~ Rachel Baker ~
 Well, low and behold, the boys’ love of sports has yet to die down. This week we’re back to football. Saturday, though, the game itself really never started. The ball made its way out to recess, but teams nor rules were ever put into place. The spent the entire thirty minutes at recess just tackling and dogpiling whoever was in possession of the ball. There was no goal of this game or points. But, I must say, it was the most entertaining thus far. There was no doubt about it, those boys were out to prove just how tough they were!
I have yet to see the boys as dirty as they were Saturday. There was dirt in crevices that I didn’t know could hold dirt like that: their necks, laughlines, on their foreheads, ears, and even belly buttons! Emily and I had no choice but to send them all to the bathroom after recess for a washdown. They were required to take off their absolutely disgusting T-Shirts and wash from their waistlines up and then come to us for a check to make sure they were clean enough to return to class. When they all returned to school, they assured us that this was a game worth repeating! (oh no!!!)
Da Emily, mine and Emily’s house worker, had a great afternoon one day this week. She went to market for us and when she came back, she was counting back the change from what I had given her. Before I had time to realize what was going on, she had counted it all… in English! I didn’t know she could do that, so I tried to count it back to her in French. Oh, it was awful!!! I cannot speak a lick of French, but I tried. It was a great opportunity for her to help me, though. If I was to get it correct, she was so excited for me! She’s learned very quickly that I can’t speak much other than English. She’ll speak French to Emily and if I walk in the door, she’s instantly trying to talk in English! We’re having fun though – she’s one of the many highlights of daily living here.
 Monday, Louise, Christine, Emily and I went to Kpalime for a girls’ shopping trip. We were able to pick up some souvenir type stuff and just spend some time just us gals. It’s about a three hour drive from Tabligbo, but the road trip was fun and a good outing for us all, I think. On the way there, we passed a sign that said, “Rachel City”. I couldn’t help but laugh, so we had to be sure and get a picture on our way back home.
~ Murphy and Christine Crowson ~ Crowson's Blog
 From Murphy - Last Saturday I finished up four years of training with these three elders pictured to the left. Papa Nazere, Gbemu (bay-moo) and Kossi. All men are strong in their faith and have sincere desire to serve the Lord. Unlike the elders that I talked about last week (from the Kpeve church) these men have no idea who they could pass on the training too. This church has never planted a church, thus, no new leaders to train nor are there any other willing men in their church who want to give themselves more fully to the Lord. So, I ask for your prayers this week to focus on the Didokpo (Dee-do-kpo) elders. Pray that God would give them a common purpose and vision to reach out to other villages with the Good News of Jesus. Pray that God would unify them in their leadership of their church. Most importantly, pray that God would glorify Himself through their lives.
 This past Sunday we went to the Adangbe monthly cluster worship. The first Sunday of every month this cluster of five churches meets together for a combined worship service. Every month they rotate the place and the main teacher. This month's lesson was brought by a Christian from their recent church plant in Kpokede. The exciting thing to me is that he is one of the ones being mentored by the Kpeve elders. 2 Tim. 2:2 is becoming a reality. My former teammate Frank planted the seed of faith in their hearts, I watered it, God made it grow and now they are passing it on to others. His lesson focused on our need to put our old livestyle behind us and focus on walking in the footsteps of Jesus. May God continue to raise up new men and women to advance His Kingdom! This week, say a prayer for the Kpokede church, that the Lord would bless their new and growing leaders and mature them in their faith.
From Christine - This past Wednesday I did my first walk around to greet each of the christian women from Batoe. Of the 20 or so women who go to church in Batoe only 7 of them actually live there. I visited four other small villages in the area in order to see all the women in their homes. Jackino, Doneno and Tasi (three of the christian women who live in Batoe) went with me. They each took turns praying for each woman in their home. Jackino and Doneno are the two women who have shown the most leadership among the women. Please pray for them that they will perservere and grow in their faith and that they will encourage the faith of the other women.
~ Emily Dunnagan ~
 This week we had a repeat of one of my favorite funny school experiences from last year. On Thursday when the boys went out to recess they found a chicken in the yard. Of course the boys had to chase the chicken! I asked them to please try and chase it out the front gate of our compound, but the chicken had other plans and ran into the outside bathroom. The chicken hid behind the toilet for a little while until Tucker and Matthew managed to scare the chicken back out again. Taylor was ready with the play parachute and grabbed the chicken by its feet. (Taylor caught a chicken at school last year also) Trevor ran ahead to open the gate and all of the other boys followed Taylor shouting ideas. Taylor dropped the chicken right by the gate so that the boys could chase the chicken out onto the road. There is something really funny about watching six boys chase a chicken; I was laughing for 15 minutes just watching them.
It has been a good week. We are starting a history unit on American government and geography, and so far it has been really interesting. In science we are continuing to learn more than I ever knew about Botany. The boys were shocked to learn that scientifically tomatoes, avocados, beans, and wheat are all fruits.
Sunday we went to Attitogon with the Koonces for worship. Their building had lost it's roof since the last time I visited so there was a blue tarp, several straw mats, and a couple of palm branches over the top instead. It was very funny to watch a goat jump in and out of the windows of the building, several goats tried to come in through the back, and another goat just lay down in the windowsill.
~ Marty and Louise Koonce ~ Blogs: Marty, Louise, 4T's
 From Marty - This last week was a wonderful one for us as God opened our eyes to some things we had not seen. One of the great needs among the Watchi is the practice of confession (difficult to teach as well as practice). Yet, there I sat with Faley and Boyi in Ahepe on Friday and discussed the why’s and how’s of it. Thirty minutes later they were scraping away at a deeper relationship of trust and humility as they practiced it.
Then on Sunday, much to my surprise, God had me put it into practice in front of the Atitogon church after having taught about the Prodigal. Wasn’t real pretty, I must say, but it was amazing the peace and joy that came as the adults and many of the adolescents one by one shared various struggles with sin that they are having and then we prayed for each other. Please pray for us that this kind of truth and realness will permeate the churches here and usher in a greater realization of God’s grace, holy presence, and power.
On a side note, I have managed to have another bout of malaria. Please pray for a quick recovery.
From Louise - Another routine (mostly) week has passed and I am realizing how quickly our time here is flying. My thoughts are craving balance between seizing every moment while we are here, preparing for the inevitable packing, and anticipating the future. Please pray that we will “finish well”; including helping our boys close their time in Togo with no regrets. They are enjoying the time they have with their friends playing soccer on Sundays and Taekwondo on Thursdays. It is important that they make fond memories in these last months.
~ Agricultural Ministry - Laté Lawson-Simlen
 Laté (la-tay) is still in northern Togo working with the Kabiye team as they begin their well drilling project. You can sign up for the Kabiye Team News by visiting harvestfields.net.
This past week they completed the first well. Yeah! Clean, pure water for all in the village.
Report from Late: "This year things started for us very soon, yesterday I received a call from a soya (beans) buyer in Lomé, he wants to buy 40 tons of soya (beans) this year from us. We need to pray, motivate ourselves and the members for this project. This year we prayed in the beginning at Adangbé to God to help us produse 40 tons this year, and the buyer called asked for this same amount of soya!" |
