Day 9

Day 9
Today was a bitter sweet day as it was the last day in the village for three of us. Tomorrow we will spend the day in Lome preparing to leave and doing a bit of shopping. We did end up going to Bagbe today and had a great time. We did the training for the children's workers and also spent some time prayer walking and sharing Christ with some of the people we ran into. This particular village has a much stronger Voo-do presence than most of the other villages. We walked no more than 100 yards and saw four different idols and then Dsniel took us to an area that was known as the "idol woods". It was a small grove of trees where they offered sacrifices regularly. It had a special platform for offering sacrifices and one tree and one bush that was an idol to worship. It is so strange to see how people could worship something such as a bush, but I suppose we worship stranger things in our own way in our society.
This village also was a bit more remote than some of the other villages, so the people were very excited to see us. When we arrived in the village the children come up to the van chanting "Yo-Vo, Yo-Vo" which means something like "white person" or "foreigner". It truly is a big deal when someone white comes to these villages. Everyone gets excited to see why we have come. This is why our work here is welcomed by the local believers. It lends credibility to their own work when someone from outside comes in and validates their their message. The people are so generous and hospitable to us insisting that we sit down while we talk with them. Every time I have been to Togo I have been treated with such kindness and hospitality. The people are genuinely kind and considerate to each other, much more so than in most parts of the US.
Today, when we got back to the conference center, we went for a long walk around the community. We were greeted with chants of "Yo-vo" and "bon soir", French for "good afternoon". We really stick out here and we get a lot of stares but have always been treated with respect and kindness. We were once again amazed at the commerce along the street. You can find just about anything you need by just asking around. With-in a one block area of where we are staying, all dirt roads, you can find everything from fresh pork, to laundry soap, tomato paste, phone cards, pocket calculator, sunglasses, perfume, iron gates, spaghetti noodles, and the list goes on and on. No shop is much bigger than 8' by 10' but they carry such a wide variety of items. Most all of them are at the front door or porch of their homes. Anyway, every time I come I am in awe of how you can find the strangest things in these little shops. This is not to mention on top
of some ladies head. They carry EVERYTHING on top of their heads here. It is very common for the ladies to carry items they are to sell for the day on top of their heads. They walk around until they sell what they have and then go get more. It is so different than from the US and you kind of have to see it to fully understand. I have been here three times and I am still learning so much about the culture. You will have to ask Lary about the ten chickens in a bowl on top of a ladies' head!
Suffice it to say, we have had a great time and, although I am ready to see my family, I hate to leave. This will probably be my last post so let me say thank you for praying for us. It truly has been a blessed trip and I couldn't have asked for a better group to travel with!
Be sure to check out Elisa's blog post about Lary's top ten "Things That Caught My Eye!" list! www.elisaorr@blogspot.com

