In the early 90's God began to put together a group of families to be His ambassadors to the Watchi people of southern Togo . Over the past 15 years, the team has seen many changes as families returned to the States and new families joined the work among the Watchi.

Together, the Watchi teammates of the past, and those on the present team have witnessed the seeds of the Good News germinate among the Watchi producing a harvest of souls for the Lord.

In August 1994, a team of 5 couples arrived in southern Togo to begin a work among the Watchi people. They desired for God to open the hearts of the Watchi to the truth and salvation of Jesus Christ so that many people would come to faith and many churches could be established.

The Harris' and Tackers returned to the States in 1996 after completing two years in Togo.

In October 1996, Frank and Jenna Bunner visited with Marty and Louise and invited them to join the Watchi work. Their relationship with their church in Virginia became a foundation for their efforts, as the Warrenton church of Christ agreed to fill the role as overseeing congregation. In June 1997, Marty left his job at Wal-mart, although they had raised only partial support, and began touring the States, in search of remaining support. By the time they were ready to leave America, God had provided all their locating funds and most of their ongoing support was in place.

Sandi Wright joined the team in January, 2000. She quickly learned the language and began ministering to the Watchi women. She worked hard to develop close relationships with the women and help them mature in their faith and Christian life-styles. One of her major goals she accomplished before leaving Togo was training of children’s Bible class teachers in many of the churches. She taught these teachers how to use the children’s curriculum and incorporate other ideas to train their children in the ways of the Lord. Sandi returned to the States in 2001.

In May, 2001, after nearly seven years in Togo, the Slacks returned to live in the States. They were a valuable asset for the team and the evangelization of the Watchi. In the last couple of years before their departure, Edwin planted a church in a very remote, unevangelized area among the Watchi. This church helped establish three other churches. Patty completed a children’s ministry curriculum which continues to be a blessing to the Watchi churches. Jessica and Bethany blessed our team by adding a feminine touch to the crowd of rowdy boys on the team.

In 1999, we realized that our team of four couples would soon be dwindling down to three with the departure of the Slack family. With the amount of work still left to do here among the Watchi people, we felt a need to ask the Lord to send us more workers. But even in our dreams we could never have imagined the way the Lord would provide. He not only provided able-bodied workers, but missionaries with experience in West Africa.

Jana Treadway and the Parker family joined the team in August 2001. Anthony, Maureen and Jeremy Parker came with their brought eight years of church planting and maturation ministry experience from their work among the Fon people of Benin, West Africa. One of Anthony’s greatest strengths is leadership training. In addition to church planting and maturation, Anthony is focusing on translating a Train and Multiple curriculum. Maureen is a nurse and worked for over 2 years in Ghana clinics and taught basic health care in village settings. They adopted Jonathan in 2001.

Jana Treadway also brought years of experience in Benin. There, Jana worked primarily with women’s and children’s ministries while developing a Fon language literacy program. She enjoyed seeing the growth and blessings that resulted from women and men being able to read God’s word for themselves. Because of health reasons Jana is returned to the States in the spring of 2002.

After the Parkers and Jana Treadway joined us in 2001, Murphy and Christine Crowson and their two sons, Stephen (5) and Matthew (3) arrived in January, 2002. Both Murphy and Christine were missionary kids and have always had a heart for missions. They studied French in Canada before arriving on the field 3 and a half years ago to work among the Aja people of Benin. The Aja are “second cousins” to the Watchi people. The Aja language and culture are very similar to the Watchi language and culture. This made their transition to the work here much smoother and allowed them to be fully involved in planting churches among the Watchi in just a few short months.

Two Heathers, Heather Dague and Heather Golightly joined our team in January 2003 as teachers in the Tabligbo MK School. They have been a great blessing to our team, especially our children! We thank God for young teachers like them who are willing to come and serve in the Watchi work in this way. Heather Dague returned to the States after six months this past July. Heather Golightly returned to the States in February, 2004.

Suzanne Diaz joined our team in the Spring 2004 to teach in the Tabligbo MK School for three months. She left in April at the end of the school year.

Frank and Jenna Bunner, after completing a ten year committment returned to the States in April, 2004. They are currently in Nashville, TN serving at their sponsoring congregation, Clarksville Highway.

Laté LAWSON-SIMLEN joined our team as an Agricultural Missionary among the Watchi. He works with Christians and Churches to develop better farming techniques and to improve life skills and living conditions. Our goal: Christians thriving in body and spirit!

The Fall 2004 school year brought more new faces to the Watchi Team. Rae Holderfield, from Little Rock, AR, joined the team to teach 2nd and 4th grades in the Tabligbo MK School. Josh and Kyleen Bontrager also joined the team. Kyleen taught Kindergarten and 1st grade while Josh was an apprentice to the Watchi work.

Rae went home for the Christmas break and recruited a new team member, her fiance! Rae and Jeremy were married on January 1, 2005 and returned to Togo later that month. Rae contined to teach 2nd and 4th grades while Jeremy began teaching preschool to Jonathon, Trevor and Matthew.

The Hollands and Parkers relocated to the States in the spring of 2006 leaving the Koonces and Crowsons in Togo. In the Fall of 2006 Amy Shaffer and Emily Dunnagan joined the team to teach in the Tabligbo MK School.

Emily Dunnagan and Amy Shafer continued to teach in the Tabligbo MK School through the spring semester of 2007. In May the Koonces and Crowsons returned to the States for an extended furlough for the rest of the year.

In January, the Koonces and Crowsons returned from their extended furlough. Emily Dunnagan returned to Togo for another year of teaching in the Tabligbo MK School. Rachel Baker, from Shreveport, LA also came to teach in the Tabligbo MK School for the spring and fall semesters of 2008. Rachel will return to the States in November. The Koonces, Crowsons and Emily will leave Togo in December to begin a new ministry in Rwanda.

The Koonces, Crowsons and Emily will arrive in Kigali, Rwanda.

We praise God for blessing the Watchi team over the past 14 years! He has certainly been faithful to provide our families with everything we need to be His servants in this southern Togo.