Please Note: We have made every effort to put the tools in place to allow direct communication for our short-term missions teams, but please be aware that due to technology differences (especially overseas), there may be challenges in the ability to update this blog on a regular basis. Thank you for your understanding.

Back in Washington

Posted: July 12th, 2009

Well…it was not as easy to use the internet in Paris as I anticipated.  On top of that, we only had one day and all of us made the most of it by staying in the downtown area ALL day.  We did finally get a flight out of Lome on Friday night at about 10:00 pm.  We arrived in Paris just after 6:00 am and hit the ground running.

This morning (Sunday) we caught a plane at 10:30 am Paris time and headed to Seattle.  We arrived in Seattle at 11:45 am Seattle time.  Our flight was fairly uneventful, with the exception of a bit of turbulence and a bit of motion sickness for a couple of our team members.  It is good to be home, but we will all miss Togo and the people there.

We are very thankful that despite various challenges we were able to get the job done in Togo as well as a few other odd jobs.  Thank you for all of your prayers for our team.

We Are Still in Togo

Posted: July 10th, 2009

Well, we finished the job in Mango…and the kitchen turned out great!  I will post pictures of it as soon as I am able to and  I will write more about our journey to Lomé when we get to Paris and I can use my own computer.  Right noz I am using a computer in a hotel in Lomé, not in Paris, because our flight last night was cancelled. 

We drove the 8 hours from Mango to Lomé yesterday (Thursday) and arrived early enough to go to an artesian center for some last minute shopping.  We then headed to a restaraunt for dinner with the intention of heading for the airport around 7:30 pm.  That plan changed a bit when Randy called in to Air France and learned that our flight was cancelled and rescheduled for tonight (Friday).  We went to the airport anyway to find out first hand.  The flight was indeed cancelled…they said the flight from Paris did not come in, so we had no plane to take back to Paris.  Air France did put us up in a hotel for the night and are covering our meals for today.  The hotel is pretty nice, and we are in walking distance of the market.  Please pray along with us that our flight will not be cancelled again tonight. 

Hopefully the next time you hear from me it will be from Paris!

Sunset in Mango

Posted: July 6th, 2009

Today, Monday, we went to the property that will eventually be home to a hospital here in Mango.  It was evening and Paul captured some great pictures of the sunset.  I thought I would share some of the beauty of Mango with you all.  Enjoy.

Sunday in Togo

Posted: July 6th, 2009

 

Our team had the wonderful opportunity to join up with the missionary team in Mango and drive north for two church services.  There is not a church here in Mango for the local team to attend, so it was a treat for them as well to go to two different Baptist churches north of here.

The first church we stopped at was in Tambaung.  Church started at 7:45, which meant we had to leave around 6:15!  Although we were all a bit tired, it was definitely worth waking up early for.  The church in Tambaung is a very small church in the middle of various fields.  Our group alone filled up about half of the church.  The music and singing was loud and lively.  We couldn’t understand the words in most of it, because it was in French and Moba, but that didn’t take away from the spirit of worship evident in everyone who was there.  It is hard to put into words the atmosphere at the church…joyful, happy, energetic, and so much more.  Toward the end of the service a storm began to roll in quickly, thankfully we were able to get to out vehicles before the drenching rain started.

We then drove in the down-pouring rain about 1 hour north to another Baptist Biblique Church in Dapaung.  Both churches have the same pastor, so he also had to make the drive up north to Dapaung.  Paul spoke at this church with the help of two translators (one translated English to French and the other translated from French to Moba).  If you think services are long at SBC when Paul preaches, try having his sermon translated twice!  We also had the privilege of witnessing four baptisms and participating in communion.  All in all the service went for about three hours, but it did not feel like it.

A couple of women in the Dapaung church made a delicious African lunch for us of rice and beef sauce.  We all sat together and enjoyed the meal before heading back south to the little village of Mango that has been our home now for a week.

One of the few activities available to do in Mango is to go see the hippos, so we took advantage of the opportunity to get up close and personal with some hippos.  Actually, I did not want to get too close to the hippos since they are fairly aggressive creatures.  We drove out past the hospital property and toward the hippo pond.  They were pretty easy to spot with binoculars, but they were on the other side of the lake so we could not get too good of a look at them. 

Thankfully…or not…we have several hunters in the group, and seeing hippos from a distance was not enough for them.  We walked around to the other side of the lake and quietly walked in closer to where the hippos were hanging out.  It was pretty cool to watch them move around in the water.  I did not want to get too close because hippos can run faster than us.  I kept an eye out for the nearest tree that I could climb.  It truly was a once in a lifetime experience to see hippos in their natural environment.  I will try to post a picture of the hippos to share with you all.

