Light of Togo

Click here to download this update on our letterhead.

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!

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.

A couple weeks ago as I was returning from a walk in the neighborhood, I met a 10-12 year old boy named Calbert who is from Burkina Faso.  We talked for a little while, then he came to church with us the following day.  He said that he’s a Christian and that he goes to church with his parents in Burkina, but that he’s staying here in Kara for a while with his aunt.

After that day, I did not see him again and assumed that maybe he had returned to Burkina.  Then suddenly yesterday as I was driving down our road I saw him again but he looked very distressed.  He explained that he did not have the necessary supplies for school and therefore was not allowed to come back until he had them.  As always, I was looking to help if there was a true need, but something just didn’t seem to add up in his story as I dug a little deeper.  I decided to make him wait for a day as I thought more about it and tried to verify the story.  In the mean time, our gardener went to his school and talked to somebody who said he didn’t think there was any problem with Calbert.  Looks like we might have a liar on our hands!

Then this morning as we were leaving for church, he was again on our road waiting for me.  This time he said that his aunt kicked him out of the house, he had slept on the street, and that he needed money to take a taxi back to Burkina.  This time there was no doubt he was lying.  He had spit into his hands and wiped it under his eyes to make it look like he had been crying.  This was very obvious due to the little white “spit bubbles” that were all over his cheeks.

I told him we had to leave right away for church, but that he could come with us and that we’d talk afterwards.  So, after church I sat him down and confronted him about his lies.  At first he denied it, but when I presented him with the proof he admitted to having lied to me to try to get money.

I had already decided that I wasn’t going to get mad, yell at him, and tell him never to come back, which I’m sure is what he was expecting.  Instead, God showed me that this was a perfect opportunity to explain the gospel to him.  I showed him from the Bible that lying is a sin, that God hates sin, that every sin must be punished, and that the fair punishment for our sin against a perfect God is eternity in hell.  Then I told him of Jesus’ perfect life, His voluntary death on the cross as our sin-bearing substitute, and His offer of total forgiveness to those who come to him repenting of their sin and putting their faith only in what He has done.  I believe he completely understood what I explained, and expressed some interest in it.  I gave him a new testament and some material to read about the gospel and told him that he is welcome to come back any time to talk.  Please pray for Calbert that the Holy Spirit will use this sin in his life to show him his need of Jesus Christ.

As I look back on these events, it’s clear to me that it was one of those times when we must be ready at any moment to take a bad circumstance and use it for God’s glory.  I pray that God will continue to move me (my feelings, desires, comfort zone, etc.) out of the way so that He will be glorified more and more through my life.

What do you get when you combine a broken bridge, 200 semi trucks, angry taxi drivers, and four tired missionaries?  A big adventure!

After a few days in Lomé, Jim and I started heading back for Kara around 11 am, which normally means arriving home around 5 pm.  Around the half way point, however, things started to get interesting.  We came up on a 4 mile-long line of semi trucks that had been building up since at least Monday.  It was at this point that we just “happened” to run into a couple other missionary friends from Kara who were only two cars ahead of us.  They had a map, and we had no clue, so we decided to follow them.

We got turned around, drove back to the last village, and asked about a road on the map that could have brought us out north of the bridge.  The locals, however, told us that the road is impassable.  So at this point we had two options: sit in traffic, going nowhere; or sit on the side of the road drinking Coke, going nowhere.  The decision was unanimous.

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Once we started seeing vehicles coming from towards the bridge, we figured it was time to move out.  Our progress was stopped short, though, by all the traffic trying to go north. After two hours of stop and go, we were diverted off the main road and onto a narrow dirt road.  This road wasn’t at all a problem for our 4×4 vehicles, but there were all kinds of small cars, overloaded taxi vans, and huge semi trucks trying to make one lane into two.  As night fell we slowly crept along, hopping out of the vehicles from time to time in order to direct traffic, push vehicles out of the mud, or just to find out why we weren’t moving.

A couple hours later, we were past all the traffic and on our way to wherever that road would take us.  Five and a half hours after starting into the traffic jam, we came out a whopping 7 miles north of where we started!

