November 12, 2020 Update
My dear Brother Rev. Dr Roger Paavola
President
Mid-South District
LCMS
LIME has been back to ordinary teaching work for one month now. Thank you very much to make it happen through your saving gifts. Class doors are now open and there are students and teachers inside the classrooms.
However, not all the students are back. The COVID-19 has heavily impacted on the financial health of families. Some students could not yet come back to LIME. But let us pray that they will come back later.
The Lord be with you!
I have sent you some photos of LIME one month after our coming back to school. This has happened because of your loving gifts and of the LCMS Mid-South District. Thank you and thank you very very much my Brother.
A WARM AND HUGE THANKS TO YOU, TO ANGELA FOWLER, TO YOUR STAFF AND TO THE MID-SOUTH DISTRICT AS A WHOLE. MAY JESUS CHRIST, THE GOOD TEACHER, BLESS YOU ALL!
Your brother across the ocean, Joseph
10-23-2020 update:
Dear Brother Rev. Dr. Roger Paavola,
The Lord be with you!
We are very grateful and indebted of love to Jesus Christ, the Teacher and the Head of the Church, and to you all who have accepted to be the heart and the hands of Jesus Christ to feed us and to take care of our LIME. What you have done points to the miraculous multiplication of the five loaves and of two fishes done by Jesus Christ in the desert.
We have only one word from the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of love. That is THANK YOU ALL. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. MAY JESUS CHRIST, THE LOVE MADE FLESH, REWARD YOU ALL ONE HUNDRED TIMES MORE!
Your brother across the ocean, Joseph.
We all thank you and thank you very, very much. Praise be to Jesus Christ!
Ed. note: Above is an email from Rev. Dr. Joseph Randrianasolo of the Lutheran Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship (LIME) in Madagascar. If you wish to help, please send donations directly to the District or give online here.
9-24-20 update: Generous Response to Assist the Lutheran Institute in Madagascar. Thank you to all who responded to the recent appeal on behalf of the Lutheran Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship (LIME) in Madagascar. As noted in the appeal, LIME has been hit especially hard by the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Institute’s doors have now been closed for six months, creating a tremendous hardship for the staff members and their families. Rev. Joseph Randrianasolo, Rector of LIME, shared that the staff have stretched their resources as far as they can, but that the coming month will be marked by extreme hunger—or worse—without the help of outside aid. In response to this critical need, LCMS members and ministries across our District have shared just over $6,000 to assist our Lutheran brothers and sisters in Madagascar. These funds will go far to help sustain the LIME staff through the coming months of the continuing pandemic.
Over the last several years, the Mid-South District has been blessed to get to know and support the Lutheran Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship (LIME) in Madagascar. Led by the Rev. Dr. Joseph Randrianasolo, who addressed the delegation of our District’s 2018 Convention, LIME offers Malagasy adults (both lay and clergy) the opportunity for advanced studies as part of a three-year curriculum which includes Biblical courses. But like many organizations, businesses and individuals, LIME has been hit especially hard by the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Graduating its last class in January of this year, the Institute’s doors have now been closed for six months. With no tuition coming into the school, Rev. Dr. Joseph Randrianasolo has shared that the six staff members of LIME and their families now face a dire situation: the very real possibility of starvation.
In a recent message to Mid-South District President Rev. Dr. Roger Paavola, Rev. Joseph noted that the staff have stretched their resources as far as they can, but that the coming month will be marked by extreme hunger—or worse—without the help of outside aid. In response to this critical need of our Lutheran brothers and sisters in Madagascar, the Mid-South District is sending support and inviting ministries and individuals across the district to do the same. Donations to benefit the staff of LIME and their families can be made on the Mid-South District website or by check. When making an online gift, choose the “Restricted Gift” field and designate the funds for “LIME Staff COVID-19.” Gifts by check should be made payable to the Mid-South District with “LIME Staff COVID-19” in the memo line. Please mail any check donations to: The Mid-South District LCMS, 1675 Wynne Road, Cordova, TN 38016
All funds directed to the Mid-South District will be wired promptly to LIME in Madagascar. In the past, ministries and individuals across the Mid-South District have shown tremendous support for the Institute, its staff and students by funding significant technology and facility upgrades. We pray for another overwhelming response to help our Lutheran friends in Madagascar face this new difficulty.