Thank you for all your prayers for the team.  Please continue to pray for water.  We have had the water off since Friday afternoon…79 hours so far.  God has provided water for us via a well nearby, so we are able to take bucket baths, but it would be great to get a real shower in before we leave for Paris on Thursday.

Just a Couple Pictures…

Posted: July 4th, 2009

I have had some trouble uploading pictures recently, but it is working tonight so I thought I would post a few more pictures for you all to take a look at.  Enjoy. 

Happy Independence Day!

Posted: July 4th, 2009

As I type this it is almost 9:30 p.m. on the 4th of July…that means it is about 2:30 p.m. back in Washington.  We have finished our 4th of July BBQ dinner and are now winding down for the night.  We will be up early tomorrow morning to drive north for two different church services a couple hours away.  Tomorrow evening we should have an opportunity to go out and see the hippos here in Mango.

We have been well fed here in Mango, but the 4th was probably the biggest spread of food yet.  So much pre-planning has to go into any meal here, but especially for an event such as a 4th of July BBQ.  Hamburger and hotdog buns were made ahead of time as were the baked beans, desserts, and salads.  The meat for hamburgers and hotdogs was purchased some time ago and was frozen in preparation for our big BBQ.  We brought some of the supplies with us including graham crackers, marshmallows, chocolate bars, table cloths, paper products, and lemonade…but all the other supplies were gathered by the missionaries here.

I also should mention that our water has been off for over 24 hours now, so you can imagine the difficulties that come from that situation.  Even with the non-existent water, we still had a wonderful BBQ with more food than we could eat.  The 10 members of the missionary team in Mango joined us and we had fun playing badminton, barbecuing hotdogs and hamburgers, roasting smores, and fellowshiping with each other and the local missionary team.

Cleaning the Local Hospital

Posted: July 4th, 2009

Kassi, Kristina, and myself had the opportunity to work with some of the women on the team here to clean the maternity ward of the local hospital on Friday morning.  We planned to clean all the tiled walls, which were extremely filthy.  We went to the market on Thursday afternoon to purchase various cleaning supplies for our cleaning project at the hospital.  Our plan had been for the 7 of us to clean as much as we could in two hours.  We knew there was no way we would be able to clean all the walls, but we would do what we could in the two hours we had.

We pulled up to the hospital and noticed that there was quite a few women and infants at the hospital–most of whom were on their mother’s back.  When we entered the hospital, we learned that they were doing vaccinations and other health things for the women and children…which explained the number of women and children there. 

Arrangements had been made earlier in the week for us to come clean, so the midwife in charge of the maternity ward knew we were coming and was ready for us.  She showed us around a bit and helped us get buckets of water.  As she was filling up the buckets, the water shut off…so we were going to have to make due with what we already had.  Each of us took a bucket of soapy water, put on our gloves, grabbed a scrubber and headed to a spot on the wall.  As we were working we could hear the midwife talking with some of the women who were there.  The next thing we knew there were between 20-30 women with babies on their backs putting on gloves and helping us clean the walls.

Thankfully, the water came back on and more buckets could be filled…but then the power went off!  By God’s grace the power came on after about 30 minutes.  We were able to work for a while with both water and power, which is more than I can say for the job site here at the guesthouse.  After about an hour and a half we had the entire maternity ward, plus the entry way cleaned!  What an experience to work along side these women.  Many hands definitely make light work.

Paul vs. Mango Police

Posted: July 4th, 2009

I didn’t have a chance to post about it yesterday, so I thought I would take the time today to write about Paul’s run in with the Mango Police.  I don’t know what it is about this team, but we seem to like having run-ins with the law!  Paul and Allen (one of the missionaries on the team here) rode bicycles into town to run a couple of errands.  Paul decided to video the ride to town by slipping his hand through the strap on the camera and then holding on to the handle of the bike.  As they were riding in town, a couple of young police officers had them pull over and told them that they needed to go to the police station. 

 Allan lives in the area they were riding in and speaks both French and Anufo, so he was able to communicate effectively with the police officers.  Basically, the officers were throwing their weight around and tried to tell Allan that it was not okay for Paul to video or take pictures of the town.  This is not exactly true…it is important to ask permission to take pictures and it is not okay to take pictures of the police…but Paul was not violating either of these conditions.  The police finally conceded, after about 20 minutes, that it was not against the law to be taking video or pictures as they were.

