What a Week!
It's been a few days since I've posted because we've been without internet for a little while. In the meantime, much has happened around here. I'll give you the updates on a day by day basis. So come with me, back in time....
Last Wednesday (which would've been October 4th):
Here in Mango there is a very special family, the Nogbedzi's. They have a really cool ministry here with orphans and a sewing school. Mr. Nogbedzi teaches high school aged kids to sew (really well) on a three-year apprentice program. These kids are considered orphans, meaning one or both of their parents are gone. Mr. Nogbedzi and his wife have these kids move into their home, or homes in the village, and educate them as tailors and seamstresses for three years. In the meantime, they teach them about Jesus and show God's love in super tangible ways -- things like food, a bed, love, clothes and skills. Can you get more tangible than that?
Mr. Nogbedzi has a big heart for these kids and anytime you walk into his "compound", there are a gazillion kids there, sewing, playing, and hanging out. I've been there several times to have clothes made for the kids.
Every Wednesday night, there is a Bible study that the sewing students attend -- some go willingly, others, not so much. But last Wednesday, Peter Maybury, a missionary on our team, taught the Bible study and really explained how the kids need Jesus. AND NINE OF THEM CAME TO KNOW HIM PERSONALLY! Nine! It was incredible.
These kids are young but they have lived through what I can never understand. And when they are done their three year apprenticeship, they go home to their own villages so that they can start a business there with their newly acquired skills. AND they go home to village that is, in all probability, not happy that these kids have accepted Jesus. When these teens accepted Christ, they knew perfectly well that they will probably be persecuted and cast out by their own families. That's a risk I cannot even begin to understand.
Please pray for these nine students. And please pray for the Nogbedzi family. This family hosts our little church at their house on Sunday mornings. Their landlord is not happy that they do this, because he is devout Muslim. So he wants them out. Mr. Nogbedzi has begun (and almost completed) construction on a new facility for his family, the students and the sewing school. But he needs a little more money to finish it. I wish I'd have taken photos of his new place because it's a very simple but great set-up for his family and their ministry. If you feel like you'd like to give to his ministry with orphans, just email me and we can set something up. I think to complete his place, he needs about $3500. That's it.
Last Saturday:
On Saturday morning, Emily and Kevin Hall hosted the kick-off party to Thanksgiving weekend! We had a lovely brunch at their house in the morning and then hung out til about 2 pm. Here's me and my beautiful Thanksgiving breakfast -- giving it the big "thumbs up":
After that, we went home and prepared our place for dinner for a group of men coming to see the hospital. But not just any men, my friends. We had the President of ABWE (our mission), the Regional Director of Africa (for ABWE) and two surgeons who are checking out the hospital on a scouting trip to possibly move here.
We had a lovely dinner with these men (who were so kind and gracious) and then our entire team came over for a meeting and prayer time. The Pres (his name is Al) was kind enough to share some thought on Psalm 107 and it was so great. Here's Al and one of the surgeons (Tom):
Last Sunday:
We went to church at Nogbedzi's in the morning and then met up with a new white guy. (The Sunday before, Nate and I were in a little store and this new white guy walks in. We know EVERY white person in Mango, so to have a new one was quite exciting. We invited him to come over for dinner and he seemed quite happy to do so.) So "Matt from Georgia" came over for lunch and we had this great time with him. Matt is with the Peace Corp and he lives out in a teensy village (in a old abandoned convent -- creepy!) to help the locals with agriculture. He bikes into our town once or twice a week for food, internet and to charge his cell phone. When he walked in our house and saw that I was making pizza, and then saw cold pop (with ice cubes) he looked at me, wide-eyed, and said, "Are we having pizza?? I'm totally think I'm going to cry!!" We enjoyed getting to know this 22-year-old guy who is here for 2 years, helping the locals with their crops and farms. This guy lives hard-core. He has no electricity and walks about a mile for his water. And here we were, in our comfy house, eating pizza and pop and having ice cream for dessert. It sure made us think that we are not "roughing it" hardly at all.
