Light of Togo

Because this is such a long story, I decided to do two versions of it.  Feel free to read the longer one if you’d like , but I wrote it more for ourselves as a memory and for our family who may be interested in the added details.  This is the abbreviated “journal version.”

Friday early afternoon: I get a phone call.  It’s a missionary friend asking for our help for their coworkers who’ve just had a car accident 3-4 hours North of us.

Two hours later: Tiffany and I take two vehicles up to the accident site.  We meet Glen (who was driving) and his wife, Karen.  Rick is the owner of the truck.  He was in the backseat with no seatbelt, so he’s in the hospital with some possible broken ribs.  Broken ribs and busted truck, poor guy.  Glen and Karen are fine, but their stuff isn’t.  They were moving from Togo to Mali, so all their personal belongings went through the wreck too.  We load all their things into the two trucks and head to the Dapaong hospital.

Five hours later: It’s been decided that Rick’s in too much pain to go anywhere by vehicle.  I coordinate with Randy Alderman to have him fly up the following morning to get Rick and Karen and bring them to Lomé.  Rick has a great attitude about the whole thing - amazing.

One hour later: Tiffany and I are settling into our hotel room after deciding it’s way too late to attempt the drive back home to Kara.

45 minutes later: Tiffany and I have just finished a successful preemptive strike against the flock of terrorist mosquitoes living in our hotel room.  We go to bed not realizing they have called for reinforcements.

30 minutes later: I have become the target of the mosquitoes’ counter attack.  I decide these must be some kind of specially-trained covert ops mosquitoes, since they’ve somehow figured out how to bite me through the sheet! I get up and exterminate another 20 or so of their forces when I realize that this could go on all night.

10 minutes later (now 1:30 in the morning): Changing rooms.  Check…double check…ok, clear.  No evil, winged phantoms of death in this one.

2 hours later: “Why am I awake?  Why do I feel like I haven’t slept at all even though I’m exhausted?  Why am I itching…again?”  The hunt begins…again.  Found out that one mosquito can ruin your sleep just like 500 can.  Thankfully he was fat and slow due to sucking half the blood out of my body, which inevitably ended up smeared on the wall and my palm.

5 minutes later: Aaaah, sleep!

90 minutes later: Randy calls letting me know the weather is good and he’s clear to fly.

Around 8 o’clock: We discover the hospital’s sole ambulance is broken down.  I’m the new ambulance.  Rick laid in the back seat as I drove slowly, like 2 mph slowly, down the 15km bumpy road to the airstrip.

5 minutes later: Bump.  Rick, “ouch!”

3 minutes later: Bump.  Rick, “Are we there yet?”  Me, “Sorry, it’s gonna be a while.”

50 feet later: Bump.  Rick, “Can anybody see the plane yet?”  Poor guy.  He asked “are we there yet” more times than a 7 year old kid on a road trip to Disney World.  I don’t blame him, the back seat of a pickup truck is the last place I’d want to be with broken ribs!

Around 9:30: Saying a prayer for Rick, Karen, and Randy as they take off headed to Lomé.

30 minutes later: Picked up some sandwiches at our hotel’s restaurant for our trip back to Kara.  More on the sandwiches later.

Two hours later: Took Glen to the gendarmerie (local government office) so he can sort out the formalities of the accident.

Three hours later: Home at last!  Glen is sorting through all his things in our living room, picking out what’s damaged or broken.

27 hours later: I’m feeling unusually tired, my back aches, and I feel chilled.  Guess what?  It’s malaria time!

Two days later: Malaria’s gone.  Wasn’t nearly as bad as the first two times I had it.  But remember the sandwiches?  Tiffany and I think the chicken was bad.  For three days she couldn’t wander more than a stone’s throw from a bathroom, and I’m still fighting it.

Summary: Thankful.  Thankful we could help people in need.  Thankful to see God work even in bad circumstances.  Thankful for the new friends.

