November 9 2014
I can’t believe another month has passed by. Most of the past month our days were filled with the “normal” responsibilities we face each day; a few sick missionary calls each day, visits to the doctor when necessary (more ingrown toenail issues, for one), dentist visits and the like. Steve also receives frequent calls regarding bike issues. His quest this past month was finding a “slime” alternative to protect the bike tires in the extreme conditions they are ridden in. Once we found something, then a problem arose in finding compatibility for the tire “stems” in order to infuse the slime…seriously, nothing is ever easy here! ha!
We love the missionaries and I feel very “motherly” towards them—especially when they are ill. We continue to encourage good hand washing, frequent use of hand sanitizer and careful food choices and drinking clean water. Too many missionaries still eat out at questionable places and get diarrhea. It is a the one ‘constant’ in my calls. Fortunately, we can get them straightened out pretty quickly. I’m grateful that we do have clinics that can provide simple laboratory testing capabilities to test stool samples when necessary. Talking about diarrhea is a daily event…type, frequency, duration, amount…you name it…we talk about diarrhea more than we do the weather! ha!
We are working on a contingency plan in the event the EBOLA virus makes its way here. The church keeps close tabs on the spread of this virus and we want to also be prepared in our own mission as well. I watch the news updates myself, daily. When it went into the States, we all became a bit more nervous, I’ll admit that! We will be speaking with the Director General at the Ministry of Health where we teach English, this next week. I know they have been working on contingency plans and training their hospitals about EBOLA. But I worry that they will not have the necessary protective gear to handle an outbreak…it’s such a poor country! We feel somewhat relieved that we are not in a main airline ‘hub’ country of Africa. We are a bit isolated on our Island, but that doesn’t mean we don’t need to be prepared.
The biggest news of our month, was that several of our kids came to visit! Brad and Hayely, Bryan and Bitty, and Melanie. It was wonderful to see them, but their visit was all too short! It seems like a dream already! They left a week ago, Tuesday and completed their vacation in South Africa at Kruger Park and a private safari. We enjoyed their visit so much and was able to take a few days to join them. As long as I had my phone close at hand for calls, we were good to go!
We flew to a beautiful island northwest of Madagasacar called Nosy Be. It was very tropical in nature and some of the remote beaches were so beautiful and pristine. The water was bluer than blue! We took a day excursion to a small island (via motor boat) where we enjoyed seeing the lemurs and watching the reaction of the kids as the lemurs jumped on their shoulders and held onto their hair! We saw chameleons (another thing for which Madagascar is famous) and tortoises. As we traipsed up the mountainsides of this little island of Nosy Komba (Nosy means “island” in Malagasy), we were constantly walking through little Malagasy villages. The women were embroidering tablecloths to sell (of course I bought one!) and many men were hand carving items to sell (a few statuettes were also purchased…supporting the local economy!). We loved watching the darling children play and sing and the babies crawl in the the dirt unhindered. It had the feel of unhurried, peaceful island life, and we enjoyed it very much!
We boarded the little motor boat again to scoot over to another “pinch me if this is real” island of Nosy Tanikely. There, our guides unloaded baskets and a couple of coolers filled with food, and while they built their charcoal fires on the beach over which they prepared our food, we took to the smooth, crystal clear, bathwater warm water to snorkel in the surrounding reefs. It was heavenly! There were many varieties of fish, many swimming in schools, that always amaze in their abundance. We even saw a couple of sea turtles. It was so relaxing and enjoyable! it was like swimming in a gigantic swimming pool surrounded by uninhabited little tropical islands in the middle of the Indian Ocean! The sky was blue, blue, blue. The water, different shades of the same. I didn’t want to leave!
We were utterly amazed at the beautiful spread of food our Malagasy guides served us after we snorkeled…A whole “white” fish, chargrilled on a little grill on the beach, a colorful fresh salad of grated carrots, a hint of onions and green peppers in a light vinaigrette , coconut rice, skewers of chargrilled beef and whole prawns artfully arranged like a starburst out of a half of a papaya, and another tasty fish in a traditional Malagasy sauce. It was soooo good!! Then, back to reality…well ‘reality’ Nosy Be style! We finished the last leg of our Nosy Be journey with a scooter ride in the morning around the island before we drove back to the airport and on to Tana in the afternoon.
