~ Marty Koonce ~

It was another good week for us here in Togo. I did have some doctor visits on Monday, but by His grace there are no real concerns. Tuesday and Wednesday were spent teaching the train and multiply sessions in Tabligbo and Atitogon. Ankou from Tabligbo and I are co-teaching a new student in Tabligbo who helped plant the church in Topeglo, Felicien. Pray for Ankou that his health will improve so that he can take full responsibility for the teaching. Pray that we can add a train and multiply class in Afakomi Kope this week on Thursday afternoons. I will be taking that on with Koffi the tailor from Tabligbo. Continue to pray for evangelism of the local kind in Tabligbo, Ahepe, and the Atitogon areas. Pray for the new church in Amegnran that those there will make strong commitments.

2006 Watchi Team


Tabligbo MK School teachers & students

Mordecai fitting right in

First day of school

Grandmother's testimony about God's love


Louise & teachers @ at church

Sleepy after a long day @ school

Off to school

Some very silly boys:)

With the gracious gift of a believer in Warrenton, we were able to help Fali in Ahepe begin a corn grinding business. (top)

In addition to that we have seen some other projects take off like Kossi’s chicken business in Atitogon where they are housed in a mud hut. (right)

We have finished the first week back at school and a great week it was! Amy and Emily have done a wonderful job of setting the pace and laying down the law! They very lovingly are commanding respect and we are already so grateful for their efforts. It was especially a good week for Trevor, it being his first week of full-time school. I can already see the changes in him.

Thanks to the Herrin Church of Christ in Herrin, Illinois, we have employed a French teacher for the school. Daniel (pictured left with Marty) is from Rwanda and has lived in Togo for several years. He helped Marty prepare for his trip to Rwanda by teaching him a considerable amount of their language. He is teaching an hour of French to each age group of children and helping with their art instruction as he is also a talented artist. We are also planning for him to help the rest of us in our French language skills.

We made an exciting and surprising discovery one morning before school – our new rabbit had become a mother bunny. There were seven little pink wriggling bodies in her cage. The boys are having fun watching the development of the little ones.

~ Amy Shafer ~

Ahh we've almost finished the first week of school and, if this week has been any indication, the year is going to fly by. Every day is so busy and so funny in some way or another. Trevor spends a lot of time drawing (his current favorite is to draw ticks after we picked some off of Mordecai after recess yesterday) and Tuesday he, Matthew and I were drawing sea creatures on the chalk board. Trevor drew a crab (a triangle with three legs on each side and a very happy smiley face at the top point) so I started sketching a crab at the top of the board. Suddenly I heard Trevor exclaiming, "That does NOT look like a crab!" Matthew was appalled, "Trevor you don't SAY that. Miss Amy is the teacher. She knows ALL about crabs!" *sigh* I suddenly felt totally under qualified for this job. It's not just that I don't know ALL about crabs, but the fact that Matthew has such faith in me makes even a college degree seem insufficient for teaching. Once again I realize that God will supply everything I need, even the knowledge to answer the questions of little boys and the wisdom to teach them.

Every day is settling into a routine. The boys show up at our front gate around 7:45 and for the next five or so minutes our front yard seems full to bursting with their excitement about the day. We spend the first 45 minutes saying the pledge, singing, learning our memory verse (we've already memorized two whole verses!) and having our read aloud time. Then we're all split between two classrooms for the rest of the day except for recess and lunch. Mordecai wanders between classrooms and manages to distract just about everyone. :) We're all learning how to be flexible with our time and Emily and I are discovering new things in the curriculum every day (or discovering that there isn't as much required in certain areas as we thought!). God continues to bless us with good health and good attitudes and a growing appreciation for everything here. :)

The past few days have been a fun kind of crazy. Sunday I really enjoyed our church experience especially the joyful singing. The hour long drive on dirt roads to and from church was quite an experience. School started Monday and we had a great day. Having french lessons twice a day is really helping the boys (and me too!). Daniel comes and does two half hour lessons for each group, since he is an artist he draws great pictures to go along with our new vocabulary words. I am teaching all of the language arts and like teaching both the older and younger boys. These boys make us laugh everyday. There is such a wonderful simple joy in working with children. The excitement they show over each new thing they learn whether it be jumping rope or reading a new word is contageous. All the boys love carrying our dog Mordecai around! If we ever wonder where the dog is odds are Matthew or Trevor is holding him. We are getting a true sense of life in Africa this week as our car died, our phone line went out, and then today our washing machine died. But all the lights in our house are now working and the weather is WONDERFUL! The temperatures have been in the low 80's and for a Houston girl like me that is a nice cool day!

~ Murphy Crowson ~ Crowson's Blog

From Murphy: I praise God for answering our prayers and blessing the people from Agodeke. It turns out that the story about the man with the sick child was a scam to get money out of the church and out of me. Sad to say, the child actually died in the village clinic. They never took the child to the two hospitals like the man said. In fact, the child was not even his, but rather his wife's child from a previous marriage. God used all of this for his glory. He created an opportunity for the Batoe Christians to express their faith in love. And it also presented of very live real example of the difference between those who walk in the light and those who walk in darkness. In answer to our prayers, the death of the child did not put fear in the hearts of those Agodeke. Rather, they were afraid that because of the man's deceit the Batoe Christians would not return to continue to teach them about Jesus. Over the last few weeks the final lessons were taught and baptisms are planned for this coming Sunday. Praise God for working through the Batoe church to bring these people to faith.

I'm also excited to tell you that there were six baptisms from the Gbagu Kope church and two baptisms from the Didokpo church this past weekend. God continues to bless them with growth as they share the Word of life with others.

Last week I was also faced with a difficult situation which the Lord worked out in answer to our prayers. I discovered that one of the leaders that I work with was making alcohol on the side so that he could have money to pay for the school fees and supplies for his children this fall. It's very difficult for the people here to find the money to send their kids to school. One quick and easy way to do that is to make alcohol. It doesn't take much time and you get your money quick. Even so, it's just not right for leaders in God's church to do this no matter how hard their circumstances are. I asked for advice from some other elders in the area and rather than giving me counsel of what I should do they told me that they would take care of it. So this past Sunday three elders went to visit the leaders from the Kpotonou church and set down with the man who's making alcohol to try and work things out. They went in love to admonish a brother and he received them as a brother, asked for forgiveness, and pledged to change his ways. I praise God for these mature leaders that are not only capable of admonishing their brothers but willing to do that which is difficult in order to advance the Kingdom.

I would also like to give glory to God for the Watchi Christians who are working hard to evangelize their friends, neighbors, and families. They do this without pay, without stipends, without new motorcycles or bicycles or support from America. They do this through their own means, fueled by their love for Jesus and their passion for the lost. They have my respect and are certainly worthy of honor. May God be praised for such sacrificial men and women who are willing to do what so many are not.

The boys are into their second week or school and loving it! They come home everyday with so many exciting things to tell us about their day. Praise God with us for Amy and Emily. They are already such a blessing to our team and the work here. This week I have spent time in lesson preparation for my women's meetings. Please pray that God will use me to bless and encourage the women in Batoe, Sedome and Kpotonou.