Pics

Day 8

Day 8
Today we went to Tseve, the hometown of Jean Marie who has visited Heart of Life several times. We learned of some very sad news last night. The sister of Jean Marie passed away on Saturday unexpectedly. We went to visit Jean Maries' father and mother today. While it was a very sad occasion they were glad to see us and welcomed us to their home. We sat outside the front of their house and prayed for them and we would ask you to do the same. She was pregnant and while there may have been some complications with that, the father said she had heart problems.
We then went to Jean Marie's school and even though school has let out for the summer, we spent 10 minutes walking through the village and ended up with nearly 100 kids. Even without telephones, they can spread the word quickly! We taught several bible stories and played games with them for a several minutes. They always enjoy the soccer ball and the bubbles. I tried to keep some of the older boys together with the soccer ball so they don't run over the smaller kids. They are really good at soccer and about wore me out.
Speaking of soccer, everywhere we go everyone is talking about the World Cup. If it is an African country they are cheering for them. There are many homes in Lome with televisions, but they become more rare as you go into the villages. After dark, you can see a bunch of people gathered around a television that is set up out in the street. They really take their soccer seriously here.
Even though the day started off rather sad, we did have a really good day. On the way back this afternoon we stopped by Sagoon's, one of our translators, house. He has a little girl that is 12 months old that is incredibly cute. Getting to hold a small African child always makes me smile!
I am putting up a picture up tonight of Valentine, a small boy we have grown attached to over the last few years. I spoke of him in an earlier blog so I thought you might like to see him.
I am also putting up another picture of a man that I just cannot get off of my mind. The man in the make-shift wheel chair is a member of the Keve Baptist Church. We literally ran into him rounding a corner between two huts. We started to share Christ with him and he said "I must admit I am a member of the Baptist church". At first we didn't understand why this was something he "must admit" until we asked further. He had not been coming for the last couple of months. We asked why, and he said he had been drinking a lot lately. We invited him to meet us at the church in about a hour so we prayed with him and went on our way. I had mixed emotions about leaving him at that point because I felt sure he would never come to the church. By the time we walked through the village some more and made our way back to the church, he was already waiting on us. With a situation like this I knew I needed to let someone who spoke the language to
counsel this poor man. I then got to see pastor Daniel do the most amazing thing with this man. Daniel is the man in the jean shirt and Innocent(Koffi calls him guilty) was in the white shirt translating to me as Daniel was talking with him. He had started drinking a few months ago when his wife left him. She told him that she was going to visit a family member and never came back. He feels that she left him because they have been married for five years and they have no children. He was so down on himself and his condition. It struck me as I was sitting there listening that the issues facing people are problems of the heart and have no regard for locale. Here this man is in a rural village in West Africa facing the same heart problems faced in Missouri and around the world. He obviously didn't have an effective way to make a living, his wife left him, and he had no resources to find her, even if she did want to come back. I cannot tell you
what that did to me as I sat under that tree listening to Daniel tell him that alcohol was not the answer to his problems and that they would only make them worse. Daniel handled it so gracefully but yet forcefully. He is a very Godly man with great wisdom and I had the opportunity to witness it first-hand. I am becoming more and more impressed with him every day.
I took this picture not for us to have pity on him, but as a promise that I would ask our church in America to pray for him. Please pray for him to stop drinking, to have peace in his heart, and for him to have the companionship he needs.
Sorry for the long post. Tomorrow we are headed to another church in Bagbe, or possibly Badja, we are confused on that issue. Oh well, wherever they take us we will share Christ with whoever will listen!

Day 6

We took a little slower pace today and had a great time.  This morning we went to Badja and met with all of the pastors that have signed up for the training.  Not all could make it and we still had 19 men show up.  There is some real excitement for this training and that is getting me very excited.  We met for an hour while the rest of the team went prayer walking through the village.  They actually didn't have far to walk because many of the people came to them wondering what the white people were doing there.  I really am not joking about that, it is very unusual for anyone white to come to these rural villages so they are very interested in the purpose of the visit.  They had a great response while Koffi, Daniel and I were visiting with the pastors.  I shared some scripture with them and challenged them to continue on in the good work they have started.  As I mentioned before, they are more advanced that we were told so we can start at a
much higher level than what I ever imagined.  This is really going to be fun!
After our time in Badja, we went shopping for material for traditional clothing.  We went into a part of the town I had never been to a shop of a friend of Koffi.  They had a much better selection than what we had seen previously so we made a couple of purchases.  After shopping, we went to Koffi's mother's house to see Essi and Koffi's baby.  I must say that girl is really cute.  What a dowry!  (Yes, every Togolese man must still a dowry to the family of his bride before marrying).  We met his sweet mother and more of his extended family this time as well. 
This evening we came back to the conference center and Koffi invited a friend of his over to sing with us.  I know this is not something we normally do in the US, but it is really fun to get together and sing hymns in English and in Ewe.  I think they like to teach us Ewe songs just to hear us attempt to sing them!  It was a very sweet time together.
Anyone who had been to another county on mission will understand when I say this, but there is something special about singing songs and gathering with those who do not know your language and you don't know theirs.  We have memorized many of the same verses of scripture and we know a few of the same tunes so we struggle along singing the words.  But there are some things that go beyond the words of the song, something that is greater than the notes being sung, it is the true worship of our God. We are singing songs together to the One who created us all.  Until tomorrow… 
Pictures (if they load)
1.        The group of pastors that have signed up to be trained.  Pray for them.
2.       Koffi's baby

