J. “I was known as the biggest alcoholic in the village. Last year, I was at the meeting for the healthcare committee when, during one of his visits, J-M said that God was wanting to deliver someone from alcohol. He laid his hands on me and I was completely freed. The villagers have seen a huge change in my life and I am able to speak to them of Jesus who transforms lives; they have seen it in me!” J. is participating in the training sessions with his wife and someone else from the neighboring village. Four churches have started up in this one area.
These villages are in an area that can only be reached by boat, the Pangalanes canal. There are now about 10 churches that we have got going along this canal. Last Sunday, initiated by themselves, several of them met together.
A. “I gave my life to the Lord last year while participating in the healthcare committee meetings. V then spoke to me about coming to a training course in Tamatave to start up a church. As a woman, I was not taken very seriously in the village, but God has changed everything. I have been selected to head up the school parents’ committee. The school masters were never paid in our village, so we were short of teachers. I visited all the families, explaining how important education is for our children, and how we need to support our teachers... At present, all the families are clubbing together and we have teachers once again in our village... “
E. “In our village, we were all poor and spent all our time complaining about it. Last year, when J-M visited us, we got a word from God. God told us that we would discover the wealth of our village and that our standard of living was going to change. A month later, a business approached us about harvesting Anajavidi, a plant that grows profusely in our sterile, sandy soil. Our whole village has changed, many houses now have battery-power and we are able to have electricity, charge our phones... The village is developing.” (Anjavidi is used for thatch roofs in Normandy!)
V. & M. : “We gave ourselves to the Lord a few months ago. Our village was known as a place used by bandits to the point that the authorities had decided to destroy it. We began to cry out to the Lord for our village, that the atmosphere would change; we can witness that Jesus has changed our lives.... We believe that our village will not be wiped off the map!”
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