| By lynettemadanews on September 1, 2024 |
I know that it has been a long time since we updated you. Not for a lack of news though. It has been school holiday and we got a lot done during these weeks.
I decided to paint our apartment. We had suffered a lot of water damage due to a leeking roof and just never got around to re-paint after the roof was replaced. What I thought would require a week or two turned out to be more than a month. I suppose living in a small place with lots of stuff, adds to the challenge. So we settled into a routine, Dries worked on Gabriel during the week and I painted the house and started on the preparation for the new school year. I also had Martine, my English student two mornings a week. Alice joined us one morning for baking cupcakes. It was fun and also gave Martine an opportunity to practise her English. Martine and I talk more about God and His Word. I gave her an English Bible and she started reading through the Gospel of Matthew. Please pray that she will realise what it means to be saved and serve God.
We are so thankful! A fellow South African, who has a background in yacht building, will help Dries at the boat three times a week. We pay Quentin for his work as that is the way that he makes a living. He is incredibly capable and Dries could not believe what they got done after the first week. After the team was here in April and got so much done, it was very encouraging to once again have someone to help. One of the guys on the team at that time, Rickus, spent a gruelling couple of days removing the rotten wood from the port bow. Dries and Quentin decided that it would be easier to continue this job from the outside. This means that there is now a giant hole on one side of the boat, but they are making good progress. Please pray that we shall be able to afford Quentin’s labour for the next two months.
The work on the new classroom at school, is in full swing. It won’t be completed before school starts on the 10th of September, but at least the foundation is done. We will run the full pre-school this year and that is what the new classroom is for. Vitamary, one of the teachers of the little ones will be leaving us. I am really sad about this as she is a gentle and capable teacher. It was once again a case of pressure from the family to move. I still struggle with this Malagasy part of the culture where family members determine your future. In this case, it would not even benefit Vitamary. I still hope that she might be able to come back.
Our electricity situation has been impossible for the last two months. Sometimes we are without electricity for days and other times it goes off so many times in one day, that it makes no difference. The quality is so bad that we cannot use any appliances during the day. So any printing, washing or other chores have to be done very early in the morning. And then there are the times that it just works perfectly for a couple of days. We adapt and make it work. These days when people greet each other and ask how they are doing, they throw up their hands, roll their eyes and say, “Jirama!” That is the name of the company which provides our water and electricity.
I finally received my new Carte Resident, valid for the next five years. I ended up paying less than 25% of the “fine” I was given. We knew that this so called fine was just corruption and we are very thankful that God worked in our favour.
Alice started her final year of school in Antananarivo. It was so good to have her here for the holiday. She has a tough year ahead. Please pray for her as she needs to start enrolling for further studies. She is not quite sure what she will be doing. We trust God to open a door for her.
Thank you for your love, prayer and support. Have a blessed week!
E-posadres: lynettedj@gmail.com
Bank: ABSA, Lynette de Jager, Rekeningnr: 1410142909, Takkode: 632005