When my husband Doyle and I went to Geneva, Switzerland to begin the church there, we did not speak the local language, French. So we tried to use methods of finding contacts without having to speak. We printed cards to be placed into mailboxes, offering a Bible course in two lessons. When someone sent in the card, we sent them a lesson explaining what the Bible was, with some questions to be answered. When they sent back the first lesson, we sent them a small New Testament, with a more detailed lesson. When they returned answers to the second lesson, we tried to find them to give them a Bible in person.
A fourteen-year-old girl had finished both lessons, so we took her a Bible. When her father recognizing our accent and our difficulty speaking French, he responded in English and agreed for us to come and teach the whole family. We used the Jule Miller film strips with a cassette in good French. After several months of Bible studies, Doyle baptized the father, John Ratovohery, the mother, Esther, two teen-age daughters, and an aunt. They also had two younger boys, who were baptized at a later time.
This family was from Madagascar. John was a diplomat, working at the United Nations in Geneva. Later, he was sent to the Malagasy Embassy in Washington, D. C. He said that when he retired, he wanted to go back to Madagascar to begin the church in the capital city, Antananarivo. Doyle replied, “When you get ready to go, we will go with you to help you.” The diplomat retired in 1996, and we helped in Madagascar for two months. About two years before that, Doyle went there to place newspaper ads for World Bible School courses in French. We received so many requests for the courses that, by the time we arrived, we had over a thousand course completers in Antananarivo.
We sent them letters inviting them to meet us for personal studies. Doyle set up studies with people all day long, one hour each, with some starting before they went to work at 7 a.m. Back in 1994, Doyle had organized seminars at the Hilton Hotel. His translator, Voahangy, one of our WBS students who worked at a travel agency, was baptized in a motel swimming pool. His driver was also baptized, eventually, which you will understand from his own story.
My name is Romain Rakotomalala. As a schoolteacher, I was free during July and August. I was asked to meet someone at the airport with my car. That was how I met Doyle Kee and Beau Crump in Antananarivo, Madagascar. I was their chauffeur during their time in Madagascar, traveling to Tamatave on the east coast and Antsirabe, south of the capital. Though we talked during these trips, at no time did they speak about the purpose. So for me, they were just simple tourists.
One Sunday morning, Doyle asked me if I could take them to the church where I attended. I took them to the church where my children attended, which led to conversations about my spiritual search. I attended the conferences Doyle had organized at the Hilton Hotel, and that was when I discovered that Doyle was an evangelist. The day of their departure, I took them to the airport. Doyle paid me for my services, and said, “Can we leave this bag with you?” “No problem,” I said. We said our goodbyes, and I took the paper bag, and threw it in the back seat of my car and went home.
My wife and children were on vacation on the coast, so I was alone at home. I opened the paper sack, and found little red balls of cheese, some bread, and eleven lessons of the course, What the Bible Says. Right away, I began reading the lessons, with my Bible next to me. It was 5 p.m. I was so absorbed in reading that I didn’t see the hours pass. I didn’t even prepare my supper. I ate the balls of cheese and the bread and continued to read the courses until early morning. When I had finished, I said to myself, “This is what my soul has been searching for.” Several days later, I was baptized by an evangelist who was baptizing a group of people at the river.
When my wife and children came back from vacation, I told them about what had happened to me, and told them that they should also read the courses. When school started back at the high school where I taught, I began speaking a little about faith in God, but without insisting, because it was not authorized to speak about religion. Later, I obtained permission from the director to use a classroom after hours to speak to some of my students further about the Gospel. About twenty of these students were baptized, and we began meeting as the church of Christ in Madagascar, along with those that were baptized by Doyle during his conferences. I told Doyle about these developments. When Doyle and Barbara came the next time, we were about 30 meeting in our living room every Sunday. Nivo, my wife, was baptized by Doyle, and we began distributing and grading Bible courses.
Barbara continues: John and Esther, the diplomats with whom we came to Madagascar, started an orphanage, as they were seeing many children wandering the streets. They rented a house for these orphans, and the church began meeting there with the orphans. When they outgrew this house, they built a bigger place for the orphans, as well as a school in Ambohijanahery. Meanwhile, The Christians meeting in Romain and Nivo’s house outgrew it, and found a larger facility, centrally located for evangelism.
Romain had a radio program on Sunday mornings speaking about family issues. He began speaking about the Bible. On Saturdays, he began holding seminars in the Malgache language to talk about faith and salvation, allowing time for questions. This led to many baptisms and the church greatly increased in number. Later, Romain and Nivo evangelized in the north, at Majunga, where World Christian Broadcasting was building a radio transmission tower to reach more of the world. Currently, there are at least thirteen churches of Christ in Madagascar.
Such progress—from just a postcard in a mailbox, a 14-year-old child, and a package left with a driver. They helped to bring the Gospel to an entire country with thousands of converts. With God, all things are possible!