Salama tompko! Hello from Antananarivo!

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by Pastor Ron Roschke
July 2, 2013

We’re packing up tonight and preparing for our day-long bus ride to Mahajanga tomorrow morning, leaving at 6:00 am. We arrived here at Tana late on Sunday night and settled in at Isoraka, the former home for our Mission of the ELCA Mission to Madagascar. The Malagasy Lutheran Church now operates the facility as a conference center, and we have had very comfortable rooms and wonderful meals. 

We’ve had two days to get used to the hectic pace of Tana life, and now will head out for the slower, more tropical parts of Madagascar. Tana is in the highlands. It is winter here (sun sets at 5:30 pm) and pleasantly cool – 70s in the day and down in the lower 50s at night. Tomorrow will be far different in Mahajanga!


Last night’s dinner with President Modeste and Madame Jeanette and General Secretary Georges Samoela and Madame Ialy was great. Today we spent the day at the Youth Center operated by the church on the outskirts of Tana. We got to see our Rocky Mountain Synod Young Adult in Global Mission, Lee Kirberg from Evergreen Lutheran, who is finishing his one-year assignment at the Center in two weeks. We also had great conversations with Pr. Joshua, the newly elected Director of Youth Ministries for the church. Additional insights came as we visited Pr. Austin and Tanya Austin, Directors of YAGM in Madagascar for the ELCA. Tomorrow we’ll get to meet Hannah Harman, our other RMS YAGM person serving as a nurse in Mahajanga; Hannah is a member of House for All Sinners and Saints  in Denver.
 
We send to you the greetings of our entire group along with our Malagasy sisters and brothers in Christ who are our wonderful hosts and companions. Hope all is well where you are!


In Christ for the group—
Pastor Ron Roschke

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