Light of Togo

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Double the Fun
As you probably already know, I have been studying Kabiye for around six months now.  I’d like to say that it’s coming along just fine, but the reality is that the farther I get into the language the more complicated it becomes!  I have decided not to let that discourage me, however, but to study and practice even harder.  In fact, a few weeks ago I doubled my Kabiye lessons from two times a week to four, not including my personal study time.  I am now studying with a Kabiye linguist and with an American who speaks Kabiye fluently.

I’ll also be looking for a good conversation partner soon, so please pray that I get connected with someone knowledgeable and patient who can help me practice what I’m learning.  As I’ve said from the beginning, I’m going to learn Kabiye even if it kills me, which of course would defeat the purpose of learning it, so perhaps I won’t go quite that far!

The Miracle Tree
What if there was something growing right in your own backyard that was capable of solving one of the biggest problems in your life?  As wild as it sounds that’s the case with the Moringa tree, which grows naturally here in Togo.  The problem is, very few people know its potential.  Those who do have nicknamed it “the miracle tree” because of its numerous benefits.  When processed correctly, its leaves contain enough vitamins, minerals, and protein to fortify the diet of even the most malnourished Togolese if eaten regularly.  We have already planted some in our yard and told many people about it.  Pray that God will use this amazing part of His creation to bless people around us.

Love Thy Neighbor(hood)
We’d also like to ask you to pray for a project we have coming up soon in our own neighborhood.  We have been developing several friendships with those who live around us, but we’d like to begin meeting with people on a more regular basis to help them solve problems in their own lives by teaching simple methods of water purification, agriculture, and nutrition.  The goal is then to begin Bible studies with them to introduce them to their Creator, whom they can know personally through Jesus Christ.

Thank you for all your prayers and support!

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Next Steps
A few months ago we asked you to be praying for direction regarding the next steps for us to take in our ministry. We are happy to tell you that at least part of that prayer has been answered.

Since arriving in Togo we have been observing and learning the culture as much as possible in order to develop an effective church planting strategy. And while our primary goal is and always has been to reach Kabiye villages with the gospel of Christ, we also desire to give something to these communities which will help them in their struggles of daily village life.

What we cannot help but notice in the Kabiye culture is the very important role that agriculture plays in their daily life. Almost without exception, every family has land which they are constantly cultivating to feed themselves and sell what remains.

The Problem
Over the past few generations, however, people have begun to use chemical fertilizers and insecticides in order to get a quick increase in crop production. In the long term this has all but destroyed the soil, which is now producing very little compared to the past. This is, of course, not at all helping their condition of poverty. Most people now find themselves realizing there’s a problem, but not knowing what to do to fix it.

A Solution
It’s not only foreign missionaries or NGOs who are noticing this problem, however. I recently had the privilege of meeting a Togolese Christian named Latté, who is incredibly knowledgeable in organic agriculture and husbandry. He is greatly burdened for his own people not only to know Christ, but to provide for themselves the necessities of life they so often lack. He has already seen amazing success in areas where he has taught his organic agricultural practices.

The Plan
So where does this fit in our mission to the Kabiye people? As I am currently learning the language I will also be learning more about agriculture from Latté and elsewhere. I then plan to use this knowledge to create open doors for the gospel and to give something tangible to the villages we work in. Please pray for this next step in our ministry that God will use it all for His glory!

Thank you for all your prayer and support!

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New Disciples of Jesus
One of the churches we work in with in Kara had its 15th anniversary this month and as a part of their special celebration weekend, they held two special evening services on Friday and Saturday night.  The members invited many of their friends and neighbors to come watch a film, which is a huge deal in Togo!  The pastor asked if I would take up to an hour and explain the gospel, since there would be many people who had probably never heard it before.

