The Hinderlies are ELCA missionaries assigned to Madagascar, sponsored in part by this congregation.

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

First, we wish to thank you for your ongoing prayers for our family and for the struggles of the churches with
whom we work. As many of you are now aware, we were asked to relocated to Kenya about a week ago following
a long and still unsettled situation that has been occurring in Madagascar. I won’t go into the politics as that is
not for us to do, you can find a lot of information on the web through googling sites such as sobika, topmada and
others. Suffice it to say that for the past couple of months, living in the center of the city (which more often than
not has been the site of violence, demonstrations due to it being the center for many of the ministries and palace
of the government and which has been on the list of all embassies and non-governmental organizations including
the United Nations as an area to be avoided due to the possible danger of the demonstrations). This is where we
have lived, trying to get the boys to school and never certain from day to day whether we can even go out and
get groceries as well as travel uncertainties. It is an area where even those working for the missions and church
leaders are hassled as they come and go by all parties asking them which side they are one (as you can imagines
this is not the most healthy environment for work). There had been threats against church leaders by “unknown”
persons, some of those threats becoming reality. Through all this the church leaders have tried to bring about
reconciliation, unfortunately there were close relations with the previous president, and I underline were as whatever
gifts they had received, at least in the case of the FLM, were given back in order to distance themselves from
the government and become more a prophetic and objective voice. Unfortunately there have been those who have
continued to cast aspersions upon church leaders and others for their own benefit, and that has been hard to
hear as it lessens the impact the church can have on helping the grassroots and general populations. As such
please pray for reconciliation between church members, leaders and all Malagasy so that they can return to the
path that God calls them to and the relationship God means for them to have with one another.

For the moment we have relocated our work to Kenya per discussion with our own leaders in Global Mission
who have been very supportive of us all, both Missionaries and Church leaders. In the case of our other colleague,
she has gone to the States to continue work from there until we are given the okay that we can do the work we
need to do in Madagascar and the travel I have to do to in working the other churches with whom we work. In the
case of the church leadership, they have written to them and kept in contact directly and through us.
As you can imagine we specifically did not write much about the current situation and are refraining from
doing so now as often words, comments and such can be taken out of context or picked up those who would like
to destroy the work of the church or it’s workers (this is the reality of the modern electronic age that even our
sms, as well as phone calls, are monitored where we live). So I hope you will forgive us that we do keep information
down to a minimum.

We will keep you updated on our current situation but for the moment pray for the people of Madagascar,
Kenya with it’s drought and ongoing political issues, Sudan with it’s risk of humanitarian aid being no longer
available for those in need, Ethiopia as it faces drought and Uganda. This area of the world, as Gaylord Thomas
has commented, faces a Tsunami every 8 weeks of one kind or another, right now there are several that are affecting
the region.

Thank you to all who have been concerned with our situation, have been in contact and have been praying
for us and for the people of Madagascar. We give thanks to God for you, your love and faithfulness in the ministry
of the Gospel.

In Christ,
Andy, Barbara, Michael and Kristian Hinderlie
Nairobi, Kenya