Hello from Mandritsara!

For those who haven’t met us yet, we are the Petersen family – Brendan (GP), Shannon (GP Obstetrics), Willow (age 3.5, aspiring singer and snail collector) and Josiah (age 20 months, lover of all things muddy).

We arrived from Sydney, Australia in November 2021 and have since been settling into life in Mandritsara. While the challenges and stresses associated with uprooting our family are significant, this has been countered with a wonderful sense of peace and relief at finally arriving in Mandritsara after almost 2 years of praying, preparing, support raising and trying to move across the world in the midst of a pandemic. 

We are very thankful for Bako, the AMFM language teacher. We have recently commenced working in the hospital, but had previously spent each morning with Bako learning Malagasy/Tsimihety. I can’t say we are particularly gifted at languages, but thanks to her gift for teaching and all the hours she puts into preparing for the lessons, we are making progress. Trips into town now feature less of our stunned and confused faces as we try to make sense of how much a banana costs, and more laughter from the market vendors (and their entourage) when we try to say a few words in their language.

We would love you to join us in thanking God for:

• Our safe arrival and settling in, and our language learning thus far

We would love your prayer for:

• Our adjustment to our roles in the hospital (Brendan – working as part of the medical team, and also joining the community health team occasionally; Shannon – supporting the maternity department, while also working as part of the medical team)

• Not losing sight of what really matters – loving God and loving one another

Blessings,
Brendan, Shannon, Willow, Josiah