Sunday, January 17, 2010
Good Sunday Morning!
Jeff G., Randy and Jonathan are in Paris, layover is 7 hours, and I (Jonathan) found a hotspot (Starbucks in the Louvre) and managed to POST PICTURES which we have been trying to do all week. Thanks to FBC Celina for the support and prayers. The team will be making a report next Sunday to the church.
We are not real interested in texts about the Cowboys' game... We're thinking we will watch it late tonight, at HOME!
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Thurday Blog
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Once again we traveled north to Kante to see Pastor Nadjombe and to perform the eye glass clinic. Just outside of the city in which we are staying, Kara, we saw an odd item in the intersection of a road. Our translators, Nakye and Pastor Samuel informed us that what we were seeing was a sacrifice that someone had placed in the road at the directive of a witch doctor. Curiosity got the better of us and we stopped to examine the contents of the sacrifice. Very interesting.
We arrived at Nadjombe’s house this morning around 10:30 or so to find some 140 people waiting on us. We were told that some had arrived at 3 AM this morning just to get in line so they could have an eye exam. The day went well and without many disruptions….we go to see some wonderful people and children today and had the opportunity to witness to many who accepted Christ.
Jeff Knowles had the opportunity once again to venture out to the “Bush” with Pastor Nadjombe and visit the outlying villages. They traveled about 90 Kilometers out on dirt roads/trails to see the villagers and witness to them. Jeff also took soccer balls for the kids as a way to reach them and as a witness tool. Seems this idea is a great success as the kids (and adults) flock to the soccer fields.
We are doing well….extremely tired and very dirty at the end of the day. The dust is very bad here and the weather is quite hot (not quite as hot as last year…but still in the mid to upper 90’s).
We miss you all and are absolutely ecstatic with Skype and the ability to talk (and see or be seen by our families). It makes the trip much more bearable as we all miss our wives and kids. We miss our friends too and are very grateful to you all for your support and prayers.
Many blessings,
The Togo Team
BTW....we have tried endlessly to upload pictures but to no avail. Sorry. When we return I promise to enter a "summary" blog with pictures. (Randy should be glad that I can't get the pictures to upload because we had a funny one of him)!
Once again we traveled north to Kante to see Pastor Nadjombe and to perform the eye glass clinic. Just outside of the city in which we are staying, Kara, we saw an odd item in the intersection of a road. Our translators, Nakye and Pastor Samuel informed us that what we were seeing was a sacrifice that someone had placed in the road at the directive of a witch doctor. Curiosity got the better of us and we stopped to examine the contents of the sacrifice. Very interesting.
We arrived at Nadjombe’s house this morning around 10:30 or so to find some 140 people waiting on us. We were told that some had arrived at 3 AM this morning just to get in line so they could have an eye exam. The day went well and without many disruptions….we go to see some wonderful people and children today and had the opportunity to witness to many who accepted Christ.
Jeff Knowles had the opportunity once again to venture out to the “Bush” with Pastor Nadjombe and visit the outlying villages. They traveled about 90 Kilometers out on dirt roads/trails to see the villagers and witness to them. Jeff also took soccer balls for the kids as a way to reach them and as a witness tool. Seems this idea is a great success as the kids (and adults) flock to the soccer fields.
We are doing well….extremely tired and very dirty at the end of the day. The dust is very bad here and the weather is quite hot (not quite as hot as last year…but still in the mid to upper 90’s).
We miss you all and are absolutely ecstatic with Skype and the ability to talk (and see or be seen by our families). It makes the trip much more bearable as we all miss our wives and kids. We miss our friends too and are very grateful to you all for your support and prayers.
Many blessings,
The Togo Team
BTW....we have tried endlessly to upload pictures but to no avail. Sorry. When we return I promise to enter a "summary" blog with pictures. (Randy should be glad that I can't get the pictures to upload because we had a funny one of him)!
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Wednesday
Hello from the cafeteria at SIL in Kara,
Jeff G. and me are two frustrated bloggers. We have been diligently trying to upload video and pics of the last two days to the blog. However, it is mind-numbingly slow and we are tired of beating our heads on the table.
