Harvest Prayer Warriors is a prayer letter
from Murphy and Christine Crowson, working in the harvest fields of
southern Togo, West Africa.
Bonjour from Togo! We hope and pray that all of you are doing well
and that the Lord is blessing you in your service to Him. We thank you so
much for your prayers these past two months on behalf of our family and
the growth of the Kingdom in southern Togo. God is listening and He is
answering!
Planting New Churches in Batoe, Lakoto and
Kedenyohoue
God continues to bless us as we hold out His Word of Life in in
these three villages. We have completely finished our evangelism series in Batoe and are expecting baptisms this
weekend.
Lakoto is going much slower. We
do have a solid core of people though who are coming and we can see God
working in their lives to bring them to faith.
Two
weeks ago I restarted a preaching point in the village of Kedenyohoue. I began teaching there last July
and made a plan with a near-by Christian to continue teaching there while
we were in the States. The Christian went some, but not very consistently
and the preaching point fell through.
This past month, I revisited the village and they wanted to
continue to study God's Word. So I went back and began the evangelistic
lessons again. We've had two good meetings there so far with the village
leaders and other men and their wives. I'm encouraged that even after so
long they still desire to hear God's Word. There's a lot of vojushis (women who have given their lives to a voodoo god)
as well as a lot of ebo (spiritual charms and bracelets used
to protect themselves from evil spirits sorcery). Pray that God will
reveal His power to save and protect and that many will put their trust in
the saving and protecting power of Jesus' blood!
Maturing Churches and Strengthening Faith
The Agodome, Todzi and
Sendome churches all met together on Easter Sunday for a cluster/combined
worship celebration (See pictures @ the top right). With all three
churches together we had over 120 people! It was an exciting time of
worship and praise as we celebrated the resurrection of our Lord and
Savior. During my lesson I asked everyone who had become a Christian in
the last year stand up and about a third of the crowd stood up! A powerful
testimony that God is working to expand His Kingdom!
The
Sendome and Todzi churches continue to mature in their faith and walk with
the Lord each in at their own pace and with their own
challenges.
The Sendome Christians were faced with the
challenge of working through several deaths in their non-Christian
families this past month. One Christian woman's son died unexpectedly at
the age of 25. He was married with two children and lived in Lome. When I
asked why he died they said that his stomach hurt one day and that he died
the next. His non-Christian father, together with other non-Christians
members of his family, consulted the "spirits" to find out the reason for
his death. The "spirits" said that he died because his wife poisoned him!
Obviously that didn't make his family very happy with his wife! So far,
they haven't done anything to her seeking revenge, but if they did it
wouldn't be out of step with their culture here. Pray for Sengono (Sen-go-no). The unexpected death of her son has crushed her
spirit and I feel that Satan is using this opportunity to test and crush
her new faith in Jesus.
The Todzi church has several strong young
and old men, but their wives have yet to become Christians. Pray for the
Christians in Todzi, that they will be able to share their faith in word
and by example with their spouses.
From Christine...
 I'd
like to introduce you to Leotine Alado. She is called Edemno because she
is the mother of Edem. Edemno is a wife, mother of four and a buisness
women. Her firstborn child, a son named Edem, died 10 years ago. He was 2
years old and became ill and died. Unfortunately it is not uncommon for a
Watchi family to lose a child this way. Since then she has had four other
children. Her daughter Eugeni is 10 and her sons Pascal, Erve and Geral
are 6, 5 and 6 months. Edemno grew up in a Catholic home. Eight years ago
she began attending the Church of Christ in Tabligbo. She began studying
with Scott Harris and seven years ago she was baptized. Edemno's husband
is also a Christian in the Tabligbo Church.
Edemno has a desire to teach God's word to other women. She said
she enjoys teaching and loves God's word and wants to share it with
others. She is sad that so many people around her do not walk with God.
She hopes that many Watchi people will become Christians. Her desire for
herself is to remain true to God and walk faithfully with him.
Furthermore, she wants to teach her children to be God's people and grow
in faith.
Please join us in praying for Edemno and other women like her. She
is a very busy women. In addition to her resposibilities at home she takes
care of her aging father-in-law and runs a small store. She also works in
the farm to help feed her family. Her husband is a director of a
highschool in Tokpli, a town not far from Tabligbo. He is home only two
days a week. Pray that Edemno will not lose her desire to teach other
women. She is blessed with the ability to read and that enables her to
teach the bible to women who cannot read. She is a gifted women, praise
God that she wants to use those gifts to His glory.
Penjari Game Park
The guys took a few days to get "away" this past month with a
trip to Penjari. We had a great time together and got to see lots of
animals including lions, elephants, hippos, cob (an elk-like animal),
water buffalos, crocodiles, baboons, and monkeys! We camped out in the
park on the Burkina/Benin border.
Coconut Beach Resort in Cape Coast, Ghana
Christine and I also took a few days for rest and
relaxation in March at the beach in Ghana. Last year at the West African
Missionary Retreat, we won two free nights @ the Coconut Beach Resort. So,
we decided to cash in our certificate and enjoy some family time. The boys
loved it and we enjoyed getting away!
Thank you so much for your prayers for us
and the growth of the Kingdom here. God is listening and He is
answering!!! |
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Cluster worship on Easter
Sunday
Sendome
Christians @ the cluster worship in Agodome
Todzi
Christians @ the cluster worship in Agodome
Teaching in the
new preaching point of Kedenyohoue
Murphy and baby
"Murphy", a little boy from Agodome who they named after
me:)
The "king" of the
jungle @ Penjari game park. Notice that male lions in West Africa don't
have the big mains that other males have in southern
Africa.
Elephant tracks
we found during our search for the Elephan
A very big and
intimidating Elephant!
Stephen and
Matthew @ the beach in Ghana
Matthew on the
play ground in Ghana. He's such a big boy!
Stephen's
castle @ the beach in Ghana
Yao and the
boys playing with a huge rat that he found in our yard:( When one of our
friends asked if they could have it for dinner we gladly
obliged:)
Jeremy, Stephen
and Matthew after their Easter Egg hunt.
Showing off
their loot on Easter Sunday!
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Prayer Targets for
May/June
 Pray that God will bless Sengono (Sen-go-no) with
strength and comfort during this discouraging and difficult time due to
the loss of her son.
Pray for Edemno and Christian women like her that the
Lord would bless their desire to serve Him.
Pray that God will continue to strengthen the Sendome and Todzi Christians as they grow in their faith. Pray that the wives of the Todzi Christians will also come to faith in
Jesus.
Pray that God will continue to bless the new Tabligbo
Elders as they shepherd the Tabligbo church.
Pray that God will bless us with the "right" words to say
in Watchi and Aja and with the "right" (trusting
relationships) to say them. Wednesdays are especially difficult for me as
I have an evangelistic meeting in Aja at 12pm and then a maturation
meeting in Watchi at 3pm.
Pray for peaceful and lawful elections June 1st!!!
Pray that God will continue to bless us with good health so that we will have lots of energy to serve Him!
Prayer Answers
for March - April
People from Batoe and Lakoto have continued to
grow in there faith and desire to follow God! Many in Batoe are ready to
put on Christ in baptism!
God opened the door for me to begin evangelizing in the
village of Kedenyohoue.
God has continued to bless our family with good health in
March/April with no malaria or sickness! Praise Him!
God blessed us with several refreshing and renewal times this past month. Praise Him for continuing to renew our minds and give us
rest!
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