Hard times, keeping up the faith

 HARD TIMES, KEEPING UP THE FAITH

Jean & Diana Alexis

Servants of Jesus Christ in Ecuador and all around the world

After returning to Ecuador, things have been so difficult. We tend to think that once we enter our land, our own country, everything will be happiness, fullness, joy, and so on because we will be with our family, friends, and church partners. However, God had other plans for us.

I (Diana) got pregnant in Madagascar, and the baby was developing during stressful times. In August and September, we were in Antananarivo doing paperwork (transit visas) that Jean needed to go through some countries just for layovers, and we didn't know about the baby. During those times, we used to walk a lot looking for and talking to different Embassies to get the permit.

We got to Ecuador at the end of October and after two weeks of arriving (November), we saw the doctor and unfortunately, our baby was not growing within me. That news was shocking for us. We were extremely sad and we still are now. The next day that I received the sad news about my baby, I got bell's palsy on the left side of my face. It was terrible, crazy things were happening with us and we didn't know how to face it. But we thank God and his Holy Spirit because He has been our strong tower where to go and hide. We cry out every day for healing in and out.

Since November, I'm doing facial therapy to recover from the bell's palsy but it's still hard. My face is not the same, drooling from one side of my mouth, difficulty closing one eyelid, my right side pulls my left side and it's painful. But, on the other side of this situation, I'm running every day to meet my Saviour, my faith has increased but it hasn't been easy. There are times that I feel so sad that I think that even my prayers are not heard.

We are grateful that our family has been with us all this time. Feeling and having their emotional support has been crucial for us. Especially for me (Diana), having my mom by my side has been important and comforting.

I'm so sorry for writing this newsletter so late but I think I'm no late for asking for your prayers for my health and our hearts. We need them.

A hard goodbye in northern Madagascar | Newsletter Jun24

 A HARD GOOD-BYE

Jean & Diana Alexis

Missionaires in Madagascar

It is known that saying goodbye is never easy and even more so when bonds of friendship are formed that embrace the heart. Pain is part of life, and in missionary life, it is more common to meet people, get attached to them, and then say goodbye. 

Please stay with us to tell you how we say goodbye to our friends.

SAYING GOODBYE TO THE CHILDREN'S MINISTRY

Of all the "goodbyes" we had to say, this was the hardest for both of us. Jean and I had spent many weeks thinking about what we would do to say goodbye, that is, whether we would have a little party, or a meal, or something similar. As the weeks approached we found ourselves with a hole in our hearts and with little desire to "celebrate" something that deep down did not carry joy, because we knew that we would not see them for a long time.

As the weeks came, we thought that it would be better to do a different class, a time where children could participate. During the Bible lesson, we did a dynamic compilation of all the stories we had learned. That time, we remained silent so that they could talk all the time. We sang and did the movements and gestures of all the praises we had taught. 

Jean doing the movements of God's songs

Then the most difficult time came: telling the children that we were returning to our country and that this had been the last day. We decided that we would not say in advance about our departure since many of them were already feeling that this would happen and, although part of their culture is not to show sadness, I know that the older girls felt sad.

TWO TESTIMONIES FROM GIRLS FROM THE RURAL AREA

I have a few photos of those last Sundays with the children but, one day Sándrika, one of our intelligent girls, came to learn verses and Bible stories. She had been moved by the story of Jonah. It was the first time she had heard that a huge fish could eat a person for being disobedient. Jean had told the story in 3 parts, that is, on 3 Sundays so that there was suspense in what would happen.

At the end of the three Sundays, Sándrika came up to me and said: "Diana, I like how you guys tell us stories and I thank God for you both because you come every Sunday to teach us." At this, I just swallowed thickly, looked her straight in her eyes, and said "We do it with all our hearts because we love you." She smiled and replied: "I want you guys to always come and never leave."

Esmeralda, Yiliska, Sandrika and little Dricia

The second testimony is from another girl: Yiliska. She is very loving to me. She always helped me pick up class materials and also helped me with my backpack. He liked to carry it on his back, he would wear my hat and my sun jacket.

