Another video posted for WordPress because they dont have a (free) video option.

This is the boys working out to Jillian Micheals with me. I guess they saw on the screen that most of the ladies working out werent wearing shirts (!) so they took theirs off as well. haha.

enjoy.

not to confuse you or anything, but i cant figure out how to post video on our new wordpress blog (or even if i’m able to!) so i’m posting them here for viewing, but still continuing to write there. sorry.

“does this bug you judah? does it, does it? how about this, does this bug you?” Judah watching a movie while his brother is otherwise entertained. haha.

not to confuse you or anything, but i cant figure out how to post video on our new wordpress blog (or even if i’m able to!) so i’m posting them here for viewing, but still continuing to write there. sorry.

“does this bug you judah? does it, does it? how about this, does this bug you?” Judah watching a movie while his brother is otherwise entertained. haha.

It’s just over 5 years of blogging on Xanga that i’m leaving behind, but i reckon it’s time. The writing has been fun, but the editing and what Xanga has given me for my money and my investment has been poor. So, “Veloma Xanga, Manaona WordPress!” It’s difficult to leave all this history behind and move to a new platform, but i know you (the writing) will still be there for me to remind us of where we’ve come from. <sniff> And i’ll manually paste all you’ve got to say into my hardcopy books…

For you faithful readers, please dont get lost! You can find the continuing adventures of the J.R.Pletts now transcribed at >> http://writewhatyousee.wordpress.com/

If anyone is interested in a flight that I did a couple of weeks ago with SIL/Wycliff you can follow the link below.

http://www.maf-uk.org/How_to_reach_remote_translators/6054.id

Hope you enjoy,

Josh

I just watched this trailor for Food Inc. this morning. What they’re talking about is, to a certain extent, a large part of what i like about living in Madagascar because there’s easier access to locally grown (blemished ) produce that, i’d wager, hasnt been grown with genetically modified seed (i could be wrong, i have no idea how to find out whether the seeds are g.m. though since i’m not an aggie or a scientist). I like to think that living here helps me live longer and healthier because i’m eating better food. It’s annoying at times because the produce goes bad quicker, but that in itself is an indication that it’s not modified to look great on the shelf for 2 weeks.

A big “woot!” to those of you who are currently preparing for a home-grown season of un-genetically-modified-seed fresh veggies and fruit and the subsequent season of canning and “putting up”. You are truly heroes of food

For those of you who are interested to know what kinds of produce we enjoy here i can list of a quick tally off the top of my head that i can find in the fruit/veggie alley just up the road from our house and/or at the public outdoor market:
just now we’re enjoying avocados
tomatoes
bananas
pineapples
apples
grenadelle… which would be passion fruit in english.
strawberries (but we have to freeze them for 4 days minimum to kill any trace of shistomyosis, that parasite that eats your brain. yum)
i’ve got raspberries in my garden
potatoes
carrots
green beans
mangoes
cacky
chou-chou
litchis (of course! cant forget those!!)
breadfruit
jackfruit
eggplant
green peppers
spicy peppers
plums/apricots/peaches
grapes
guava
custard apples
papaya
a type of squash that we use like pumpkin
i’ve got spinach in my garden, but i reckon it’s at the end of it’s season.
lettuce
i think leeks? i’m not familiar with that veg. so i’m not sure what it looks like. there’s all sorts of leafy stuff i cant identify.
Rhonda used to grow broccoli and cauliflower in her garden
corn (although i’ve never tasted good sweet corn on the cob here, sadly)
(small and potent) onions
garlic
cucumbers
zucchini
mandarins (in winter – june-aug)
lemons and limes
pok-pok (are those grown here locally or just in SA?)
mushrooms (although i’ve never been brave enough to buy them on the road)
peas
lots of herbs
…

am i missing anything?
Perhaps Madagascar Manna should have a recipe-a-day month on the topic of fresh produce and what to do with it… that way i’d have more motivation to make use of the produce that grows almost literally at my fingertips.

in my last entry i included the phrase, “the independence that comes from earning your own wage from someone you dont feel obligated to show yourself responsible to” in the list of things that we have in the Better life. I must have been thinking one thing and writing another, because not being responsible to those who pay our wage is definitely NOT something that is part of the Better Life. Interdependence is a large component of that kind of lifestyle and we’ve grown to appreciate it. Independence, what i meant by that phrase, is something people outside the Kingdom Culture think is a good thing. I disagree, based on what i understand the Bible to be saying about money and resources.

Secondly, i wanted to include, but forgot, that one of the aspects of the Better Life is a sense of Calling. I want to be sure that people dont mis-understand me when i talk about these kinds of things and then list examples that i am familiar with here in madagascar when there are many people living the Better Life in Canada and elsewhere, not being ‘foreign missionaries’. We’re not all called to the same thing. To be sure, we all need to follow our Callings so that we’re in the places God wants us to be, using the gifts he’s given us to use in that particular place. A sense of God’s Calling us to be where we are, in the workplace, in our communities, is a large part of Living the Better Life.

