Adventures In Madagascar

The Hamilton’s go to Madagascar

David, Deborah, MarLee and Liam Hamilton

Who would have thought ten years ago I’d be sitting at a tiny “desk” in Northern Madagascar writing an e-letter to friends back in the states. Yep, our journey to the  mission field started ten years ago. Our children were then 13, 7 and 5. Twelve years ago David and I moved our family from a ‘high church’ in Virginia Beach to a family church in Chesapeake, Va. The entire family found a special place to learn, be fed and grow in the  Lord, and to be challenged in the complacency we had found ourselves in. David and I both came from Christian families but each, in our own way, had forgotten our First Love. Church of the Messiah was like a huge over-due breath of fresh air, and our family thrived.

David was a career Navy man and I was an independently-minded Navy wife. God had His work cut out for Him, and work He did. After our first year of “marinating” in the Lord at Messiah it was time to be stretched. An  announcement for Perspectives on the World Christian Movement came to my attention. To this day I can only say it was the Lord who urged me to talk David into attending the 16-week course. If I had known then what would happen to my husband 8 weeks into the course it would have taken much more urging. David usually came home from the classes and shared with us a little about Perspectives each week. At the 8th week something happened that would change our lives forever. David sat down and announced to the family he thought God was calling him to missions. We all took it stride, typical USN style. (Oh; that means time away. Been there, done that; nothing new.)

After putting the children to bed that night David admitted that the calling he felt wasn’t just for him but the whole family, and it wasn’t short term trips we’d be taking but long term…that means YEARS. I remember my response as though I said it yesterday. “WHAT?…Oh my goodness! Oh no, I prayed for YOU! I prayed the Lord would give YOU a heart for missions! Not me, not us! No, no I think you’re wrong. You need to go back and ask God again!” ...deep breath…“No hon, you heard it wrong. It was for YOU, not US, you.” David just smiled and said “Maybe we should both ask again.” Over the next several months we prayed, and what should appear once again in the bulletin but an announcement for Perspectives. This time it was David’s turn to convince me to attend. I knew what happened in those classes. “They filled your head with dreams of…mission-stuff.” A few days before the class I had taken all the “resisting the Lord” I could handle, and finally signed up. Determined not to fall into the same ‘trap’ that David did I complained my way through the first few weeks. “There’s too much reading, I don’t have time for all that. The children’s education comes first.” Slowly however, I found my self look forward to Perspectives class, completing the readings and assignments on time and the children’s school hadn’t suffered. About halfway through the course I came home and confessed to David that I was wrong (that was a hard pill to swallow), and he was right. O.K., now what??

Then came all the question words: Who, What, When, etc. We bought a huge wall map and an Operation World. We started praying through it with the kids making it part of our home schooling. We kinda’ got ‘stuck’ in the M’s, and kept returning to Madagascar. Then came the confirmations we prayed for from friends and family, but the final confirmation was our visit to the island. We landed in Antananarivo airport in September 2001, about two weeks after 9/11. We began to realize that this place “felt like home”; it was weird. We were 6,000 miles from VA without our kids and why was it feeling like home? Because when you’re in the middle of God’s will that’s the way it feels, no matter where you are.

After returning home David attended a mission’s conference and we were then introduced to the Director of Global Teams. The fit was perfect (at least side of heaven). Global Teams had been praying for the people of Northern Madagascar for 6 months and the Director had been praying the Lord would send a family to GT to be those missionaries. We started our training with the GT prep team in January of 2003 and then began fund-raising. In October of 2004 we left hearth and home for a very foreign land 6,000 miles away. January 2005 we arrived in Antsiranana, everyone calls it Diego, set up house and began to learn the Northern Malagasy dialect. In September 2005 David was ordained a deacon in the Malagasy Anglican Church and was given a district to work from. David was given the opportunity to visit many villages, taking pictures everywhere he went. Finally the Lord showed us the first village He wanted us to tell His story (History).