One of those last weeks, she tells me "Give me your jacket so I can have it as a souvenir." I almost die! I was so surprised to hear this as a prelude to the final farewell. I didn't know how to answer anything, to which she returned the jacket to me. 

Yiliska telling one of the bible stories

To close these testimonies, on the farewell day, I gave Yiliska my jacket. That jacket was very precious to me because my brother bought it for me before he went to be with the Lord. But I knew that if the jacket had a big meaning, she also meant a lot to me. So she was the ideal one for my jacket.

Here me wearing my hat and jacket

SAYING GOODBYE TO ADULT PEOPLE

We leave with a satisfied heart for having obeyed God, who was the one who took us to that village 30 minutes outside the town where we live. It is not easy to get to that location. We had to take a motorcycle taxi that was full of people beyond its capacity to get there. Did we feel afraid? Yes. Could we have had an accident? Yes. But God always took care of us and was with us.

Our Bible studies have fulfilled their objective: to make them know a wonderful and loving God. Our disciples learned a lot during this entire year. God allowed us to cover very important topics for the lives of those who hear the Gospel for the first time, and this Word had its fruit. 

We came in telling them about our testimony and sharing that we too were saved by His grace. We continued to preach salvation, and the Holy Spirit worked making them, one by one, confess their faith in Christ. We taught about the work of Jesus through his miracles and that he can do the same in us. We continued with the topic of prayer, and little by little, they participated and prayed during our meetings. We talked about baptism and public confession and finally, God gave us victory by allowing 4 of them to be baptized. 

I know that God will continue to encourage and help them during this time when spiritual babies are now beginning to walk independently. Thank God, some time ago we provided them Bibles for their spiritual growth. All this made our meeting with them less difficult. 

The moment when they received the Bibles

Our disciples from the urban area were always aware of every activity we did. This is why for them, our departure was with total calm and joy as we shared many more moments. Thus, we also encourage them to be connected to God in communion with Him. 

Precious moments with our disciples

TIME IN THE CAPITAL, TIME FOR VISAS AND PAPERS

After leaving our town, we moved 1,368 kilometers away to reach the capital city with God's blessing. The weather is freezing here. It has been difficult for us to sleep due to the intense cold. The temperature has reached -8°C at night and that is too much for us who are people from the coast. But the grace and love of God have sheltered us abundantly. 

Seeing the panorama from here, we have come to understand how wide and long, high and deep is the love of Christ. Ephesians 3:18. We feel grateful for so much love and privilege.

Independence Day in Madagascar, June 26th

With Jean, my new jacket, and the cold weather lol

God has provided us with accommodation in a neighborhood where the market is close and we have almost everything around us. How good is God! We are adapting here.

A few weeks ago, we started processing Jean's visa. We received the unpleasant news about the denial of the visa application. Then we looked for another travel route and found one for which a transit visa is not needed. It means that we are coming back to Ecuador soon.

PRAY FOR

• This time in the capital city.
• A safe return to Ecuador with God's protection.
• Support to continue this journey.
• Physical health due to the cold weather we have had a little flu, nasal congestion, and fever.

Showing Jesus with works | Newsletter May24

  SHOWING JESUS WITH WORKS

Jean & Diana Alexis

Missionaires in Madagascar

It would seem that it was going to be a common month like any other, but God was pleased to give us a different month, full of reasons to be grateful and remember it forever.

We are in the final stretch of this mission here in northern Madagascar. It has been said, that the last few months are emotionally difficult, but we long to live it with intentionality, being aware of the present we are living, with the people around us who are our priority.

Jean and I thought about making this month and the following ones memorable, recording with the camera of our eyes every smile of the children, every difficult situation of an adult, every sigh of hope among the new disciples. Living every challenge that this society has to the fullest, feeling the scarcity of water, electricity, and food, among other things.

Let me tell you how this month of May went for us and live this mission in Madagascar with us:

CHILDREN, THE BEST OF OUR MINISTRY

It has been an extraordinary month spending every Sunday with the kids. Every time we see their progress, their dedication, their growth, as Scripture says, in stature and wisdom.

