Thanksgiving

 

Just a few pictures from our Thanksgiving here in Togo.  We celebrated with all the other missionaries here, mainly Americans but also a few Canadian missionaries.

 

 John and Aiden carving the turkey.  Aiden was just fascinated by the electric knife. 

Setting up the food in the pailloute (a gazebo) here on the hospital compound. 

 

 This is what Thanksgiving lunch looks like in Togo.  Not too bad, huh?

The only things missing were some of my Grandma's collards & turnips, and some of John's Grandmother's candy bar dessert!

  

 Eliza, Olivia and Cassie.  Sweet friends

 

 Drew, Aiden and Ansley

 

 

 

 Sweet Ansley has been pretty sick lately, but she did take a few bites of her first Thanksgiving meal.

 

John leading the time of singing and praises.

 

 James, one of the missionary kids, leading music.

 

 The MKs singing.

 

 What a great group of kids!

 

Our little family.

  So very blessed and so THANKFUL for all the Lord is doing.

Kougdragan Baptisms

One thing we really enjoy is visiting some of the different churchs that have been planted here as a result of the hospital's work.  On this Sunday, we drove up the mountain about 20 minutes from the hospital to visit the Kougdragan church.  It was a beautiful morning and the weather was a tad bit cooler in the mountain air.

 

 When we arrived, Pastor Lalabia told us that they were having a baptism service which is always a blessing to see.

 Three men and two ladies had completed a baptism class and were going to be baptized.  They each stood and gave testimonies on how they had come to the Lord.  The man on the far left of the picture had been one of the masons who had help build the church building a couple years ago. 

 This sweet lady told how all our her family had essentially disowned her when she made a decision to turn from fetishism to follow Christ.

After the service we loaded the van up with as many people as we could and drove a few minutes to the closest water source.  We parked and then had to walk a little farther to reach the water spot.

When we got there, some village children were washing dishes and clothes and collecting water to take back to their homes.

Carrying water home is a daily task.

 So we all waited for the children to finish and for the rest of the church who had to walk from church to the water spot. 

 

 As we waited, we sang hymns in French and Ewe. 

 So thankful that our children can have these experiences.

 

 This was the young lady whose family has disowned her.  As she came out of the water, she started singing "I have decided to follow Jesus".  What a testimony!!

 It really was an amazing experience.  I had this moment of realizing just how small we are and just how BIG our God is.  Here we were standing by a water hole in the middle of Togo as these people make a public statement to follow Christ.  I was utterly humbled as I imagined God looking down from Heaven's splendor to this simple place as His children celebrate the newness of life we have in Him. What a blessing it was to be able to part of this sweet service.



From Floors of Clay to Streets of Gold

One of our Togolese friends just lost their 10 year old "adopted" son.  The Lord has chosen not to give them children of their own, but they adopted their nephew and his sister who lost both their parents.  My heart hurts for them for many reasons that in this lifetime I will never understand why.   I may never understand why God acts in the way He does or allows the things He does, but I trust that He is a good God.

Beni, this little boy's adopted father is confident that the little boy was saved.  Apparently, because of his testimony even in his suffering, his extended Muslim family was aware that he was a Christian.  So much so that when he died the family (Beni and Enyonam where not there when he passed away) called the closest Catholic Church to bury him because they knew he was not Muslim.  The Catholic church was the closest thing they knew of to this little boy's Jesus.

As Sharon (one of the other missionaries here) and I were praying for this sweet family, my eyes filled with tears.  Yes, they were tears of sadness for this family's loss, but it was as if I had a glimpse of Heaven.  The Holy Spirit so impressed upon my heart the hope of Heaven we have as Christians.

But as we prayed for this family I was struck by something that I am not sure I can explain.  I had this image in my mind of this little African boy waking up in Heaven.  Now for all of us Heaven will be more grand than anything we have ever seen, but I couldn't help but see his sweet brown face with  big brown eyes as he saw HEAVEN!  A little boy who had known loss greater than most will know in a lifetime is now with his Heavenly Father.  A little boy who knew what is was to suffer and be hungry will never hurt or be hungry again.  A little boy who had probably never seen much clean water now drinks of the Living Waters!  A little boy whose home was mud bricks now has his promised mansion. A little boy who grew up on clay floors now can run on streets of gold!  What an awesome moment it must have been in Heaven as this little boy opened his big brown eyes and saw his new home and saw his Jesus!

Ansley's first time to Church

Oh wow!  Whoever said the days are longs but the years are fast wasn't kidding!!  I really can not believe how quickly time is going by.  I have a LONG list of post I need to write, but I am still so behind.  So here is yet another post from a few months back!! 

A few months ago we took Ansley to church for the first time. Now, she had been to church here on the compound, but this was her first big outing.  We chose to go to the church of Pastor Theo and his wife Madame Akofa in the village of Dzogbekpime.  I had to take a few pictures!

