The kids and I are back in Jakarta and finally starting to feel the effects of jet lag wearing off! What a blessing to be once again in the midst of our PAC family (Providence Anglican Church.) Jim was busy setting up the Lord’s Table with an array of beautiful furnishings provided by St. Andrew’s Anglican Church in Phoenix, AZ and the International Anglican Fellowship. What a remarkable visual picture it created in our humble rental space! Upon unwrapping the wooden stand for the display of the Bible, Jim discovered a sticker on the bottom that read, “Made in Indonesia.” Can you imagine this stand, made by native hands here, exported across the vast ocean with years of service in America, then carried all the way back to our little church in Jakarta? We all had a good chuckle and yet this served as a reminder that God is truly at work, connecting believers around the globe. What an encouragement to us. “He’s got the whole world in His hands!”
The World Bank’s estimate is that 70% of Malagasy live on less than $1 a day. SAMS Missionaries have been called to serve the people of Madagascar.
The Malagasy community is all too easily forgotten by most of the world, but your generous monetary contributions have allowed churches to be built, families to be fed, children to go to school, and student evangelists to spread the Gospel.
You might believe that your donations are minuscule but be assured they are not. Recently, a local priest approached the Rev. Patsy McGregor and thanked her genuinely for a clerical collar she had given him years prior. She was astonished he was still able to remember the small gift that she had completely forgotten. He proceeded to tell her how the collar was damaged by an electrical fire that destroyed 300 homes in his village. His eyes were sad and Patsy could tell the importance of the collar to him. He was so grateful, and to him this was a great treasure to possess for his calling and a reminder of hope in his life.
This priest’s story is an example of how even a small and seemingly unimportant gift to us can change the trajectory of another human. Your Missionaries in Madagascar were only able to give to this local priest because of the sacrificial donations from people like you. Someone like you first gave the McGregors extra collars and subsequently they could give collars to those in need.
Today Jacky Lowe a SAMS candidate is preparing to serve in Madagascar alongside the McGregors. After serving as a short-term Bridger, the Lord has called her long-term there. She will be working in the Women’s Center in the Diocese of Toliara teaching skills like sewing and cooking in order to help women start their own businesses. Would you prayerfully consider supporting Jacky and this ministry? May the Lord bless you all and guide you as you continue to be a blessing to others. Thank you for changing people’s lives in Madagascar.
God calls us to mission. We are chosen. How we answer the call is the important part of the equation.
When we arrived in Madagascar and got off the plane, we immediately saw poverty, garbage strewn streets, blank faces and stares at each street corner. We realized the reality of the starving world right in front of us, the same as if we were in Sudan, Haiti or any other third world country.
The same feelings well up inside me bringing me close to tears as in times past, asking the Lord, “How can I help these people? What can I offer in order to help this mass of poverty and illness that is before me?”
Ladies stripping the leaves from a tree to cook and put over rice – commonly used for blood pressure issues.
We soon arrived in Toliara, the 5th largest city in the country but has limited industry, and the poverty is starkly apparent, even more than it was in the Capital. Bp. Todd and Patsy started with 3 churches in 2006. They have established 80 churches in 10 years in a diocese that is the size of Florida. It takes 6 days to travel through the diocese. Unfortunately, the ratio is only one priest for 10 churches and transportation is mostly by foot or bicycle. The Diocese of Toliara has 1.5 million people who are “Food Insecure.” This means they do not know where their next meal is coming from, which became very apparent when examining the children and the elderly in the medical clinics.
We traveled to five different locations for the clinics, serving the many people who came for care. Many of the patients, both young and old had diseases that have progressed well past the available treatments. Many needed diagnostics that just are not available in the local area and people cannot travel to the capital nor could they afford to, so they suffer. We saw mothers with malnourished children with no social support systems to obtain food or formula for their babies, so they are fed a rice gruel that has minimal nutritional value.
Praying for patients before they see the doctor.
We witnessed children who were 1-2 years old, not yet walking with flaccid extremities and could hardly keep their head up to nurse due to malnutrition.