It has not been easy for Jean and me to know that soon we will not have them with us, that the time to see them only in photos will approach, but they will always be in our memories.

The kids re-telling Bible verses

The kids colouring the story of Jona being eaten by the wale

Well, while I dry my tears of emotion, I tell you that thanks to your offerings and the love that you have for this great ministry of God, we were able to deliver some school supplies for the older children, and for the little ones we gave them a box of colored pencils. You can't imagine how happy they were about these gifts! You have no idea the smile you put on these little ones' faces.

HOPE FOR PEOPLE IN THE RURAL AREA

Our disciples are doing very well. It is not easy to change the character and lifestyle from one day to the next, we understand that. We have seen that they are doing their best to leave the "old life" behind.

In our meetings, we have had days when not everyone attends, many times their concerns and lack of things, take priority and, therefore, they do not attend the Bible studies. They are struggles that we all have and that is why, little by little we are emphasizing in our Bible lessons about this topic where the Bible reminds us that apart from me [Christ], you cannot do anything. John 15:5

Precisely, our topic during May has been about the church and community meetings between brothers and sisters. Also, the importance of congregating and being together. I know that the Holy Spirit will work in them to always remind them of this in their daily lives.

MOTHER'S DAY IN MADAGASCAR

Mother's Day here is celebrated on the last Sunday in May. We have some friends who are not our disciples, but they have been part of the friendship that we have established here. That is why we took advantage of this celebration to give them a small detail as a sign of appreciation to them. A nice sublimated jar with their names on it, and full of chocolates.

These women and mothers are very special people for us because they are the ones with whom we have talked on a day-to-day basis, we have said a kind compliment to each other, things like that.

One of them is the lady who has a distributor of several products. She always welcomed us with a smile and a friendly greeting. Another of them is a woman who, together with her husband, owns a bakery cafeteria. She makes bread and other homemade desserts, and her husband is a Chinese guy who serves the customers who eat there.

Another of our good friends is the lady at the restaurant who was always attentive to making sure we were "served well" hahaha. Finally, the lady who rents us our house whom I call "an angel" because the first months we arrived in this town I got terribly sick (I hope you remember that). She, along with Jean, took me to the hospital one day when I was feeling very ill.

FINISHING OUR MINISTRY WITH BAPTISM

Leaving our place will not be easy at all, but we have to close this wonderful period that we have had here with the Betsimisaraka people of northern Madagascar and move to the capital for a while to do all the return paperwork.

Thinking out loud about this topic with our disciple Polo, we invited him and his family to have lunch with us. While we were encouraging him about the Christian's walk on earth, his wife was also listening. God filled us with courage and boldness to speak to both of them quoting certain portions of the Bible.

While we enjoyed that lunch together with laughter and nostalgia, we asked Maman'i Kristiana (Polo's wife) if she understood what we were telling her. She nodded, a little shy in her words but aware of what she was answering.

Three days after that lunch, Jean and I went out to get some fresh air and have some time to talk in front of the ocean. In this society, they have the habit of staring at the sea. I say this because every day we see people contemplating the sea, feeling the breeze without saying anything, they go alone or with others but they do not talk to each other, they just contemplate the sea. We have done that several times too and it is really relaxing.

Well, that day, Polo found us there and told us that his wife confessed her desire to be baptized. We were so happy because God continued working until the end of our work here. Wow! We immediately planned the baptism. Here are some photos from that day.

Jean, teaching Polo how to baptize people

Finally, Polo's wife got baptized

FINAL WORDS

There are no words to describe the gratitude we feel towards God and towards you who hold the rope from the other side of the world. Thank you for holding that rope very hard, thank you for your faithfulness to God in praying and offering for this ministry at all times.

Jean and I want to encourage you to continue being a part of this ministry that God has given us: who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18). It is true that our time in Madagascar is coming to an end but the obedience of Go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19) must be carried throughout the world. To God be all glory and honor forever and ever!

PRAY FOR

• The new disciple who got baptized these days, Polo's wife.
• For the other disciples who have been touched by the Gospel in both rural and urban areas.
• For the friends we have made, the ladies and other friends, so they want to know more about the God whom Jean and I serve.
• For financial support to continue with the return process and procedures that we have to carry out in the capital of Madagascar, stay, local tickets, food, etc.