Oh, and as for the truck, it was rolled twice and looked to me like it was only good for scraps.  The mechanics, however, managed to do a couple temporary fixes, drive it all the way to Kara (2 hours), and they say they’ll have it looking and running like new.  I’m beginning to believe the missionary myth that Landcruisers are indestructible.

This is a very detailed version of the story that is meant to keep a memory for our family that we can read in the future, but if you like all the details of a story go ahead, but you’ve been warned…

This time last week I was having a pretty normal Friday afternoon when I received a phone call from some missionary friends of ours in Lomé.  They explained that some of their coworkers had been in a terrible car accident near Dapaong, and asked if we would be willing to drive up and help them out if necessary.  They didn’t know many details at the time, but we told them we’d of course do whatever we could to help.

Two hours later Tiffany and I were headed North with our SUV and our coworker’s truck, still not really knowing what exactly what the situation was, what we needed to do, or how long we’d be gone.  What we did know is that one guy, Rick, was in the hospital in Dapaong and that the guy who was driving, Glen, and his wife, Karen, were not hurt but had all their personal belongings sitting on the side of the road next to the accident.  They were in the process of moving from Lomé up to Mali, so the vehicle was packed to the brim with all their household things.  In case you’re wondering, it’s generally not a good idea for all your possessions to sit on a roadside in Africa.  On top of that, it had been raining all day.

When we arrived we met Glen and immediately started loading all their things into the two trucks.  One of the many miracles of this whole situation was that the accident happened not even one mile away from one of their mission’s Bible schools, so the first people to show up on the scene were the pastor of the local church and some of the members!

While we did this, Tiffany talked with Karen to make sure she was alright.  She was visibly shook up what happened, but not hurt in any way.  Once they explained the accident we understood why she was so shook up.  They were traveling through a rural area when they came up on a village, going about 60 miles per hour.  Coming up on their right side were three large cows and a small boy “leading” them.  At the very last moment one of the cows stepped into the road directly in front of the truck.  Glen quickly swerved to the left and managed to miss it, but because of their top and rear-heavy load the inertia caused them to spin out, bringing them to the right side of the road where the truck went down an embankment and rolled two times.  When it finally stopped, Glen’s window was flat against the ground, Karen was suspended in air by her seatbelt, and Rick had been bounced all around the back because he wasn’t wearing his seatbelt (kids, take note!).

Then it was off to the hospital to check on Rick.  Because of the poor quality x-ray machine, we did not know at the time what the extent of his injuries were other than some possible fractured or broken ribs.  It turns out that he broke four ribs on his left side, one on his right, and the membrane from his lungs separated from the ribs.  I’m no doctor, but that just doesn’t sound good!  He was amazingly in great spirits though.  By the end of our four hours at the hospital it was decided that he was in too much pain to drive, so we arranged for Randy Alderman to come up the next morning in his airplane to pick him up and bring him to Lomé.

By this time it was too late for Tiffany and I to head back down to Kara for the night so we ended up staying the night in a local hotel.  We learned an important lesson that day: always come prepared to stay the night!  In typical only-in-Africa fashion, our hotel room evidently was the local breeding ground for mosquitoes.  I killed 30 or so, was satisfied that I had got them all, and went to bed only to be bitten through the sheets from head to toe.  After killing another 20, I figured there had to be a hole in the window screens where they were flooding into the room.  After changing rooms (it’s now 1:30 in the morning) I discovered that there was one, yes only one, mosquito in our new room.  How do I know this?  Because at 3:30 I awoke from a very restless and itchy sleep to kill the accursed blood-filled agent of death.  Then I went to bed for a very restful hour and a half when Randy called letting me know he was clear to fly that morning.

This is the part of the story that gets very painful for Rick.  Because the hospital’s sole ambulance was broken down, we had to load him into the truck I was driving, bring him 15 kilometers to the airstrip, and load him onto the airplane.  Even though I drove a maximum of 2 mph down the bumpy road to the airstrip, he often winced in pain and asked at least 10 times, “Are we there yet?”

