Madagascar 3: Can a nation turn back to God?

The highlight of our third week ministry the teaching in the Living Word Bible School.
We taught in different university cell groups as well but for me this school was the most significant experience.
The school was established by South- African missionaries teaching English, building God's Kingdom through Biblical trainings, Sunday morning services, community life.

We taught the Bible overview and the inductive Bible study method for two days with the help of a Malagasy translator.

At first we used to explain the inductive method theoretically after that we walked through one of the chosen Bible passage or shorter book with the audience understanding the message, the deeper meaning.

This day Christina taught the method, Polly walked through on the Book of Ruth with the people.
I taught the historical background.

The story of the Book is about the time of judges when everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
This attitude always reminds me the recent Hungarian attitude.
Most of the people don't know the Word of God, they don't know what  right is, what incorrect is.




They follow the law but in their interpersonal relationships they do what right is in their own eyes.

We need the truth which never changed through the whole history.
We need the Word of God which never changed through the history.
We need God who never changed through the history.
He is the same yesterday, today and forever!

In the room around 20 eager people worked together with us. In the breaks had exciting conversations and we were invited to their movie club watching the new movie: God is not dead. The film is about faith and the limits one young man will go in order to defend his belief in God. After he refuses to disavow his faith, the devout Christian student must prove the existence of God or else his philosophy college professor will fail him.

In the weekend we had a newer challenge.
Last year I did the Discipleship Training School in Transylvania with a Malagasy couple. The man is teaching at the university in Antananarivo and pastoring a 600 people great congregation far away from the city.

We got opportunity to teach in this church and preach on the Sunday morning service.

Half of the church is child. Approximately 42.5 percent of the population is younger than 15 years of age. while 54.5 percent are between the ages of 15 and 64. Those aged 65 and older form 3 percent of the total population.

Sunday morning I could preach in the church how important to read the Word of God.
The Word is truth (John 17:17) and the truth set you free (John 8:32)













My heart was full of thankfulness being the servant of God, being the vessel of hope to this people.







The next day was free for us.
My friends showed me some interesting places of the capital city. We visited Ambohimanga which is a hill and  traditional fortified royal settlement (rova) in Madagascar. The hill and the rova are the most significant symbol of the cultural identity of the Malagasy people and the best preserved monument of the precolonial Kingdom of Madagascar. The site has been politically important since the early 18th century and later became the spiritual capital of the kingdom until the French colonization and the exile of the royal family in 1897. The significance of the historical events here and the presence of the royal tombs have given the hill a sacred character. Today the place is the UNESCO Word Heritage Site.

The palace Mahandrihono ("knows how to wait") the most expansive and well-preserved structures in Ambohimanga was built in 18th century.

These two ornate palace buildings were built of rosewood in 1871 on the formal site of the royal idol residence. In the larger one was a room for receiving visitors, a large salon and the bedrooms of Queen Ranavalona II and her serving lady. The queen's bedroom is considered a sacred place and many visitors come on pilgrimage to pray to her spirit.




After that we visited the Zoo and the Botanic garden.
As a result of the island's long isolation from neighboring continents, Madagascar is home to an abundance of plants and animals found nowhere else on Earth. Approximately 90 percent of all plant and animal species found in Madagascar are endemic, including the lemurs, the carnivorous fossa and many birds.
More than 80 percent of Madagascar's 14.883 plant species are found nowhere else in the world.

My favorite banana trees and the island's iconic traveler's palm features in the  national emblem.                   

This was a fantastic day!
Thank you for my friends for showing me everything!