have not seen any bugs yet.  We get a full kitchen with a stove and everything.  Now Heidi and I both confessed to each other that we cannot cook, which in turn has made things very interesting.  Thankfully the main meal that people cook in Madagascar is rice (although I have not perfected it yet) so we have a great excuse to cook the same meal over again and do not have to be too creative.

Well besides eating rice and listening to Adventures In Odyssey you may want to know what I have been doing during the day.  Well I may have explained to some of you that the main reason I am here is to be trained to become a full time missionary for after I graduate.  Basically that is what this journey is about; learning from other missionaries but also creating a new and different path for myself. This is a time where I figure out what full time ministry will look like for me in the future.  Every missionary has to make important choices that will affect the themselves and the people they are ministering to.  Every missionary has to decide what is most important to them.  Well right now I feel language is most important to me.  It is so draining and well humbling but I know that I cannot communicate the Gospel to these people without words.  To every culture words are important; they communicate love that actions cannot always express. Not when you are one of few white people on the entire island.

So as part of my training I have Language Studies, Cultural Studies, and Volunteer ministry.  The ministry I am doing is working at this Christian English speaking school known as MCA (Madagascar Christian Acadamy)  That is only in the afternoons, at least for now as I have language studies in the morning with Florentine.  I am working with the grade one classroom with their reading, teaching a little of Drama, and maybe helping with art class with the uper level grades.  I have been doing a little teaching which has been different for me as I have never done that before but I enjoy being around the kids very much so.

Well as much as I would like to go into more detail it is time for me to go to bed.  I go to bed around 9:30pm during the week but that is because I have to get up early to go and walk to school.  I will try to write again soon.