As he and Karen took off in that tiny airplane, I remember thinking how thankful I was that the situation worked out as it did.  After seeing the vehicle, I was amazed that the worst that happened was a few broken ribs.

The next few hours were spent taking Glen where he needed to go in order to take care of the legalities regarding the accident, then we finally headed home.  I had a really great time talking and getting to know Glen while we drove and Tiffany, well, she followed behind us.  I felt bad that she had nobody to talk to, but I think she probably enjoyed the peace and quiet.

That night we emptied both vehicles’ loads into our living room where Glen sorted through all the broken and damaged luggage.  Surprisingly, there was not a lot that was broken, even from the two trucks that were strapped to the roof and therefore had been crushed, twice.  The trunks have seen better days, but the only major losses were Glen’s Kindle (he’s an avid reader) and their coffee maker (a great tragedy!).

The next morning some of Glen’s coworkers came and picked him up along with all his things to bring them back to Lomé, which is ironically where their journey started.

That night (Sunday), I started to feel unusually tired, achy, and chilled.  Guess what that means?  It’s malaria time! Thankfully after having it twice I know what it feels like at the beginning so I was able to begin treating it right away and by Wednesday morning it was completely gone.  Unfortunately, Tiffany and I both picked up some kind of illness, probably from Dapaong, which has caused all kinds of stomach issues including not being able to wander too far from a bathroom.  Thankfully Tiffany got over this pretty quickly, but I’m still having major problems with it a week later.

We are incredibly thankful that God allowed us to help out these people in need and to make three new friends in the process.  It was a very unfortunate circumstance but we’re glad to see that everyone came out of it with their lives.

Oh, and the truck?  It’s a Toyota Landcruiser, which are evidently indestructible because the mechanics simply changed the tires on one side and drove it three hours South to Kara!  I didn’t think it was good for anything but scraps, but the mechanic says he’ll getting running like new!  Only in Africa.

August 3rd was our 8th wedding anniversary.  Because of it falling in the middle of the pastors’ conference, we decided to hold it off until the following week.  My original plan was to surprise Tiffany on Thurday morning by having the house completely empty (the Huffs are staying with us right now), bringing her breakfast in bed, and spending the whole day together with no distractions or interruptions.  Well, I managed to pull it all off except for the surprise part.  She found out a couple days before that everyone would be leaving and that we were doing something special.  As much as we both love surprises, it didn’t ruin it for either of us though!  We had a really great time.

For the most part we just sat around all day and relaxed which doesn’t sound like much fun, but it was exactly what we needed.  We talked a lot, watched a movie, cleaned up the house together, cooked together, and even se up my new Facebook account together.   It was so great, and so needed, that we decided to do it every month or two.

While we were busy doing nothing, Joshua was busy doing a little of everything with the Huffs, Jim, and Lisa at Jim’s house.  They played games, did crafts, and played outside on a homemade waterslide.

Now that our day of relaxation is over, it’s back to life as normal once again!

During the past several days we’ve been saying goodbye to all our friends and family who mean so much to us.  They will, of course, leave the biggest void in our lives.  But, one other thing that the three of us will miss a lot is the great outdoors of the Northwest.  Having grown up here, Tiffany and I, and now Joshua too, really enjoy hiking and exploring the woods.

The other afternoon, Tiff and I had the chance to do one last little hike (and the first in a long time) before leaving.  We went down into a canyon that is within walking distance from our house.  We had a really great time together, and it was a good opportunity for us just to talk and have one last gulp of really fresh, clean Oregon air!  We had a lot of fun and thought we’d show you some of the pictures below.

