Rakotovao Newsletter (Fall 2025)

Dear Family and Friends,

We greet you in Jesus' name from the other side of the world! Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support. We love working together with you to build the kingdom of God. These past few months have flown by and have been full of lots of different memories!

We received a team from the U.S. full of teenagers who were working on a project here on the base, as well as going out for outreach. They were able to inspire hundreds of youth while here. During this time we had to travel to Tana, because Fifa’s mom passed away at the age of 67. We praise God for her. She was a wonderful woman full of kindness and joy. She loved deeply, served Jesus wholeheartedly, and now rests in His arms. Her death has brought us closer together with Fifa's dad and closer together as a family. We praise the Lord for His protection, provision, wisdom and health while we traveled there and back, as well as in the growth of our children both physically, spiritually and intellectually. Fifa’s dad has been staying with us for two months to spend time with us and to help calm his heart, as he lost the love of his life. We have had many great conversations with him.

God has been good to us and we got another teen team approved for this coming Boot Camp, where there usually are six supported teams, now there are seven! Boot Camp is where the teenagers sign up to go on teams all over Madagascar and are trained at Boot Camp to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ in open-air evangelism outreaches, as well as in building team dynamics and a strong work ethic. We also supported some teens in going on teams. After Boot Camp, the teens travel with their teams all over Madagascar to spread the Gospel and help where needed and then come back. We are delighted to share that through these teens, 1,321 people accepted Christ into their hearts. At the same time, our hearts mourn because one of the staff children passed away during this time, and Jessica also had a scare with gout.

Today started the first day of school for Phoebe. She’s now in kindergarten and she absolutely loved it! We also helped a couple more families by supporting their kids to go to school as well. Marianah is now one year and six months old. She is so inquisitive, she is quick to catch onto something and her vocabulary is increasing everyday. She knows more than 40 words and can count to five! 

God has been teaching me, Jessica, about how caring and selfless He is. I did my devotions from the book of John and although the book’s theme is about how Jesus is God, I learned that Jesus would really look at people and be moved to action to help them somehow. Even Philippians 2:5 says that we should follow Christ’s example. 1 John says that loving others the way He does is a testament of our love for Him. Personally, I’ve been struggling with sadness, but it just brings me closer to Jesus and makes me want to hug my family a little longer and a little tighter. 

God has been teaching me, Fifa, starting from the death of my mom, the uncertainty of this life. We’ve planned a lot of things, but nothing is sure in this life. Looking at my mom, she was so confident and all of a sudden all of her qualities and plans became nothing. The only thing that matters is the memories that she has left for us. I’ve learned that we should leave a good memory for others. Another lesson is about my children, which is to control myself to respond rightly to them, especially Phoebe. Sometimes I rush to change her, but I must change my mindset to help her instead. I need to take control of my family, take precautions to protect my family and boldly make good choices for our marriage and children. It has confirmed for me that my family ministry is my priority more so than any other ministry or anything else. 

Thank you again for your prayers and financial support. God is at work in and through us through all things and we are thankful.

Prayer Requests:

1. To hear from God and to have wisdom in decision making.

2. To be good spouses for each other and good parents to our children.

3. For our spiritual growth and wisdom.

4. For Fifa's dad as he grieves the loss of his wife and best friend.

5. For us as we plan to move to the U.S. and to apply for Fifa's citizenship next year.

6. For the airline fees to be fully covered.

Love in Christ,

The Rakotovaos 

2 Chronicles 7:14