Please God, not Africa!

Yes, I have internet today.  I'm actually sitting at a missionary's home on the front porch (and I mean right on the porch, not on a chair) with a rubbermaid tub turned upside down as my desk and typing as fast as I can because the internet is good enough here to load photos.  So here's a little photo journal of what's been going on lately.   TRIP TO LOME FOR VISAS: We stayed at this great hotel on the beach and the kids got to try coconut milk straight from the coconut. Jack enjoyed it; Kylie was less than impressed. Look at how we suffered in Lome. This is the pool at our hotel.  Palm trees, sunny skies, and the beach was just a few steps away.... The beach!  The waves were big and we had loads  of fun in the salty Atlantic. Adam drinking 2 coconuts at once.  Not only can he speak perfect French and guide us through the crazy visa process, he knows how to have a good time! Togo is french culture and when in France, one MUST eat pastry.

Ack!  The internet is just terrible out here and I feel so badly that I can't keep you up-to-date on what's happening.  So much to say, so I'm jumping right in! Anna and the Baby: If you remember last time I wrote, I told you about Anna heading over to Indianapolis with a Mango mom and baby to have heart surgery on the little 6 month old girl, "S".   Well, they made it to the USA without any major glitches and within just a few days, the surgery was performed.  It went amazingly well and the heart-condition of the baby was totally repaired.  Anna was overwhelmed with the response of a local church and missionary friends and family that visited them, encouraged them, took them out to dinner, loaned a car, and prayed with her and Mom and baby.  The mom, "S", was so moved by all the love and kindness that she was receiving from all these strangers.  Anna and the mom were able to have some really great talks about life in Mango, her religious beliefs, he

I've come to believe that basically both Nate and I are here for one simple task: house work.  At least of one kind or another.  Between building houses, working at the guest house and then our own personal home, there is definitely a theme of housework going on. To be honest, most days the tasks seem anything but simple! Each of the three types of House Work are so different and provide a variety of funny stories, interesting people and an abundance of prayer requests and praises.  Here's each one with some detail: House Construction: House 1 and 2 are coming along beautifully.  It has been so encouraging to see the changes from week to week.  Even more exciting however, is to see how Nate's relationships with the Togolese workers continue to grow and change.  With every step forward in building relationships, there also seems to be a struggle.  Which is a sure sign that Satan is not happy with the relationships that are being built. As for the actual houses, here

This has been a crazy month.  I can hardly believe that April starts next week. It's been a month of ups and downs and this little graphic describes it best... The month started out with the return of Lassa Fever to our region of West Africa.  At first we had only a couple of patients in our hospital that had come from neighbouring countries.  Let me just say that our medical team, having experienced Lassa Fever last year, was prepared. They had guidelines all set out for what we needed to do, as a team, to avoid contracting it as best we could. Lassa fever is a contagious illness that is passed through bodily fluids. It doesn't often kill the person who gets it, but it can and it has and it did. So once it was confirmed that we did indeed have a Lassa case in the hospital, we were required to follow some simple guidelines including taking our temperatures, avoiding public places and washing with bleach water upon entering our homes.  The hospital shut down any non-ess

Maybe you'll remember this sweet baby boy that I've talked about.  He came into the hospital very ill and undernourished. Because his eyes were so big in his head, we called him Baby Bird. He was skinny and scrawny and miserable. This is the earliest photo I have of Baby Bird. Many of us have had the joy of holding and feeding and loving on this little guy.  Because he was sick, he had to be fed by NG tube slowly.  It took a lot of time. Which meant a lot of holding and snuggling and singing and squeezing. And praying. Sleeping though a feed just before Christmas. Shortly after this feed, Baby Bird was "Baby Jesus" in a Christmas play.  He performed perfectly. Baby Bird was improving, albeit at a snail's pace.  The doctors wondered if he had a problem with his lungs and so an amazing visiting surgeon took him to the OR to fix the issue.  But the problem wasn't THAT problem and we all continued to wonder at why he just wouldn't

Things have been going well over on this side of the ocean and we're thrilled to let you know the many ways that God has been working and answering our prayers! In the mornings, the kids and I do a short Bible study and keep a journal of all the people and situations we're praying for, including space to see when and how each request is answered.  In the past 2 weeks, we've been filling in that "ANSWERED" column multiple times.  God is at work and we are so grateful to watch Him working in the lives of the Togolese people. You might remember a story I told of Little "G" and his grandmother who is from a dark and evil village.  Here's a photo of him that I posted a ways back. If you don't recall his story, he was living in his village (about 2 hours away from Mango) and fell out of a tree and was paralyzed.  That was a year ago.  He arrived at our hospital after suffering for a couple of months, just lying of the floor of his home.  

This week's Mango Moment is brought to you by Pottery Barn. Mango is a small town that sits in a bowl. Because it sits lower than surrounding towns and cities, it's  very dry and very hot. We get far less rain than the surrounding towns and there are times in the year when Mango is actually the hottest place on earth. Today feels like one of those days. But Mango has much to offer.  And if you'll take the time to visit us, we'll happily tour you around.  But since that isn't likely to happen, I'll bring Mango to YOU! The downtown of Mango is made up of a central market with small boutiques on the surrounding "streets" - I put the word "streets" in quotes like that because I'm kind of afraid that you're picturing a street.  Like paved and wide and smooth and clearly marked out.  That would be the wrong thing to picture.  For example: A street in town. Its hard to see the pot holes from this angle. Because a lot of the bo

Sorry it's been so long since I've written - the internet has been especially lousy over the last couple of weeks.  In order to create a new post, I have to have a long stretch of time with decent internet to upload the photos, then write the post and then actually publish it.  This is no five-minute task, my friends!! But there's much to tell you, so enough excuses already.  Here's what we've been up to: CONSTRUCTION! The houses are coming along great.  Nate and Bruce have been working hard with the Togolese men. House #1 now has the trusses on and House #2 has walls to the roof line and window frames going in.  The crew hopes to have House #1 completed by the end of April!  That's some great timing if it all works out like that.  To think that we got here in mid-November and it was just getting started.  We had to wait for the container from the USA to arrive (which it did, just a couple of days after my birthday which meant that I had the MOST birthday