Light of Togo

In the last post, I mentioned that I’d be preaching a couple times this week.  Thanks to all of you who were praying for this.  I really believe that God worked in a great way through both of these opportunities.  I, of course, can take zero credit for anything that God does.  He simply used His Word like He has promised to do, and He just happened to use me in the process.  It’s incredibly humbling that God would ever use somebody like me, and I give Him all the praise and glory for it.

I’ll hopefully be able to post the audio from Wednesday night’s sermon if I can get it from the sound ministry at church tomorrow.

Only 3 days to go!  We’ll be writing one last blog post before leaving Tuesday, and we’ll give you some details about the trip.

Today is 7. Tomorrow will be 6. The next day won’t be soon enough! It probably doesn’t need to be said that we are ready to go! We have finished everything that needs to be done, other than packing our suitcases, and we are beyond excited to leave.

We’re using this last week to spend as much time as possible with friends and family, all of whom we will miss very much.

Please start to pray, if you haven’t already, for a smooth transition and adjustment to life in Togo.  We can’t wait to tell you what it’s like!

Several weeks ago I was asked to speak at our church’s Men’s Prayer Breakfast on the 31st of this month.  Then a couple days ago our pastor asked me to take the entire service this Wednesday night to preach and share some details about our move to Togo and our soon-to-be ministry there.

So, needless to say, that put me in to “study mode” this week.  I really enjoy times like this when I can dig deeply into a passage of Scripture in order to discover the main, over-arching idea of the passage and then the individual truths that support that idea.  I tend to be a more introverted and studious person, so figuring out how to effectively communicate those truths to other people is usually where I struggle, but I thank God for showing me that I can never rely or depend on my own strength or abilities, but on His grace and Spirit.

On Wednesday, I’ll be speaking from a text that’s very familiar to me, 2 Corinthians 5, mostly verses 11-21.  It’s one that I preached from often during deputation, but I’ll be coming at it from a different angle.  That’s the beauty of the Bible; it can be preached over and over again and never get old.  There is no way in a lifetime - in ten lifetimes - that we could exhaust every truth and every application of every passage in the Bible.

I’d greatly appreciate your prayer for me as I prepare and then as I preach.  I have preached many times, but do not even remotely feel that I have mastered it.  And to tell you the truth, I hope that I never do because that will probably be the day that I stop relying on Christ alone in order to do it.  So, above all, please pray that I will be completely reliant and dependent on the Holy Spirit, and that I will communicate effectively the message of the passage and not my own opinions.  And pray as always that God will be glorified!

Over the weekend, we had the pastor of one of our supporting churches come visit us. We had a really great time getting to know him better. Before he came, we really weren’t sure what the reason was for his coming, but it turned out to be a great blessing in so many ways. He shared with us that his church had recently sold their building and had a surplus of money. So, on top of their monthly support, they wanted to give us $3600 to help out with our travel and setup expenses!  We’re amazed, once again, at how God gives us over and over again what we don’t deserve.  Everything we have - whether financial, material, or spiritual - is a gift of His grace!

He also shared with us some of the struggles that his church is having right now and they are really seeking the Lord right now to know what direction to take.  Please pray for this church and the pastor as they are make some difficult decisions about their future.

Exactly two weeks from today we’ll be heading to the Portland airport to begin our looong flight to Togo. We just can’t believe that we only have 14 days remaining at home before we leave. We were so busy over the past couple months that the closeness of it never really sunk in until just a few days ago once things started to slow down. What’s nice is that we have accomplished just about everything that needs to be done, so for these next couple weeks we can really spend some quality time with family and friends.

I’ve got several things to update you about, so rather than writing a bunch of separate posts, I’ll include them all briefly here in this one big update buffet.

• We ordered our appliances yesterday, and though they were a little more expensive than we were going to pay with the other company, the total price was not as bad as we thought it would be.  The other bit of great news is that they should arrive in Missouri within about a week, which will give Friends in Action enough time to put them on the container.

• Our Togo visas came yesterday, and they were approved!  So, we now have all the essential things we need in order to make our trip without any major difficulties.  Thank you God!

