Madagascar 2013-2015

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The guys creating the Daniel 3 song.
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Playing with a new Christmas toy
We put a treehouse in one of our mango trees
Rebe in the process of cutting off her dreadlocks… which she had for 9 years!
We have just finished a 2-week intensive language course. Please pray for our continued learning of the Sakalava language and culture
Camden
Sisters enjoying the pool
Thanksgiving with the team. We are thankful for this team and ask for prayer for continued team unity
Rebe’s Thanksgiving centerpeice included corn, local flowers and lychees!
Camden and I introduced baseball to the local kids… they love it! Pray for our friends Rivaldo and Franklin, who we have come to love and have a desire to know God
Rebe and I have become friends with some local guys who play in a band. They are amazing… this is a picture of them playing at the beach just down the road from us
The guys hang out on our porch… they know nothing of the God of the bible. Please pray for opportunities to share the truth of the gospel with them
Family photo from the entrance to the resort restaurant
After Kenya, we took a short vacation at a resort on Nosy Be
Keely and King Julian
Back to village life on Nosy Be
Group photo of our time of learning in Machakos
Enjoying Camden’s Birthday playing putt-putt in Nairobi
This is the shortcut we take when going home from our team members house in the jungle.
Ambatozavavy has begun to feel like home to us…
My beautiful wife enjoying the ocean breeze.
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This herd of cattle has just finished getting a drink at the river and then they journey up the hill to forage through the jungle.
Picking coffe beans at our neighbor’s farm
Our neighbor, Papa Sabutu, giving us a tour of his jungle farm. He loaded us up with coffee, bananas, mandarins, oranges, cassava, and black pepper!
Washing our feet in the river after our jungle hike
Checking out the catch of the day with the locals
Rosina, Rebe and Tori (taking the photo) translating the first story from “The Jesus Storybook Bible”
Here is the newest member of our family, Ping the duckling
This is Camden and James crossing the sea on a pirogue. James is an expert Lego construction worker and gives our kids new building ideas each time they play together.
This is Ben, the youngest brother of James and Eli. He’s from Canada and he’ll celebrate his 1st birthday this Saturday!
Camden with a couple of his buddies from the Ambatozavavy village.
Myla celebrated her 6th birthday last weekend at the retreat! It was a special place to be for her birthday!
This photo was taken during our home-stay. Cooking, eating and most of life happens outside…
In the village after a swim…
This was taken on a long walk to Lokobe Reserve, while the tide was out, with our home-stay family.
She is a brave soul, a spit-fire and is willing to take risks. She has a unique gift with hearing and repeating correctly the Sakalava language and we are have noticed her willingness to move boldly into unfamiliar surroundings.
The sun was a bit bright that early morning…James, Myla, Camden and Eli.
This was taken a week ago at our team’s end of the unit retreat…it was restful.
We’re proud of this boy…
From the left: Eli, Keely, Camden, Myla and James.
Camden has friends in each of our surrounding villages, his language learning is excelling, and we are praising God for the blessing of Camden. This photo was taken after a long day of soccer, fishing and food.
Waiting to board our boat taxi…
This is the day we crossed the sea from the mainland to Nosy Be island, arriving at our “hut sweet hut.”
Meet the brilliant children on our team who God is using in ways unimaginable…
Rebe and Keely enjoying potato and egg tacos made with corn tortillas sent to us by our dear friends the Bells.
Myla enjoying her Birthday sundae in Hellville. She turns 6 on Saturday the 29th!
This is our buddy, Eli, he’s a missionary from Canada and a budding artist.
Keely loves collecting little trinkets wherever she goes…this day it was shells and sticks.
Camden has a conversation, a bright idea, or infectious laughter to offer anyone who will give him a grain of attention.
Myla keeps us all on our toes…
Recently our team welcomed Freda and Renald to share with us the history of the church in Madagascar as well as their Christian school ministry in Hellville.
This photo is taken of us on the half mile walk from our hut to Ambatozavavy Bay where we pick up a taxi.
This is a photo of Ambatozavavy beach when the pirogues are bringing in the fish.
This is taken in the morning when the pirogues are coming in with the early morning catch.
Camden was involved in the building of our new chicken house.
This is the local, village school in Ambatozavavy. It’s about a 15 minute walk from our hut and we have just started attending on Fridays.
First cake made in the jungle with my most treasured item brought all the way from Texas…the iron skillet! Yummy!
Simple pleasures…homemade tortillas and candlelight…
Three little Indians…
Myla lost her first tooth and will turn 6 on June 29th!
This is Myla on our first day at the local school in Ambatozavavy.
Here we are on our way back from the forest village. Our team members live about a 2.5 mile walk from our hut and we visit them each week. We were taking a short cut to our hut, which is also the cattle trail, lined with mango trees. Mango season is peak in October.
The girls enjoyed every bite!
They dig in the dirt, funnel sand through coconuts, climb trees, and you’ll notice we had a cool front come through as their wearing warmer clothes on this morning…68 degrees when we woke up and since we’ve acclimated here it felt like 50.
The view from one of our favorite restaurants in Hellville.
This is the roadside down the hill from our house… Camden is waiting for a taxi
Some of the team enjoying a meal at our homestay family’s house
A male chameleon sunning on the porch.
Team day on our porch
My language helper, nicolae (left), and another friend relaxing on the front porch (thanks for the guitar, Leachmans!)
Rebe preparing the fire to roast peanuts
This is the first photo of our team together in Antananarivo.
The kids organizing our buckets… No running water = importance of buckets!
This is Rebe’s “pretty area” of the house.
Rebe in the kitchen/Dining room. We also have three bedrooms and a small school room
This was taken from our front porch with our homestay kids Franklin and Rivaldo
Just up from our hut is our outhouse/bathing area. The yellow “jerry can” is full of water and warming in the sun for a nice warm camp shower later in the evening.
Our house sits on the side of a mountain. This is the front with banana and citrus trees all around.
Laundry day at the McReynolds
Camden with his homestay brothers Rivaldo, Franklin, Stephen, and Jonson.
The girls with sisters Alicia and Kelisia and Mama Cynthia
During our family trip to Lokobe, we came across several families of Black Lemurs (the males are black and the females brown). To quote Camden, “Awesome!!!!!!”
More Lemurs!!!!
Lunch on the beach with the families. Our host family were incredible cooks. For this meal we had coconut rice, avacado salad, and griled shrimp, fish, and oysters!
On the way home from Lokobe… tired but joyful.
Armand and Cynthia on our way to Lokobe with our families. The tide is way out!
Armand and Cynthia’s House and our home for a week
50 yards in front of our house is a mangrove area of the bay, which is excellent for fishing. Our line and hook (no rod) caught a “big one” this morning!
Papa and the kids walking on the beach. I spent most of the week with Papa collecting food for the meals. This paricular area of the beach is where we go to gather oysters (sadza).
The first day of our homestay week Camden and I went with our “Papa” (his name is Armand) to Lokobe reserve. Papa is a guide to visitors, which means he takes people to the forest (only accessible by boat) and guides them through the nature reserve. We were with a French couple from Champagne…
These are the boats we used to get from Nosy Be to Ambanja and back.
Taking in the scene as we wait to board our boats
This is the beach in Ambatozavavy at 6am. The men are preparing to set out for a day of fishing.
This is the view from the back of our homestay house. The kids are walking back from buying a few bananas (katakata). The field they are walking through serves as a floodplain/grazing area/soccer field.
Camden, Myla & Keely relaxing in the streets of Ambanja during our week of Language Traininig