Het i

Dear brothers, sisters and friends,

It is only recently that we sent out our last newsletter. Still, there are some very nice things to tell again.

Vangaindrano, Midongy & Befotaka

Three names of districts in Madagascar's far southeast. Vangaindrano is 270 kilometres (by car) south of our village, Midongy and Befotaka are even further. Wouter and Sanne van Holst set up the 'Hosanna' project in Vangaindrano. We know each other well and I had already hinted that I would like to come and have a look. For encouragement, but also to discover whether our translation work would be understood this far south.

The opportunity came! Wouter occasionally undertakes mission trips in the very remote Midongy and Befotaka areas. There are no roads leading there so the collaboration with the Swiss helicopter organisation, Helimission, is a godsend. We flew with Nick Däpp, the pilot we have known for years, to Vangaindrano. On the way, we landed briefly in our village to say a quick hello 😎

From the 'Hosanna' mission post, we flew to the two districts daily. We visited five villages a day. The villagers had never seen white people and a helicopter before. Some knew it only from the movies.

But I didn't come there to twiddle thumbs. Wouter had asked me and a Malagasy employee, Lucile, to share the Gospel during the trips. That way, I could check out the differences in dialect right away 🤔

Click here to see a short video.

Well, I soon found out that my usual Antanala dialect did not match those of the people overthere. The ethnic groups are the Bara and Antaisaka, each with their own dialect. Lucile and another staff member, Willy, both Antaisaka, occasionally had to laugh heartily at my dialect. Some Antanala words have very different meanings in Bara or Antaisaka.

For instance, the way I said that God does not want us to commit adultery is interpreted by the Bara as picnic. Until I got hold of the right pronunciation and words, I first translated it with some humour. So I then explained the seventh commandment as, "you may picnic, but not secretly with your neighbour's wife." Willy and Lucile helped me tremendously in learning the correct pronunciation and words.

Most people had no knowledge of the Gospel. One village had never even heard of the name Jesus! Yes, they did know that God the Creator exists — duh! How else would everything came into being! But they wondered who His Son was and where He lived. I said the Lord Jesus now lived in heaven. "Oooh, so He is dead," they said. Great surprise when I explained to them that He had been dead, but had come alive again on the third day! What an experience! What an openness! And what a privilege!

Meanwhile, Wouter and Sanne received some feedback from the villagers and the reports are very promising. Several villages have indicated that they would like to hear more about Jesus, the Son of God, the Saviour of the world. People are hungry for the Gospel.

Matthew 9:37-38
The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.

Malagasy Bible students

Once back home with Katja and the children, I didn't have much time because just over a week later, the first group of Malagasy Bible students came to Maroamboka. Together with Dani, I travelled to our village three days in advance to get everything in order. On Monday morning, 19^th of May, the students arrived.

On the first day, we introduced the students to our friends, Sylvestre and Fanja and the fathers of Boto, Mainty and Bosila.

On the second day, they walked in two groups to more remote villages. The fathers of Mainty and Boto went with one group to Masoabe. The village is a 2.5-hour walk away. People knew who we were, and the group was warmly welcomed. The other group went to Dongosabe with Bosila's father.

Both villages were very open to the Gospel and the visit encouraged the Christians present to become more active evangelisers themselves. This, of course, is something we love to see happen: Christians starting to tell their own fellow villagers about Jesus. Normally, many Christians here think this is mainly the job of pastors. But then again, if no pastor lives near, not much happens

On the third day, we visited the father of Velotia in Beono—the king who became Christian. He shared his testimony to the group. It was a huge encouragement to both parties.

Klik hier om zijn getuigenis te horen.

On the last day, the entire group went to visit Tsararano. The people there had often asked us to explain the Gospel to them too.

I have not yet been able to get much feedback from our friends in Maroamboka. But the little we have heard is promising. People are genuinely curious about more of the Bible, and many local Christians have already indicated that they would like to participate in Evangelism next time.

Once Home Again

Twelve days later, Dani and I were back home. On the way, Dani had caught the flu so we came back just in time. Whilst back home we started coughing and feeling lousy one by one. Dani took the lead, and over the weekend he got even sicker with tremors and chills. Katja decided to test him on Malaria, which turned out positive. So on top of the flu, Malaria as well. We always have medicine in the house so we could tackle that right away. But oh dear! The medication did not work thus we decided to take him to the hospital of a befriended German midwife, Tanja Hock. There he was put on a drip right away.

Fortunately, we were in time and saw that the medicine through the IV was doing its job. During that week Katja stayed at his bedside during the day and I relieved her for the night. After five days, we were happily informed that we could take him home again.

Now, Dani is the most fit and healthy person in the family. The rest, including me, have coughs due to a bad flu. Bother! We had momentarily forgotten what that felt like 🤒

A Blessing in Disguise

Officially, I already had to travel back to our village this week. The second group of students was supposed to arrive on the 15^th of June. But they unexpectedly cancelled. That's a shame! But given the situation in the family, maybe not so bad at all.

It also benefits the peace for a while. All those weeks I've been away, Katja has had to do everything on her own. Fortunately, the children help her a lot, but with certain things it is more convenient if we are together. Homeschooling, shoppings, household. All things in which Katja has a fine routine. But if one of the children comes with me, she has to plan that child's schoolwork differently.

Katja is also very busy planning the next month(s). After all, in July, as a family, we hope to go on holiday to our village. And the next month, in August, Vanya hopes to leave for the Netherlands to start university in Groningen. Katja will travel with her to help her set up her home, and things like insurance and whatnot. Those weeks I get to homeschool the children 😵‍💫 So Katja is already preparing that schedule as well.

So in that respect, it is a stroke of luck that the group cannot come. We may also see the Lord's hand in this.

1 Corinthians 10:13
God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

This was it for now

We hope that after reading this letter, you, like us, are also looking forward to what the future holds. We can make plans but one thing we know for sure is that “what the Lord intends, happens.” (Proverbs 19:21)

We feel privileged to receive so much support in our work. Thank you for your prayers, compassion, and support!

Together with you, we want to keep trusting in the Lord! Because God is good, always! And always God i s good!

We sincerely wish you God's blessing!

Katja & Jurgen
Vanya, Issa, Abbey, Dani en Simeon Hofmann.

Things to Pray for

We are thankful because:

1. we serve a great and mighty God;


2. God is adding to the Church daily;


3. the fantastic time in Vangaindrano and our own village;


4. the Malagasy students were received so warmly;

Pray that/for:

1. our financial standing will return to normal;


2. our health;


3. Katja's planning in terms of education;


4. the last months in Madagascar for Vanya;


5. the new planning regarding the students who could not come.