• Just six months ago, we had no idea if we were going to have enough finances for everything involved in our move to Togo.  But as of right now, it’s looking like our overall financial situation is much better than we originally had thought it would be.  God has provided unexpected money from various places, and we’ve tried to keep our expenses to a minimum to save money wherever we can.  We still do not know exactly how much we will have to pay for certain things, like taxes on our container and vehicle, but according to our “guesstimations” it looks like we will be somewhere between breaking even to running a few thousands short.  I know that probably doesn’t sound like good news to you, but to us it’s incredibly good news considering that we originally thought that we’d be standing on a street corner with a sign by now!  It’s just incredible to see how God has been providing in every way, even through a terrible economic recession.  It’s just more proof to us that He is in complete control and that we have nothing to worry about when we’re in His hands!

• I had the privilege of speaking at two unique events this week.  The first was a lunch banquet for our church’s Forever Young ministry.  I spoke about how to effectively pray for missionaries and shared with them a bit about what missionary life is like.
Then today I spoke at Marshal High School in their Bible club, which was started by some teens from our church.  I spoke about the “what” and “why” of our missions work in Africa, explaining first what we’ll be doing and then why we’ll be doing it.  I talked about the great need that mankind has for the truth of God, which is revealed through the Bible and through Jesus Christ.  I then was able to describe what Christ did for us when He died on the cross and took the punishment for our sins so that we could be forgiven and have eternal life and a relationship with God.
Every time that I speak or preach anywhere, I am just amazed that God would choose me to speak for Him.  I am reminded of what the Bible says in I Corinthians 1:26-31:

26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.

30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

31 That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

That is exactly what we are to do, each time that God uses us to do anything.  We are to realize that we can’t do anything of value on our own (in our flesh), but that anything good that is done by us is simply the work of Christ through us.  If that’s the case, then we can never glorify in what we’ve done, but only in what God does through our lives.

I came across an incredible article the other day, written by an atheist columnist for the London Times named Matthew Paris.  He talks about how, in his opinion, Africa benefits most not from governmental development programs or donated money from other countries, but from Christian missionary work.  This is the real deal here.  This guy isn’t working for a church, he’s not writing for a Christian magazine.  He’s an atheist.  He’s writing for the London Times.  But the African people’s need is so obvious, and the change among the African Christians is so profound, that he cannot deny the effect of the gospel there.  Please take a minute to read this.  You’ll be convinced, or more convinced, of the need for Christian missions work in Africa.  I just thank God that He has chosen us to be a part of it!  What a great privilege!

A few weeks ago, a friend of ours at church told us about his boss at work and about a unique donation that he had given to help missions work.  He works at Cutco, which is a very large knife and kitchen utensil maker.  His boss had heard about remote villages where the people spend countless hours peeling their potatoes and other vegetables with whatever tools they have available, which is usually just a very dull knife.  So, he donated a bunch of Cutco potato peelers to help some remote villages, in South America if I remember correctly.  Anyhow, they had a huge impact on the daily lives of these people.  They were able to peel and cut their potatoes in a fraction of the time it used to take, which freed them up to do many other important tasks around the village.

So after Eric finished telling me this, he said that he wanted to do the same thing for us in Togo.  Eventually, he was able to get 50 potato peelers which he gave to us to take over there and give to people in a remote village somewhere.

OK, so maybe potato peelers doesn’t sound to you like a profound way to do missions work, but as Eric and I talked it was very encouraging to me to see how he had thought through the implications of what a simple potato peeler can do.  He said, “You know, if these potato peelers can make a difference in some people’s everyday lives, that just might be the one thing that opens a door for you to talk to them about Jesus and what He’s done for them, and that is what it’s all about.”  I smiled and said, “You’re exactly right!  It’s all about Jesus Christ being glorified in all the world.  God is seeking people to know Him and worship Him in Togo, and if He can use potato peelers in the process, then He will.”

See, many times our problem is that we “compartmentalize” our lives into the “spiritual” and “non-spiritual” or “secular” categories.  But in reality, as a Christian, every part of your life belongs to God, and He desires that you glorify Him with all of it, not just the “churchy” parts.  What are the everyday, “non-spiritual” things in your life in which you could be glorifying Christ?

Click here to download a printable copy (PDF file) of this update on our letterhead.

Here’s a quick update of what’s been going on lately and what’s coming up.  Please remember to check the blog on our website (www.lightoftogo.com) for more details and more frequent updates.

