Please God, not Africa!

Yesterday, we went back to see the Fulani refugee camp.  We decided that we would take watermelons to them, and then find out what else they were in need of. Here's a photo of Ethan loading up some of our watermelons. And here's Anna with the Watermelon Guy.  We decided that we needed 75.  We went to the first watermelon stand and the guy had 44 melons.  We bought them all and told him we needed more.  Turns out he had another stand by the highway.  We drove there and guess exactly how many watermelons he had at his other stand??  Yep, 31.  Exactly. We drove to the Fulani camp and unloaded the melons with the help of the women.  All the Fulani men are away from the camp during the day, either rebuilding their homes in the Mogu area or tending the cattle again.  The people of Mogu have sinced realized their mistake in pushing the Fulani out.  You see, the Fulani were sort of "contracted" to take care of the Mogu's ...

I had a suggestion from my sister that I post about the people on our team.  Since I am talking about these guys all the time, you should probably have a visual, so you can know them too! On Sunday night we started a series of quarterly team meetings, so I took the opportunity to take photos of all the members of the team who are currently here in Mango. Let me introduce you... This is John.  He and his brother and sister in law are the newest members on the field.  They just arrived in Mango in early October.  John is a 28 year old single guy who has been to Africa on several trips and loves working with the local guys, building, and keeping the shop clean. (Nate loves this about John!)  Nate met John with the rest of our church team that came to Togo last December.  His name at the time was "Minnesota John" and that name has stuck.  We call him Big Bad John because he's 6'5". And because he's a terribly bad influence on our kids....

Disclaimer:  This post is a bit on the lighter side and includes much "bathroom talk" so if you're not into that and don't want to know the intimate details of our lives, don't read on. This past weekend, Emily and I planned to head to Lome, the capital of Togo.  This was a trip with a three-fold purpose: to take a work team back so they could catch a flight home, to pick up the ABWE Project Office Director from the airport, and to get groceries.  Mostly, I wanted to buy groceries. The plan was that we would leave early Thursday morning, head south with the team, drop them off in Tsiko so they could head home,  stay overnight, grocery shop all day Friday, pick up Bill from the airport, and then head home early Saturday morning.  It was a good plan and were so excited to head to a REAL grocery store and eat at REAL restaurants, and stay at a hotel with AIR CONDITIONING!! The problem was that I wasn't feeling so well a couple of days before we left.  I ...

On Monday morning, we met at Emily's house to finish making the care packages for the Fulani refugees.  We put together 50 bags with spaghetti noodles, tomato paste, tea, canned milk, sugar, cookies, candy, a bar of soap and laundry soap.   Here's Kylie adding the tea, cookies and candy: And the boys putting the spaghetti and tomato paste in: Oh, and don't forget the sugar cubes. We loaded the bags into the hospital van and headed off to the refugee camp.  We kept track of the distance and turns out the refugee camp is exactly three and a half km from the hospital! We went to the camp and word had spread that we were coming.  The chief was there to greet us (and he spoke a little English as well as French and Fulfulde.)  The mayor of Mango was also there.  He didn't want to miss out on the action.  The firefighters of another town (Kara) were also there to act as protection for the Fulani. Typically, whenever we've t...

Let's start with the good news: After the whole "break in" thing, we had a little miracle!  A couple of days after, Nate was working in the shop with his two buddies, Bawa and Fusini.  Bawa speaks a little English, pretty good French and great Anufo.  Fusini speaks only Anufo.  Anyhow, Bawa came up to Nate and said, "Fusini cannot understand you.  He doesn't get how after a man has stolen from you, how you can be so happy and joke around!  Why don't you want to kill this man?" What an opportunity!  So Nate carefully explained to Bawa about grace.  And God.  And His love.  And our faith!  And Bawa carefully translated it to Fusini!  And that, my friends, is so amazing.  What an answer to prayer!! It so reminded me of the verse in Genesis, in the story of Joseph, that what "man intended for harm, God intended for good." Neither of these guys could understand how or why Nate could still exist in joy and peace when som...

This morning, this was the devotional that Nate and I read, from the book "Jesus Calling" (I love this book!): " Be prepared to suffer for Me, in My Name. All suffering has meaning in My kingdom.....Bearing your circumstances bravely -- even thanking Me for them, --is one of the highest forms of praise....do not try to hide from problems.  Instead, accept adversity in My name, offering it up to Me for My purposes ." We should have known that something was coming today when we read this. Because today, we were robbed. This morning we went to church and planned to take some new missionaries to market after church, to help them buy some stuff.  So after church, we quickly came home, dropped the kids off, and Nate and I took off to market. When we got home, the kids were upset.  They suspected that someone had robbed us but they weren't sure.  When we dropped them off we just handed them the keys.  The kids unlocked the gate to the yard, went in the front ...

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 he...