We are ready to be baptized - they said | Newsletter Feb24

 READY TO BE BAPTIZED

Jean & Diana Alexis

Missionaires in Madagascar

I have no words to thank God for everything He is doing here in Madagascar, I am still in awe of what has just happened these last few days. I (Diana) want to confess something to you, I want to open my heart to you who have been with me in this walk, praying to God together, going through the challenges we have had together. Yeah! You guys have been with me on that too.

MY CONFESSION

In February, I felt deeply sad, frustrated, discouraged and I could say very unoptimistic. All the visits in January and what I was experiencing in February made me feel unmotivated. Our groups of disciples were distant, cold, little quiet. We certainly met throughout January and continued to meet in February however, some were absent from several of the meetings.

In those weeks, I felt that they were not taking the Bible studies seriously, perhaps they were doing it to just check off their checklist and be ok with us. Their desire to be baptized had remained silent and I did not want to force anything. I honestly felt helpless and frustrated. I was giving my 100% but the fruits were not reflected.

I shared this feeling with Jean and we both concluded that we should enter into a time of fasting and prayer again, just as we did last year during October and November.

TIME TO ADJUST THE SPIRITUAL BELTS

This time of fasting and prayer was very necessary for us and at the same time decisive, since we had a very clear objective and the enemy would surely be very upset. We wanted to see our disciples truly commit to the Lord.

This time was full of crying, begging, and praying to the Lord for these disciples. It was also a time to renew our spiritual strength, remove all discouragement, and trust in God. We are doing this fasting time every Monday.

BIBLE STUDIES AND TRAININGS

We studied about baptism last year but in December we had to take a break because of Christmas holidays. This was our first break in almost two years of work and it was needed to rest and regain strength.

When we started the Bible studies again in January, I realized they no longer remembered anything. January was like a month of transition. In fact, everyone was still talking about what they had done at the end of the year. Well, long story short, our next topic was about "devotional time with God" and while I was preparing the draft of the topic I felt that God was leading me to return to everything we saw about baptism. And I said to myself "no well, not the same thing again" and I continued searching for the next topic but I did not feel peace until I realized that it was not my voice but rather the Holy Spirit leading me to make a review about baptism. So I obeyed.

Between those days, one of our disciples became terribly ill. Her hand became swollen and filled with pus. We had to end the meeting early and promptly take her to the hospital, 30 minutes from the bush where we were. We were very worried about this disciple's hand. It was so deformed due to the swelling that she could no longer straighten her fingers but rather curled them more and more. The doctor told her clearly that if she did not remove the pus she could lose her hand. That day I couldn't sleep well thinking about that situation so I diligently prayed that her illness would not get worse. Jean and I had to talk to her firmly to get him to obey and take the pills and medications that the doctor prescribed. Generally, they are not used to taking medicines. After two weeks, her hand was recovering and returning to normal size.

TESTIMONY

Jean and I realized that there was always something happening there in the bush during our Bible studies that made them stop, or finish them quickly, etc. After those events, the time of peace came and I was able to review again about baptism.

After reading the Bible and seeing the example of Jesus being baptized in the Jordan, I asked each one of our disciples (without expecting anything affirmative): are you ready to be baptized? They all said in chorus: Yes, we are very ready! So I responded: When are you going to be baptized? It's up to you, they said. I was amazed at this, and at the same time, I didn't understand why it depended on me. Then I asked again: Why is it up to me? Isn't it up to you all? To which they responded: "We are ready, it depends on when you are going to baptize us" WOWWWWW!!!!

Last year they had already told me that they were ready and I was waiting for them to agree and tell us the day to do this. Apparently, I was the one who had to decide the date and time. So this time, we decided to make it March 3, 2024. And this is how they were baptized:

"I WANT COUNSEL, I WANT TO FOLLOW THE LORD"

At the same time, during those weeks that we were busy at the hospital with our disciple, a Malagasy friend, who we met when we arrived in this city for the first time called us. He had told us that he was a Christian, that he had already been baptized but that his leaders had moved to another city so he was on his own spiritually.

