By the time you receive this letter we are probably back on Madagascar. Our furlough of four months has gone fast.

Welcome

Our return to Holland did not go unnoticed. A fully filled refrigerator and enough groceries to last the first week. Not only that, but also many spontaneous people who just came by with a box full of goodies. We have hardly seen the supermarket in the first weeks.

The children had a lovely time. All the different December traditions in Holland are just a little bit more exciting when you celebrate them with friends and family.

Catching up

Our agendas did not serve much purpose on Madagascar (not possible to schedule much there). Things were different here in Holland. Receiving friends and getting invited ourselves was our main task. At one point we hardly ate diner at home. Not that we did not like it, on the contrary, we fully enjoyed other people’s cookery.

We also visited different churches to talk about our work on Madagascar. This was good thing to do. It is lovely to experience the connection between each other, even though we did not know one and other.

The children were doing great as well. They right away contacted their old friends again and the playing was like they never missed each other. All in all, we have met many friends. It has been very encouraging for us.

Of course, we would have liked to meet many more of the people we know. Just to hear how that new born baby is doing or to see that family who is supporting us from the very beginning of our adventurous work. All of a sudden we realised that four month is not that long after all.

In light of that we have enjoyed our presentation on the 11 th of February. It was crowded! A lot of people took the opportunity to hear and see us. People came from every corner of the country. Afterwards we have tried to talk with as many as possible. We appreciated these moments fully.

Rested?

That is a good question. In our newsletter from November 2017 we said that we wanted to use this time to get enough rest. Did we succeed? Yes, but not in the way one would think.

Because of all the meetings and the general busy life in Holland we had a hard time to rest. However, because of all these meetings we had a good opportunity to evaluate our time on Madagascar.

What kind of things happened and how did we experience them. How did the children do and what was hard for them. What are we going to do different? All these questions and now we had time to talk and think about them. Very interesting to hear from each other that the impact of certain things were not always the same for both of us or the children.

Back on Madagascar

After settling back on Madagascar we hope to start working with the Bible stories as soon as possible. We are planning that Jurgen and Menja are going from village to village to tell the stories. We still have to find out the best time to visit as many are working long days just to make a simple living. Besides telling stories, Jurgen will teach Menja English and in turn Menja hopes to teach English to his students at school.

We did receive the question what we want to do when we are finished in our area. The short answer will be that we are still a long way from being finished. We hope to serve another two years before going on a furlough again. It is important for the children to stay in contact with friends and family. For us, these two years are a good period to work towards a set goal.

Now for the somewhat longer answer. We naturally hope that our work will bear fruit. That a young church may be planted with competent leaders. In that case, our task will mainly be teaching. This is not to say that no missionary work will be needed afterwards. We live in the Antanala area. This area is big, very big. There are also many people living up there, scattered in villages hidden deep in the rainforest. They speak the same dialect (with small deviations) so it would not be difficult to shift our attention. But, this is for the future and only an idea. For the time being we are busy enough in the area where we now live and we rely on God's wisdom when it comes to future matters. In Madagascar you should not be under the illusion that you can plan far ahead.

Thankful

We are very thankful that our financial reserves are back at the level they should be. When we arrived in Holland our funds where as good as empty... However, many gave generously which gave us the opportunity to pay for example our visa for 2018. But not only that, it gives us the assurance that we can do normal stuff like groceries and buy diesel to drive back home.

Again, we are very thankful for all the generosity! We would feel, however, more at ease to see a monthly stability in our gifts. Most sponsors are giving with a regular interval (ones a month, a quarter or per year). This results in a reliable balance. It would be very assuring to see the spontaneous gifts being donated as periodic gifts. Do not feel obligated but we like to ask you to think about it and ask God what you can do.

Finally

We very much appreciated the four months in which we have been welcomed with so much kindness. It was good to meet family and friends and with renewed energy we will return to our home in Maroamboka. Some people asked us to send a newsletter like this more often. We do understand that but we can not always comply. The internet connection in Maroamboka is often very bad. Sending emails can be a struggle. However, be that as it may, Facebook is surprisingly good. It is not hard to post something on Facebook (receiving picture or videos is something different). If you would like updates more frequently we suggest to send us a friendship request on Facebook.

We will miss everybody but we are blessed with all the modern possibilities to keep in contact.

Together with you we are looking forward to see what God is going to do among the Antanala. We hope and pray that their eyes will open for the mercy and saving grace of God through Jesus Christ our saviour. We also pray that they will start to understand that God wants to be a Father and not a distant god (with a small ‘g’).

It is our longing to keep you updated as good as possible and to do this fantastic work together with you as a team!

Many blessings,

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