I was quite excited about this opporunity, especially since I had ample time to explain in detail the essential elements of the gospel of Jesus.  I’m thrilled that after hearing the message, many people believed on Christ and said that they wanted to turn from their life of sin to follow Christ.  It is so humbling to be used by God in this way.  Please pray for these new disciples in Christ that they will “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savoir Jesus Christ.”

Peace in Togo
Last month we asked you to pray for Togo with the elections taking place.  We are thankful for your prayer, and glad to report that everything went very well with very little violence.  There were some protests after the election, but nothing which got out of hand.  Living on a continent where conflicts can escalate very quickly, we are very thankful that there is a continuation of peace among the people.

Some “Profitable” Lessons
Over the past few weeks, I taught a series of messages about what the Bible says about money.  As in America, money is very coveted and misused by most people in Togo.  With our level of income being drastically higher than that the average person here, I recognized the potential that my teaching about money could seem condescending.  So, I made it very clear from the beginning that I was not going to teach American ideas about money, or my ideas about money, but simply what the Bible says about it.

In the end, I believe it was very beneficial both to the church and to me, as I was able to learn a little more about the Togolese perspective of money. We had some interesting group discussions, a couple of which got fairly intense, as discussions often do in Africa!  When it was all said and done, however, I think the people had a much better understanding of what God expects from them concerning money.  I’m thankful for a God who is interested and involved in every area of our lives!

Thank you for all your prayer and support!

Making Progress
As I have mentioned in previous letters, I am currently devoting the majority of my time to studying Kabiye.  Just about two weeks ago, I finally felt like all this studying is starting to pay off as I began forming simple sentences.  What’s unfortunate is that the Kabiye people assume this means that I will understand anything they say.  That is definitely not the case!

Health Concerns
Over a week ago, we noticed a gland under Joshua’s right ear starting to swell and become painful for him.  After seven days, two doctor visits, a blood test, a throat culture, and speaking with an American doctor on the phone, we were still baffled and the swelling was getting worse.  Finally we talked to another doctor on the phone who gave us a good indication of what it might be and how to treat it.  That was two days ago, and since then he has been doing much better.

We are pretty sure that it was a bacterial infection of some sort.  It is definitely a test of faith at times living in a place where you can’t drive 15 minutes to the nearest fully-equipped hospital.  We are very thankful that God directed us to speak with the right people at the right time.  It’s good to have the energetic old Joshua back!

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New Year, New Opportunities
I imagine that you’ve probably heard several times already this year, “What happened to 2009?”  We feel the same way, as if the calendar jumped from 2008 to 2010!

As we are approaching our anniversary marking one year in Togo, we have never been so excited for a new year.  There are so many opportunities for ministry all around the Kara region that we are sometimes overwhelmed in trying to decide what to do next.

In fact, that is something we’d like to ask you to pray for specifically: clear direction from the Lord in taking the next step in our ministry.  Since our arrival in Togo, we have been involved in several ministries and have learned a lot from them.  We are eager, however, to take our next step, but we do not want to make these kinds of decisions based solely on what is most logical or pragmatic, but on what God wants us to do.  So please pray over the next couple months that it will be clear to us what that next step is.

A Great Visit
Over the holiday season, we were so glad to have my parents come stay with us for three weeks.  I think that Africa took them by surprise in many ways, and it was a bit rough on them at times.  Overall though, they really did enjoy their time here getting to know Africa and it’s wonderful people.

On several occasions they were overwhelmed by the generous hospitality of our friends and neighbors as they would thank my parents for coming to Togo and offer them a gift of food from the very little they have.

Safari
In order to get the full African experience, we also took them to a wildlife preserve in northern Benin.  It was our first time going as well, but it certainly won’t be our last!  We saw almost every kind of animal that lives in West Africa, including many elephants and a couple lions, all in their natural habitat with no cages or fences.  It was definitely an experience to remember!

Kabɩyɛ
Please continue to pray for my Kabiye studies.  Even though I started lessons a few months ago, I did not have much time until now to dedicate towards it.  So, from January to April I am committing a large amount of my time towards learning this difficult language.

