Greetings in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,

I trust this mail finds you well. 

We are trying to live in our normal day-to-day lives, despite the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown regulations.

In Madagascar, the number of confirmed cases has increased substantially, posing a higher risk of infection. There are multiple cities that are under lockdown, restricting the movement of people, because of the number of cases. This has caused a lot of problems, both economically and socially, in the lives of the people of Madagascar.

Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their jobs, and because of this people are starting to sell most of their personal belongings, if not all of their belonging just to survive daily; some are even going to bed on an empty stomach.

In collaboration with the FCC Church of Hopkinton, seven Churches in the capital of Madagascar (Antananarivo), are helping with a food relief program for the needy families, during this pandemic crisis, as part of the Peace Plan Project, organized by Islands Mission / Madagascar Mission.

Bible Translators Dialects

We thank and praise the Lord for the completion of translating the New Testament into 12 different languages in Madagascar: Betsimisaraka North, Betsimisaraka South, Antambaboaka, Sihanaka, Tanala, Tsimihety, Antakarana, Antandroy, Antefasy, Antemoro, Antesaka and Sakalava. 
The Old Testament Translations has started already in May 2020. We are grateful for the collaboration with Wycliffe Associates for helping and making this possible.

In partnership with Wycliffe Associates, 180 translation team members have received food assistance during this COVID-19 crisis.

Making Disciples of Children

The Children Making Disciple movement is flourishing, and now Children are taking the gospel and sharing it with their friends and parents. This has positively increased the Church's growth, leading more souls to Christ. More groups and families are now starting to learn and study the Bible at home. Three thousand children were trained and have received a children's Bible (which contains: 50 key stories of the Bible, from Creation to Revelation, for evangelism and discipleship), and 150 Bible study groups have started. Praise the Lord!

Air Travel is now still very challenging and almost impossible; we are on standby ready to do more training and dispatching of the rest of the children's Bibles in the field.

Bibles for Bible Study

Bibles are essential for learning the word of God, but many Christians in Madagascar lack the means/funds or do not yet have their own Bible. Most of the Christian in families share a single Bible amongst all of the family members.

Despite this, we thank God, as we managed to dispatch 250 Bibles to many families this month, that were donated IM.

Full-Time Staff at IM 

We call him Mike, he is a friendly and humble staff member here at IM in Madagascar. We thank the Lord for answering our prayer, for a monthly supporter that supports Mike so that he can serve and help as full-time staff at Islands Mission.

Hello, I am Mickaël. I worked voluntarily for Islands Mission Madagascar since 2017, but recently have become a full-time staff member.
A year after I graduated from the University of Antananarivo, I got a license called English for Specific Purposes "E.S.P." In the beginning, I worked as a translator, and now I am working on all the technical stuff for IM; for instance, in the IT department, I make sure everything is running well during training. I am also responsible for the stock and stock-keeping in the warehouse. 
During my spare time, I love playing video games and playing basketball. I also like traveling, to understand and meet different cultures.

Thank you for supporting me, God Bless,
Mike.

Prayer Requests:

We are grateful to the Lord for helping us complete the New Testament translation in 12 languages.

We are thankful to the Lord this month, allowing us to dispatch 250 Bibles.

Please Pray:

• For the millions of people and families all around the world without food, in this COVID-19 pandemic, to get food aid.
• For the Covid-19 Food Bucket Relief program, each bucket costs 30 US$ per Family, which feeds them close to 14 days or two weeks...
• For more Bibles, we need at least 1000 Bibles to be dispatched every month.
• For the children that cannot go to school because of the pandemic and do not have any school help/support studies at home. 
• For more children, that will be making disciples reach more of their friends and parents.
• For protection from the virus while our staff goes out to train in the field, preaching the Gospel and dispatch Bibles and Food Relief Buckets to families all over Madagascar.

 
Thank you for your continued Prayers, Blessings and Support,
Stay Safe.

Dinah RATSIMBAJAONA
Islands Mission