Simon and Miriam Desborough are serving in Antananarivo, Madagascar, encouraging and equipping the Malagasy church for mission, and reaching out to vulnerable women. They have been confronted with new levels of deceit by those they are seeking to help in these last few months. One woman lied about expecting twins when she was not actually pregnant! Another faked a robbery of her small shop to try and get more help. It’s hard to balance upholding the boundaries, but also showing grace and giving second/third chances. They’re realising that this is actually a false dichotomy: by following through and stopping support when those they are trying to help break the contract, they are helping them to realise their sin and their need for salvation and repentance. The manner in which they deal with these situations is so important, as it is through gracious and clear communication that those they are trying to help understand their responsibility to be honest and to put the effort into changing their lives, with God’s help. Pray for wisdom in dealing with deceit and for real change in the lives of those they are seeking to help.

Simon and Miriam Desborough are serving in Antananarivo, Madagascar, encouraging and equipping the Malagasy church for mission, and reaching out to vulnerable women.  Please pray for the aftermath of the protests in Madagascar and for the restoration of businesses which had their sales plummet, stock stolen, and shop fronts destroyed. The offices of the Bible Society of Madagascar were ransacked, with many Bibles and Christian books burned. Pray that the Bible Society would be able to quickly resume their activities – His words will never pass away. Pray too for the repentance of the looters and opportunists who engaged in plundering cities for their selfish gain.

Simon and Miriam Desborough are serving in Antananarivo, Madagascar, encouraging and equipping the Malagasy church for mission, and reaching out to vulnerable women. They are deeply thankful for supporters’ prayers over these last few weeks, for them and for Madagascar. Pray that the Malagasy Church will mobilise to comfort those who are mourning and to disciple with the love of Christ those who have fallen short. One aspect of the recent events that troubled Simon & Miriam was the lack of veracity from several news outlets and the detrimental flow of fake news on social media. They were caught out a few times in believing an unverified story that turned out to be false, as did some of their friends. They found much of the social media discourse particularly difficult to bear, and even private messaging groups with committed believers became poisonous and overtly political. Pray that as the dust settles, Malagasy Christians and foreign missionaries will consider how they can communicate more wisely and charitably.