This month started off a little different than the other months , we met up with our entire squad of 40 and instead of splitting off into our teams once we landed we stayed together for all squad month .
I was a mixture of very excited and terrified , the thought of getting to know my squad mates made me excited and very overwhelmed .
I had the privilege of sharing a room with 7 amazing women
Our first week in Madagascar was filled with clinic visits and days spent in bed , many of us me included had strept throat .
I realized I was sick on our first day of ministry , but I kept telling myself “mind over matter, I’m not sick !” That is until I had to admit defeat while falling asleep at the pastors kitchen table which was just a little embarrassing .
Once we were feeling better we went to ministry which was in the city , in order to get there we had to catch the bus every morning . Now these buses are more like vans which manage to squeeze 5 people into 1 row that should only be for 4 people , this is doable with tiny Malagasy people , not so doable with all of us . Often they would say there’s room and we would end up sitting on people or people sitting on us . We definetly had to laugh because all too often the locals would point out how we are too big for the bus , to which I would reply they were too big as well . Haha it was always a funny bus ride !
We worked at a church for two weeks we taught English to children and adults, we prayer for people in the community , we lead bible studies and we held Saturday fun days for around 100 kids .
It was cool to see how different Madagascar was from my imagination. No I was not imaging talking penguins and zebras but I was not expecting to see such a huge Asian influence, after being in Botswana I was expecting a bit of a slower pace African feel . Thats not what we got, it was pretty cool to see how different it was. I was also not expecting the amount of people in a small area or how much rice we would eat , I mean lots ! Sometimes breakfast ,lunch and diner. It’s a good thing I love rice haha
This month has been full of ups and downs. I’ve cried because I wanted my moms chicken soup when I got sick and I’ve laughed till the point of crying when we had a lip sync battle one evening in front of the whole squad .
Was all squad month what I expected ? No
Was it hard ? Yes
Was it worth it ? Yes
This month I learned how to reach out to people when I’m in need instead of going to be alone , because when there are 40 people in a small area. There’s no such thing as being alone. It forced me to seek people out and allow people to seek me out . I loved hearing peoples stories , sharing memories and realizing we aren’t as different as I thought we were . It was an awesome month and I look forward to Vietnam .
Till next time Madagascar ( next time I want to see the beach !)
