Seeking His Glory in the midst of Change

Several weeks ago we were finishing up a study of the book of James with the young believers in Sambava.  These men have been having Bible study at our supervisors, Kurtis and Holly's, house a little less than a year.  Some of the men had read about baptism and wanted to be baptized while other men said they did not know enough about the church in order to be baptized.  There are several types of churches in this area, but few if any solely teach the Bible here in Sambava, Madagascar.  So the Baptist church and sole submission to God's word is new.  We decided that when we were finished studying James we would study Acts.  This would help the men understand what a true church is.  It's been great to learn under our supervisors, God has richly blessed us with their mentorship.

We recently studied James 4:13-15

¹³ Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— ¹⁴ yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. ¹⁵ Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

Little did we know that the teaching from this passage would come into affect very soon in all of our lives.

Last week Kurtis and Holly came to our house with sad news.  They will be going back to the USA to have their baby, but due to pregnancy risks they will have to leave this coming week and be gone for a long time.  It is possible that they will not be able to return here due to medical reasons.  Then came the second wave of change, since the next closest supervisors are 20+ hours away from us we will not be able to stay in this city. 

We prayed and asked God to reign over this situation.  We were led to ask for the decision to be reconsidered for us to stay in Sambava and continue the ministry here.  However, it was not approved and this Wednesday we will be moving to Fort Dauphin, Madagascar.  God is giving us peace with this and we look forward to how He will use us for His glory in this new area.

Many changes come with our move.  Leaving our friends and young believers here, learning a new city, learning a new dialect of Malagasy (which seems to be completely different than what we have studied for a month and a half), moving our belongings, and meeting new supervisors and team mates.  Many times in the past week and a half we have just had to say, "God, you are still God."  We have already seen His peace overwhelm us.  Wow!  Some of the things He's shown me through reading John during this time, I wish I could write them all to you.  I know He is seeking my good(molding me like Jesus) and His glory through this rough situation.  I've seen Him take ugly situations in the past and make them beautiful.  I pray He gives me a glimpse of the beauty in the future, but for now we will trust Him and expect His greatness to come of the heartbreaking present.

Last week we had to tell the men at Bible study the sad news.  We retold James 4:13-15 and told them the news.  They were shocked that their teachers were leaving.  We tried to answer all the questions they had about the situation and we have all committed to pray that Kurtis and Holly can return next year.  "Can other people come teach us the Bible?" they asked.

Then we began to read Acts with them as we had planned.  Do you know what the beginning of Acts records?  I believe God knowing ahead of time the situation prepared this study for us.  The disciples are standing looking up into the sky because Jesus has just ascended into heaven.  I think half of them were thinking, "What do we do now??"  They soon remembered what Jesus had been teaching them for years.  They received the Holy Spirit in their hearts and began to preach the gospel.  "Repent and be baptized in Jesus name!"  Thousands of people were baptized in the first days of "the church."  The church learned together, fellowshipped together, ate together, and prayed together.

I'm not saying we are Jesus himself, but I imagine that on Wednesday when we fly out of Sambava the men will be standing there just like Jesus' disciples.  These new believers from the Bible study are having to grow up fast like the disciples did when Jesus ascended, but just as the disciples did, these men have something better than a teacher, they have God's Spirit!  We entrust them to the Father.  I pray they will continue to learn, fellowship, eat, and pray together.

I can already see God's glory shining in the midst of sadness.

Yesterday, not just the 2 men that wanted to be baptized, but 5 men made a public proclamation of their faith in Jesus Christ through baptism!  These are leaders of this town, business men, leaders of families, and forever changed men of God.

There is already talk about where Bible study will take place next week when we are gone.

To add another "Halleluiah" to all of this, one of the villages a well was dug in last month has asked that these men come teach them the Bible.  We have given the men this challenge and they are excited to begin this ministry!

There is a hard road ahead of these new children of God.  Please earnestly pray for them as they continue to grow in their relationship with God.  Ask God to give them opportunities to pray and see His answers that will build their trust in Him.

Although Leah and I are very sad to leave our new home and friends and travel to the opposite end of this huge island, we know that God will provide.  Pray for His glory to come of it all!  He has sent us out and we continue to follow Him--wherever.

Seeking His Glory in the midst of Change,

Andrew

I was "Happy" and rejoicing!

Indian Ocean Baptism=Watch out for that wave!

To God be the Glory!

Trip to the Market: He knows every hair on her head!