A couple months ago, Tiffany started Kindergarten with Joshua and they have both been working very hard.  One part of the morning routine is to say the Pledge of Allegiance with the small paper crayon-colored American flag hanging on the schoolroom wall.  It was already extremely cute to hear him mispronounce some of the big words which he is incapable of defining, but when he recently lost his first tooth upper tooth (fifth overall) it became even cuter.  Here’s a short video of his Pwedge of Allegianthe.

The Pwedge of Allegianthe from Jesse Shanks on Vimeo.

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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!

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The day after returning home from Boston, Tiffany flew to the west coast for our very good friend’s wedding (thanks to her mother’s frequent flier miles) and to see her parents. She will be gone for a total of 15 days, which is in my opinion about 15 days too long! Ever since we first planned this trip for her, I have been calling it The Great Abandonment. You see, me and the kitchen don’t get along too well. I am happy to help Tiffany around the house any way I can, but cooking is one thing that I try to avoid at all costs. Rather than resorting to fast food and junk food however, I have brought myself to at least attempt cooking. We have not died or been hospitalized (yet) so I suppose that I’m doing alright, besides Joshua’s crying every time we sit down to eat. He’s also lost about 20 pounds.

We miss Tiffany a bunch, for more reasons than just those that relate to food! She is having a really great time though. She arrived in Portland last night and will be there for the remainder of the time with her family and friends.

Joshua and I are also having a good time. We’re doing several special Joshua & Daddy kind of things. The other day we went down to a park along the river where we rode rollerblades (me) and a scooter (Joshua), then we had a picnic lunch on the grass. Sometime this week, we’ll be taking a short hike through the woods by another river nearby. It’s definitely not all fun and games though, as we are definitely in survival mode around the house!

Read about the return of Tiffany.

We returned last Wednesday from our 5 days in Boston with my cousin and his wife. We had a really wonderful time, and we hated having to say goodbye to Ryan and Janelle. But, it is good to be back home and have things almost back to normal.

Here’s some highlights of the trip.

Riding on the Swan Boats was a very special experience for Tiffany. She has a memory of riding the very same boats with her grandparents when she was just a little girl. Joshua loved it, especially getting to see turtles, a couple swans, and all the ducks swimming along side of the boat.

The Holocaust Memorial is truly a sobering experience. It is located just off of a busy street along a pedestrian walkway. When you approach it, all you see are six very large, very tall glass towers. Once you get closer however, you realize that on each glass panel of each tower are literally thousands of seven digit numbers, each one representing a person killed by the Nazis in the WWII concentration camps. Then, the reality of the Holocaust starts to sink in and you can see visually the enormous number of people who were murdered. To me, the Holocaust is an example of just how evil man can be, and the fact is that all humans are capable of doing such horrible things and worse. We somehow think that we are better people than the Nazis because we haven’t done what they did, but the Bible tells us that we are all corrupt, evil, and “desperately wicked.” Praise be to God for His restraining grace, and most of all for His saving grace!

As you can tell from the photos, Joshua had a blast at the children’s museum. It almost made me wish I was 5 years old too so I could do all the fun stuff with him!

The Plimouth Plantation was a pretty neat place as well. They have attempted to replicate as accurately as possible the normal everyday life in the original settlement of Plymouth. The people who “live” there actually act out their part as if they are really from the 1700s. Asking them questions about email, TV, iPods, or cameras will only cause strange looks and confusion. Most of the actors have even mastered the accent of the European settlers of that time.

Although we did lots of fun things, the best part was definitely just spending time with Ryan and Janelle. Ryan, along with his brother, Adam, have been my closest friends for as long as I can remember. It was a great time of encouragement and edification, and we thank God for giving us the chance to get away for a little while.

It seems that ever since the summer started, we have been going non-stop. In all the busyness though, we’ve managed to take advantage of the sometimes nice weather and do some really fun things together. I fully intended to write blog entries about each one of them as they happened, but blogging often has to take a back seat to other things.

