Shock and Grief

If you were along for the ride of our first journey to Togo and kept up with our story, you would know that we mentioned a particular doctor that was a huge part of the treatment of our kids and became a huge part of our hearts and lives.

Todd Dekryger.

His picture can be found here and there throughout my posts of 2012 and 2013.  He was an amazing doctor and an amazing friend.  I think when someone prays over your kids and then plays a massive part in their healing and restoration, you come to think pretty highly of that person.  We LOVED Todd.

You'll notice I'm speaking about Todd in the past tense.  For some reason, on February 26th, 2016 (one year TO THE DAY that the Hospital of Hope opened), God saw fit to take to heaven our dear friend, amazing doctor, loving husband to Jennifer and fantastic father to Will, Grant, Luke and Drew.

It's rough.  It was a series of unimaginable circumstances for the Togo North Team and Todd's family as Todd became very ill, his condition worsened, was medically evacuated to Germany (and that's a crazy story in itself), worsened in his condition and passed to glory in a hospital in Cologne, Germany with only Jennifer there by his side.

It rocked the missionary team and it rocked all of those gazillions of people who were crying out to God to spare Todd.

The shock and grief of the loss of Todd was unreal.  We weren't even in Togo at the time but we were floored by this.  How?  Why?

Our hearts ached for Jennifer and the boys.  We ached for our team-mates who struggled to deal with the grief and pain of this kind of loss.

And yesterday, my friends, it happened again.

A lovely woman named Cheryl, who was serving in the pharmacy for a 18 month term at the Hospital of Hope in Mango, passed away.  She was supposed to go home on Monday.

I don't even know Cheryl.  But you can tell just by this photo (I snagged it from Facebook)that she was a joy-filled woman who loved Jesus and gave up 18 months to live in the hottest place on earth as service to others and to her Saviour.

And it's another massive loss for the Northern team. 

My heart aches for them as they walk, again, still, continuously, the path of shock, grief and pain.

Why, Lord? Why again, so soon? Why, at all?

I have no answers.  I have new fears. They don't even know why Cheryl died yet. And we're going there.  And we're taking our children.

But I will simply trust.  I will simply trust. I will simply trust.  God is still good and He is still faithful and His promises are still true and I will simply trust.


Please be in prayer for the Togo missionaries and Cheryl's family.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Wedding

Image
Yesterday we were able to attend a traditional wedding for one of Nate's guys, Omar.  Unlike weddings at home, yesterday was only day one of the four days of celebration.  We're supposed to be returning this afternoon for more festivities, then on Saturday for more, and finally on Sunday afternoon when the groom participates in his traditional tribal dancing.  One of the fun parts of a Togo wedding is that the guests all wear the same pattern of fabric.  The groom selects the wedding fabric, orders loads of it and then sells it to the guests to wear for the events. Nate, the boys and I purchased the fabric and here we are - in all our orange and yellow and green and black glory: The wedding began at Omar's home at 7 am.  Yes, in the morning.  We gathered with him and his family as guests arrived to greet him. The groom and the boys The family brought in some rice and beef sauce, candy and dates for us to eat.  Around 8:30 am, it was time to start moving.  The bride was stil
Read more

Fufu Friday!

Image
Last Friday, we had a fufu party at our house with the construction team that came from Michigan.  Fufu is a major staple here for the locals.   It all begins with manioc, a long tuber type vegetable that is black on the outside and kinda hairy, but it's white one the inside.   It's kinda like a huge yam.   So first,  you peel 'em and boil them.  And then the fun begins. Here is Joseph, Marie, and Adzo, putting the boiled manioc into the fufu pounder thing. Joseph and Marie sorta beat the manioc up a bit for us first. And then the rhythmic pounding begins.  This is me and Jennifer working together pounding it. And here is Nolan and Zack, pounding it too.  It takes a LOT of pounding! And here is Nate and our guard, Ibraim, taking their turn.  Still pounding. And here's the fufu, the first batch is ready.  Think of it as really gluey mashed potatoes. And here is Teddy at the table ready to dive in.  He got a tiny portion becau
Read more

More Proof that God Sees

Image
Miracles happen, friend.  We have just been witness to a big one. I told you all about Little Leah.  Her abandonment.  Her smallness.  Her medical needs.  Her lack of family. But what joy I have to tell you that God saw all that.  And He took what was hard and unfair and wrong and He made it right. On October 12, Leah was discharged from the hospital.  Since she had no home or family, we decided to foster her until a forever family could be found. We knew we would be tired  exhausted from caring for a newborn with some very specific needs.  We knew we would be overwhelmed and under-qualified.  What we didn't expect was how easily/quickly the four of us would come to love this precious little girl. Nate, the boys and I just fell in love with this baby.  But before I go any further, the answer is no, we are not the ones adopting her.  We were the ones praying and praying for a Christian, Togolese family for her.  And God did just that. But before I get to that part of the story, you
Read more