Day 5

Every trip has a bump in the road, right? (Pun intended).  Really we had a good day overall but a disappointment as well.   We drove for over an hour down the bumpiest road I think I have ever seen.   We drove between 1 and 20 miles an hour with an average of about 5 mph the entire way. Elisa said we could have walked faster and I think she is right.   Bumping our heads on the windows, the roof, and each other we finally made it to Pastor Daniels church. (Thank the Lord for Dramamine and ginger candy).  It was hotter today but the work was just as good.  The longer we spend with two of the people (Koffi and Daniel) the more respect we have for them.  They really are good men and we are blessed to be able to partner with them here in Togo.  As we have gone about the country we see evidence of Daniels influence in Southern Togo.  He has started many churches and continues to mentor young church planters and pastors.  I had a chance to meet
several of the people he has mentored and they are well equipped to pastor churches.  I think that some of my surprise in the level of theological understanding is due in large part to his influence on these guys.  He showed me some of the materials he has used to train them and that has helped me a great deal with our training project.  It has given me a great place to start seeing where they have left off.  Today we went to Labisitto where the last HOL group went to get something started.  They now have a fully established church with a strong core group.  This church is up and on its way.  Daniel continues to train young guys and plant more churches.
 We were all looking forward to showing the Jesus Film tonight.  We had a great learning experience about African culture concerning the Jesus Film.  We were supposed to start the film at 6:30 so at six they had not yet arrived so we called them.  They were on the way and wouldn't be long.  At 6:30 we called again and they said they were on their way and it wouldn't be much longer.  At 6:45 we called them and they said they were ready to now leave where they were coming from over an hour away.  By this time it was too late to have them come and keep everyone for a two hour film.  So we were all very disappointed that we could not show the Jesus Film this evening, but we will all claim Romans 8:28!  When in Africa, go with the Africans!
We are all pretty tired as we have kept a very busy schedule.  It was time for a bit of a break anyway.  Again, we are all healthy and feeling great.  We sat around the table tonight and talked about how God has blessed us in this way.  We have not felt the jetlag that we expected even though we didn't get much sleep.  For this we are most thankful! 
Tomorrow we meet with the entire group of pastors signed up for the training.  Please pray for them as they come from all over to meet in one place.  Today I found out that pastor Daniel has talked this up over a large area and I am now curious to see how many show up.  I won't go into all of the details here, but our training program means a lot to some of these pastors.  So pray that tomorrow will go well and that the pastors will be excited about getting the training they need.

Picture from yesteday

Here is a picture from yesterday that would not upload then.  I have a great connection for a bit so I will try again.
The second picture I Lary presenting some of the materials to the church in Keve.

Day 4

I know I probably say this every day, but today must have been the best so far.  We went to a town called Agoudja.  Every year that we have been here we have gone to this village and we see remarkable progress in this church.  We will give God all of the credit for this, but he has used our work here in some significant ways.  When we first came here in 2007, Pastor Honore` was the pastor and his heart was easy to read.  He had, and still does, a real heart for the area and for the people in his church.  Two years ago he went to a bush training school for pastors and we were a bit concerned about what this would do to the church.  I am excited to report that the church is continuing to do great even though he is away at school.  We did get a chance to meet with him this week and he was just as excited to see us as we were to see him.  I really have a great appreciation for him.  Today I met with the pastor and other leaders of that church and I
feel great about how they are continuing to reach the village.  The church has grown and they have even torn down the old church and build a bigger one in the same place.  It was great seeing many familiar faces.  I recognized them and they recognized both Elisa and me.  There are two children that we have continued to see year after year and for those that have been here before you will remember Valentine and Bret.  I saw Valentine the same time he saw me and instantly smiles flashed across both our faces.  For some reason God has drawn us to him and I look forward to seeing him grow up.  I showed him pictures of him that I took in 2007 and 2008.  Even though he is only 5 or 6, we have some sort of bond.  I remember two years ago Andrew(my son) and he really hit it off and Valentine wore his hat until it was a red as the clay we were walking on.  Elisa recognized Bret after a while but she is growing up and has changed.  She did remember
momma Virginy(Virginia Garrett) but without a translator close at hand communication was limited. 
The number of people interested in pastor training is growing quickly.  I had originally hoped we would have at least 15 pastors and church leaders.  I feel fairly confident that will not be a problem.  The evangelism director for the country of Togo(Pastor Daniel) has been leading us around and helping with translation.  He has called everyone that is interested in the training to come together on Saturday, so we will see. 
Again the weather has been great, other that a lot of rain.  I was videoing my interviews of the pastors under the tree and it started to rain.  I mentioned that I didn't want to get my camera wet so they insisted that we move.  I was grateful for that until I realized that meant they were moving under a bigger tree!  We sat up the camera there until it continued to rain even harder so we moved inside this time.  Then we were in a 10' by 8' building about 6' high with a tin roof.  A hard rain, a tin roof, and attempting to video an interview did not work out so well. We were yelling at each other and could not understand even in person.  I'm not sure what the video will be like.  I will try to get as much of the conversation as I can but it will be difficult.
Another encouraging piece of information today was the church at Vongba.  On the last trip Kevin and others made a 5k walk to this secluded church to present the Gospel where there was no church.  Today I met with the pastor and one of the leaders of the church of 25 people who are meeting three times a week.  The pastor will be a part of the training program this fall.  I can't tell you how excited I am about this new church.  By the grace of God, the Heart of Life church has definitely made an impact in this region and I am looking forward to continuing our work here.  They are so eager for knowledge and understanding of the scriptures.  I mentioned in yesterday's post that I believe they understand the whole of scripture in a way that we struggle to.  I still believe that to be the case but they do not have a great understanding of the details.  It is in the details that we find the source of theology and doctrine.  This is where we can
continue to be a help.         
Again, this day was great.  Elisa will post more on her blog about working with the kids, but every one of us enjoyed the day tremendously and can't imagine that tomorrow could be any better…..but it probably will be!
Sorry about not having pictures.  If I get a good internet connection I will try but it has been very slow here.