•We finished packing all of our belongings and sent them by truck on New Year’s Eve.

•The truck arrived in Missouri on January 8th, and now all our things will be packed into an overseas container by a ministry called Friends in Action International.

•The container should leave around the end of January.

•Pray for a situation we had with our 220 volt appliances.  The original order we placed was canceled without our knowledge, so we now are dealing with a different company.  We’re pressed for time now, so please pray that the appliances don’t delay our container shipping too much.

•God has given me two great opportunities to speak for Him this week.  First I’ll be speaking at our church’s Forever Young lunch, then later this week I’ll be speaking at a Bible club at a local public high school.  Please pray for any students who will be there that don’t know Christ, and pray that God will draw people to Jesus as I present His gospel.

•Pray for our Togo visas.  The applications are in Washington D.C. right now being processed.  Please pray that there are no problems or delays in getting them.

•Three weeks from now we will be saying goodbye to family and friends as we board the plane on February 3rd.  Pray for our travel, but pray especially for the grandmas, that God will give them the necessary strength to see their little Joshua leave for three years.

It’s hard to believe that the next update letter will be coming from Togo!  Going to Africa as missionaries is something that we know God has planned for us all along, and it’s amazing to see how He has brought us this far and provided in every circumstance.  We give Him all the praise!

Thank you for your prayer and support!

I just wanted to quickly tell you about two opportunities that I’ll have to speak this week and to ask you to pray for them.  Tomorrow I’ll be speaking at our church’s Forever Young lunch, talking about “how to pray more effectively for missionaries.”

Then on Thursday I’ll be speaking at a Bible club at Marshall High School in Portland.  I’ve been told that normally there are several students who come who are not Christians.  Please just pray that God will allow me to clearly present what Christianity is all about.  I’ve found that people - especially young people - have a very distorted view of what Christianity is.  Of course, we know that the Bible tells us that it’s all about the fact that God saves undeserving sinners by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, based on the perfect life, sacrificial death, and live-giving resurrection of Jesus.  Please just pray that God will allow me to effectively communicate this truth as I speak on Thursday.

We are always amazed to see the unique ways that God provides things as we’re headed to Togo.  Last night we saw this happen again.

In my last blog post I mentioned the problem we are having with getting our appliances for Togo.  What I failed to mention is that it’s going to cost a lot more than we were first expecting.  We mentioned the whole situation as a prayer request in our Sunday School class yesterday morning.  What we didn’t know is that God had already been preparing to provide for the financial part of this need.

Last night at church, some good friends of ours pulled us aside and told us how they had been thinking for a couple months about doing something out of the ordinary to be a blessing to some missionaries.  They really didn’t know the who or how or what yet, but they just knew that God wanted them to do something. One day, the wife really prayed and asked God to show them what they should do.  The very next day, they were notified by their insurance company that they had been over charged a long time ago for some medical bills and that they would be receiving a $300 reimbursement.  Then yesterday when we mentioned the appliances, they knew that this was where God wanted them to direct their blessing.

They were such an encouragement to us as they told us that we were the first missionary family that they have known personally, and that it was a great example for their kids to see that we are just a normal family like them who God chose to go to the mission field.  Now, I don’t know that I would define myself as “normal,” but I think I know what he means.  Many people have the idea that missionaries are some kind of mutant species from another planet and God only calls them to serve Him, but the fact is that we are real people and God has just happened to choose and call us to be a part of His work in another part of the world.  It’s not because we are any more special or different than any other family at church, it’s just that God told us to go and we said yes.

OK, sorry for the rabbit trail.  Anyhow, they were such a blessing to us and we thank God for their friendship, their generosity, and for their willingness to follow God’s leading in their lives.

We just can’t help but give all the glory to God for His goodness to us.  We don’t deserve a bit of what He does in our lives, but we know that He does it because we are His children and He loves us.  It’s our responsibility to simply be content with whatever God gives us, whether poverty or riches, health or sickness, trials or victories, because we know that through all of it He is seeking to bring glory to Jesus Christ through our lives!

