My funniest school moments of the week were all on Saturday. I was quizzing Taylor right before his spelling test over his vocabulary words, when I asked for the definition of “fungi” he answered “A plant with no cholesterol”. Tucker, Taylor, and I all died laughing, and in case you didn’t know the correct answer is a plant with no chlorophyll. We also finished a very funny read aloud this week called Superfudge by Judy Blume. The boys have had a lot of fun quoting their favorite characters, especially Uncle Feather the family’s pet bird.

Another funny moment happened Tuesday night at the Koonces. Louise had started a load of laundry- which due to low water pressure requires the use of a hose to help the machine fill. She came back in the house and showed us some pictures and put the boys to bed, when their night guard came to the door asking Louise to come outside. All Rachel and I heard was “OH, NO!!” and we ran outside to find three inches of water in the laundry room. The four of us scooped water with dust pans and mopped up water with towels and a sleeping bag for quiet a while. Then we thought it would be a great idea to bring a fan out to help the floor finish drying. I volunteered to go in and get the stand fan, but I didn’t wear my shoes because they were wet and muddy. When I reached to unplug the fan I got a nice jolt of electricity! Luckily Marty came home from Lome not long after that.

From Marty - What an adventure this week has been. Whereas the truck has not yet recovered from its suspension and wheel problems, that has not stopped us from getting out to the village. The Vespa scooter is out of retirement and rolling again. I am so thankful for the service this motorcycle has given over its ten year tenure.

The leadership meetings have been good but the prayer times with the leaders have been incredible. I love more and more how God draws us into dialogue with him and draws us together through prayer. The answers have been coming almost as quickly as we can ask for God’s blessings as he builds upon the faith of the leaders and mine as well.

We do ask for prayers for the Watchi people to be overwhelmed with a holy fear and reverence for God. For too long now they have sought the blessings of God without seeking God himself. As well, pray for us to walk humbly and obediently taking advantage of every day’s opportunity to serve and give testimony. Pray also for the men as they gather together for their annual meeting on Wednesday of this week until Saturday. Pray that there would be a desire to collectively seek God with penitent hearts. Pray also for our family that we would have the means to fix the truck and have transportation again. As well, pray for our family’s spiritual and physical health that we would thrive in this last year of life in Togo.

From Louise - Harmatan is on its way out, which is evidenced by the rising temperatures and humidity. I am glad to see the dust go.

Christine and I made a trip to Vogan this week to visit Dela Afakule. It was so good to see her again. Her health is improved, but she is still suffering from some pain and sleepless nights. She received us in Dela-fashion by serving us her famous yam-balls with sauce.

Being fed must have been the theme of the week, as our sister Adzo prepared a meal of goat and rice for all of our team on Thursday night. She went over the top by bringing cold cokes for us all (pictured left).

With our car in the shop, our activities have been limited. Marty has been able to make his trips to the village on the Vespa. There was a day when we could all ride on it, but we are too big for that now.

The boys continue to get back in the swing of things at school. They resumed Tae Kwon Do this week and have enjoyed playing soccer on Sunday afternoons with the neighborhood team.

The weeks are really flying by! School is up and running and the boys are truly “being boys”. They’re currently playing lots of football (tackle and flag) which often entails them being incredibly dirty after recess. Matthew is the hardest player of them all - always getting the dirtiest, never getting hurt, and usually even showing up to school in his football uniform from his flag football team in the States. One day he even brought his wristband with the play card in it! They each always have stories or one liners that just make me laugh. One day while working on Math together, Taylor asked me what made people talk differently. I asked if he was wondering this because he had thought that I talked differently than he did. He blushed slightly and then replied with a quiet yes. So, we got the chance to talk about different accents, especially Southern ones like mine.

This week we attended the church in Tabligbo. Lauren, our Peace Corps friend, was able to come along with us. It really was fun. Earlier in the week we were able to pick up all of our new skirts/clothes we had previously dropped off so we were in quite style for the services! Our cute new clothes didn’t change the fact that it was very, very hot! The weather is surely changing and it’s hotter than ever. As soon as we got back to the Koonces after church, a nice glass of Kool-Aid hit the spot!

From Murphy - The prayer on my heart this week for the Watchi is that God would raise up some Joshuas, Calebs, Esters, and Nehemiahs with a passion and burden for their own people. That the Watchi Christians would seek God with all of their hearts. They they would hunger and thurst for righteousness. And that the Kingdom of Heaven would come in all of it's glory, might and power in Togo just as it is in heaven.

Today (Wednesday) is the beginning of a three day men's meeting. The leaders will meet on Wednesday evening through Thursday afternoon when the rest of the men will arrive. Saturday, we'll return home. Pray that God would bless us with His presence, that His purposes and plans for this meeting will be accomplished. Pray that the Watchi men will be encouraged and go home fired up and empowered with God's strength to advance His Kingdom in their homes and villages.

Since our return we've been experiencing lots of things for the "last" time. This is my "last" men's meeting among the Watchi.

There are lots of building projects going on. We begun the process of digging two more wells last week. The Didokpo church has finished the walls for their building and is putting together funds to build the roof (pictured left). After the Sedome churches roof was destroyed in a fire the cluster decided to rebuild it. It was supposed to be done last Thursday. I'll find out next week if they were able to finish. Plus, I'm helping a school rebuild one class room after a fire destroyed four of their buildings during another bush fire a few weeks ago.

From Christine - This week Louise and I had the pleasure of visiting Dela in Vogan. Many of you know and pray often for Hammer and Dela. Please continue to pray for them. Dela seemed to be in a lot of pain and she must take medication to sleep. Pray that God will heal her body and give her energy that she may serve the way she wants to in Vogan. We worshipped with the Kpeve Church this week. It was so fun to see the Christians there. They all seem to be so happyin the Lord. It was such a blessing to worship God with them.

We have enjoyed a wonderful visit with the Rieses from Kara this week. It was fun to reconnect with our friends. The boys are doing great. We are all feeling back to a routine and the boys are loving it. Thank you so much for your prayers!