Merry Christmas to you all. I was thinking yesterday how amazing it is to be here in Togo supported by all of you. Truly, without you and your love for God, we would not be able to continue on here. Your faithfulness to us in prayer and financial support amazes us. Thank you and as Tiny Tim says, "God bless us everyone".

Since our last "times" we had a celebration lunch for some of the leaders who finished their first year of training. In our meeting together I realized how amazing the Holy Spirit is and how through Him we are equipped to do our work. I also realized that the best thing we can give these leaders truly is a deep understanding of Jesus. Just as that was the distinguishing difference between the apostles and religious leaders of that day it is true today as a difference between church attendees and effective Christians.

My Dad and Mom continue to have a good trip, although Dad's back and neck have given him trouble lately. Not one to be kept down, though, Dad preached at Tabligbo last Sunday. He blessed them more than he knows as they have already communicated to me about changes they are going to make based on his lesson. Word must have gotten around, because we received a phone call on Friday from Bertin of the Atitogon cluster and they asked Dad to preach there as well on this coming Sunday.

We tried to have some R&R in Lome this last week. We were fairly successful and Nana enjoyed her golf with the grandsons. Over the holidays I will be working on some needed literature for the work here and won't be heading out to the village much until the second week of January. Also, I will be taking Mom and Dad back to Accra, Ghana on Tuesday for their return flight to the U.S.

Please continue to keep the Watchi in your prayers. Their lives here are difficult beyond description. Pray that they will believe on Jesus and become a people who share in the blessing of being children of the King. Please pray for our dear friend Marilyn Fowler of Searcy, Ar. who is battling physical complications that have arisen after her treatments for cancer. Thank you for your love and your prayers.

We enjoyed a few days in Lome resting and playing with Papa & Nana K. The kids enjoyed swimming and playing golf.It was a treat for me to not cook for a few days, since we got to eat at restaurants in town. Several of us have come down with the usual harmatan headcold. I wish for you all a blessed Christmas.

Ask God to bless Amy as she travels for the Holidays.

Christine and I spent several days in Benin this past week visiting the Vaughn family. On Sunday, I was able to worship with the Ainahoue church, the first Aja church that I was able to help begin. I praise God for Mattias and Janvier, the two leaders in this village. They were among the first to repent six years ago and they are still faithfully serving the Lord. The last six years have had their ups and downs but they have held on to their faith and the Lord is blessing them.

My lesson last Sunday was from John 5:44 "How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?" Wow, that cuts right to the heart. Faith and seeking praise from men can't coexist. And yet, how much of what we do and say is to seek approval from everyone around us. Although I was teaching them this lesson, I was also reminding myself to live before an audience of One, seeking to please Him and Him alone.

A generous church in Alaska recently donated the funds to buy a corn grinder for the village of Batoe. Before now, the entire village (and eight other surrounding villages) were having to walk three miles each way to have their corn ground. There were many times that they would say "We have corn, but we can't eat it because we haven't been able to walk to Sedome to the mill." We bought the grinder and necessary setup supplies a few weeks ago and transported it all out to Batoe. We hired a local mechanic to set it all up and get the machine working. Hopefully, by the end of the year they will be able have the machine up and running. This will be a great blessing to hundreds of people and they are VERY excited! (See pictures)

After a few days with the Vaughns, our family had a few fun filled days at the beach in Benin before returning to Togo. Murphy and I celebrated our 14th Wedding Anniversary. We praise God for the past 14 wonderful years and look forward to many more. Hopefully, by our next anniversary, we will have a precious daughter from China in our family:) Happy Holidays everyone!

Ask God to bless Emily as she travels for the Holidays.