So, here is a whole summer of fun wrapped up in one long blog post. I have included two different kinds of photo slideshows that I’m experimenting with so please let me know if you have any difficulty viewing them.
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Today I had my last tutoring session with Suzanne until September, and tomorrow Tiffany will have her last one.  Suzanne takes off the months of July and August for a summer vacation, so for the next couple months it will just be Tiffany, me, and a pile of French textbooks as we work through some of the finer points of French.  While we plan to take advantage of the nice weather, we certainly don’t look at this time as a break from French.

Lately it seems that we have had more opportunities than normal to speak French in very relaxed situations with various friends.  This is one of the most useful ways to “study” for us right now because we are able to put into practice what we have been learning.  It is very encouraging as we are both beginning to form longer and more complex sentances.

We are looking forward to having my parents with us in a few weeks.  They will be here for one week, then a few weeks after they leave my cousin and his wife will be visiting for five days from Australia.

I have been notified by several people that I am ready to preach in French.  I was previously unaware of this, so I’m really glad that they have let me know!  I have a message ready, and the date is set for July 20th.  It should be…hmm…what’s the right word for it…interesting.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

Since Malerie has left I have started teaching Joshua Pre-K.  I  am thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to teach him; he is progressing very quickly, and is eager to learn. During class the other day, Joshua was trying to write the letter N.  He was having a hard time because he was beginning the letter at the top, so therefore the letter N was turning into the letter W.  He was becoming very frustrated, so I told him to try starting the letter at the bottom.  He then placed his head on the desk and started crying.  When I asked him what was wrong he said “I don’t like to be wrong, I want to do everything perfect.  I want to color perfect inside the lines, I want to do school perfect, I don’t want to make mistakes.”  Don’t we all!

After he explained why he was sad, I asked him to sit in my lap, and I began to tell him that no one is perfect, that no one can do everything perfect because no one is perfect. I began naming people that we are close to, telling him that none of those people are perfect.  He then looked up at my face and said, “But mom, God is perfect, He does everything right.”  WOW! What a statement and what a great reminder, that He can’t do anything wrong; that everything He is and does is perfect. I kissed his little cheek and told him, “You are absolutely correct, He is perfect.”

After our little chat I began to tell him that all he needs to do is just do his best, that he might not be able to do it perfectly but it will be the best he can do and that is important.  I am reminding him often that everything he does well is because God gave him gifts and abilities that allow him to do his best.  Joshua did finish the letter N and he started at the bottom and did a wonderful job, and afterward he said, “I did my best mom,” and leaned over and kissed me on my cheek.  What a reward!  I love being able to teach him and spend time with him, it is so rewarding.

Later on that night Joshua was helping Jesse with something and Jesse said, “Okay we are finished, it’s perfect,” and Joshua spoke up and said, “It might not be perfect, Dad, but it is the best we can do!”

I thank the Lord for such a wonderful, loving son.

Click here to download a printable PDF copy of this letter: May ‘08

The month of May marked one year since our arrival in Quebec. It seriously seems like it has only been a few months. We praise God for the progress that He has allowed us to make in our French and we trust that these last five months will be even more productive as we attempt to learn more of the advanced aspects of the language.

Since Malerie left, Tiffany has been doing school with Joshua and he is doing extremely well. He looks forward to school each day and sometimes asks if he can keep working after they are finished. He is at the point now where he is putting letters together and starting to read words and simple sentences. Like every parent, we are so thankful for him and we’re amazed at how quickly he is growing up.

Not a day goes by that we don’t think about how close we are to arriving in Togo. We ask that you would continually pray for the Lord’s direction and wisdom as we make all of the necessary preparations.

Thank you so much for your prayer and support!

Just a little background first:  Joshua is five years old now, has a mind of his own, and is constantly saying things that seem to come out of nowhere.  He has been saving every bit of his own money - from his birthday, from grandparents on holidays, and from his occasional “jobs” around the house - for more than six months because he has been wanting to get his very own little camera.  He talks often about it, but this time it completely caught us off guard.

