CTS students Geoff Boyle, Evan Goeglein, Chris Hull, Jonathan Lorenz, Ryan Ogrodowicz, Mark Steiner, and Professor John T. Pless returned from a spring break Mercy Mission Expedition to Madagascar on March 8. This was the fourth trip to Madagascar led by Prof. Pless under the sponsorship of LCMS World Relief and Human Care. This year’s trip was unique given the political unrest on the African island which has brought the country to the brink of civil war. While the group had to adjust travel plans due to rioting, Pless, still judges the trip a success.

While in Madagascar the cohort visited two tobys (villages of mercy unique to Madagascar), a leper colony, an orphanage, a school for the blind, two hospitals, an agricultural school and a seminary all operated by the Malagasy Lutheran Church, a church body of around four million members. While in the central Malagasy city of Antsirabe, the CTS group worshipped at a Sunday morning service attended by nearly 3500 people. The group also witnessed a service of exorcism at a toby on the outshirts of Antsirabe.

Rioting blocked the highway to Fianarantsoa preventing the group from visiting the Good Samaritan Center for the Poor, a project supported by LCMS World Relief and Human with funds raised by the 2006 Mercy Mission Expedition. Nevertheless, this year’s group was afforded many opportunities to see the church’s corporate work of mercy in action. It was exciting for the group to tour the newly-completed pediatrics unit at the Lutheran Hospital in Antsirabe. The unit was constructed with a grant from LCMS World Relief and Human Care.

Two days were spent visiting the seminary in Antsirabe. Prof. Pless gave a convocation lecture on “The Doctrine of Vocation in the Small Catechism.” The CTS students made a presentation of books to the seminary library purchased with funds from Student Association in Fort Wayne. Copies of Concordia: A Readers of Edition of the Book of Concord and other theological books were presented to each of the Malagasy students as a gift from Redeemer Lutheran Church in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Clerical shirts, vestments and communion ware from the CTS Clothing Bank were also distributed. Prof. Pless presented the seminary president, Rev. David Rakotonirina a gift of $1250.00 from Bethany Lutheran Church in Naperville, Illinois to assist the school. A day earlier the CTS group also delivered a gift of $1250.00 from Bethany Lutheran Church to the Lutheran orphanage in Antsirabe.

As with past groups, the students who traveled to Madagascar have selected a project to support in partnership with LCMS World Relief and Human Care. This year’s project will provide cows for the leper colony and the toby in Antsirabe.

Reflecting on the trip, Prof. Pless commented “In spite of the perpetual tension generated by the unstable political circumstances in Madagascar, we had an excellent trip. In many ways this was the best of our trips to Madagascar. The students exhibited a good sense of humor, eagerness to learn from the Malagasy experience and a real empathy for the plight of our Lutheran brothers and sisters there. I am confident that this trip will be a formative event in the lives of these future pastors. We are deeply grateful for the steady support and visionary leadership of Pastor Matthew Harrison in making this opportunity available for our students.”