Hailes on Mission

The greatest aim that we have as a family is that the Lord would be glorified in and through us.   This past month has had so many events that we could not even begin to tell you all of them.   We have had some really good times, some trying times, and some moments of just being in Awe.   The Lord has been at work in and through us all.   We just praise Him for choosing us and our teammates here in Fort Dauphin and on the Island to be vessels used by Him.   We don’t understand why or how all the time but we have found that His calling upon us all is very simple “go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all of creation”.   That is all that we have tried to do by being here in Madagascar.   We are just trying to be obedient to the Lord.   The amazing thing that we have seen is that as we have taken baby-steps of faith He has always proven Himself to be faithful and worthy to receive all that we have and are. July has gone by so fast but n...

In Nelson’s Student Bible Dictionary, prayer is defined as, “communication with God.” This communication with God is vital to our walk with the Lord.   In First Thessalonians 5:17, Paul reminds us to “pray without ceasing.”   To pray without ceasing we must live with an awareness that God is with us at all times.   We must keep our focus on Him knowing that He is actively involved and engaged in our thoughts and actions.   This requires a conscious effort on our part to keep Him at the forefront of our thoughts at all times.   But, how many times do we find ourselves as Paul describes in Romans 7, “I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”   We know we need to be in constant communication with God, but our human nature, selfish ambitions get in the way.   It is said that prayer doesn’t always change what you’re praying for but that it changes the heart of the person praying.   I agree.   We must be surrendered to the Lord ...

From the Beginning to the End, God is. God is the Author of our lives.   He is writing each of our stories.   For many people, their stories haven’t started, but that’s why we do what we do.   That’s why we seek to fulfill the Great Commission. Scripture is powerful.   The living, active Word of God.   It never returns void.   When we read it, it fills our spirits and floods our souls.   From early in my walk with the Lord, I knew I needed the Word of God.   I began studying it.   The same scriptures that I read on different days would speak to me in different ways.   The more I grew with God, the more He continued to reveal Himself to me through His Word. We have lived in Madagascar for 2 years and 8 months.   We have been through ups and downs.   We’ve had times of rejoicing and others of doubting.   We’ve had relationships that have grown stronger and others that have fizzled out.   Our lives h...

In the past few weeks since our last update we have stayed fairly busy.   However, it is to be said that life here on the island goes a little slower than in other places but then again it seems like it just flies by as well.   We have gotten the house back in order, survived more illness, taken a trip to the bush as a family, started back up with the in town Bible Studies and enjoyed all of this with Suzie’s parents Charlie and Zala being here with us.   Needless to say it has been a blessing to have family with us and Grandparents make it even more special.   I believe the girls and River have enjoyed all of the special attention they have received.   We haven’t slowed down a lot with family being in town.   We are still rolling and going and just enjoying life.   Here in town they have visited the local church and been to a few of the weekly Bible Studies that we train trainers for and at.   Phoebe, Emma, Baylee and River have all been...

We must say that we don't really want a repeat of this last month.  It was a very challenging month for us overall.  We praise the Lord that He was good to us and guided us through some difficult times but we also ask the Lord not to put that much on us again at one time.  Ministry wise we had a good month of seeing people get fired up for the Lord again.  We had noticed a lull in people after we got back from having a baby but the Lord began to light a fire in the hearts of our national partners and we have seen and heard great things.  With this ministry we encountered some of the worst roads we have seen since being in Madagascar.  There was lots of water on the main roads and it seemed like we drove from mud hole to mud hole all day long.  Trips took twice as long and they were very rough on the cars.  Praise the Lord that because of our supporting churches generosity through the SBC we have a strong vehicle that got us through the mud holes. ...

We have made it back to Mada as you all know and we have our new baby boy adapted to the hotter and more humid weather of Madagascar.   We have been blessed by the Lord that the transition here has gone well.   We did all have a little sickness (at the same time) but Praise the Lord we are all doing well.   We can’t say that it is easy having and taking care of a baby in a 3 rd world country but we can say that the Lord is gracious to us.   On top of that Suzie has been completely awesome and has found a schedule that works and she has begun to get out and encourage the small groups in town that she is a part of.   Emma and Baylee have been hard at work with school and we are so proud of them and how they are progressing along this school year.   Phoebe is doing well at boarding school and is enjoying playing on the soccer team.   We do feel like we are always transitioning but we are also thankful that during all these transition times we are ...