Another great day...

Day 3

Today we went to two different villages North of Lome. The first was
the Keve Baptist Church. It is a smaller church with only 35 total
members and the pastor is a very young man without much experience.
He was very shy and timid so we tried to encourage him some. He was
supposed to gather people from his church to meet us but no one show
up but him. Since we were going to do training for the leaders of the
church while I talked with the pastor, we really needed someone to to
be there to teach. So, as we do in Africa, we changed our plans as we
went. We went through the town prayer walking and talking with anyone
we could find. Since it was market day most of the people were at the
market and not at home. However we did run into several people that
were willing to visit with us. As is customary here, they would make
us feel very welcome by inviting us under the shade of their hut and
insisted we sit down with them. I had the opportunity to talk with
three differnet groups of people and actually lead on person to
Christ. We walked by the Voo-do sacrifice area and prayed for the
town. It is so sad to me that people will actually put food and other
valuable and necessary items on this alter for them to burn when they
need them so badly. They just need to know that the sacrifice has
already been made for them!
After prayer walking for about an hour we went back to the church and
a few of the members had showed up. So we started where we intended
to when we got there by me talking with the pastor and the others
training the other leaders in the church. Both projects seem to be
very well recieved. The bible storying project has been very popular
with the leaders in the church. After they are taught the bible story
they can repeat it very well. We have them tell us the story back so
we know they got it right as well as have them practice it so they can
later tell the children. They are really doing a great job.
My project is revealing some very interesting facts about the pastors
in this area. First, they are more knowledgable on scripture than
what we were originally told. When you sit down with them and really
start to visit about themselves and their ministry, you can tell some
of them are seasoned pastors. So far, not only can they all read and
write, most have finished elmentary school and some have even attended
high school. One individual who was a leader in the church was
attending college some distance away. This changes my project
significantly and makes me feel like we can really help to them in
ways I had not imagined. With a few of the leaders, we discussed some
of the finer points of theology to a degree that I would not have
guessed.
Another interesting fact is how they understand scripture. I am not
certain of this and I may change my mind later, but with what I have
learned so far I believe this culture may understand the whole of
scripture better than what many to in the Western world. What I mean
by that is this, they know, understand, and repeat storys as a part of
passing down knowledge to the next generation. No doubt they are
better at storying than we are. Due to this ability to understand and
repeat storys, I think they get the whole of God's story better than
we do. They understand how and why the Noahic Covenant fits in with
the Abrahamic Covenant, and the Noahic Covenant with the Davidic
Covenant and then to the New Covenant. It really was revealing to me
as I asked each one to tell me the story of scripture how they tied
the whole of the bible together into one story. Something I am not
sure we in the Western world are as competent to do. Again, this
observation needs more evidence before I can be sure but this is what
I have seen so far.
In other ways they could really use our help. It is my beleif that
only one of the pastors so far has any understanding of how to make
application from a passage of scripture. This is hard for me to
explain, but I think they get the big picture story but I am not sure
they understand how that makes a difference in their own life and how
to make application from what they study. Again, more study will tell
more.
The weather was as nice as I have ever experienced in Togo. About
upper seventies and overcast. Although it did rain more than just a
little bit. Most of the afternoon it rained and having no storm sewers
the roads got a bit wet as you can see in the picture(if it loads).
For those of you who have been here before, here are the places and
people we have met so far: Pastor Vou in Acheve, Pastor Nigble in
Keve, and Pastor Adrackay in Akepe. As a part of my project I have
not only met with the pastors but with other church leaders as well.
I am not only impressed with the pastors' knowledge, but the other
leaders as well.
We are only in the third day, but this seems to be a very profitable
trip. The training is going great and we are learning a great deal
about how we can best help the churches in this area. God has truely
blessed this trip. Keep praying....