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!

Click here to download this update on our letterhead.

God is great. That pretty much summarizes how we feel after passing our seventh month in Togo. He has done so many amazing things, and we can’t help but praise Him for it all. We’re amazed at how quickly the time has passed already, and we’re excited about what God has in store for us.

We have a great desire to increasingly reach out to the people around us in meeting both their physical and spiritual needs, so please pray that God continues to minister through us despite the cultural and communication barriers.

Just recently we hosted lunch for two families that live down the street from us. We have also helped them with Malaria treatments and in a few other areas, for which they are incredibly grateful. We know that God is opening a door there, so please pray for us as we reach out to them with the love of Christ. The religious mentality here is typically a mix of Catholicism and deep-rooted traditional beliefs, so there are many obstacles in effectively communicating the gospel, but we are convinced that God is working and that He will remove the blindness of their hearts so they can see the light of the gospel.

I have been preaching through the book of Colossians for the past few months, which has been a great challenge, encouragement, and learning experience for me. Through it God is teaching me how to communicate more clearly to the Togolese people. The first several messages were not understood very well (because of me, not them), but over the past several weeks I have seen quite a difference. There are many questions after each message, as people are curious to learn more about what we are studying. This has been a great encouragement, and I thank God for the opportunity He has given me to communicate His Word. Please pray as we’re currently studying about biblical family relationships. This is one area in which the local culture is desperately lacking, so it is very difficult at times for them to grasp what a Christian family should be.

For the past two months, the newly arrived Huff family stayed with us as they secured a house, received their container, and waited for a vehicle. It was a blessing having them with us, and we ask that you pray for them as they get settled in their own house and begin their ministry here.

As always, on our blog you can read more about what’s been going on, including the recent pastors’ conference, which was a huge blessing.

Thank you for all your prayer and support!

Last week was certainly one to remember.  I believe it (the pastors’ conference) was a great help to the Togolese pastors as they were able to see every one of their “sister churches” in Togo, get to know the other pastors, and recieve biblical teaching on topics relevant to them.  I personally had a good time getting to know several pastors who I had never met before.  I would like to ask you to pray for them if you could.  Many, if not all of them are struggling to make ends meet, dealing with serious health problems, and trying to lead churches full of people in the same situation as they are.

I had the opportunity to speak two times during the conference.  I basically did a verse by verse study of Jean 15:1-17, dealing with the topic of abiding in Christ.  The main idea was that without a deep, trusting, abiding relationship in Christ, their ministries will only bear the fruit of their own efforts and not that of the Spirit.  The other sessions given by the other missionaries were incredibly helpful as well, and I was really challenged and encouraged by them.

Without going into too much detail about all the rest of what we did during the week, I’ll just say that we drove a total of 24 hours, many of which were spent on roads so bumby that they made my truck beg me for mercy.  In fact, it’s making a few new little noises that I’ve never heard before!  During the last two days, we were in the Dapaong area visiting some remote village churches.  It had rained really hard just a couple days earlier.

Other than my vehicle we had Jim’s, which doesn’t have 4×4.  Just in case you don’t know, remote village roads, hard rains, and no 4×4 aren’t a good combination!  Because his vehicle is larger, he also had the majority of the people (9) in it which just added to the problem.  Needless to say, he got stuck in the mud 4 times!  A couple times were pretty bad and we had to tow it out using my vehicle while everyone pushed on his.  Overall, it was a great experience.  Really!  There’s something exciting about being stuck in the mud out in a remote African village with no cell phone service.  It makes me want to buy a helicopter actually.

So, now that the conference is over and several other time-consuming things are wrapping up,  I expect to have quite a bit more “free” time.  Free time is a very relative term, isn’t it?  What I mean is that I’ll have more time to catch up on all the other stuff that’s been put aside while I was too busy.  So as always, I’ll do my best to keep you updated with anything else that’s going on.  Thanks so much for praying for the conference, and don’t forget to pray for the pastors.

