Madagascar Mia - Global Scholar | Faith in Seoul | Sovereignty & Community

You'd expect a girl raised on a tropical island in Madagascar to end up somewhere warm, somewhere familiar, somewhere close to home. Instead she's in Seoul, editing a Christian magazine, speaking English with a British accent she picked up by accident, and thinking more clearly about the sovereignty of God than most people twice her age. Madagascar Mia is one of the most unexpectedly deep conversations we've had.

We met Mia through a magazine interview she was conducting — about halfway through, we wanted to flip the tables and interview her instead.

We cover growing up as a pastor's kid in Madagascar, losing her faith at ten and finding it again at thirteen, the strange science of how she ended up with a British accent despite growing up speaking French and Malagasy, a full scholarship to a Christian university in South Korea she almost didn't apply to, what it's like to be an introvert building intentional community in one of the fastest-paced cities on earth, her vision for discipling the next generation of Malagasy youth, and a Ninja Turtles movie that nobody in Seoul showed up for.

LINKS
Handong Global University

REFERENCED
The Art of Divine Contentment by Thomas Watson
Ecclesiastes
2 Timothy 2

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 — Cold open — the haircut debate and the return of "high, low, buffalo"
4:16 — How Mia got booked — a magazine interview flipped into a podcast
7:01 — Life in Seoul right now, and the long road from Madagascar
9:39 — The full scholarship to Handong Global University she almost didn't apply for
10:42 — The mystery of the British accent
13:01 — Reformed roots — Mia's dad, Pastor Rakotobe, and a surprising Fali Rabenirina connection
14:50 — The high of her childhood — Jesus as a member of the family
16:19 — Losing faith at ten, finding it again at thirteen
21:07 — Editing a Christian magazine and interviewing believers around the world
22:11 — Community in Madagascar vs. community in Seoul — the cost of intentionality
27:01 — Made in the image of a communal, triune God
28:20 — What patience with people actually looks like, day to day
33:30 — Her vision: discipling Malagasy youth out of fear and into exploration
38:00 — Korean culture, K-pop, and the Ninja Turtles theater nobody showed up to
45:00 — Mia's question back to us — "What is God showing you about Himself?"
48:00 — Joe and Rush's own academic origin stories — probation, no SATs, a 1.9 GPA
51:00 — The walkaway

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The Most Interesting Person in the World — hosted by Rush Witt & Joe Keller