Happy New Year from Togo!
With a new year now upon us, we reflect back on all the many ways we have seen God at work in our lives and the lives of those around us, and we look forward with anticipation to how He will continue to work in the days, months, and years ahead. This last year has once again brought a lot of change for our family as we have finished language school and our time in France and have begun transitioning to life and ministry on yet another continent. Through it all, we have clearly sensed God’s provision and protection in our lives and while the change has not always been easy, we know God is growing and changing us through the process. We are especially thankful for the relationships we are developing and beginning to deepen with our teammates and Togolese friends. Relationships often take time to develope and sometimes the process can seem slower than we would like, but we are seeing progress and this has been a great source of encouragement to us.
A few days after arriving at our new home, we met a man who is skilled at gardening, so we asked him if he would be willing to help us start a garden. The ground and climate are very different here than in the States, so it has been very helpful having someone knowledgable help us with this process. A few months ago, our gardner arrived at our home early one morning to tell us his wife had just delivered her 8th child. She delivered unexpectedly at home the night before but came to see Natasha in clinic the next morning. The baby needed to be admitted to our hospital for a week during which time we were able to visit her frequetly and begin getting to know her. When they were released from the hospital, we had the privalege of taking them back to their home in town, where we were invited in and able to meet the rest of their family and many of their neighbors and extended family. We were also later invited to a baptism ceremony for their son. We are thankful for the opportunities we have been given to get to know this family and are excited to see how God will continue to grow our relationship with them.
Life here/daily tasks seem to be more labor intensive and take longer than they did in the States. With no grocery store or fast food restaurants near by, everything must be planned for in advance. Thinking of making a quiche for dinner, you know, the one that only takes 5 minutes to throw together. Think again, first you must prepare and shred the chicken as there is no canned chicken here. Then you must clean the eggs in bleach water which take about 20 minues and crack each one individually into a seperate bowl before adding them to the bunch to avoid throwing out the mixture due to a rotton one. Then you must shred the cheese by hand and make sure you have enough cream because it cannot be purchased locally. For some of you reading this, this might not seem like a big deal but for this girl, who was used to purchasing pre-made pie crusts, packages of shredded chesse, and canned chicken, this has been an adjustment. Getting away from the topic of food, we currently find ourselves in the season of harmattan. This means cooler temperatures during the nights and early mornings, but also lots of dust and allergies. For example, our floors can be mopped and every surface wiped down but in a short amount of time they will once again be covered with a fine layer of dust in which we could write our names. We provide these examples with an edge of humor but for us, this is life. For this reason, we are extremely greatful for several ladies who work alongside us in our home, enabling both Bryce and I to work in the hospital and clinics as well as fulfill other ministry commitments while attempting to find a sustainable pace in it all. They also provide great French practice as they are not afraid to correct us, which is still very much needed. These women and their families have become good friends and important part of our family. We enjoy working alongside them and socializing with them as well.
In December we were able to enjoy a movie night together and also bake and decorate Christmas cookies with them and their children. We are so thankful for their friendship, the help they provide, and these relationships that are growing deeper.
We spent a few days around new years with colleagues in the capital city of Lomé. We had the wonderful job of welcoming new teammates, our friends from language school, the Wreesmans as they arrived in Togo. We have been very short on medical providers at the hospital, so they will provide a much needed help there. We are also excited to have another long term family here on our team to build relationships here in Mango. God is at work here. In the past few months we have seen fruit from the work here in Mango in the form of several baptisms. This is especially encouraging as we work hard to meet the very significant medical needs in this part of the world.
I have been amazed to see the size of the region we serve here especially on the surgical service. We regularly treat patients from the capital city of Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou. It's about 6 hours away by bus. This would be a little like people coming from Chicago, IL for medical care in smaller Dayton, OH. We also see patients coming from the capital city of Lomé which is 10 hours away. This would be a little like people traveling form New York City to Dayton. Dr. Huber, my surgical partner here has named our surgical group Big Radius Surgical Group (BRSG) due to the large area thtat people come. It seems pretty fitting. Here is a picture of the two of us operating together. We are so thankful for him and his family being here. They are such a huge encouragement to us in many ways.
Several have asked us recently for more of a glimpse into our lives and ministries here in Togo, so we hope we have been able to do that in this letter. We are thankful for the opportunity God has given us to be here in Togo, and we are excited to see how God is going to continue to work this next year. Thank you for those of you who faithfully support us in this work. We wouldn't be here without you! As always, we love hearing from you and how we can be lifting you all up in prayer. We have been asked if we can receive mail, and the answer is yes. Let us know if you would like our address!
Prayer Requests
Family
Please continue to pray for Natasha to have a healthy pregnancy. She is due in early April.
Our newsletter was finished over 4 weeks ago. We have been unable to publish it due to the poor internet. Please pray that a company named Togotelecom could finish running DSL to the hospital and the houses on our compound. This could help many of us on our team save a lot of time that is spent trying to send and receive important information. This is something we definitely took for granted before living here in Togo.
Our newsletter was finished over 4 weeks ago. We have been unable to publish it due to the poor internet. Please pray that a company named Togotelecom could finish running DSL to the hospital and the houses on our compound. This could help many of us on our team save a lot of time that is spent trying to send and receive important information. This is something we definitely took for granted before living here in Togo.
Team
Our team is currently a bit short handed. We are expecting more medical providers this next summer, but we have significant needs until then. After the summer, Bryce may be the only surgeon here at times. Please pray for more short term surgeons like the Hubers. If you know of medical or surgical providers or nurses who may be interested in serving alongside us, please contact us.
Please also pray for our team as we are preparing for Lassa Fever. It's still relatively new to our team and this region, and we are working to be well prepared this year. Please pray for stamina, wisdom and protection for our staff.
