Fifa & Jessica Rakotovao Newsletter (Fall 2024)

Dear Family and Friends,

We want to let you know the work that has been done these past few months in Madagascar. It has been our continuing goal to live for Christ and to encourage and lift up those serving with us in the ministry. We are fueled by your prayers and support of us throughout. 

Our family is doing really well! During the time the teens were here, Phoebe played a lot with her friend, Brendah. Her and Brendah are like sisters; they’re so close. Both of their favorite parts of Boot Camp were during the rally. I would dress her up each evening in a different dress and she would parade herself up to the Big House to show off and to play. She liked to jump up and down to the music, then we’d go home and I’d read her a Bible story before bed. She just started school again at the Daystar International School. 

Marianah is also doing really well. She is a healthy and happy baby. She hardly ever cries and is super calm. This past month we had a lot of fun during meal times because she is really enthusiastic to try all of the different foods. She tries her best to take it from our hands. She has already started eating some mashed up food like rice, oranges, bananas, and something that’s like cream of wheat. She’s also starting to lean toward the person she wants to hold her and screaming from the top of her lungs. She is adorable and growing so fast! This month she’ll be six months old!

I, Jessica, taught Spiritual Life for three months at the Bible school. I really loved teaching the students. Also, I was able to teach in Malagasy and English. Since more than half of the students have been applying themselves to learn English, it is getting easier for me to articulate what I really mean and also my Malagasy vocabulary keeps improving. In my class I went over God’s commands, the necessity of His commands; how we’re justified by faith through the propitiation of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross; how we live by the Holy Spirit; how to avoid falling into idolatry; how we are the priests and ambassadors of Christ; how our relationship with Christ needs to be intimate; how to stand firmly and strongly by taking on the armor of God; how it costs us to be Christ’s disciples; and lastly the signs of a cold and dying spirit and how to avoid or escape from the ‘miry clay’ of sin. All of the students grew a lot and learned a lot and I’m very proud of their growth and their seriousness of the study.

God has been teaching us first that we need to observe; it’s important to learn from other people and to be patient with ourselves in the learning process. We feel that God has been putting us through lots of tests to build our perseverance. God knows our hearts and He will find us faithful to Him and His Truth. We’ve been trying to be humble in everything. God has also been teaching us to be more quiet and not to talk as much. Because “Those who guard their mouths and their tongues keep themselves from calamity.” Proverbs 21:23, We don’t need to justify ourselves with words, but just need to prove our faithfulness by our work.

We’ve prepared and finished the Madagascar Boot Camp. It went really well! The team members are trained at Boot Camp on how to have a deeper relationship with Jesus, how to work and how to share the Gospel. Fifa and I helped to teach and translate the Bible classes. We had over 200 leaders and team members that accepted Jesus as their Savior at the Boot Camp and then they went to seven different places around Madagascar to preach the Gospel and to help some churches—1,067 people accepted Jesus as their Savior through the hard work of teens. This Boot Camp had a lot of prayer go into it and we give all the glory to God for the fruits of His Kingdom!

Lord willing, we will be coming to the U.S. sometime in December, please email us at [email protected] if you want to spend some time with us while we’re there. We are very excited, and are thankful that Fifa’s visa was approved.

Thank you very much for your love, prayers, and support! We are continually humbled and uplifted. God is using you very big in our lives and in doing so has touched thousands of lives here in Madagascar! God bless you abundantly for your faithfulness and love!

In Christ,

The Rakotovao Family

Fifa, Jessica, Phoebe & Marianah

2 Chronicles 7:14