I was thrilled to see my parents arrive in Accra and God blessed us with a safe return trip to Tabligbo before we headed up to Kara for the festivities of last week. It was wonderful to be with the Kabiye team. Getting to see them in action and witnessing their wisdom and love for the King is a true joy. Sports camp was one of my great joys as I had such a splendid time with my sons and all the other kids as well as the parents. I must say, though,it's great to be back in Tabligbo.

My dear friend Ankou has struggled for the last two years with his health. It has inhibited him from taking an active role in leading the Tabligbo church. I have encouraged, cajoled, manipulated and then eventually prayed for him that he would rise to the occasion of leading regardless of his own physical state. He has, and as God so often does, his health has improved as well. It is such a joy now to co-teach with him, our friend and coworker Felicien. Praise God that Ankou is back in the game!

I had asked you to pray for my dad's health during his stay with us. His back has not given him much trouble at all. It has been a great trip already. We are so thankful to have he and mom in our house for this Christmas season. It gives us a sense of "hominess" to have them here. The boys are loving it as well. You could see their joy in walking the links with Nana K and Papa K this morning and last week was a dream come true for them to bear witness to the boys' sporting prowess.

As we have continued to plod along through the 63 books in the training series the leaders continue to comment on the depth of the studies and it is a blessing to see the maturation in them as their understanding grows. Pray for the training of these men, for it does really hinge on this for the future of the work of Christ here. Pray for us too that we will be healthy and faithful in the work.

We are so blessed to have Marty's parents, Kelly and Anna Koonce here with us. They had a great trip into Ghana and a safe journey with Marty over to Togo. We hardly gave them time to catch their breath before we headed to Kara for a belated Thanksgiving celebration with our colleagues there. We really enjoyed the time of fellowship with the Reeves and Ries families, as well as the Friesens from SIL. The two days following was a treat for the kids, as we had our annual Sports Camp. The Dads did a great job of coaching and the Moms played the part of adoring fans. I was even called on to field balls during baseball, since our crowd was so much smaller this year. Still the kids had a great time and had all improved much in soccer, baseball and basketball.

This week has had its challenges as the electricity rationings continue, which causes the internet to be less efficient. We were without water for 24 hours as they made repairs at the station. While we wish things were running more smoothly for our visitors, my in-laws are handling the inconvenience very well and helping keep our spirits up. It is a joy to have them here for the holiday season.

Continue your prayers for Dela. Her situation has not improved and any action will be delayed until the doctor returns from his holiday in January.

Overheard at school:
"I have an angel that protects me." -Trevor
"Yeah? Well I have a night guard!" -Matthew
"I think I saw a commercial about that in America. It was on one of those t.v.s with channels." -Tanner

We're really picking up the pace of school for the last two weeks before the holidays. Tucker originally thought it would be fun to be busy and show his grandparents how studious he is, but I think he's reconsidering now. I'm trying to get he and Taylor to good stopping places before they get to forget everything they know over the break and that means they both have a bunch of tests. Thus far they have managed to hold up, but Tucker did tell me yesterday, "I think I might like to start staying at school an extra half hour every afternoon just so I can get more work done." They'll be glad when next week is over.

I enjoyed our short break last week at Sports Camp. I think I took over 200 pictures in the two days that camp was held. You know how some people come back from Africa with pictures of lions and elephants and exotic animals? I'm going to come back with thousands of pictures of the same six boys. "Oh look there's Tanner playing baseball." "There's Trevor drawing a happy chameleon on the chalk board." "Ha, this must be early in the year because Stephen is wearing that green shirt that finally wore out." "There's Trevor drawing a duck being eaten by a crocidile." "yeah, Taylor making a very scary face." "Trevor drawing Rudolph." "Matthew laughing about something." You get the idea. But a lot of the pictures from Sports Camp turned out well so I guess the volume of photographs taken was justified.

