Dear Friends,

Here is the update that at times we thought might never be written.  Last Sunday, we moved into our permanent home for our time in Toliara. After three months of delays and setbacks it’s wonderful to be making a home. The kitchen is yet to be fitted, none of the doors have handles and the final windows were fitted with mosquito netting on our second day but we are glad to be here.  We love the lightness of the rooms, the airiness and the big views of sky and countryside.  We are spoiled for space so Jane has a study and Derek the office for discipleship here.

Our home will become a guest house when we leave. We are delighted to be on the Cathedral compound where we can join in daily prayer in the Cathedral, practise our Malagasy and join in the life of the small community here.  We can stop packing and unpacking, settle and put down roots.

Thank you for praying with us through this testing period.  We would love to receive messages with your news, responses and questions.  Please write!

The peace of the Lord,

Derek and Jane

With Zafy, our friend who helps us learn Malagasy and is Derek’s temporary assistant for discipleship.

Dear friends,

We are half way through our three month language course in Antsirabe which is in the beautiful, cool and rainy highlands of Madagascar. This seemed a good time to give you a brief report – though we won’t tell you what our teacher, Mamia, makes of us!

Mamia has told us to our surprise that she has now taught us 90% of the grammar we need. This comes as a relief because we’re not sure we could have coped with more actives, passives, relatives, imperatives, passive imperatives….. At times our brains have felt in overload with the volume and complexity of Malagasy grammar and vocabulary. For example, the subject comes at the end of the sentence and by the time we have worked out the rest of the sentence we have often forgotten to add it!

Thankfully, we are now concentrating on listening and speaking. Slowly we’re gaining confidence in communicating in this strange tongue. Malagasy is a fascinating and beautiful language with many fun words.   So a butterfly is a “lulu” and words are often doubled but in a different way to English: so “fotsy” is white,   while “fotsifotsy ” is off white.    

We know that we have a long way to go and the weeks ahead will continue to stretch us but the prize of both being able to share more deeply in the lives of the delightful Malagasy people and to share God’s love in Christ is a great spur. Thank you for your prayers. Please continue to pray for God’s gift of grace.

The peace of the Lord,

Derek and Jane

We welcome Church Mission Society missionaries, Rev Derek & Jane Waller, from England who are coming to the Diocese shortly.

Please pray for Jane’s visa to come through as soon as possible.  (They already have Derek’s).  Pray also that they will learn the language swiftly and easily, and that all travel will be straightforward.

Derek will be working with local pastors and lay leaders to disciple Christians and grow the church.  They plan to stay for three years, after which they hope to hand over to local Christians.

They worked with CMS in the 1980s in South Sudan. In the 23 years after they returned to the UK, Derek was ordained and served in three parishes.  Jane worked in adult education and was also a magistrate.  But they never lost their passion for mission across cultures. When the opportunity came to return to South Sudan to be involved in theological education they believed that this was the call of God.  Sadly they were only there for 18 months before civil war broke out.

How have they got from South Sudan to Madagascar? The short answer is through many tears and much prayer. In the months after leaving South Sudan, they grieved for the friends they will not see and the work they will not complete. However, a chance meeting with Bishop Todd McGregor led to an invitation to the Diocese of Toliara. They accepted and are now excited about starting a new mission adventure in their 60s!

Derek & Jane with their students, the local Bishop, the College Principal and visitors from Duke University