In the past couple months I have been quite a terrible blogger.  There has been so much happening every day, and I have not done a very good job with keeping you up to date.  While I can’t promise anything, I do plan on updating the blog more frequently.  In fact, in the next few weeks I plan on doing one very large post with photos, and maybe video, of lots of the things I’ve written about on our blog.  Many of you have been asking about photos, but up to this point I honestly have had no time to respond to those requests, so I figured that I’ll just do it all at once when I get some time.

So, to catch up on the last couple weeks:

The Huffs arrived in Accra safely, we crossed back over the border into Togo with no problems, spent a couple days in Lomé, then drove back up to Kara on the 4th.  That wasn’t necessarily how we wanted to spend Independence Day, but it was great to “celebrate” our return home to Kara.

Speaking of Kara, we’ve been busy trying to find a house in Kara for the Huffs.  We’ve seen around 15 already, and they’ve narrowed it down to one so far.  We’re going to see a couple more, but more than likely they’ll be starting negotiations on that house very soon.  In the mean time they are staying with us, and we’re having a great time together.

Speaking of houses, we are finally getting around to many of the little repairs and improvements that have needed to be done since moving in but haven’t had the time to do.  It’s great to be getting more and more settled in the house so we can spend more time focusing on the more important things.

Speaking of more important things, we had a great Sunday a few days ago.  There were quite a bit more people at church than normal, and as I preached on Colossians 3:1-4 it sparked a good discussion/question session after the message.  The passage deals with seeking the eternal things which are of infinite importance instead of being consumed with the passing, temporary things that attract our attention every day.  We do this because our old sinful nature was put to death in Christ, and we now have a new life and new nature because Christ is our life.  Please pray for me as I’m teaching/preaching through the book of Colossians.  I work hard at trying to effectively communicate these truths to the people, but sometimes it’s difficult with my limited understading of their culture.

Speaking of prayer, please also pray for this church we’re working at.  We have made a temporary commitment to help out there, and of course the goal is to see this church become independent (autonomous) of missionary help, so please pray that God gives wisdom and direction to the pastor, the members, and the missionaries involved so we can see this church reach that goal in the near future.

Speaking of the near future, I’m sure that you have many other things to do in the near future other than reading a very long update by a belated blogging missionary!  So, as they say in French, “À la prochaine!” (See you next time!)

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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!

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

So much has happened since our last update that it’s difficult to know where to start.  Our container arrived in port on April 24, and we expected it to be out of the port and in our city of Kara within about a week.  There were some major complications, however, and the port authorities decided to open and search the whole container.  Because of the fact that they can assign any value to anything in the container, we were very fortunate to come away from it paying the reasonably low amount of tax that we did.  After two weeks, the container finally arrived at our house on May 9.  What an exciting day that was!  We have spent the past week trying to get everything unpacked and put in its place, but we’re finding that this is taking much more time than expected!

Our hope is to be completely settled into the house as quickly as possible so we can move on to focus on the more important things.  I’ll be picking back up with the institute course, and continuing to work with Pastor Nicodeme.  Also, as soon as I’m able to, I am going to begin studying the Kabiye language, which is the primary language of the people here.  This is all simply preparation towards the eventual goal of planting a church somewhere within the Kabiye people group.