Emily and I are also getting ready to spend the first part of Christmas break in Europe with my family so we're having to think about cold weather. I don't think it's entirely possible to grasp just how dramatically different the weather will be, but we're trying. At least trying enough to send lists home of the clothes that we need. I told my mom to pack as many little handwarmers as possible and maybe we'll just walk around with a thermos of hot tea the whole time. :)

Sport's Camp was a blast! Stephen and Matthew had a great time with their friends and Christine and I really enjoyed the fellowship! We also praise God that our vehicle got us up there and back without any mechanical difficulty!

I am really enjoying mentoring Watchi elders/leaders in their walk with Jesus. The last few weeks have been full of wonderful times of Bible study and I have felt the Spirit's presence helping me teach as we dig deep into the Word and the mind of God. I am so thankful for the opportunities that Jesus gives me every week to feed and nuture his people in the faith. I am also thankful for all of you who pray and give, making it possible for us to minister in this place. This is truly a work that we love.

These past few months my joy in the Lord has been on an ever increasing level as I look to Him more and more for peace, comfort, security and strength. After 24 years in Christ, it just keeps getting better and better. I know that God is blessing my walk with Him in answer to many of you who pray for us daily. Thank you!

I also continue to enjoy watching the Watchi grow in their faith and integrity. Last week one of the leaders that I work with came and asked for some help to get home. He had been traveling for a couple of days and had made it back to Tabligbo but ran out of money and couldn't make it home. I gave him what he said he needed and he left. Then on Tuesday he pulled me aside and said that he had begged the moto-taxi guy to lower the price below what I had given him. The moto-taxi man accepted and then the leader gave me the change that was left over (about $2 worth). Now, this may not seem like a big deal to us. But in terms of this man's integrity this is a great event. No one, except the Lord, would have ever know about the spare change. He could've kept that money. I would've been happy for him to keep the money too! He certainly needs it more than I do. But for him it was an integrity issue and so he gave the money back. A true sign to me that this leader is living to please the Lord and not man. He is seeking praise from His Heavenly Father and not from man. Praise God for He is alive and His Spirit is working to mold and shape us all into the image of Christ!

We had a great time in Kara. It was so good to spend some time with the team up there. The boys had a fun time at sports camp. The boys started their Christmas break yesterday. We went to Lome and did a little shopping and ate out. Today we are off to Benin to spend a couple of days with the Vaughns in Aplahoue then we will spend a couple of days at the beach. Thank you so much for your prayers. We really appreciate you!

We had a really nice time in Kara this past weekend for our 2nd Thanksgiving and for Sports Camp. The weather was cooler and drier which was nice. It was actually 65 when we woke up Friday morning! It still warmed up to the mid 90's but cooled back down again after 4pm. Kara is a much bigger city than Tabligbo! And the power was only out for 10 minutes the whole time we were there! We had a great time hanging out with the Reeves and Reese families and meeting the Frazen family. Thanksgiving was a big meal at which they served Wilbur ,one of their school's "pet" pigs. It was fun to have two thanksgivings this year We held sports camp at the SIL compound which is how I met the Frazens. The Frazen family has been in Togo for 6 years along with several other singal people all working to translate the bible into Kabiye (the Northern Togo tribal language). The have an 10 year old son who joined in for sports camp. They also have a daughter who is 16 and two other sons who are 15 and 13 who played and helped out with some of the activities. Amy and I just sat in chairs in the shade with the moms and watched the boys and dads play. They are all such wonderful kids! They played Soccer and Baseball in the mornings with baskteball and some free play time in the afternoons. Friday night Amy and I went out to eat with Katie (the Kara teacher) at a restaurant in town which was an interesting experience.

We moved into full swing Christmas on the car ride back to Tabligbo as we listened to Christmas music for the whole six hour car ride. This week we have been singing Christmas carols with the boys every morning and working on memorizing lines for our Christmas play. So far the favorite Christmas carols are "Deck the Halls", "Jingle Bells", and "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer". Amy and I had a great time at market this week, even though we ended up in the smoked fish section for a while and came home stinking. We have been able to find some great fabric. Nana K and Papa K (K for Koonce) have arrived and brought so much excitement. I have really enjoyed getting to know them and hearing Tanner's daily stories about them.