Light of Togo

A couple weeks ago I began meeting on Sunday afternoons with the family that lives directly across the “street” (more like a walking path) from us.  They are very interested in learning some of the agricultural and health information which I have learned recently.  We began with water purification.  I taught them how they can have cheap, clean water by using the SODIS method.  They have been drinking straight from their dirty, uncovered well, so you can imagine how thrilled they were to know that they can make this water clean for drinking.

Tomorrow I’ll be sharing with them the amazing benefits of the Moringa tree.  Unlike most people living around us, this family has quite a bit of land, both next to their house and in their home village, so I’m hoping that they will begin planting Moringa in and around their crops in order to supplement their nutrient-lacking diet.

My goal is that I can soon begin incorporating a Bible study into our weekly meeting and lead them through God’s Word to give them an opportunity to meet Him.  Please pray for this family that God will work in their lives so they will come to believe on Jesus and follow Him.

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!

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.

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On the road again! We packed our van (and I mean PACKED) on Monday and started out our great American road trip (a.k.a “moving”). It was quite a miracle that all of our things fit in our van. We have no idea how it happened, but somehow it fits and the back bumper isn’t hitting the ground! As we drove across the St. Laurence River leaving Québec City, we rolled down the windows and all shouted “Goodbye Québec!” We had really made Québec our home for the time we were there, and were so sad to be leaving that we actually cried briefly as we drove down the road. Well, Tiffany cried and I thought about crying. And all Joshua was thinking about was opening the gift that Pierre (my conversation partner) had given us and told us not to open until we were on the road. It was Belgian dark chocolates!

Our first stop was in Harpswell which is very close to Portland, Maine to visit Tiffany’s Great Aunt and Uncle for a few days. We had a really, really great time with them and their massively over sized dog named Bear.

Next was a quick stop in Cortland, NY to visit some old college friends, Steve & Cassie House. We were really sad that our stay was only for one night, but it was great to see them again. This morning we left there and stopped by Niagara Falls on our way to Toledo, Ohio which is where we are right now, ironically staying in a Hotel on Oregon Street! So, that’s our quick update on our coast to coast trip from Portland to Portland. We’ll try to write at least one more post before arriving back home in Oregon. Thanks so much for praying for our safety!

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How could we possibly describe the desperate situation that Joshua and I found ourselves in during the 14 incredibly long and arduous days without Tiffany?  A few words come to mind: starvation, filth, depression, thai food take-out leftovers…again.

OK, so maybe it wasn’t that bad, but we sure didn’t enjoy being away from the best mother and wife in the world for that long, and miraculously she didn’t either!  I was afraid that she’d enjoy her new-found freedom so much that she’d stay for a couple months!

She arrived back in Quebec exactly one week ago, and this has been one of the best weeks in our lives.  It’s funny how being apart really makes you realize how much you appreciate somebody.  We’ve all had a great time as a family together around the house, not doing anything special in particular, but just goofing around and having fun.

Other than that, Joshua started school again with Tiffany.  He’s doing excellent with his learning to read.  He gets impatient like every kid, but he’s very excited to start reading.

Just as a side note, thank you to those of you who gave me your, uhhh, “recipes” for great dishes such as ramen noodles and PB&J sandwiches.  They were so, uhhh, “helpful” in helping us to survive those darkest days minus Tiffany.

The fact is that I make a very terrible housekeeper.  Some things I can do well, but cooking is not one of them!  After these two weeks, I have definitely decided that I don’t want to be a domestic homemaker when I grow up!

For the past five days, my cousin, Ryan, and his wife, Janelle, have been visiting us here in Quebec all the way from Sydney, Australia. We’ve been having a great time, and tomorrow we’re heading to Boston together for six days. It is such a blessing to see them, since they live so far away and the chances to see them will be even more slim when we move to Togo.

So, I’ll be taking a break from writing on the blog for about a week. Please refrain from celebrating! I’ll try to write a post about the trip once we get back.

As they say in French, “bon voyage!”