Last Monday:
Canadian Thanksgiving!! And the Halls hosted a beautiful meal at lunch time with chicken (no turkeys here), mashed potatoes, corn, stuffing, green bean casserole, home made buns, gravy and pumpkin pie! It was absolutely fabulous!! Here we all are at Kevin and Emily's enjoying our home-cooked meal:
After we rolled home with full bellies, we celebrated Kylie's 10th birthday at home with supper and french silk pie for dessert. We forgot birthday candles, so she blew out the one candle we brought with us and we gave her a couple of gifts.
Also, on Monday morning, Al "the President", gave the morning devotions to the workers on the construction site. Nate was so thrilled because Al totally laid it down for these guys. And they listened so intently. Al shared his heart and basically told them that Jesus is the answer. It was awesome!
Since then there has been more excitement and activity, but that's a few days catch-up on what's been going on around here. I know this is long...but one more story:
This week we bought Nolan a bike. A lovely Togolese man helped us get a good deal on it (because if they see me coming, the price goes UP!). He brought it to the work site on Thanksgiving Monday so that Nolan could check it out. Noles was so excited he decided to ride it home.
I drove the rest of the kids home and Nate came later on his moto. But no Nolan. Turns out, he got into the centre of town and couldn't remember at all how to get home. He looked around and saw all these locals looking at him, and I'm sure they could tell something was wrong. As he was riding around, he recognized a guy who works on site. In his broken french, he tried to tell them that he was lost and if they could get him to the "big tree that fell down in the storm" (he said that part in english which probably created further confusion), he could get home. The man from the work site took about 20 minutes to get himself ready to bring Nolan home (all the locals know where we live...not sure how, but the do) and Nolan was getting antsy to get going because it was getting dark. What took this guy so long was that he was gathering people to help him. So once they were ready to go, Nolan was escorted home by about 20 Togolese people -- all on bikes. The poor kid. He was so embarrassed.
By the next day, the entire village knew what had happened and when I would go around in town, they would ask me if he had been lost and if he was alright. I decided to bake some muffins for the kind fellow who brought him home and he was very grateful! So were we!
Last Wednesday (which would've been October 4th):
Here in Mango there is a very special family, the Nogbedzi's. They have a really cool ministry here with orphans and a sewing school. Mr. Nogbedzi teaches high school aged kids to sew (really well) on a three-year apprentice program. These kids are considered orphans, meaning one or both of their parents are gone. Mr. Nogbedzi and his wife have these kids move into their home, or homes in the village, and educate them as tailors and seamstresses for three years. In the meantime, they teach them about Jesus and show God's love in super tangible ways -- things like food, a bed, love, clothes and skills. Can you get more tangible than that?
Mr. Nogbedzi has a big heart for these kids and anytime you walk into his "compound", there are a gazillion kids there, sewing, playing, and hanging out. I've been there several times to have clothes made for the kids.
Every Wednesday night, there is a Bible study that the sewing students attend -- some go willingly, others, not so much. But last Wednesday, Peter Maybury, a missionary on our team, taught the Bible study and really explained how the kids need Jesus. AND NINE OF THEM CAME TO KNOW HIM PERSONALLY! Nine! It was incredible.
These kids are young but they have lived through what I can never understand. And when they are done their three year apprenticeship, they go home to their own villages so that they can start a business there with their newly acquired skills. AND they go home to village that is, in all probability, not happy that these kids have accepted Jesus. When these teens accepted Christ, they knew perfectly well that they will probably be persecuted and cast out by their own families. That's a risk I cannot even begin to understand.
Please pray for these nine students. And please pray for the Nogbedzi family. This family hosts our little church at their house on Sunday mornings. Their landlord is not happy that they do this, because he is devout Muslim. So he wants them out. Mr. Nogbedzi has begun (and almost completed) construction on a new facility for his family, the students and the sewing school. But he needs a little more money to finish it. I wish I'd have taken photos of his new place because it's a very simple but great set-up for his family and their ministry. If you feel like you'd like to give to his ministry with orphans, just email me and we can set something up. I think to complete his place, he needs about $3500. That's it.