The next afternoon we drove to a town about 3 hours from home called Andasibe. We have written about it before. But it’s town in a rainforest on the eastern side of the country. The Vakona lodge, surrounded by a green pond and tropical landscaping, sits like a gem amidst the natural wonders of a rain forest. One can hear the exotic sounds of birds, insects and animals in the quiet of the night and morning hours. It’s the greatest place to stay if you really want a Madagascar rain forest experience! (Plus they serve the best crepes filled with vanilla ice cream, topped with a delectable, rich chocolate sauce!) (Bryan may or may not have been kinda sick on the way here, necessitating a few stops along the winding roads—but it didn’t stop us from having a great time there). The next day we again saw the lemurs, this time including the ring-tailed lemurs made famous by the Disney Madagascar movies….”you gotta move it, move it”! We also saw tons of crocodiles and some of the group took a nature hike to see the largest lemurs (the Indry) high up in the trees and heard them call to one another. This is such a unique experience and sound. It was great!
Following another grueling 5 hours of winding roads, we made our way to Tamatave, the town Brad served in for about 6 months of his mission. Tamatave is a port town on the north eastern coast. It’s also rather tropical in nature, but also pretty crowded with pousse-pousses, cars, bikes and motor scooters. We stayed in a little boutique hotel right on the beach (away from the crowds!). The food was great there and very inexpensive (that’s always a plus)…the ambiance was great and the hotel cost…$20 USD a night! Can’t beat that!
While there, Steve and I checked on the missionaries and the bike situation and delivered goods from Tana. Then we visited some of the families Brad baptized and loves! One was a wonderful family that lives quite a ways outside of the town. Brad was able to teach this family and help get the couple married in order to be baptized almost 5 years ago. When the sister, Claudine, found out she was expecting a baby just following her baptism, she named her little girl after the missionaries, Brad and Elder Busteed…the name: Rostina! She is now a little over 4 years old and a little doll! Brad was finally able to meet his little namesake! We enjoyed our visit in their island-style home of wood with a banana leafed roof surrounded by a wall of woven banana leaves…lots of sand, too! They were so happy to see Brad and were amazed at how well he still spoke Malagasy. It was so fun to see Brad in his element…laughing and joking with “his peeps”. We loved it!
We enjoyed the rest of the day visiting a few more friends who were delighted to see Brad again. We were all happy to know that the majority of the people he baptized were still active or had recently been reactivated. There was an abundance of love in those visits!
On Saturday, one of the men Brad baptized, took all of us down the river to the ocean in a hollowed out tree trunk/ boat. We have had the privilege of meeting Jacque Pierre before and taking this same trip when we picked Brad up. Jacque Pierre is definitely “one in a million”. He has to be one of the most positive people I have ever known (except for Olive Poor—for those who knew Olive—they could be two peas in a pod!). In any case, Jacque Pierre lives in the same little house we visited before, with the exception of having added 6 more cows to his then herd of 4. He credits all of his success to Heavenly Father. He is the man we have often spoken of, who, while sitting in his humble little home and providing a living by daily going up and down the river to retrieve boatloads of sand from the ocean, wanted to bear his testimony about the principle tithing! We never forgot the example of this humble, faithful man, and he is still the same! He is as faithful as ever, serving in the branch presidency, and recently was sealed to his cute wife in the Johannesburg temple. He told us he could lose everything, but he would never quit coming to church because he knows it’s true. He has a testimony that has sunk deep into his heart and he lives accordingly. We all came away humbled and renewed in our determination to be as committed and faithful as Jacque-Pierre!
There was an obvious love between Jacque-Pierre and Brad…they had each other laughing and joking and enjoying one another’s company. We in turn couldn’t help but laugh at them! Jacque-Pierre refers to Brad as his Malagasy son! It was delightful!
Following our peaceful trip down the river (Oh, by the way, Jacque-Pierre had installed bamboo “seats” in the boat for everyone…they were three pieces of bamboo lodged cross-wise per person to sit on! ha! I understand they weren’t the most comfortable! Steve and I had a little stool to sit on)…but I can tell you that was one big ‘tree trunk’ boat to fit the 7 of us on it, plus Jacgue-Pierre, his wife and his friend who steered at the rear of the boat with a long pole! As the sun was setting and we were coming back up river, there were others in smaller boats fishing lazily around us and Jacque-Pierre knew them all. It was so peaceful and beautiful. Jacque-Pierre said he had been to Johannesburg with its concrete and glass, and he wondered why anyone would want to live there, when they could live where he did, in “Paradise”!
We all loved him!
The last day with our family was spent hurriedly packing and one quick trip to the “Digue” trying to find just the right last minute souvenirs…there’s so many fun things to buy here! We said a teary good-bye, and they were off. How could a week have gone by so quickly?!? In any case, it was a pure delight! We have been back in the saddle since then fielding the many calls and continuing in our quest to make a difference as missionaries in this, our our Island country of Madagascar.
Sending our love to all, as usual,
Steve and Michele