So, today we returned to Kante and Pastor Nadjombe's yard to run an eye-clinic. We saw 101 patients and all of them heard the Gospel. Today, Jeff G. and Randy and Nakye took turns presenting the Evangecube. We believe that over 60 accepted Christ!
Jonathan and Jeff K. rode out to Kpaiskpai, the Lama village we have visited every year. The church there has grown to 100 members and has completely outgrown its building. So we saw their new site. Jeff played soccer with the Africans, actually he watched, as they ran circles around him in the dust. Then he presented them with 5 soccer balls and they applauded. When he presented the Gospel, they applauded again! Jonathan was able to deliver the first round of VBS clothes to the pastor at Kpaiskpai. He will distribute them to the neediest first. We have evidence of all of this on video and pictures. Which we cannot uploaddddddd.
We know who snores, we saw monkeys running across the road today, we are sleeping under mosquito netting, eating foo-foo and had no running water tonight. This must be Africa!
Jeff G. and me are two frustrated bloggers. We have been diligently trying to upload video and pics of the last two days to the blog. However, it is mind-numbingly slow and we are tired of beating our heads on the table.
So, today we returned to Kante and Pastor Nadjombe's yard to run an eye-clinic. We saw 101 patients and all of them heard the Gospel. Today, Jeff G. and Randy and Nakye took turns presenting the Evangecube. We believe that over 60 accepted Christ!
Jonathan and Jeff K. rode out to Kpaiskpai, the Lama village we have visited every year. The church there has grown to 100 members and has completely outgrown its building. So we saw their new site. Jeff played soccer with the Africans, actually he watched, as they ran circles around him in the dust. Then he presented them with 5 soccer balls and they applauded. When he presented the Gospel, they applauded again! Jonathan was able to deliver the first round of VBS clothes to the pastor at Kpaiskpai. He will distribute them to the neediest first. We have evidence of all of this on video and pictures. Which we cannot uploaddddddd.
We know who snores, we saw monkeys running across the road today, we are sleeping under mosquito netting, eating foo-foo and had no running water tonight. This must be Africa!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Tuesday Blog
This morning we left Kara for Kante’ to see Pastor Ndjombe and begin the eye glass clinics. The trip is about 1 hour to the North of Togo up into the “Bush Country”. We began the clinic around 11 AM and ran it straight through till 6:30 tonight. We estimate that we saw around 85 people who went through the eye glass clinic and subsequently heard the Gospel. Jonathan estimates that there were some 40 Lambas who prayed the prayer of Salvation. There were even 20 or so that were Muslim that prayed for Salvation.
During the day as the eye glass clinic was occurring Jeff Knowles and Jeff Gravley went with Pastor Ndjombe to visit one of his Mission Churches in the bush. The visit consisted of visiting an outlying village then walking about a mile and a half further into the bush (their word for the jungle). There we saw one of Ndjombe’s 8 mission churches…this one the most recent in the outlying areas. We met the pastor of the church; a young man named Emanuel. The church was an absolute blessing in that it was a tiny grass hut made entirely of timber and thatched walls and roof made purely from love and hard work.
After visiting this church we walked back to find about 50 villagers anxiously waiting for us. We shared the gospel with them and then Jeff Knowles presented them with a new soccer ball. The kids were overjoyed with their new toy. From there we went with them to their soccer field to play soccer with the kids….or should I say they played soccer while both Jeff’s eventually went to the sideline to watch.
Back at the eye glass clinic many people were being seen and many converts were being made. Seems the highlight of the day was when Randy was giving a man his glasses and during the man’s excitement he gave Randy a kiss on the check. I just wish Jonathan would have been shooting video but we’ll just have to imagine the look on Randy’s face.
The day went well but everyone is extremely tired from the events. We came back to the SIL center to find pizza and salad waiting for us. One of the issues we face while here at the SIL Center is constant power outages….thus….no air conditioner. Oh well….luckily it is somewhat cool at night so not too bad. Mosquitoes are really noticeable this year so extra precaution is being taken. We are sleeping under Mosquito nets at night.
