Light of Togo

Well, the vacation part of our trip is over, and now we’re in Accra waiting for the Huff’s arrival tomorrow evening.  They are probably already in the air, so please pray for their safety.

Our vacation at the beach was absolutely wonderful.  It was such a great break from the busyness that has consumed us for the past few months.  Tiff and I got to spend some time together, and we both had a great time playing with Joshua on the beach.  He and I built a large sand castle and then channeled all the rain water (yes, it rained quite a bit) into the mote around it.

We also had a great time with our friends and fellow missionaries Jim White and Lisa Lewis.  We did several fun things together that we’ll post some pictures of when we get back home with a faster internet connection.

We’ll be crossing back over the border into Togo on Thursday, so please pray for that.  We had some complications coming into Ghana, so we’re really hoping to get back in easily.

Once we get back to Kara, we’ll let you know how the rest of the trip went.  Thanks so much for praying for our safety.

Tomorrow morning bright and early we’ll be leaving Kara for Lomé with our fellow missionaries Jim White and Lisa Lewis.  The purpose of our trip is to go pick up the newest missionary family (Jon, Heidi, & Abby Huff) from the airport in Accra, Ghana on the 1st.  However, for a few days before that we’ll be taking much-needed break in a hotel on the beach.  We are really looking forward to this, considering that it seems like we haven’t stopped long enough to catch our breath since our plane landed on Feb 3!  We’re hoping to have a good time of family bonding, which of course will include things like sand castles, burrying Dad in the sand, and throwing Joshua in the ocean.

On a more serious note, please pray for the Huffs as they will be coming in.  They are entering into the same exact situation that we have been in for the past few months of finding a house & vehicle, waiting for their container, and adjusting to the culture here.  They will be staying with us for a couple months until they get moved into their own place.

Pray also for our safety as we drive.  As I found out personally on our last trip down to Lomé, driving here is much more dangerous than in the States, but I’ll have to save that story for a different blog post.

We’ll try to write again once we’re in Ghana.

Click here to download this update on our letterhead.

Wow, what a busy month!  In the last letter we told you about the move into the  house, and this month we have been working hard trying to make that house into our home.  Although we knew it would be a long process, we are amazed at just how long it has taken so far.  We have been told by other missionaries here, however, that we are making lots of progress.

Other than getting settled into the house, we’ve also been very involved in ministry opportunities.  A few weeks ago, Tiffany made the observation that every time one of us goes outside our gate, it seems that within just a few minutes there are 20 or more kids gathered around just to see the funny looking white people.  So, two weeks ago on a Saturday morning we started a weekly kid’s program.  What’s very encouraging is to see the involvement of a few people from the Baptist church closest to our house.  They have learned to run the whole thing themselves and they are doing it all in Kabiyé, which is the local dialect spoken here.

Speaking of Kabiyé, please pray for our continuation of language learning.  I hope to begin Kabiyé lessons in about one month from now.  I’ve been told that it’s a pretty difficult language, but I truly believe it’s necessary for us to learn it in order to be most effective in our ministry here.

Joshua is doing great, as always.  He seems to not have skipped a beat in coming to Togo and adjusting to life here. Thank you to all of you who have prayed specifically for him during this transition.  He is very interested in learning French now, since most of his communication to his little friends comes in the form of English words pronounced with a French accent.  It’s quite humorous to hear!

I must confess that due to the overall busyness of life lately, I’ve done a horrible job lately at keeping you updated through our blog.  I have had many people asking for pictures and video of various things here, so during this coming month I hope to have those all on the website for you.  By the way, for those of you who previously had problems with it, the site is now fixed and should be accessible.  Remember, you can always sign up to get all our blog updates automatically by email.

Thank you for your prayer and support!