A Return to Madagascar

February 13, 2023May 14, 2023 by Lilli In Family, Missions 4 Comments

What an amazing gift that God gave me in being able to go to Madagascar last month for two weeks with my father and brother! The main purpose of this trip was to attend a special event on January 12. 

Many of you know that I grew up in Madagascar as my parents spent 40 years doing medical missions there. During their last 20 years of living and working among the Malagasy people, my parents did much traveling around the island as part of their medical work/ministry. During their travels, my mother was very interested in hearing about the history of the different peoples they visited (some in very remote areas). She so enjoyed interviewing them when there was time, gleaning fascinating details of their lives and history, then writing down the things that she learned from a particular people group. 

In the later years of her earthly life, Mom worked hard to put into writing these 25 oral histories that she had collected over a 20-year span of time. After her death a year ago, my father sent her writings to friends in Madagascar to see if there was interest and opportunity for her works to be published. Much to our delight, there was much interest in her writings, and my father (and us kids) eventually received an invitation to attend the dedication of her book to the Academie Malgache in the capital city. 

Another book being dedicated on the same day was the publication of my grandmother’s book of Malagasy hymns that she had translated from Solfege to notes. Many years ago, my grandmother worked hard to translate many hymns into Malagasy and then worked to translate Solfege into music notes. This hymn book being dedicated was the fruit of her labors from many years passed. 

So it was a great honor and privilege to be able to attend this dedication ceremony! For the rest of the two week trip, I got to accompany my father around to different meetings he had set up to take care of some business… from the capital city, to the southern tip of the island, to a bush town where I was born, and to the west coast. It was an enriching time and a great joy for me to be included in such momentous occasions as well as to get the chance to walk down “memory lane”!! It was a huge blessing for me to get to witness God’s continued work in Madagascar and see the fruit of years of labors of love (not just the fruit of my parents’ work but the fruit of other missionaries too, as well as many Malagasy who love Jesus and want to see the gospel go forth!).