Young Couple to Survey Madagascar

July 16, 2009 – 3:03 pm

Daniel, Keren, and little Hana Kate Threlfall, a young family from Greenville, SC, are making plans for a survey trip to the island country of Madagascar.

Daniel* will depart from the US at the end of July and meet up with a couple of missionary friends in Africa. August 10 they plan to arrive in Madagascar for a ten day survey of several regions within the country in order to better plan for future ministry there. As Daniel writes in their Fall update letter

Though the efforts of this trip are not directly aimed at soul-winning and evangelistic outreach, what is learned on this trip will be crucial preparation for future ministry. What we learn during this trip will directly impact the evangelism and church planting of our long-term ministry.

In a recent email conversation Daniel mentioned that the trip will be

challenging, both for its vast size, it’s impenetrable areas, and its gospel-starved culture. Most of our traveling will be via helicopter, though I will travel by airplane and 4×4 to some locations. [He said that travel via helicopter is usually cheaper than via plane.] We plan on visiting rural unreached villages that have never heard the name of Christ, as well as larger cities that may eventually serve as a base of operations.

Please pray for the Threlfall family as they venture into this new phase of ministry. Here are some specific requests:

• Wisdom and funding as they make final preparations for their survey trip.
• Protection for the men as they travel and interview people.
• Adequate translators along the way. It’s difficult to gather information if you can’t understand them!
• Protection and strength for Keren and Hana Kate as they remain at home. Keren is unable to make the trip due to the late stage of her pregnancy.

Be sure and check out their blog, Mission Madagascar, where they publish posts related to family, missions, Madagascar, their survey trip, and Daniel’s sermons/lessons.

*FYI, Daniel is a 3-time SGI National Conference attendee, as well as a participant in an SGI internship in Tanzania. I couldn’t resist that free plug for the SGI Conference coming up January 4-6, 2009!