Sitting at the dinner table last night, I asked Joshua if he would like to pray to thank God for the food before we ate.  He quickly agreed and began praying, but not for the food.  He said, “God, can you please help me not to spend any money…long pause…and help me to get more jobs…long pause…and help me to do my schoolwork slowly…amen.”  We managed to hold back our chuckles, and Joshua just began eating like nothing out of the ordinary happened.  It’s amazing how cute kids can be and be entirely clueless to it.

By the way, the reference to the schoolwork was because Tiffany has been working with him lately and she’s often telling him to slow down and do the work correctly rather than quickly.

You just never know what will come out of the mind of a kid!

It’s amazing to think that we have been living in Quebec now for almost one year.  We have been thinking a lot lately about our first few months here and the amazing ways that we say God work in our lives.  Here’s a brief summary:

May 6th, 2007 - last meeting of deputation, Pasco, WA ~ May 7th - La Grande, OR…journey begins ~ May 8th - weird van noise, overloaded back end, prayer ~ May 9th - really weird van noises, squealing, grinding, more prayer ~ May 10th - arrive in Quebec, 2,851 miles in 4 days, decided never to do that again…no apartment reserved, no furniture, no French, no plan, no idea…more prayer…stay with missionaries we’ve never met, poor missionaries ~ May 11th - meet another missionary we’ve never met, gives up his whole day to drive us around and translate…thanking God…appointment to see the only available 3 bedroom apartment in all of Quebec City…nice, good price, 5 minutes from the university, no bugs or crazy neighbors…we’ll take it…thanking God again ~ May 12th - thrift store marathon, no translator, lots of hand motions…and prayer…not finding furniture…receive random phone call from unknown furniture-collecting lady, offers furniture, next thrift store, receive call from furniture-collecting lady’s friend, offers more furniture…thanking God ~ May 13th - Sunday, church…what are they saying? ~ May 14th - classes start at university…what are they saying?  more prayer ~ May 15th - morning classes, more random calls from more unknown furniture-collecting people ~ May 16th - classes, still no idea what they’re saying, is this even French? …moved into apartment, slept on floor…thanking God ~ May 17th - classes, feeling very lost…prayer…another call from furniture donator, this is borderline weird, wondering where they get our number, only explanation is God…thanking God ~ May 20th - fully furnished apartment, everything free…speechless ~ May 9th, 2008 - Jesse still trying to regain sanity from 2,851 miles in 4 days, Tiffany doesn’t believe it will happen

Without going into every little detail, all we can say is that what God did was nothing short of a miracle.  Since then we’ve seen God work in so many other ways, but mostly in giving us the ability to speak and understand French…finally.  I know that we’re not fluent, but just to be able to carry on basic conversations is light years ahead of where we were a year ago.

We really appreciate all of you who have prayed for us in the past year, but please don’t stop.  Many people have told us that our last several month in language training will be the most important because we are now at the level where we can make the most rapid progress.  And as we look ahead to January of next year, we see the next big obstacle of getting to Togo.  We really have no idea yet how it’s all going to work out…we just know that it will.  It might not all happen exactly as we plan, but it will happen as God has planned, and we just want Him to get all the glory for everything, good or bad, in our lives.

Well, yesterday was my final day of studying French at Laval University.  It feels very nice to be done, but I realize that there is a LOT that I still need to learn.  On Monday, I begin my theological course with Tiff’s tutor, which I’m very excited about.  I’ll be working most of today on my first French sermon which must be ready for the beginning of this course.  It’s amazing how slow the process is when doing this in a second language!  I’m looking forward to the day when French is nearly as familiar to me as English.

Tiffany, in the mean time, will be continuing her tutoring through the end of May, then we will both have three months to study on our own before the tutoring begins again in September.

We’re excited about seeing the light at the end of a long French tunnel, and we know that we’ll be finished before we can say “French toast,” so pray with us that God will guide us in learning all that is necessary before heading to Togo.