After almost two years, he asked us for spiritual help because during all this time, it seems, he has not remained strong in the Truth but has had setbacks that he struggles with. This friend asked for help so that we advise him, disciple him to follow the Lord righteously. He told us that he wanted to learn from the Bible and that he longed to preach the Gospel to others.

We are now meeting on Friday afternoons to learn from God's Word, sing, and pray together. He is a guy with great potential for the Kingdom of God, I know that God can bring out the best in him and transform him for his heavenly goals.

EXCESSIVE HEAT CLIMATE

The hot season began in December and will last until May. Last year we already went through this season but it was not excessive as we are experiencing it now.

Especially the month of February has been extremely hot, making it impossible to stay home in the afternoons. My skin (Diana) has suffered a lot of irritation from the rash. I once had a rash when I was a little girl, but now as an adult, I have never had one. But this hot season here in Madagascar has made me resort to prayer to ask for healing. I have rashes all over my body, back, chest, belly, legs, hands, fingers, neck, absolutely everywhere.

This terrible irritation along with what was happening in the bush had me depressed. There have been times when I have felt like Job with his leprosy. Thank the Lord for my prayer team who has been very attentive and praying for all these situations. I thank other brothers and sisters who have also prayed for me specifically regarding the rash issue. I still have the discomfort, it hasn't gone away. This prevents me from being comfortable doing my work here but I am in God's hands.

ANKIZY SAROBIDY CHILDREN

The children's ministry is in all its splendor every week. I thank God for my husband who is in charge of this ministry. He has the gift to be with the kids and teach them.

Also, we have grown in number. We now have a new group of kids in town of almost 40 and we are meeting on Saturdays. The songs and the drawings to colour make everything exciting for them.

My husband feels that the children are learning each day through memorizing the verses. We continue to reward children who learn all the verses. We have 3 girls who are very participatory all the time and we can see them as leaders for others.

Additionally, we continue with our healthy breakfast project, bringing fruits, hard-boiled eggs, and hot soup.

In addition to this, we are teaching kids about hand washing and how they should do it. We talked about the importance of soap after using the toilet and before eating. We gave away a cleaning kit for each child.

We are currently ministering to 65 children between two groups in the city and one group in the countryside. Please pray to God for these children every day.

PRAY FOR

• The women who were baptized last weekend, for wisdom and boldness among their neighbors.

• The group of kids we have so they can learn all the Bible verses and share them with their families.

• The Bible studies during the week, for people who are hearing the Gospel so they can open their hearts, connect with God, and feel the Holy Spirit.

The harvest in a good soil

 THE HARVEST IN A GOOD SOIL

Jean & Diana Alexis

Missionaries in Madagascar

Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.

Mark 4:8

For those who are new reading our news here in Madagascar, here is the context: Last year, we dedicated ourselves to sowing the seed of the Gospel. Glory be to God, opportunities were opened to us to visit several families and share the Gospel with them each week. To evangelize them, we established Bible studies at home.

From these studies, we have obtained a baptized disciple and 5 women who are little by little understanding the Word of God and two of them are very soon to be baptized. Through visits to these families, we have also had access to their children, bringing them the Word of God every Sunday.

We are now looking for child and adult leaders to begin training them to continue a life of service to God.

A REVOLUTION HAS STARTED HERE

In this last week of January, we have begun training our disciples so that they can reach others with the Gospel. At this time, what we intend is to challenge believers to fulfill their role as faithful witnesses as chosen and loved servants of God.

Launching God's vision for the world: being saved through Jesus

Our disciples are learning to thank God through prayer and to worship Him through praise, something that previously could be said they were not accustomed to doing.

Something I want to emphasize is that we are also teaching them to memorize verses that make them understand the heart of God for the world.

Reading Bible verses and memorizing them

ANKIZY SAROBIDY (PRECIOUS CHILDREN) KIDS MINISTRY 

For this year we have acquired new teachers' books to be able to continue the teaching program. These books are not available here in our place and the vast majority of them are in French, but thank God we had the opportunity to be in another city for a team meeting and there was a Christian bookstore there.