Anyone who’s ever been to Africa, or most any other third world country, will tell you that the country moves at its own speed and operates by its own rules.  There’s nothing you can do to change it or speed it up.  You either adjust or get an ulcer.  I know that one thing that will be difficult for me to adjust to is the customer service in Togo, or should I say the lack thereof.

So, over the past couple years whenever Tiffany and I have experienced terrible customer service, we simply tell ourselves, “Well, this must be God’s way of preparing us for Togo.”  We are in the middle of one of these kinds of experiences right now.

Almost three weeks ago we ordered all of our 220 volt appliances from a certain website that was a trusted and well-reviewed appliance dealer.  With us, however, they didn’t live up to their good reputation.  To make a long story short, they are phasing out of selling 220 volt appliances and have not updated their website in order to indicate that, so just about everything we ordered is no longer in stock.  Rather than notify me of this, they just canceled the order.  About 10 days passed before I figured out what was going on, which puts us in “rush mode” to get some appliances ordered.  We are now going through a supplier that is used by our shipping company, and should hopefully have the order completed on Monday.  Please just pray that they will arrive in enough time for them to get loaded into the overseas container.

We’re just taking this opportunity to say thanks to God again for another session of Togo training!

There were many people praying for the safe transit of all our belongings in the truck from Portland to Missouri.  It left on New Years Eve and I just found out that it did arrive safely on Thursday.  Thank you so much for praying!

From this point, Friend in Action in Missouri will take all those things and prepare them to be loaded onto the overseas container.  This should happen in about three weeks from now.

The other night as I was moving all our boxes from upstairs to downstairs where they’d be loaded on the truck the following day, I thought to myself, “Hey, why not have some fun while I’m giving myself a ruptured tendon?” So, I did. I set up my camera and took a shot or two after moving each box, then I later put them together to make a time-lapse video. Enjoy!

NOTE: If the video seems to play too fast (in just a few seconds) you might have to play it again in order for it to play correctly. This happened to me a couple times so hopefully you don’t have any problem with it.

Never Ending Boxes from Jesse Shanks on Vimeo.

Happy New Year, happy birthday, and happy to be done packing!

First of all, I apologize for not keeping you all more up to date with what’s been going on.  We were so busy over the past week that posting something on the blog about our shipment completely slipped my mind.  Our shipment got scheduled for Wednesday, New Years Eve, for “sometime in the afternoon.”  In this whole process I discovered that trucking companies are not very specific with pick-up times!

So, the afternoon rolled around and still no truck.  After a few phone calls I found out that the truck had been stuck in the snow up at Mt. Hood earlier in the day and that had delayed it for a few hours.  Around 7:00, it finally showed up and we started loading.  We had only one hour to load or else they start charging us for extra time, but thankfully we had plenty of people who had volunteered to help us out.  We got it all on the truck and organized with plenty of time to spare.

As I stood in the rain watching the truck pull out of our driveway and down the road, I couldn’t help but think that the next time we see all our stuff will be in Togo.  It was a very surreal moment, one that I probably will never forget.  Then my very next thought was, “AAAAHHHH!!!!  We forgot something really important!”  I had no idea what that “something” was, but it’s the same feeling that I get every single time we move!  I don’t think that we’ve ever forgotten anything really important, but I still get that feeling every time we pack and move somewhere, which seems to be about every six months!

To be completely honest, the last couple of weeks wore me out.  Physically and mentally I came to the limit Wednesday night.  I wasn’t “stressed out” at all, but just very, very tired.  So after finishing, Tiffany, Joshua, and I went to the closest restaurant and just chilled out and ate dinner together.  It was the most relaxing New Years celebration I’ve ever had.  We slept in on New Years Day, which happens to be my birthday by the way, and just took it easy.  It felt very nice to not lift boxes or work out pesky shipping details for one day!

Today, we’re back to work though.  We’ve received our Ghana visas (which is where we will fly in to), so now we’re working on our Togo visas.  On Monday, Tiffany and Joshua will get their Yellow Fever shot, and with this we will be able to send out our applications.  Please be in prayer that these get processed with no problems and sent back to us quickly.

We’ve got a lot of loose ends to tie up in the next month, but it is a huge relief to be done with all the shipment.  In case you’re wondering, from here the truck will take our things to Friends in Action in Missouri, where they will put it all into an overseas container that will be shipped out around the end of January.