Our Work in Madagascar

Rebekah's Small (Discipleship) Group

We moved as a family to Madagascar in 2014 and served as missionaries in Antananarivo, Madagascar for 16 months with Iris Madagascar. Iris Madagascar is still a fairly new centre so we have had opportunities to serve in many different capacities to help pioneer and establish that work. 

Gerhard, who is an experienced primary school teacher, was able to oversee the Iris Primary School and help train the teachers, many of whom had had no formal training. He also ran a mentor Bible and life weekly studies group for the Iris teenage boys. Once a week, he also ran the lunchtime feeding programme for community kids, where he shared from the Bible with them.

Rebekah, who is also an experienced teacher, was able to oversee the Iris Preschool and help train the teachers, who  also had had no formal training. She also ran a mentor Bible and life weekly studies group for the Iris teenage girls. During the later part of our time in Madagascar, she was more heavily involved with our eldest child's homeschooling, as there are no English schools in Madagascar.

What will we be doing when we return to Madagascar in April 2017? We will be continuing to serve as missionaries with Iris Madagascar. It is always our aim to serve where we can with a heart of love, of humility, and a heart that portrays Christ's love for others. We will be working with our leaders and team to see where we can best help. Gerhard will probably be involved with the Iris School, evangelism and prayer. Rebekah hopes to be able to continue to mentor the Iris girls and will be heavily involved in homeschooling our two eldest children while caring for the younger two children as well. 

We hope to be able to get to know and love the Iris children in other ways too, such as movie nights at our house, sleep overs, and activity mornings at our house with the preschoolers.

As a family, we love to be able to serve as missionaries together. What this looks like will change as our children grow older, but for right now, we encourage our children to serve in ways that they are able to. This may look like: giving out biscuits to the community kids, or helping Mum or Dad with a Saturday activities morning at the Iris Madagascar centre, or coming with us to an outreach at the local dump. Please pray for our family, our children and our marriage, for God's protection, blessing and blood covering as we return to the mission field. Your prayers are appreciated!