 Word gets around quickly in a small town, and even more quickly in a small African town like Mango.  Within a short time word has spread through town about the police and how they treated the “bature” (white people) and the local people were not pleased with the police.  Allan’s friend Benny (he is Togolese) came by the guest house and apologized to Paul for the actions of the police.  The people here know that the bature are in town to work on the new hospital and they don’t want to offend them or risk the hospital not getting built.

 Who knew that our own Pastor Paul was such a trouble maker!  Stirring the pot all the way in Mango, Togo Africa!

And The Work Goes On…

Posted: July 2nd, 2009

Praise God For Our New Diesel Generator!

 Wow!  Our power was turned off this morning at 6:15.  What a blessing the generator was today!  The guys spent some time pouring over the manual for the generator and figured out how to get it dialed in to be able to run all of the power tools with no issues.  They were able to accomplish a lot on their cabinet progress today without having to stop to deal with any electrical issues.  This was the first day that they did not stop at all for something related to the electricity–whether power outage or crazy wiring in the house.  Although the power did turn back on about 2:30, the guys continued to use the generator instead of risking the potential issues with the local power grid.

 Ryan says that by Saturday there should be cabinets up on the wall in the kitchen!  It is so fun to see the progress that is being made, even with all of the setbacks that there has been.

Please continue to pray for safety for our team, especially for those who are using the power tools.

Mr. Nogbedgi’s Sewing School

In the fall of 2006, our church had an opportunity to give money to help buy sewing machines for a couple of sewing schools here in Togo.  One of the schools that received new sewing machines was Mr. Nogbedgi’s Sewing School in Mango.  Mr. Nogbedgi uses his sewing school as a ministry to his students by teaching them not only how to sew but about Christ as well.  He only requires students to find housing and to pay $5,000 franks (about $10) for three years of apprenticeship training.  When they are done with the training, they are experienced with sewing all sorts of items and can work in the trade for a living.

 On Wednesday night we had the privilege of participating in Mr. Nogbedgi’s weekly prayer meeting.  Paul was asked to share a short devotional with the group (Randy Young translated into French).  It was quite special to sing hymns, pray, and open God’s word with this wonderful family.  Although we did not understand their language completely, we were all worshipping the same God, and one day in heaven we will be able to worship together in one common language.

 Today (Thursday), we visited Mr. Nogbedgi’s sewing school while it was in session.  All the students were dressed the same in uniforms they made themselves.

Power and Prison

Posted: July 2nd, 2009

Electricity?!

The second day on the job started with a big rainstorm overnight.  When it storms here in Mango, the power company shuts off the power.  This is not too big of a deal unless you are relying on power saws and battery chargers for cordless tools…which we are.  After waiting on power for a bit and realizing that the job is not going to get done if we have to rely on unknown power availability, Paul made the decision to go down to Kara (about 2 hours away) and try to find a generator.  Randy took Paul, Keith, and Tim Neufeld in the van and they headed down to Kara. 

 Once again, God has provided and has blessed us with a diesel generator that will run both saws and can then be left as an alternative power source for the guest house.  As I am writing this, on Thursday morning in Mango, our power is out and I am hearing the generator running outside and work is able to continue!

 Besides the local Mango power issues, the guest house we are staying in has electrical issues of its own.  Even when the power in Mango is on, it doesn’t mean that the power here at the guest house is functioning properly.  The electrician has been here on a daily basis working out kinks with the wiring here and discovered yesterday that the main power box (the one outside that receives the power from the city) was full of water and was bad.  To get a new one, we would have to look in Kara.

 At this point we expected that the guys would already be on their way back up to Mango, but a call in to Tim let us know that they were still close enough to go find a new power box.  Although it made them later coming back, they were able to get all the things we needed (at this point) to get the job done here.

 Please continue to pray for us and for the people and missionaries here in Mango.  Pray specifically for safety as power tools are being used regularly, and the local hospital can not handle serious injuries.

Women’s Prison Ministry

 Kristina, Kassi, and I had the wonderful opportunity to visit the local prison with two of the missionaries on the team here, Becky and Anna.  Becky and Anna have been meeting weekly with the two women, Abiba and Ajua, who are in the prison.  They sing a couple songs, Becky tells a story, and they do a bit of discipleship with Abiba who has accepted Christ.  Anna has also put together a small library of French books for the women to choose one from each week.  Although Ajua does not speak French or Anufo (the local tribal language), she still listens and is able to see the pictures in the story.  They have been meeting in this capacity since January.

Please pray for these two women.  They do not know when they will be released from prison.  Abiba has professed her faith in Christ in this highly Muslim area, please pray for her continued spiritual growth.