Skype is the biggest surprise during our trip this year. Each one of us is getting to talk to our families every night via Skype…..some of us are even getting to have video conferences. In Africa…even in a 3rd world country….we are still able to get internet access and communicate; what a wonderful thing.
We miss all of you and appreciate your thoughts and prayers. Things are going as planned and His work is being done.
Blessings to you all
The Togo Team
During the day as the eye glass clinic was occurring Jeff Knowles and Jeff Gravley went with Pastor Ndjombe to visit one of his Mission Churches in the bush. The visit consisted of visiting an outlying village then walking about a mile and a half further into the bush (their word for the jungle). There we saw one of Ndjombe’s 8 mission churches…this one the most recent in the outlying areas. We met the pastor of the church; a young man named Emanuel. The church was an absolute blessing in that it was a tiny grass hut made entirely of timber and thatched walls and roof made purely from love and hard work.
After visiting this church we walked back to find about 50 villagers anxiously waiting for us. We shared the gospel with them and then Jeff Knowles presented them with a new soccer ball. The kids were overjoyed with their new toy. From there we went with them to their soccer field to play soccer with the kids….or should I say they played soccer while both Jeff’s eventually went to the sideline to watch.
Back at the eye glass clinic many people were being seen and many converts were being made. Seems the highlight of the day was when Randy was giving a man his glasses and during the man’s excitement he gave Randy a kiss on the check. I just wish Jonathan would have been shooting video but we’ll just have to imagine the look on Randy’s face.
The day went well but everyone is extremely tired from the events. We came back to the SIL center to find pizza and salad waiting for us. One of the issues we face while here at the SIL Center is constant power outages….thus….no air conditioner. Oh well….luckily it is somewhat cool at night so not too bad. Mosquitoes are really noticeable this year so extra precaution is being taken. We are sleeping under Mosquito nets at night.
Skype is the biggest surprise during our trip this year. Each one of us is getting to talk to our families every night via Skype…..some of us are even getting to have video conferences. In Africa…even in a 3rd world country….we are still able to get internet access and communicate; what a wonderful thing.
We miss all of you and appreciate your thoughts and prayers. Things are going as planned and His work is being done.
Blessings to you all
The Togo Team
Monday, January 11, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
Today we left Lome around 8:30 AM to begin our journey toward Kara which is in the Northern portion of Togo. Our trip is approximately 450 KM from Lome to Kara which equates to about 7-8 solid driving hours. The roads are narrow and make the City of Celina Streets look like the Autobahn. We stopped along the way at a roadside “restaurant” to have a sandwich that was made for us by Phillip at the Baptist Center in Lome…it was a much needed rest.
Also along the way we stopped about 2/3 of the way to visit our driver from last year. Mounirou was in charge of transporting us to Kara last year but couldn’t make the trip this year because of an illness with his daughter, Gania. Gania is a young girl who has contracted yellow fever and is very sick. Mounirou said she was doing better but is still in need of our prayers. After a brief visit with Mounirou we gathered in prayer for Gania in the parking lot of a Shell station. Mounirou is a good man who once was a Muslim and now is a Christian. Please keep Gania in your prayers.
When we finally arrived over the mountain pass toward Kara we noticed both slightly lower temperatures (around 80 – 85 degrees) and significantly more dust. Seems a dust storm from the Sahara Dessert is blowing dust and cooler temperatures in from the North. The dust storm is called a Harmattan and is apparently not unusual. The dust in the air reminds me of a West Texas Dust storm hitting the north Texas Region. Not horrible….if you’re use to it. Everyone is experiencing sinus problems and slight headaches. We’ll be ok though…we were “sort of” prepared as we all brought saline solutions and various sinus medications.
We are off to Kante which is about an hour north of here in the morning to begin the eye glass clinics and to meet with Ndjombe. Once we meet up with Ndjombe we will head out to the villages. Please keep us in your prayers as tomorrow is when we start our real mission with the eye glass clinics and sharing the gospel.
