We had a good worship with Tabligbo on Sunday morning. The elders there are beginning to make the changes needed to lead their church forward. Please continue to pray for them. We had a wonderful answer to prayer on Saturday of last week. A member of the church in Amouzouglita Kope was in a coma for a week following a motorcycle accident. He had been knocked unconscious with the accident and had just never come out of it. The doctors were beside themselves. We were praying in earnest on Saturday as was his family in Christ in Atitogon and he came out of the coma that afternoon and they found him sitting up and completely aware of everything. Praise God with us for his mercy and glory. Other good news from that area is that they have planted a new church near Adankonou Kope. It has a great start with lots of adults, family units, and literates. Continue please to pray for Vogan, Amouzouglita, Togbonou, Hompou, Ahepe, and Afakomi. God bless you and thank you for the prayers.

On Wednesday of this week, I hit the market with Brenda and Glenda, and had a blast! I spent most of my time wandering through the department store section (just kidding!). I shopped around for some used clothes and got some deals that as an amateur bargain shopper I can be proud of. I think we're going to go again next week, and I'm so looking forward to it. I think the locals are too, because they got quite a kick out of me and my attempts at communicating :)

Thursday at school the boys and I had a blast. We were done for the afternoon when a thunderstorm suddenly broke loose, and as they began to play in the rain it suddenly hit me, "Why am I not out there?!" So we just played and ran and rejoiced in the refreshment of God's nature. It was the perfect ending to this week, and I was so glad for the opportunity to just laugh with them. How much more must God delight when He gets to share in our joys and moments of reckless abandon . . .

Thank you for your prayers for my health--I am feeling MUCH better! Please pray for us this weekend, that we will be kept safe from malaria and yellow fever! I love you all.

This has been a really fun week! We love our ministry here and all of the opportunities that God gives us to see His Spirit changing lives for eternity. I come home drained of energy in the evenings from my meetings with churches and church leaders, but filled with joy because of the ways that God is working through me. Thank you for sustaining us through you prayers and partnership! God is moving mountains!

This week we rejoice with the first baptisms from the village of Kpokede. I don't know the total number yet (next week). I did see the Kpeve Christians gathering together with the Kpokede people on the road on my way home from Didokpo yesterday as they were preparing to ride their bikes to the river for the baptisms. They didn't even invite me! This is a great testimony of their faith and maturity. Their confidence in God's Spirit working through them is growing and their reliance on us as missionaries is lessening.

We also rejoice with Tucker Koonce on his new birth in Christ! May God continue His journey to mold and shape Tucker into the likeness of Jesus. It was great for Matthew and Stephen to experience Tucker's new birth and a foreshadow of their faith commitment to Jesus in the future. On the way home both Stephen and Matthew said, "I want to be a Christian!" From the mouths of babes....

We're off this morning on our Father/Son (plus two teachers and one aunt) camping trip to the Pendjari Game Park in northern Benin. We'll be back on Monday! Pray that the Lord will keep us safe on the road and be with our wives in Tabligbo while we're gone! Oh yes, pray that we get to see LOTS of God's magnificent creatures!

Thanks so much to all of you who prayed about Maureen’s U.S. visa. We had an appointment at the American embassy on Tuesday, submitted some documentation they had requested, and were told that “We’re good to go!” We should be able to pick up Maureen’s visa this coming Tuesday. What an answer to prayer!

On Sunday we joined the Adangbe cluster in their monthly joint worship service. This will be our last opportunity to worship with that group of churches before leaving Togo in May. Anthony spoke to them and they had an encouraging time of prayer both for our family and for the Vogts, who were visiting with us. Tod, his mother, and Hannah flew out from Lomé Sunday evening.

We’ve spent a lot of time packing this week—mainly packing our personal belongings to ship back to the States, but also packing for our father-son camping trip that begins Friday. We’ll head north for a couple of nights at Benin’s Pendjari game park. It’s been a couple of years since our boys have been, and Jonathan is particularly excited about going camping.