I would like to share something personal with you that God taught us through this whole ordeal with our container.  I know that typical missionary letters aren’t supposed to be personal (tongue in cheek), but I want to take the opportunity to praise God for what He taught us.  First of all, imagine that you take every single thing you own and you put it in a container.  Then that container goes on a ship that might sink.  Then it arrives in a port and gets opened and searched by people who could easily take anything they want.  Then it gets loaded onto a truck and driven through a mountain range where there are numerous trucks just like it at the bottom of the mountains, but not on any road.  The worst part of it all is that you are completely unable to control any of it.  This might all seem very unspiritual, but that was the reality we were continually struck with, of loosing everything we possess.  There were two things that we realized in those moments: that the worst thing you can do to an American is to take away all his junk; and, that we were way too attached to our junk!  God truly brought us to the point of complete dependence on Him and trust in Him that even if we did loose everything, He is still in control and has a purpose to glorify Himself in every situation of our lives, whether good or bad.  We also learned a lesson of contentment, to be content in Jesus Christ alone in letting go of everything else.  So often we find our identity in what we have or what we do, but so rarely in who we are in Christ.  So, we praise God for teaching us these things and I hope it can be an encouragement to you as well.

Thank you to all who are praying for us during this time of adjustment.  We greatly appreciate it!

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

These are exciting days in the Shanks family!  Our container is going to arrive on the 25th of April, and so we should be moved into our home around the end of the first week in May.  Right now our house is in the process of being fixed up by the landlord, and it’s starting to look very nice.  We are very excited about having our first permanent house since getting married.

Our original plan for getting a vehicle was to have one shipped from overseas.  However, with a change in the tax rate for imported vehicles, we decided that this was going to cost way more than we were willing to pay.  Then, out of nowhere we got a call about a vehicle for sale in Lomé, which is the capital city six hours south of us in Kara.  The next day I hitched a ride there with some other missionaries and met up with the Togolese guy who had found the vehicle.  I had the intention of purchasing it the next morning and getting all of the paperwork done so I could return to Kara the following morning.  That was my American idea.  Africa had its own idea.

What happened after that, over the next five days, can only be described by saying “W.A.W.A.,” which is a common saying here among missionaries meaning “West Africa Wins Again.”  There was no one catastrophic event, but just a lot of little delays that caused me to realize that I truly am in a completely different culture where my way of doing things do not matter one bit.  To summarize, it was a great lesson learned!

In the New Testament Survey course that I have been teaching to Yélé, we are currently in the book of Romans.  It has been such an encouragement for me to see him as he is beginning to understand some of the rich doctrinal truths that are presented there.  He has a great hunger to learn the Word, and I hope that you will continue to pray for the Holy Spirit’s guidance in his life.

We hope to write our next update letter from our own home!  Until then, we greatly appreciate your prayers regarding the container’s arrival and the process of moving.

Thank you for your prayer and support!

I just want to give you a quick update of what’s been going on lately. Last week we took a trip down to the capital city of Lomé with two of our missionary coworkers to get some supplies and other things for our new house. After living in Kara for a couple months, which is 6 hours up-country, we are amazed to see how many things we can find in Lomé.

The progress on the house is going well, and should be done by the time our container arrives.  The container got delayed, yet again, but is now on its way.  I’m working on getting an estimated arrival date, but I’m guessing that it will be around the first week of May.

We are still searching for a vehicle.  The company we’re using has not had much come available lately, so we are now starting to look in-country.  It’s a little more risky doing it this way because we won’t be guaranteed a vehicle that’s in great shape, but it should save some money and at this rate it will save lots of time too.

Joshua’s been having a great time lately.  Just the other day, when it was a nice cool 100 degrees (that’s not a joke by the way.  It’s been so hot lately that when it dropped to 100 it felt REALLY nice!), he and his “uncle” Jimmy (our coworker) took the garden hose and drenched themselves.  They then took a huge empty trash can, jumped inside, and filled it up with water and bathtub bubbles.  After dumping that out on the grass, it made a perfect place to run and slide on their bellies.  We got lots of great pictures, but they’re on Jimmy’s camera, so I’ll try to get them and put some on the website so you can see Joshua’s wet and wild afternoon!

Click here to download a PDF version of this update on our letterhead

Even though we’ve only been in Togo for six weeks now, there’s been a lot going on here lately. What we are quickly learning, however, is just how much patience will be required in order to live here! Nothing; such as the container shipping, vehicle search, moving in to our own house, and communication with the States, seems to be going according to “our schedule.” We have no doubt though that God has a reason for all of it, even if that reason is just to teach us patience! We realize that learning to slow down is just one of many ways in which we’ll have to change our lives in order to live here.