Now it’s late, we’re tired, we’re hungry, but at least we’re past all that mess…right?  Let me interrupt my own story here and explain something.  I have learned two things about frustrating circumstances in Africa: first, that you don’t get too excited about a bad situation getting better because it’s usually not over; and second, that you don’t get too worked up about it because it just makes everything worse.  Just take a deep breath, say “WAWA” (West Africa Wins Again), and go with the flow.

So, not even an hour of driving on the main road brought us to the toll booth where we would normally pay 300 francs and pass right through.  But not tonight!  A line of taxi vans was blocking up both lanes of the road, making it impossible to pass.  Walking up to the booths, we saw a group of about 150 people standing around, some talking, some arguing, and some shouting loudly at nobody in particular, and some just watching the whole scene like a movie that you don’t want to be in.

We eventually found out that several taxi van drivers wanted to protest the bridge situation by blocking the road and refusing to pay their toll.  We soon realized that there was nothing we were going to do or say to fix the problem.  They wanted to voice their complaint to the local authorities, so until they showed up nothing was going to change.  We had the idea of just jumping the curb with our vehicles, and going around everyone, but we seriously felt like it wouldn’t have been the smartest move at that point.

We felt like the best place to be at this time was back at our vehicles, which is where we stayed until everything settled down.  Once the local “préfet” arrived, they came to an agreement that those who wanted to pay their toll and leave could do so, and those who didn’t could stay as long as they wanted.  The only problem is that the people blocking the road were the ones staying and they had no desire to move so that everyone else could leave.

With the situation having settled down a bit, and us getting more tired by the minute, we went back to the curb-jumping idea.  We moved several small concrete barricades out of the way, payed our toll, jumped the curb, and drove off into the sunset.  Well, the sunset part isn’t exactly true since we missed it by several hours.

In all, the 6 hour trip took 12.  A 12 hour trip doesn’t sound that bad, but I’m sure you’ve heard this phrase before: “You just had to be there.”  Honestly though, I wouldn’t have traded it for anything!  It was a great adventure and something that we’ll remember for the rest of our lives.  I can imagine us missionaries sitting around 20 years from now laughing about the “good ‘ole days.”  Just do me a favor and please tell me if 20 years from now I’m repeating this story over and over again as if it’s the first time you’ve heard it.

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!)

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.

After finishing deputation, driving to Quebec, starting school, and moving into our apartment all within a three week period, we were very much looking forward to a break. In the second week of June we finished our first five week session of French at the University, and began a four week session of French in the real world. During this break we have taken the opportunity to use the French we have learned as we interact on a regular basis with francophones (French speaking people).

The church we have been attending here has many people who have a desire to help us learn French. So, even though many of them can speak English, they will most often speak to us in French; very slowly and clearly I might add!

In searching for new and better ways to increase our French vocabulary, I spent several hours one day looking up the words for household items in our French & English dictionary. Then, I printed out small labels of all the words which I taped to each corresponding item. By the of the day, we had a French labeled apartment. Everything from our socks to the toaster has a label now! It doesn’t do much for the aesthetic look of our apartment, but it sure does help our vocab!

During the first week of the break, we were very busy around the apartment, finishing the final touches in order to get finally “settled in.” Since then, we have stayed very busy helping with a remodeling project at church, and assisting some fellow missionaries as they are finishing language school and departing for Africa.

One thing that I have come to realize more than ever before is that although Quebec is the most beautiful cities we have ever seen, it is also one of the most needy mission fields we have seen. Recently, Quebec celebrated Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day, which is the equivalent of America’s Independence Day. French Canadians are very proud of their amazing heritage, but unfortunately in Quebec City they choose to celebrate this holiday by converging in vieux-Quebec (downtown) and consuming as much alcohol as is humanly possible. What we have been told by several Christians here is that Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day (named after John the Baptist) is the day that all of Quebec looks forward to all year long. Although most Quebecois are very nice and generous people, it is extremely sad to see the lack of peace and purpose in their lives because of their complete disregard for biblical Christianity.

Many people have asked about our current mailing address, so I will include it in this letter with the following disclaimer; please do not send packages to us in Quebec without contacting us first. The reason for this is because of the border duties and many other possible complications based upon what is in the package. Regular mail is fine, however. Our Oregon mailing address is still valid as well, since we have somebody collecting our mail for us.