Cooking meals(sa-ka-fu) here starts with a trip to the market.  We can walk to the market in about 5 minutes, so we put a little folding cash in our pockets and head out of our house(tra-no) with a straw basket and calculator.

Walking along the street is full of life. Tuk-tuks beep as they pass by, dogs(om-boo-wa), chickens(ah-ko-who), and goats(bean-ge) roam around.  People greet us foreigners(va-za) with "Bon Jour" because they think we are French.  We respond with "Mbolt Sara" (bullet-sah-rah) which is the Malagasy greeting and receive surprised(ga-ga) looks.

The market has plenty of fruits and veggies to choose from, many fruits that we have never heard of before.  The prices range from 100 ariary(5 cents) for 5 small peppers to 4000 ariary($2) for a large pineapple(ma-na-ce).  One of the staples in our house is beans and rice.  I ask the "bean" lady how much a cup of beans cost.  Numbers are a little tricky here because they use both French and Malagasy numbers as well as two different figures of money.  So at times we have to ask for the number to be typed on our calculator.  She dumps the scoop of beans in a thin small plastic bag and we put them in the basket.

When receiving change in the market, I'm mindful of potential germs on the cash because I've watched a lady count back cash on the zebu butcher block.  Many new things to get used to.

We lug our basket full of goodies back to the house and begin the process of soaking produce in bleach water, putting meat in the freezer, and (the slightly more tedious) sifting beans.

Last week I was hand sifting beans from the market before I soaked them overnight and then cooked them for a few hours.  I find little sticks, rocks, sprouting beans, ants, old beans, other types of beans, and occasionally a small curly hair.

This week when I found the hair, I began wondering whose head this hair came from.  How far away was her village?  Did it come from the person that harvested it, dried it, transported it, or sold it?

Then I thought, I wonder if she knows that when she lost this hair that God knew.  He knew that she had one less hair on her head.  I wonder if she knows her creator, the Creator?  I said a prayer for her and asked God to bring His kingdom to her village and to use us as His messengers.  I pray that she meet her Creator through our Savior Jesus.  Oh, that she would know that God almighty cares about her and wants her to be His daughter.

All of these thoughts from a hair in some beans.  The Bible says to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.  There have been times in my past that a hair in my food made me angry and entitled to something free.  What if during little inconveniences I decide that my quick listening will be to God instead of myself?  May God mold my heart toward mercy for man and hope for their salvation.

So what will you do next time you find a hair in your french fries?  I pray you will lift your future sister or brother in Christ up to the Father and ask God to make you apart of His amazing work.

For His Amazing Work,

Andrew

Trip to Antananambo Village

We had a team come here from KY Baptist to dig a well in a village in our region.  When I first heard of this team I questioned in my head how impactful on the Kingdom of God a well being dug would be.  After being approached by a woman in Nigeria years ago with the statement, "We will all become Christians if you did us a well." I had a tainted view of humanitarian efforts like well digging mainly because the lady in Nigeria had a wrong view of Christian mission efforts in previous villages. (Missions is not a game of number of converts, but a quest to chase darkness with light, offer hope in the place of fear, and bring the God of the harvest glory!)

I looked forward to God showing me how He would use a well and clean water to reach a people with His gospel message.

We went to the village on Friday and very quickly began digging.  A man donated a piece of his property in the middle of the village to put the well.  The team's plan was to manage the well project and help the people dig the well themselves.  Quickly there was a line of men waiting for their turn to dig and within a few hours we hit water.  A few hundred people gathered throughout the day to watch the process and see what the foreigners were doing.  As we would explain our purpose there we said we were there because God sent us to them and the well is a gift from God.  That night we showed them the Jesus film.  Hundreds of people watched in amazement at the miracles of Jesus. They laughed, chattered about what they were seeing, and became silent when they saw the Christ hanging on a cross. We told them that in the morning we would meet to share more about Jesus.

Sleeping in a village is interesting.  My hammock was hung in some mango trees with huge centipedes and monster spiders(but I had a bug net), and next to the trees was a few zebu tied up and a chicken coop. There was a radio that played till about 2 AM (probably when the solar charged batteries went out), crickets, dogs, roosters, babies, snoring, and buzzing bugs are all apart of village noises at night.

 On Saturday we ate breakfast and began the day in the community shelter teaching about creation, Jesus, and the woman at the well. We made it clear this morning that humans have a decision to turn from sin and follow Jesus or believe in other things and live in sin which is all under the devil's reign.

