Our trip back to Togo became a bit of an adventure with our initial flight being canceled due to our "would be plane" being struck by lightning on its arrival to Atlanta. We subsequently had flights rescheduled for the next day. In addition when we finally arrived in Togo, all of our luggage, containing supplies for the next couple of years, was lost. It did all eventually arrive over the course of the next 2 weeks. Added to that, our van, which we had left in the Lome, the capital of Togo, wouldn't start. So we ended up spending a few extra days in the capital city. On our drive back, our clutch started going out in our van. We were thankful to arrive safely in Mango, but the car couldn't safely be driven back to Lomé where there is better access to parts and mechanics. We were able to find someone in Mango who could do the needed work, although he had to search in Ghana for several days before finally finding the parts in Accra, the capital of Ghana.
The Lord has been teaching us many lessons on this journey, but one of them is to take these challenges one at a time. Many times we have a tendency to worry or be anxious about these details when problems arise. When many of them come up in a small time frame they can certainly become overwhelming. It has been so helpful to trust these details to the Lord, and take them one by one as they come. Jesus says in Mathew 6:34 "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble". This verse has been a really good reminder for us. It's also been a good challenge for us to see what we are putting our hope, our faith and our confidence in. If it is in our own self, our own strength, or our own abilities, we have reason to worry. However, we put our hope in the Lord who is all knowing, all powerful and who is able to do all things. When we truly trust these details to Him, there is no reason for worry even when problems come. This is not to say that everything is always going to go the way we want it to go, because it doesn't. However, God is good, He doesn't change and we can put our confidence and hope in Him and his plans for our lives.
This month we celebrated 1 year in Togo. In many ways it is hard to believe we've already been here for a year. We have already learned a lot about this country and its people, but we still have so much to learn. We are thankful for the opportunities we have to build relationships and become a part of the community here. We work with a wonderful group of people at the hospital from all over Togo and the world. It is a blessing to play a small part in the work God is doing here. Our children are also becoming more invested in our community, making friends, and enjoying their last few days of summer break. It is common here for young girls to help take care of their younger siblings while their mamas work. Sofia is determined to get Mély on her back soon, like her friends- this is no small feat.
Praises and Prayer Requests
Family
August 2 we also celebrated 15 years of marriage. We are beyond grateful for all that God has taught us and done in our lives these past 15 years, and we look forward to many more years of service/growth together. Natasha started back to work this past week after taking some time off after Mély's birth. She is excited to be seeing patients again but with every transition comes new challenges. Our three oldest children will also start back to school this coming week. Please continue to pray for us as a family, as we once again attempt to settle into a new "normal" schedule and desire to be good ambassadors for Jesus to our community.
Team
Please be praying for our two teachers as they wade through all the challenges of beginning a new school year and attempt to teach children of all different ages in just two classrooms.
Medical: We continue to see a steady stream of patients with wide ranging medical problems. In fact, recently it's been extremely busy on the surgical service. During the rainy season we see patients with holes in their intestines caused by typhoid infections they get from drinking contaminated water. Please pray for our patients, many of whom are very ill, that they would see God's love through the care they receive. We recently had a patient from several countries away who came with a non healed leg fracture. He had heard about the care here from a former patient who had the same problem. He came a few days later, and we will soon repair his femur fracture. With this increasing word of mouth advertisement, we need help when the other surgeon here takes a 4 month break. Please pray with us for God to provide surgeons to help Bryce from December 2018 through the end of April 2019 as he will otherwise be the only surgeon here during this time. Please also pray with us for two surgeons and their families who will be starting language learning in France this month before coming here to join us in a little more than a year.