 

Madame Akofa with Ansley

Aren't the children just beautiful!?

Our kids kind of stick out!!

Such sweet faces



First Day of School

Some days it is still hard to believe that I am one of "those moms"! You know.....a homeschooling mom!  I know you are thinking, "Really Tabitha, you are a missionary....in Africa....with 4 kids.  You are one of THOSE moms!".  

When we faced the reality of homeschooling I must admit I was a bit nervous with the thought of teaching and very overwhelmed with all the options for curriculums.  But we prayed about  and dove into the books last December shortly after arriving on the field and had a great year.  And I can honestly say that I was looking forward to starting this year.  I am not the most patient person (ask my mother!) and I always feared "losing my patience" while teaching my own children.  And while there have been days where I closed up the books and said, "We are done for today. Go play outside", over all the Lord gave abundant grace and enabled me to do something that is totally outside of my nature.

Now, I am one of those moms looking for science projects and crafts and reading homeschooling blogs.  And I have to say, I LOVE IT!

 

And yes, they are all barefoot for school.  But hey, we live in Africa!

 

Thankful I get to spend all those special moments with these 3 little monkeys!

Fetish Ring Burning

Well,  I am still so very behind on blogging.  I am so sorry!  We shared this story in one of our last prayer letters but I wanted to put it here as well.  How the Lord works will never cease to amaze me.  And we are completely humbled that can be just a small part of how Christ is changing hearts and lives of the people here in Togo.

Several weeks ago John and the kids were able to attend a very special baptism service.  Ansley was still just a few days old, so I kept her and Aiden home.  They left around 7am and did not return until 4pm!  It was hot season and when they got home they were hot and exhausted but the girls were overflowing with excitement about what they saw.
  

One of the baptisms

Inside the bamboo walled church

Some of the church people

Some of the children. Aren't they beautiful!?

Listening to the service.

  

At  this service, one young man stood and shared his testimony.  After seeing an evangelistic film at church and hearing a Gospel presentation, he gave his heart to Christ. As he spoke, he shared how he as a young man had been given a ring by a charlatan (a fetish witchdoctor) who told him if he ever took the ring off that he would die, or be killed by spirits. 

As a testimony to his new faith in Christ, he brought the ring to church to be publicly removed and burned.

He removed his ring.

Burning the fetish ring outside of the church.

 

To many Americans, Fetishism and Animism seems like something of the past, but it is very much a part of so many people lives here in Africa.  Many times people go to "church" but then leave to practice fetishism out of fear of displeasing the spirits. This young man was publicly saying, "I am not afraid of the spirits anymore. I serve a mighty God."

What a step of faith for someone who was so deeply rooted in fetishism, what an example of how the Lord can change a heart, and what a testimony of the verse “Greater is HE that is in me, than he that is in the world”.    

 

Togoville- A Fetish Village

John's sister, Jeana, recently came for a visit. The day before she left from Lome (the capital port city) we went to Togoville which is the oldest village in Togo.  It sets on the side of Lake Togo so we were able to take an old fishing boat across the lake and walk around the old village that is still steeped in Fetishism.

Lake Togo

On board the old fishing boat. The kids started singing, "Peter, James & John on the sailboat".

Hooking up the sail.
 This guy paddled our way across the large lake.  It took about 20 minutes to cross and the whole time I was praying I wouldn't get sick!

 

The shore of Togoville with some old fishing boats.



Out fishing.
 

 

 

 

 An old Catholic church in Togoville.

 

While this is the first established, and oldest, village in Togo it actually looks just like the villages where we live.

 The first real well.  It is still the main only water source for the village.

Children collecting water from the well.

 

We were able to pay a few dollars and have a guide walk us around the village. The village is known for its deep involvement in fetsish practices.  As we walked, the guide pointed out various fetish trinkets.  This apparently was the site of a small fetish sacrifice that took place shortly before we arrived.

 This large tree is the center of the village where sacrifices are made in order to appease the spirits.

 A closer picture of the fetish tree.

This is the female fetish idol for the village 

 

 
 This scene just broke my heart.  While we were deeply disturbed by all the fetish involvement in the village, for these children is it commonplace. They were running around playing right by the idols.  Unless they hear about Jesus, they most likely will grow up to be involved in these same fetish practices.

 This is the male fetish idol.  While it looks very old (and it is probably close to 100 years old according to the guide) it is still being used for fetish services.

 

 

 Another fetish item just outside someone's home.

 

 More of the village.

  

 This is the fetish tree that is believed to protect families in the village.  Families will make sacrifices under this tree in order to gain the protection of the spirits for their family. Their put their efforts into appeasing spirits.   How sad.  I am thankful that I can rest under the wings of an Almighty God who has promised to care for my family!

 

 Just outside the village.  While we walked around and the guide pointed out the fetish items the kids, of course, had lots of questions.  They were saddened to hear that these people do not believe in Jesus.  What a great reminder to them and us of why we are here.