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.