All of the men were still very eager to help and we dug to 28 ft. before hitting a rock we could not get past.  We also started teaching the women and children Bible stories on Saturday.  I was playing soccer with some kids and they thought my mannerisms for encouragement (clapping) and celebration (arms raised and shouting) was hilarious enough to mimic. Later during our second time of teaching Bible stories I was asked to lead a song. Seeing as how the children were already good at mimicking me I led a song with motions.  "My God is so big, so strong, and so mighty, there's nothing my God cannot do. The mountains are his, the valleys are his, the stars in the sky are too."  After we sung it a few times I asked for the song to be translated into their language by our Malagasy friend that came on the trip. I told the kids that my God is bigger, stronger, and mightier than any other thing or spirit. He created everything and he owns everything.  I kept speaking of "my God" when one of the children said through translation "your God is our God too." Wow! God is at work!  Later we heard a woman singing the song because she had been listening from behind the children. An English song sung by children that don't speak 2 words of English can make an impact on their lives and the Kingdom.  We thought the children were probably tired after our team had shared several Bible stories with them so we were about to dismiss them when our Malagasy friend asked if they were ready to stop and the children said they wanted to learn some more stories! They are eager for education and for God's word.  When we told the story we'd ask them to retell it and one little girl stood up and retold the whole story word for word. I was so glad the lady from the KY team came ready to do things with and teach the children.

At the close of Saturday we put a pipe into the well hole and were discouraged by what we found.  The water was very dirty and it was not replenishing near as fast as it needed to in order to have a sufficient well.  When we explained the situation to the people, the man who donated the land suggested we put honey into the well (this village believes that if you put honey in the well the ancestors will make it produce clean water).  Our Malagasy friends who came with us are new believers.  They told the man that this well is a gift from God and we will trust Him to make the water clean, not the ancestors.  The team, and many other people, gathered around the well and we prayed that God would make the water replenish and make the well clean.  My prayer was that God would show that this well was a gift from Him by making the water clean and replenish it.  I prayed that the people would see His miraculous power and that this story of God providing would be one they tell for generations.  Oh, that He would be solely glorified for His gift, not a team from the USA or the ancestors.  My heart was heavy for the people and their deeply rooted faith in their ancestors (the devil's schemes).  We prayed throughout the night.

Sunday morning we had a church service and the two Malagasy men that came on our trip shared their testimony about God's work in their life. These men are a part of the Bible study that meets at our supervisors house twice a week. We were all encouraged as we watched and listened to these two new believers be missionaries to their own people! Now it was time to see if the well was producing enough clean water.  We all gathered around and began to pull tubes of Clean water from the well.  Tube after tube we discovered that the water level stayed the same and was sustaining its clean water level.  Immediately without prompting the two new believing Malagasy men, they went to the president (chief) and the man who owned the land and said, "We didn't put honey in the well, and God answered our prayer for clean, replenishing water."  Praise the Lord!

We filled in around the pipe with cement and assembled the pump.  We also taught the children and women about keeping the well area clean and how to wash their hands properly.  Leah, me, and a KY team member acted out a skit to show the importance of hand washing.  When it was time to finally pump water from the well we had a few hundred people gathered around and we prayed and thanked God for the well.  When the water came out of the well we all clapped and praised the Lord.

We packed up our campsite and the tools and said good bye.  The president formally thanked us with some other men and asked us to come back and teach the Bible there. 

God is at work, and I can't wait to see even more fruit from this trip to the village!

Leading the song

Brothers sharing their testimony

Boys in the village

Praise the Lord for answered prayers and clean water for this village!

Good Bye Asheboro

Well, our apartment is now vacant, a car is sold, our stuff if packed away, and we are in Virginia about to start training.  Looking back over "The Rush" from the past 2 weeks makes me see the power and importance of prayer to my Father.

Multiple times in the past few weeks I've felt overwhelmed, stressed, and frustrated by the long list of tasks from our move.  Leah and I both have struggled to give God full reign in our circumstances.  Worry and stress are not of God, so why did I experience them?  I was replacing God's role in my life with my own power and obviously I was not equipped to be god.  I'm awful at being god.  Leah and I both knew in those times that we needed to submit the craziness we were juggling to the one true, almighty God.  We would pray and say we were giving Him control and would ask for His peace.

