Madagascar

“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to [give] the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of
Jesus Christ.”
2 Cor. 4:6

Some time ago we saw the need of instructing the leaders of the Field and churches of Madagascar, but due to the lack of a proper place to conduct a seminar it was not possible to do it until this year,
2005.
In the month of August our wish became a reality, thanks to the good will of an Adventist family recently converted to the Reform. This family generously offered us their property, which is located about 20
Km from Antananarivo.
We cannot cease praising God for having provided us a wonderful place and for His kind assistance to carry on a brief Bible seminar.
At the beginning, we just thought to invite the different leaders of the work, but later on we planned to hold evangelistic meetings in the evening so as to establish a church in that place once the meetings were over.
With God’s grace and blessing, both events started on 7 August and ended on 28.

Many topics were presented at the seminar, among them “Denominational History”, in which a summary of the history of the church was presented together with an apology of the Reform Movement in order to confirm its prophetic and historical identity of our church as the remnant people called by God at the end of times. We also studied the Church Manual to improve the ecclesiastical administration and the liturgy of the churches. We also studied the principles of the doctrine that characterize us as remnant people. Specific instruction about family planning with emphasis on the use ot natural methods that agree with Biblical principles were presented. Finally instruction was given about the importance of evangelism in the church, especially personal evangelization.
During the morning and evening worship, emphasis was put on the need of having Christ in our personal life and devoting time to the personal study of the Bible and secret daily prayer as indispensable means to cultivate and keep a wonderful friendly relationship with Jesus.
The number of partakers to the seminar was to be 12 people, but this figure was doubled as we considered the request of some members from different churches who also wanted

to receive instruction. Therefore, 11 more persons were included in the seminar, among them a protestant pastor who some months earlier had accepted the message of the Reform. This brother was greatly blessed during the 20 days of study and at the end took the decision to be baptized together with his wife.
During the 20 days that the program lasted, we lived together like a real family united in faith and brotherly love, eating, praying, studying together and participating of different programs in a wonderful Christian fellowship. Some of the participants came with their husband or wife and even their younger children. One of these persons was the president of the field who together with his wife and three children shared in this experience from the beginning to the end of the program. His oldest daughter, aged 16, took the decision to be baptized when the seminar was over. Counting the children and the people who prepared the food, 40 persons participated in this event.
We all lived and enjoyed a rich and spiritual Christian experience. The 20 days of fellowship and study were a real spiritual balm. To spend 10 days in contact with nature, in wonderful fraternal unity, sharing our spiritual joy and hope in sincere Christian friendship, having as the only goal

to come closer to the Lord and
serve Him better, away from the morbid influence of the worldly environment and from personal materialistic pursuits, was a wonderful experience that we shall all remember with joy and gratitude. During those 20 days, every person had time for study, meditation and personal prayer besides the 5.30 daily hours of instruction.
In the evening, everyone joyfully cooperated for the carrying on of the evangelistic conference and enjoyed its blessings. Evangelistic films were projected and hymns of praise were taught to the attendants. We formed prayer groups and presented more than 15 evangelistic topics to the 25 adults and 30 children who attended the conference every evening.
As a result of the public meetings,
23 persons took the solemn decision to follow Christ. All of them agreed to receive further instruction and every week they are visited to continue with Bible studies. Five of these persons come every Sabbath to the meetings of the group that was organized in that place and that are attended by 10 to 15 adults and 10 children; among which there are 5 baptized brothers who live near the place and are responsible of leading the group.
We thank the Lord from the bottom

of our heart for the abundance of
His grace to have attracted souls to His flock. We pray that with the power of His grace, He may confirm, convert and save those precious souls.
At the end of the seminar, we had a special program in which members of all the neighbouring churches came together. In this evening we handed in certificates to those who attended the Biblical instruction from the beginning and we baptized souls and accepted new members. Five precious souls made a covenant with the Lord through baptism and an Adventist brother was receive in the church. This event ended with many expressions of praise and gratitude to God for His generous grace in having granted us such great blessing to “grow in grace, and
[in] the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter
3:18), and to have gained a rich
Christian experience.
Most of the attendants were back home with feeling of sadness and even with tears but at the same time with a new vow of faithfulness and faith and the hope to be again together in the wonderful future world of glory that our Lord Jesus will soon make a reality in His second coming.

My sincere wish is that the God of
heaven may bless these brethren and all His people. Amen.

“O God,
do we give
thanks, [unto thee] do we give thanks: for [that] thy name is near thy wondrous works declare.”
Psalm 75:1

–Daniel Valverde Contreras Regional Representative French and Portuguese Africa.

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