Thanks for all the comments on the previous post. Although i’m trying to live for Recognition of the One and Only, it does my heart good to receive encouragement from His people too.

I have a confession to make. We are really and truly content here where we are, with our life and our location and the circumstances we find ourselves in. A few years back i do confess that i had this scheme that we would move overseas as missionaries and then somehow find a company to work for that would pay us to live here so we wouldnt have to raise support (for our ministry with MAF). I thought, then, that opting out of the seemingly uncomfortable situation of being dependent on others for our finances was the better option. 5 years into it though i reckon that i can stare that Temptation in the face… and turn away.

It is a common misconception in the world today that more is better. Independence is better. “The good life” (money, position, recognition, and whatever else falls into that) is better. I’ve come to realize here that there is the “good life” and then there is “the Better Life”, and that’s what we’ve got baby! Contentment (in any circumstance, whether rich or poor, well fed or hungry), Position, and Recognition by the only One that matters in this world. There is nothing better than that, and i truly believe it. There are many people (many!) who simply cannot understand that concept at all. The idea of living in a poverty stricken country, surrounded by challenges and cultural differences – things that dont make ANY sense! – removed from family and friends and the comforts of “home”, and being content and happy with what you’ve got, so content and secure in fact that we can give a lot of what we have away is a foreign concept to many people outside the Kingdom Culture. (and perhaps to some within the Kingdom Culture as well, sadly).

Of course, it is entirely possible to have “the Better Life” in Canada, however i’m starting to realize that it might not be as easy a choice as it is here where we are confronted with stark contrasts on a daily basis. I’m realizing that those who do support us (our ministry with MAF) financially are undoubtedly living in a far more challenging cross-cultural experience that we are in many ways. It’s becoming slowly, and only partially obvious to us naive missionaries, removed from the “Babylon society” of Western culture that there are pressures, temptations, and conflicts of Kingdom Culture interests that we have not had to even think about while being here. It scares me, i confess. Does it scare you? To be sure, we are not immune from these things where we’re at. I reckon the virus comes from the very heart of man – every man no matter what class or socio-economic level he finds himself in. Ach, but the temptations seem more black and white here, less concealed in the garb of ‘good’, the “Better” cast more roughly in the shadow in a more affluent and hedonistic country.

I read something in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver about produce that makes so much sense here: that you can tell the natural, “organic” goodness of a piece of fruit by it’s blemishes. The ones that look perfect have been made that way, disguised, as it were – but the cost of “perfection” is the inherent goodness of the fruit, the lack of nutrients and the addition of lesser things. The ‘good’ fruit looks nicer, but the ones with the blemishes are Better.

Anyway, all that to say, things look a lot different through Kingdom Culture lenses than through any other lens… Upsidedown, you could say. May we seek to wear those lenses more often.

Met girlfriends yesterday for cappuccinos at the Savanna Cafe. They have a beautiful terrace that overlooks the rice fields, so we sat there under the umbrellas and palm trees and sipped our drinks. Lovely.
 

So we can remember “happy Asher” i’ve posted some Happy Asher videos. Just now he is Miserable! All night, all day. <sigh>

On Tuesdays the ladies both come in the morning, and Irene brings her adoptive son Adrian to play. They usually have a grand time together playing in Malagasy while i’m off at the Beth Moore Bible study.

Climbing up the drawers to the top, where all the good stuff is kept (not anymore!)

For future reference i would like to mention here that i figured out the reason for the huge influx of water into the truck every time it rained. Yep. I am a mechanical genius.

As i i have a quiet moment alone while the boys are having ‘boys bath’ upstairs with their dad i can mention some irrelevant things that i may find interesting when i re-read this blog in a years time.

- we are counting down the 10 weeks until we leave for Canada with hesitant enthusiasm.
- i want to write an article for the Messenger about the trials of furlough for missionaries.
- I just did write a book review for a furlough preparation type book called “Families on the Move: Growing up overseas and Loving it!” by Marion Knell. My title for the review was “I’d rather have malaria than this any day!”, trying to communicate the fact that a) malaria isnt as deadly as many Canadians are taught to think and b) furlough is really quite terrible at times for missionary families.
- already mentally packing the boys’ travel backpacks with new toys and special things to keep them… calm.
- unenthused about ANOTHER Saturday without Josh. <sigh>. However, considering friends of mine dont see their husbands for half a month at a time! i reckon i wont complain too much. You know that story doesnt make us want to ever leave MAF, dont you? haha
-