Air....Glorious Air!

Other than the arrival of my three children,  today brought the next greatest arrival.  Ok, not really...but it ranks pretty high up there!

It all began a little while back when our sending church felt led to take up money to help with a AC unit for our house here in Togo.  You see, the houses here do not have central air conditioning.  So if it is 100+ degrees outside, then it is pretty close to that inside!  It is ALWAYS hot here, kind of like North Carolina in July, but all the time!  We have ceiling fans and stand fans that we are so thankful for.  But there is no fall, spring or winter!  When people ask what the weather in Togo is like, we always tell them the 2 seasons here are "hot" and "hotter"!

Please understand that I LOVE it here in Togo.  It is hot....at times miserably hot, but we really do love it here. There is no where else I would rather be at this very moment than here in Togo.  My heart is here.  That being said,  the heat is sometimes hard to deal with.  You sweat all the time.  When we are doing school in the morning, it is hot.  When you cook, it is hot.  When you go to the market it is sweltering hot!!  When you go to church....it is hot!  Today, after I washed the dishes I was drenched....not from sink water, but from sweating.  You take a shower to cool off and it helps....until you step out of the shower back in to the heat!  Where ever I go in the house, I move a fan to at least have some air moving.  Sometimes I think it is God's sense of humor that He called me ( a hot natured person) to Africa!  Couldn't He have sent us somewhere cold!!??  There is no air in the hospital.  There is no air in the churches. It is just not possible to have everywhere like we are accustomed to in the US.  But all of that is ok, because we are right where we are supposed to be!

So when our church mentioned that they wanted to help us get an AC unit and help with the extra monthly expense of running it, I could hardly contain myself.    I know it seems so trivial to some, but to me it was such a thoughtful gesture.

We were able to purchase a small unit shortly after arriving, but the maintainence missionary who has to install it just hasn't had time.  When he is responsible for so much here, I hated to say "Hey!  Can you stop working on the oxygen generator for the patients and come install my AC?"  Installing an AC definitely was not high on the priority list.

But the Lord brought 2 other men here to the compound that were able to do it and they took the time to install it!!  Hallelujah!!

Aiden, of course, loved helping the guys work.
 

The kids were just fascinated by the guys working.  It will be the first time
these 2 have experienced AC since we left home.  They waited eagerly!

Aiden and Livi watching as the guys drilled through the concrete wall.

And here it is!!!  Isn't it the most beautiful things you have ever seen!? 

Now this is basically like a window unit. It will only cool one room and due to the cost we will only run it occassionally for a hour or two, but what a blessing it will be on the days when the heat is overwhelming!!!!

I know some of you think I am crazy for writing an entire blog post about an AC, but to me it means so much more.  It makes me think of the moms who made crafts to sell to help raise money for the unit and all the ladies who bought things to contribute. It makes me think of those who give to support missionaries.   It makes me think of our missions pastor and his heart for missionaries.  It reminds me of our Pastor and wonderful home church, Faith Church, and their love for their missionaries.  It reminds that God does care about the little things! 

Was this a necessity for us to have here?  Definitely not, but our home church was nearly insistant that they do this for us.  I have told some of the other missionaries what our church did and they all have the same response, "Wow!  What a great church!"  And they are right.  We do have an amazingly supportive home church!

So each time I turn the air on, I will think of all the people who helped, donated, and felt led to give us this blessing and thank the Lord for each of them!