Thank you so much for your prayer!

OUR NEW ADDRESS
3084 rue des Chatelets, App#8
Quebec, QC G1V 3Y5
CANADA

Boujour from Quebec! It is hard to believe, but we are finally here! God has done so many amazing things in the past month that it will be impossible to tell you everything in this one letter. Shortly after finishing our last missions conference, which was a huge blessing in itself, we drove to eastern Oregon to pick up Joshua’s new nanny, Malerie. From there, we began our very, very, very long drive to Quebec. After 3,100 miles and many strange noises from our van (but no incidences, praise the Lord!), we crossed the border without any problems and arrived in beautiful Quebec City on the evening of May 3rd. The next day we had planned to visit several apartments and hope that we could find one that would work out for us. However, God had already prepared one for us; the very first one that we looked at. We canceled the rest of our appointments and secured an apartment on our very first morning in Quebec. Ironically, this was the only apartment available at this time of year and it just so “happened” that it was perfect for us!

That day, and the four weeks that followed could only be described as one of the those “sit back and watch God work” kind of moments. We had intended to ship most of our household belongings here, then purchase all of the larger furniture and appliances once we arrived. However, God had already prepared it all for us. We began receiving phone calls from people we had never met, offering to give or loan us furniture and appliances. Within the first two weeks, God had blessed us with three beds, three dressers, two desks, a dining room table with chairs, a couch, an armchair, a coffee table, and a washer and dryer. Up to this point, the only things we have had to purchase is a refrigerator and a stove, which we obtained at a very good price. As we sit in our newly furnished apartment literally counting our blessings we can’t help but give God all the praise and glory for His constant and faithful provision in our lives.

On May 7th, we began our first day of classes, and amazingly we are already almost finished with our first (of many) session. Several times in the past month we have reached the overwhelming “French overload” breaking point, but every time God works in us to bring us to the end of ourselves and show us that His grace is sufficient, and that He is our sufficiency.

Please pray for us as we continue making many adjustments in our lives. In a very short time we have gone from perpetual traveling to being almost entirely stationary. Joshua is still getting accustomed to our leaving for school every morning, but he is doing very well overall. Quebec is almost entirely French speaking, so there is a bit of culture shock factor involved as well. However, we are really enjoying our new life here, and we thank God every day for the ways He is working in our lives.

We had the great privilege this month to experience world wide missions right here in America. In the churches where we presented our ministry, we saw a wide range of ministries reaching Spanish, Cambodian, Thai, Filipino, Korean, and Chinese speaking people. Many times we think that world missions can only be done in a foreign country, but God has given us the wonderful opportunity in North America to literally reach people from almost every nation, kindred, people, and tongue (Rev. 7:9).

What a blessing it was to be able to tell others about Christ in a multi-cultural area of Los Angeles recently. I was particularly burdened about a man that Tiffany and I spoke with named Romeo. As I explained the gospel to him he seemed to understand, but he just did not seem to see his need to be saved. Would you pray for Romeo that the Holy Spirit will use the Word of God to show him his need for salvation.

Tiffany and I are so excited about what 2007 has in store for us. Although there are still a lot of “unknowns” in our future, God has at least given us very clear direction regarding language school. We are looking forward to finishing deputation in April and beginning our French studies in Quebec City in May. We have recently sent in our application to Laval University and are now awaiting our acceptance papers. We are now starting the search for a suitable apartment to rent in Quebec City. Please pray for this, and also the process of obtaining our visas.

Before heading to California for several meetings, we had the joy of ministering in a church that was started four years ago very close to where I grew up in Battle Ground, Washington. This really thrilled me because Battle Ground is a rapidly growing city with very few churches that preach the gospel, and it is exciting to see a church that is now reaching people there with the message of Jesus Christ! God also gave us several other great meetings throughout California.

We praise the Lord that our support level is now at 71%. We also have another 8-10% that is promised to us. I know that we mention it almost every month, but please continue to pray for our remaining support. We know that it is completely in God’s hands, and He is the one who will provide the remaining 10-15 supporters.

For all of you who continually support our ministry through financially giving and/or prayer support, we want to say a big thank you!