Sometimes I'm not yet submissive by the way I feel but I know that I want and need to be.  It's in those times that I've learned to tell God that I am submitting to Him and have faith that He will bring me to submission and trust in Him.  I don't mean to lie to the Father, I mean to express my problem and tell God where I want to be.  (First step to recovery, right? "I have a problem")

Several years ago a phrase was really popular among Christians, "Let go and let God!"  I've heard pastors preach for this idea and against it, I've been confused about it since then.  I'm coming to realize that it is a good idea if I submit and entrust things to God.  I don't let go of the problem or responsibility, but I let go of the worry and stress.  It's the difference in these two prayers: (throw hands in the air) "I'm done with this!" vs. (on my knees) "Abba, I submit and entrust this to you."

Recently I put 3 items I really wanted to sell up on Craigslist, our couch, washer and dryer, and car.  I knew that cars can take months to sell and I knew that I didn't have months to sell it.  I worried that we would not sell our things and started to scramble for a backup plan.  I was worrying about the "what if's" and forgot about who "God is."  I submitted the selling of our stuff to God.  I remembered that God gave us all of this stuff in the beginning and had faith that He will give us buyers to sell it to.

After four days of our things being on Craigslist I got a phone call at 9am, they wanted the washer and dryer.  At 12:30 I met someone to test drive my car, by 2:30 they bought it.  When we got home from selling the car a lady was waiting for us at our house and bought our couch.  Did I mention that we were paid more for each item than I even hoped to receive?

I believe that it is in our submissive and obedient moments that we truly understand what it is to be a child of God.  Whether it be in a time of blessing or a time of trail, when we are submissive and obedient we will see just how much our God loves and cares for His children!

The life verse for our marriage is Proverbs 3:5-6, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths."

We believe there is power in prayer.  Our journey to Madagascar began with Leah and I on our knees in a hotel room at Ridgecrest Conference Center, continued at church altars, and I look forward to the day that I get my knees dirty on the soil of Madagascar!

In His Love,

-Andrew

Transitions

Currently we are starting our transition into this new adventure of life.  We've turned in our resignation letters, started to sell things, and are beginning to tell people good bye.  We move to Richmond to start training in mid-January.  Although this is an exciting time it has proven unexpectedly challenging as well. 

I guess you don't realize the security blanket that you create for yourself until its being unfolded.  Leah and I quickly found that we have comfort and security in our jobs, money, belongings, medical insurance, apartment, family, friends, social status, and even in our breath of life.  Many of these things are going to be gone or temporarily put on hold during our transition and we created lots of worry about the "What ifs?" 

As Leah and I both shared our feelings with each other, God reminded me of Psalm 37:4. "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart."  My delight....what is my delight in?  If I delight only in Him...then why am I worried about my stuff?  Christ said each day has enough stuff to be worried about so entrust tomorrow to God...He takes care of the birds and the grass, He'll surely take care of us.  If my delight is only in God himself, then everything else is extra.  All the stuff in my false security blanket = extra! These are blessings from God and its by these things that I'm supposed to trust in Him and rest in His security and have Him be my delight. 

I had let His blessings become my security rather than the Giver of the blessings being my delight. 

I love the promise of that verse, "...and He will give you the desires of your heart."  Because He gives me the desires of my heart(which are extra) I find my security in Him who supplies my needs.

I'm beginning to realize more and more that a huge step in discipleship is to not have situational faith.  No matter what the situation, I will not lean on my own understandings, but trust wholly in the Lord.

So what about you? Are you trusting more in the gifts or the Giver of gifts?

In Christ's Love,

Andrew

The Journey Begins: Thank you for partnering with us!

Hello Friend!  We are the Snipes.  We're excited to be on a journey with God as we travel to Madagascar to make disciples.

I'm honored you've taken the time to join us in our journey.  I don't want you to think my family is noble, cool, good, or worthy of praise because of our obedience to God's call on our life.  The truth is that we are not in this position because we are good, but because we are His.  We are nothing except who we are through our God.

I'm not sure why you came to our blog today, but I want you to know that I don't think you reading this is a coincidence or meaningless.  What do you hope to gain from participating in this journey?  Are you expectant to grow with us in your walk with God?  That is our prayer for you!  May this blog not be about show casing the Snipes Family but about bringing you and me together on our knees to praise our God and petition for those lost that surround us. 

Day after day God calls us to our next step in discipleship with Him and my hope is that God will use our testimony to encourage you to take it!

We are humbled to call you our friends on this journey together.  Thank you for praying for us.

In Christ's Love,

Andrew and Leah Snipes