Another great day

Today was another great day in Togo.  We went to Atsave village today to spend some time there interviewing the churh leaders and train some of the childrens workers on evangelism methods and bible storying.  The team taught them the use of the soccerball and I would like to attach a couple of pictures to show you one of the coolest things. First, the picture of Elisa and Lary teaching the children one of the bible stories.  Then, our objective is to train the local leaders to teach instead of us doing it.  The next picture is just that.  One of the local church leaders was teaching the children the Gospel message from the colors on the soccerball.  So cool!  That is all for now, but know that we are all feeling great and really excited about all God is doing through us so far.  Thank you all so much for praying for us! 

Headed to Keve

I (Mary) just visited with Dennis on Yahoo! Messenger. Yahoo for real! It was so good to talk with him, sort of! They are doing well and got some much needed rest last night. They spent the day working with the local believers and teaching them how to conduct their own Bible teaching and Vacation Bible Schools. Dennis was able to interview pastors for his Doctoral project and he said it was well received. The weather is not too hot, but humid as always! They are headed to Keve tomorrow and will soon show The Jesus Film out in the village. They are anxious for the people to hear the Gospel in their own language on the "big screen"! Phillip, the cook, is taking care of them like always with a great, warm meal in the evenings. They take their own lunches during the day. Continue to pray for their strength and health! More later.

A great start!

I have had 6 hours of sleep in the last 75 hours.  I just got back from a 2.5 hour long worship service.  If you think I was sleepy during the service, then you have not been to an African worship service!
Lary summed it up best when he said that this one worship service was worth the entire trip.  We were especially blessed because most of the worship service was a wedding. It truly was an amazing experience to watch this young couple, both of whom had their previous spouses pass away, begin their new lives together.  I am struck by the similarities and the differences between our cultures.  The similarities were the most touching.  The nervous groom was dressed in his best, it looked like the bride had spent days getting her hair done, both the bride and the groom seperately walked(actually danced) down the center isle of the church, and the excited families of the young couple were sitting at the front.  Even the father of the bride was teary eyed.  Other than that, wow was it different!  I have never seen so much singing, dancing, and clapping.  Koffi explained to us that the groom had to come up with a sizable dowry before he could marry
her.  You know when in the US we traditionally ask "Who gives this bride away"?  It was at a similar point that the father of the bride stood up and annouced that the groom had paid the dowry in full and that he supported the union. Enough about the wedding, but it really was way cool!
The trip through the airport here in Lome was as good as ever.  For some reason there were less than 10 of us needing visas so we went right through.  We were a bit delayed after we got our visas, but overall it was very smooth.  For those who have been here before you know what a nightmare that can be. 
Even on very little sleep, our team is getting along great.  We have spent some really great time together processing what we have seen and experienced.  And we have only been here a few hours!
This afternoon we are going to rest a bit and then meet tonight to make some plans for the week.  Tomorrow we will have several different meetings here in Lome with missionaries.  We will update more as we can.

Also read Elisa's blog  elisaorr.blogspot.com

We made it to Morrroco

All is well here.  After the 3 hour delay in NY we were on our way.  The flight from Denver to NY was rough and I almost didnt make it.  However, thanks to my pharmaceutical friends I slept very well on the way from NY to Morocco and feel really good.  We had no internet at the hotel and I am stealing it from some office here in the Casablanca airport.  I hope they dont mind. 

Everyone is feeling well and we are getting along just great.  It has been good so far.  We leave here in about 2 hours and have another 6 hour flight(I think) to Lome after a stop in Cotanou.    We stayed at the same hotel we did on the very first trip and ate some really good food.  I am about out of battery on my computer so I have to go. 

Love you all,

Dennis

Off to Africa

Headed back to Togo and I couldn't be more excited!  I will post as I can over the next few days.