Light of Togo

As you can imagine, we’ve been having a great time with my parents.  A day after arriving from picking them up in Accra, we traveled to northern Benin to Pendjari Wildlife Park for a safari.  That was quite an amazing experience.  If you’d like to see the pictures, you can view them on my Facebook account (this works even if you don’t use Facebook).

Between the drive to Accra and back, and the safari trip, we estimated that we spent 50 to 60 hours in a vehicle in one week’s time!  Most of that was on bumpy unpaved roads by the way.  Needless to say, we were ready for a break.  We spent a very relaxing Christmas together, lounging around the house and spending time together.  That evening we had a special Christmas party for the people who work at our house.  We got each of them and their family members a gift, which was likely the only gift they received for Christmas.  They loved the spaghetti Tiffany made, and they especially liked the Coke floats for desert.  I asked them, and they said they had never tried putting ice cream in a soda before.

I set up a camera on Christmas morning and did a time lapse video that condenses about 3 hours into one minute. Have a look:

Christmas 09 Timelapse from Jesse Shanks on Vimeo.

I just wanted to write a quick update letting you know that we arrived safely home in Kara from picking up my parents in Accra.  It was quite a two day journey back here, and it was tiring for my parents, but they did a great job toughing it out on the smooth Togo roads.

They are already having a great time experiencing all the sights, sounds, and smells of Africa.  Thanks for all your prayers for their safety and ours as we drove.

Exactly one month after leaving for Accra the first time (November 18th), we’ll be leaving Kara to go there again. This time, however, the trip will be very rewarding since we are going to pick up my parents from the Accra airport! We are excited beyond words that they are coming as you can imagine. They’ll be staying for exactly three weeks, during which we’ll take them on a safari, celebrate Christmas together, and explore Kara and its culture.

As always please pray for our safety, smooth border crossings, good health, etc.  Pray also, if you would, for my parents flight and health while they are here.  They both have had some health problems of late, so we’d hate to see that hinder their experience here.

We’ll try to update you as much as possible in the new few weeks, but if we don’t you can just assume that we’re too busy enjoying the time with my parents!

As I’ve mentioned a couple times before, Joshua has fit right in with the Togolese people and culture.  He seems to handle change and new experiences very well.  One of those new experiences is fufu.  He tried it for the first time just a couple months after our arrival here, and he loved it.  This shocked me, since I can’t stand the stuff!  It’s a nearly-tasteless, chalky, pasty, gooey substance that  you dip in some sort of sauce.

Well, Joshua likes it so much that he asked our house helper, Yvette, to make it for him.  She was very glad to do so, and Joshua was very glad to eat it!  Here’s a short video of her preparing it, Joshua trying to help, and Joshua eating it.  You’ll notice that they mash it up in a wooden bowl using a large wooden stick.  They slowly add more and more water until it becomes very pasty.  The best way to describe the texture is wet Playdoh!

Joshua’s fufu from Jesse Shanks on Vimeo.

Click here to download a printable copy of this update on our letterhead.

First of all, I must apologize for the lateness of this update. I had every intention of getting it out 10 days ago, but following our trip to Ghana I came down with a bad case of malaria. I was bed-ridden for four days, with several days of recovery after that. I don’t want to complain, but it was NOT at all a plesant experience! Many, many people were praying for me, and I surely do appreciate that!

Our trip to Ghana was very good. The primary reason for the trip was to drop off Jim, our friend and fellow missionary, at the airport. He has been here for three years and is taking his first furlough. We then stayed for a couple extra days to do some shopping and other errands in Accra, which is one of the most developed cities in West Africa.

Since our last update I have started taking lessons in the local dialect in the Kara region, which is Kabiye (KAH-bee-yay). It is a really difficult and chalenging language, but I am very determined to learn it so that I may communicate more effectively, since our focus will be on reaching the Kabiye people.

While our primary focus in Togo is to evangelise the lost, plant churches, and disciple believers, it is impossible (and unbiblical) to ignore all the physical and material needs around us. While there are thousands of stories to tell, I’d like to focus on one young man who goes to our church named Bienvenue, which you may know translates as “welcome.” His parents are so poor they cannot take care of their kids. His brothers and sisters have resorted to theivery to support themselves. Bienvenue trusted Christ and decided not to follow their example, but instead moved out of the house, rented a small room from a friend, and decided to work his way through school to get an education and hopefully a job someday. He literally lives off whatever food and money he can scrape together each week. Lately I have been employing him on the weekends to help support him a little. I also payed his way to an upcoming Christian camp that he would otherwise have no chance to attend. He is thrilled about the opportunity to go! To me, Bievenue is a perfect example of the many trials Christians go through here in Togo when they decide to follow and obey Christ, but he’s also a great example of the joy that comes with it!

Also, we’ve posted a new family picutre you can download.

Thank you for all your prayer and support!