We were able to speak to a few of our family members tonight as we hooked up with Skype and were able to speak to them today! It was really neat to talk to them. If you want to speak to us please email Jonathan and let him know and we’ll try to contact you via Skype (please have the program installed before we try connections).
We miss all of you very much and are very blessed by your support and prayers. Please keep checking on our families and praying for them as well.
Blessings to you all and all our love
The Togo Team
Today we left Lome around 8:30 AM to begin our journey toward Kara which is in the Northern portion of Togo. Our trip is approximately 450 KM from Lome to Kara which equates to about 7-8 solid driving hours. The roads are narrow and make the City of Celina Streets look like the Autobahn. We stopped along the way at a roadside “restaurant” to have a sandwich that was made for us by Phillip at the Baptist Center in Lome…it was a much needed rest.
Also along the way we stopped about 2/3 of the way to visit our driver from last year. Mounirou was in charge of transporting us to Kara last year but couldn’t make the trip this year because of an illness with his daughter, Gania. Gania is a young girl who has contracted yellow fever and is very sick. Mounirou said she was doing better but is still in need of our prayers. After a brief visit with Mounirou we gathered in prayer for Gania in the parking lot of a Shell station. Mounirou is a good man who once was a Muslim and now is a Christian. Please keep Gania in your prayers.
When we finally arrived over the mountain pass toward Kara we noticed both slightly lower temperatures (around 80 – 85 degrees) and significantly more dust. Seems a dust storm from the Sahara Dessert is blowing dust and cooler temperatures in from the North. The dust storm is called a Harmattan and is apparently not unusual. The dust in the air reminds me of a West Texas Dust storm hitting the north Texas Region. Not horrible….if you’re use to it. Everyone is experiencing sinus problems and slight headaches. We’ll be ok though…we were “sort of” prepared as we all brought saline solutions and various sinus medications.
We are off to Kante which is about an hour north of here in the morning to begin the eye glass clinics and to meet with Ndjombe. Once we meet up with Ndjombe we will head out to the villages. Please keep us in your prayers as tomorrow is when we start our real mission with the eye glass clinics and sharing the gospel.
We were able to speak to a few of our family members tonight as we hooked up with Skype and were able to speak to them today! It was really neat to talk to them. If you want to speak to us please email Jonathan and let him know and we’ll try to contact you via Skype (please have the program installed before we try connections).
We miss all of you very much and are very blessed by your support and prayers. Please keep checking on our families and praying for them as well.
Blessings to you all and all our love
The Togo Team
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Sunday 1-10-10
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Our travels took us from the “Frozen Tundra” of
In
It was so great to see our friends from the past trip as they came to welcome us at the airport last night at 10 PM. Seems the only thing we seemed to “misplace” going through customs was some clothing and Jeff Knowles pocket knife. We gladly “exchanged” a soccer ball with one of the bag inspectors in
Samuel, Nakye, and Shalome were all waiting anxiously to meet us once we got though customs. It was so good to see those guys again….it seemed to many of us that we were just here a month ago.
This morning Dudley and Jeff Knowles attended church at Wuiti while Jonathan, Randy, and Jeff Gravley attended church at Hosanna. Church started here at 7:30 AM and ran through about 10:15 or so. It was so neat to see many of the parishioners that we saw last year. The children are as beautiful as ever.
We are about to eat lunch and then begin our day before evening service. We are truly grateful for all of the many prayers and support we have received. We also are especially grateful for the wonderful people who provided us financial support for this trip. Without your sacrificial giving this trip would not have been possible.
We already miss our families and pray for their well being during our trip. We are thinking and talking about you all constantly. Oh yeah….thanks to those for texting us the Cowboys Score! Wow! Way to go ‘Boys! Hopefully we can get on line today and read up on what we missed.
Keep praying for us and our travels to the North tomorrow.
We miss you all and send our love.
The Togo Team!
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