Last Saturday:
On Saturday morning, Emily and Kevin Hall hosted the kick-off party to Thanksgiving weekend! We had a lovely brunch at their house in the morning and then hung out til about 2 pm. Here's me and my beautiful Thanksgiving breakfast -- giving it the big "thumbs up":
After that, we went home and prepared our place for dinner for a group of men coming to see the hospital. But not just any men, my friends. We had the President of ABWE (our mission), the Regional Director of Africa (for ABWE) and two surgeons who are checking out the hospital on a scouting trip to possibly move here.
We had a lovely dinner with these men (who were so kind and gracious) and then our entire team came over for a meeting and prayer time. The Pres (his name is Al) was kind enough to share some thought on Psalm 107 and it was so great. Here's Al and one of the surgeons (Tom):
Last Sunday:
We went to church at Nogbedzi's in the morning and then met up with a new white guy. (The Sunday before, Nate and I were in a little store and this new white guy walks in. We know EVERY white person in Mango, so to have a new one was quite exciting. We invited him to come over for dinner and he seemed quite happy to do so.) So "Matt from Georgia" came over for lunch and we had this great time with him. Matt is with the Peace Corp and he lives out in a teensy village (in a old abandoned convent -- creepy!) to help the locals with agriculture. He bikes into our town once or twice a week for food, internet and to charge his cell phone. When he walked in our house and saw that I was making pizza, and then saw cold pop (with ice cubes) he looked at me, wide-eyed, and said, "Are we having pizza?? I'm totally think I'm going to cry!!" We enjoyed getting to know this 22-year-old guy who is here for 2 years, helping the locals with their crops and farms. This guy lives hard-core. He has no electricity and walks about a mile for his water. And here we were, in our comfy house, eating pizza and pop and having ice cream for dessert. It sure made us think that we are not "roughing it" hardly at all.
Last Monday:
Canadian Thanksgiving!! And the Halls hosted a beautiful meal at lunch time with chicken (no turkeys here), mashed potatoes, corn, stuffing, green bean casserole, home made buns, gravy and pumpkin pie! It was absolutely fabulous!! Here we all are at Kevin and Emily's enjoying our home-cooked meal:
After we rolled home with full bellies, we celebrated Kylie's 10th birthday at home with supper and french silk pie for dessert. We forgot birthday candles, so she blew out the one candle we brought with us and we gave her a couple of gifts.
Also, on Monday morning, Al "the President", gave the morning devotions to the workers on the construction site. Nate was so thrilled because Al totally laid it down for these guys. And they listened so intently. Al shared his heart and basically told them that Jesus is the answer. It was awesome!
Since then there has been more excitement and activity, but that's a few days catch-up on what's been going on around here. I know this is long...but one more story:
This week we bought Nolan a bike. A lovely Togolese man helped us get a good deal on it (because if they see me coming, the price goes UP!). He brought it to the work site on Thanksgiving Monday so that Nolan could check it out. Noles was so excited he decided to ride it home.
I drove the rest of the kids home and Nate came later on his moto. But no Nolan. Turns out, he got into the centre of town and couldn't remember at all how to get home. He looked around and saw all these locals looking at him, and I'm sure they could tell something was wrong. As he was riding around, he recognized a guy who works on site. In his broken french, he tried to tell them that he was lost and if they could get him to the "big tree that fell down in the storm" (he said that part in english which probably created further confusion), he could get home. The man from the work site took about 20 minutes to get himself ready to bring Nolan home (all the locals know where we live...not sure how, but the do) and Nolan was getting antsy to get going because it was getting dark. What took this guy so long was that he was gathering people to help him. So once they were ready to go, Nolan was escorted home by about 20 Togolese people -- all on bikes. The poor kid. He was so embarrassed.
By the next day, the entire village knew what had happened and when I would go around in town, they would ask me if he had been lost and if he was alright. I decided to bake some muffins for the kind fellow who brought him home and he was very grateful! So were we!
Erin, you're really making your experience in Africa come alive for us! It's clear that God is doing some amazing work over there. We're praying for you!
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