A couple weeks ago I started teaching a New Testament Survey course in the Bible Institute to a man named Yélé, who is just getting started in the institute. So far it has gone very well and has been a great experience for me.

I’ve also begun meeting on a regular basis with the pastor of the church we’re working in, pastor Nicodème. We have been praying together and discussing ways in which we can help the church grow and eventually become independent missionary assistance. Please pray that God will give direction to Pastor Nicodeme as he leads this church, and pray that God would use me to be an encouragement to him as well as a temporary help to the chuch.

Tiffany is doing really great. She is really adjusting well to the differences of opperating a home in Africa. Like most things here, everything is a much longer process when compared to America. Cooking is one thing that she really enjoys doing, and she has already had the chance to get creative with the different ingredients that are found here. She has gone “exploring” at the market a few times with our coworker, Lisa Lewis, and they have found several new things that we didn’t think existed here in Kara.

Joshua is also doing very well. Even though we have explained to him a few times that we are going to be here for a very long time, it doesn’t seem to bother him much. That either means that he’s adjusting very well, or that he has absolutely no concept of “a very long time.” Either way, he’s loving his new life here. He especially enjoys the newest addition to our family, Cami. Cami is a chameleon that Joshua’s friend caught for him a few weeks ago. We keep him in a cage at night, and put him on a small tree during the day where he catches bugs and enjoys the sunshine. I’ll put some pictures of Joshua and Cami on the website when I get a chance.

Speaking of the website, we’ve been having some problems with it, and I’m still working on getting it resolved. If you have problems with it, one thing that may help is updating your browser to its latest version, especially if you are using Internet Explorer.

Thank you for your prayers and support!

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

Today marks one week since we first arrived in Togo. It’s been quite an amazing experience so far, and we can’t wait to see what’s in store for us in the future here. We started out by crossing over the border from Ghana into Togo’s capital city of Lome. Our missionary coworkers had quite a bit of shopping to do there, so we stayed for a couple nights before heading up-country to the city of Kara, which is where we will be living. Until we get set up in a house of our own, which could take up to two months, we are living with Randy and Jeannette Alderman, who are the veteran missionaries that we’re working with. We are living in a small detached apartment on their property.

There are two other missionaries here also whom we’re working with: Jim White and Lisa Lewis. We’ve been having a great time with all the missionaries here, but I think that the greatest thing has been getting to know the Togolese people and speaking with them every day. While talking to them, we really begin to understand how much of their culture we need to learn. I also am convinced that at some point I need to learn the main tribal language here, which is Kabiye. It’s definitely not something that is absolutely necessary, as most of the missionaries in Togo only know French, but I believe it’s something that will make our ministry here much more effective in the long run. So, I figure that in about a year from now I will start with lessons in Kabiye.

Joshua is having a really great time here, but is having a little difficulty getting used to the heat, as we all are. He’s been having fun playing in the backyard as he’s trying to catch the very fast lizards that roam the area.

I also have some very exciting news to tell you about starting our ministry here in Togo. Once we get settled a bit more in the coming weeks, I’ll be starting to work with one of the churches here in Kara. It is a smaller church that has had some struggles, so the plan is to work along side the pastor, Pastor Nicodime, to help encourage him and build the church through discipleship and evangelism. Please be in prayer about this that God will give me wisdom in this comfort zone stretching opportunity.

Also, there is a man in that church named Élé who is very anxious to get started in the Bible Institute, but Randy is going to be leaving for the States soon, so he has asked me if I’d be willing to start teaching him a course in New Testament Survey. I think that this will be a great opportunity, and I’m really looking forward to getting started about a month from now.

We still just can’t believe that we’re actually here, it’s so exciting! Thank you all so much for praying for us.