Since we began work in Morafeno (the name means slowly filling) we have seen many changes in the village atmosphere, in the people themselves and in some of the surrounding villages. There have been other changes too, David was ordained a Malagasy priest in January 2007, and I’m working with a Sage Femme Nationale (National Midwife/Nurse) here in Diego. Our children are still home schooled and are enjoying it about as much as two teenagers can. MarLee is now 17 and in 11th grade. She takes French from a Malagasy University student, is involved with a Christian youth group, takes tennis lessons twice a week and dances at the Alliance Français twice a week. Liam turned 15 in February and is in 9th grade, he’s not thinking about what comes after high school like MarLee is; only, when can he go to the tennis courts for a pick up match. Liam is our athlete; he has played on 2 all Malagasy soccer teams since we arrived in 2005, and is taking tennis lessons from a young Malagasy man 3 times a week. Matthew our oldest is not pictured because he is back in the states at college but he’s now 23.

I hope the story of ‘The Hamilton’s go to Madagascar’ wasn’t too long. There are so many opportunities for ministry here in Madagascar. My prayer is that the Lord will touch the hearts of His people to come to this beautiful and rugged country, full of some of the most usual animals and interesting people groups in the world.

God’s Peace to all,  Deborah
 

Tidbits from EBONY

The Samaritan

Hi, again! Wow, I get to just talk all I want in this edition of the newsletter!! I have been back in the States now for a little over a month. I met Kristin for the first time  which was really special! I was able to spend about three weeks relaxing at “home” with my family, going through files, straightening things out and just getting used to life again.  I also went to Orlando and got to meet our dear Susan!!!! She is WONDERFUL. Also while in
Orlando, I went to an interview conference for my new Sending Agency. It was a very intense  week, but they wholeheartedly appointed me for long term service with their company, which I am very excited about!

The next steps in my journey are to get ready for going back overseas. This involves reading a couple of books, going to some counseling sessions (lest you think overseas
workers are “perfect” people—we ALL have issues and have to work through them just like everybody else in the world) and raising financial and prayer support to cover my next term on the field. I’ve read books before and I’ve been to counseling before. I’m actually looking forward to these things. But, working to raise support  can be an exhausting and daunting task. The Lord is teaching me not to view it as a “task,” though, but rather as an opportunity to trust Him and to minister to the churches I visit.

In the next two months I will be traveling to the following places to speak in churches or to different groups of people:

Huntsville, AL
Atlanta, GA
Warner Robins, GA
Maui, Hawaii
Las Vegas, NV
San Fransisco, CA
Colorado Springs, CO
Wichita, KS
and back home to Virginia! :-)

Are  you  tired  just  looking  at  the schedule?  Me  too!  Although, how bad can it be when you get to surf on the Northshore and play the slots in Vegas all in the same week! Ha!

Every time I come home and start traveling around like this, my time overseas begins to feel just like a dream. Honestly, there is so much in America that I feel so  inadequate for. I feel like such a spaz when I go to the grocery store and don’t know how to use the credit card swipey things! Sometimes I enjoy my Starbucks so much, and the cozy mattress on my bed, that I think, “Am I really going to make it if I go back again?” But, I have been back and forth enough times now to know that when I am over there, the Father provides a tremendous amount of grace to be able to live there and thrive in order to accomplish His purposes. This is a grace that doesn’t come from some strength that resides within my own flesh, but from HIS strength alone and from His Spirit that has taken up residence within me. When I remember this, I am  encouraged and I set my face to the future.

One of my team mates in Ebony recently discovered a group of people who live in tents because they have been displaced from their home-town. It turns out they have lived in these tents for seven years and the women have NEVER been allowed to venture outside of the tent community. They have never been to the bazaar or seen the streets of the city where they live. This kind of family illustrates the urgent need for laborers in Ebony who will
come TO the women of the land and break through the barrier of isolation that is literally killing them both physically and spiritually.

Yesterday I was reminded of the window of opportunity that exists in Ebony at present. We are never promised tomorrow and Ebony is such an unstable situation that we don’t know what the situation will be for these people even one year from now. I pray the country will remain accessible and that more and more development work and church planting will occur there, but we just don’t know and shouldn’t assume that will be the case. A friend  reminded me that the urgency of the situation is REAL and the Lord reminded me that He has called me to walk THROUGH this window and “seize the day,” if you will.

Please pray for provision for me to return to Ebony and serve the women and children there.   Please pray with me that I will also gain a lot of experience in serving as a doula and a childbirth educator while I am home in the States.

Thank you for joining me in this journey!!!!
Love,
Elizabeth

This is a picture my friend drew of me recently. I am wearing a “burka” which is what I wear in Ebony. My friend calls me a “Samaritan” as a joke. I just think this picture is so cute that I had to include it.


Love,
Elizabeth