Despite this turmoil, there is a community of hope, set in the midst of deep darkness and despair, severe poverty and starvation. It is a community which has been planted by Bp. Todd and Rev. Patsy McGregor as they planted this new diocese of Toliara. Today there is a cathedral and gathering place in the diocese. Malagasy have come to worship, learn skills to start their own business, and participate in training for evangelism. They are filled with the hope of Jesus Christ and they grow in their faith and come together as a community.
The Malagasy people, as a population are in the same situation across the diocese. Their faith gives them hope for the future. Perhaps God’s ultimate plan for us is a ministry of presence. We walk alongside our brothers and sisters assuring them that their toil is remembered by us, we have not forgotten them; they remain on our hearts. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen,” (Hebrews11:1) so we remain hopeful.
Click here for original story and more about Madagascar.
We trained a few representatives from three of the western Cape Diocese this past weekend. While not quite as many as we had hoped for, it was a wonderful weekend and every trainee left saying they would arrange for trainings to take place in their own Archdeaconries and Diocese. Please pray for them.
From left to right:
Back Row: The Rev Basil Davids, Ron Begbie, Andile Sigasana, Estelle Adams, Carol Manual, Ricardo Eslar, Lulama Sigasana, Barry Betz, The Rev Trevor Pearce
Front Row: Mary-Ann Peters, Delmaine Petersen, Dr Thomas Blake (seated), Louise Vanderbijl, Jacqueline Heynes.
It is with a heavy heart that today I must announce my resignation as the Bishop for the Horn of Africa within the Diocese of Egypt with North Africa and the Horn of Africa. This decision has not been taken lightly but after consultation with Bishop Mouneer, with spiritual counsellors, and with our medical doctors. Wendy and I will leave Ethiopia at the end of October this year, although our work for the diocese will continue for a time.
The reason for our needing to leave is that Wendy’s health has made it impossible for her to continue to live in Africa. As many of you know, a few months ago Wendy experienced terrible pain in her back leading her to seek medical testing and advice. The tests revealed five broken vertebrae and a broken rib. The fragility of the bones have been attributed to osteoporosis and the fractures were due to coughing. Originally we believed that the coughing was due simply to asthma, but after further testing it now seems that Wendy has also had lung infections, perhaps several. Wendy’s doctors have been clear that returning to live in Africa would put Wendy’s lungs (and ultimately her heart) at grave risk. She will stay in Pittsburgh for the next two months while I continue to work in Ethiopia. She will come to say farewell during the month of October.
Our hearts are heavy because we love the people in our churches in the Horn of Africa, and we have known God’s presence in our work there, especially in the Gambella region. At the same time I have been clear with the clergy in my charge that married people should live together in order to support and uphold one another. And so although it has been suggested by some that one option for our future would be for me to remain as bishop in the Horn of Africa and travel back to visit Wendy from time to time, such an option seems to us to be untenable.
With the permission of the Diocesan Bishop of Egypt, I hope to remain as a bishop in the Diocese of Egypt and continue to visit and contribute in some ways to be determined.
Please continue to keep Wendy and me in your prayers as we seek God’s guidance during this time of transition.
+Grant LeMarquand
The Horn of Africa
A note to our supporters
Wendy and I will remain as missionaries of SAMS-USA (the Society of Anglican Missionaries and Senders) for some time while we visit churches that have supported us for the past five years, while we participate in de-briefing and in events for returning missionaries, and while we discern our next steps in God’s mission. We will then continue as ‘Associate Missionaries’ of SAMS. We hope that those who have been supporting us financially will prayerfully consider continuing to do so for some time even after we leave Africa while we discern next steps. We will certainly continue to update everyone on a regular basis through our e-newsletter.
Of course the needs of the Anglican churches in the Horn of Africa are many. We will continue to inform interested and prayerful people about how they can pray for and help the churches there.
~ Please Pray with us ~
~ for all our senders who have partnered with us in loving and caring for the people of Gambella, Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa
~ for the ongoing empowerment and equipping of the priests and laity of our churches in Gambella, Addis, and elsewhere in Ethiopia
~ for Grant and I as we walk through this next season of discernment and handing over
~ for the ministry in Djibouti, Somaliland and Eritrea
The Malagasy community is all too easily forgotten by most of the world, but your generous monetary contributions have allowed churches to be built, families to be fed, children to go to school, and student evangelists to spread the Gospel.