We continued with our two groups (those from the countryside and the city) making them paint and memorizing the Scriptures. We used to ask them questions about the Bible stories we had told them and they answered everything, they are very intelligent.

Kids from the bush

Kids from town

OUR FIRST DISCIPLE

We continue teaching our disciple at home, and we are sharing more time with him. The good news is that his wife and young daughter are already hearing the Word with us. The 5 of us meet once a week to pray together, worship together, and read the Bible together.

PRAY FOR

• The new year of teaching Scriptures to children.

• Believers who have been listening to the Gospel all this time to make decisions to be baptized.

• The new visits, to encourage other believers to do the Great Commission.

2023 The year of sowing

  2023: THE YEAR OF SOWING

Jean & Diana Alexis

Missionaries in Madagascar 

Throughout the year 2023, Jean and I focused on sowing the Word of God in children and adults here in northern Madagascar. We have seen God's support in the results of the fruits of our efforts.

First of all, we thank God for helping us master the Malagasy language and allowing us to communicate, still with some mistakes, but we are improving little by little.

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.

1 Corinthians 4:20

JEAN AND DIANA SERVING AMONG BETSIMISARAKA PEOPLE

God has allowed us to have two ministries: children and adults. We started Kid's ministry with 4 and closed the year with 27 kids in total.

Kids from the bush

We are developing this ministry in the bush and in town. We meet with the rural children every Sunday morning, while with the remaining ones, we meet in town every Sunday early evening.

Kids in town

All year long we have taught them about the life of Jesus and how to communicate with him through prayer. Every Sunday, we learn a key Bible verse since it is very important for them to memorize the Word of God.

Likewise, Jean created a roulette with the different needs to pray to God. They have learned to give thanks for the day, for the food, for family and friends.

Jean teaching how to pray in Malagasy language

As a testimony, we had a meal that we provided for them, and we asked who wanted to pray and immediately one of our 4-year-old children began to bow his little head and thank God for the food in the same way as we had taught him. Wow, that was very encouraging for us because previously they were very shy and did not want to participate.

SPIRITUAL AND PHYSICAL FOOD

Our main goal is to introduce Jesus to their lives but also we cannot be insensitive knowing that they do not have food to eat every day and giving nothing. 

So, Jean and I added a giving-food section in our ministry. We had the opportunity to give healthy breakfast at least every Sunday. This breakfast consists of boiled corn, hard-boiled eggs, and seasonal fruits. Sometimes we give tuna sandwiches but they are not used to eating this kind of food and they find it very strange flavor haha. So, we changed into noodle soup or spaghetti with vegetables. 

Finally, in our meetings, we also have worship time. This time is so precious for them. They love singing and moving their bodies. 

ADULTS MINISTRY

In the adult ministry, we have 5 women who each represent a family, meaning that these single mothers are going to spread the seeds of the Gospel with their children. They are the mothers of the children whom we are teaching the Good News in the bush.

They have been hearing the Gospel for more than eight months and we trust that Jesus has been working on them all. At first, they felt very uncomfortable with the Gospel but now they welcome us very enthusiastic and happy with the teachings of God. In this picture, they received Bibles so they could start reading them.

One of our ladies in this group has already confessed that she is ready to be baptized. We are just waiting for her to be with great conviction and without pressure to take this important decision.

Also, they have shared with us their needs and difficult times with no food. For us, it's very touching to hear these kinds of things and we are sharing row food with them every month. 

OUR FIRST MAN BAPTIZED

In town, we are also sharing the Gospel with our Malagasy friends. One of them wanted to be baptized and we were very excited and happy for this big and serious decision he made. 

Now, we are visiting him to continue teaching the Word of God. He is paying so much attention to the teachings and we can see his excitement in his face. 

Our disciple being baptized

Our disciple with his new Bible

 

PRAY FOR

• Wisdom and boldness to share the Gospel with everyone.
• Kids ministry so things go smoothly and they can learn with clarity and enthusiasm. 
• For women to be obedient to get baptized this year.
• Finances and other resources to give away for kids.