Wednesday, November 1, 2017
To Togo: October Nattier News
To Togo: October Nattier News: The past couple of months have been a real whirlwind, and it's challenging to know where to begin. We have been working to ...
October Nattier News
The past couple of months have been a real whirlwind, and it's challenging to know where to begin. We have been working to adapt to our new location and roles. Bryce has enjoyed getting back into the operating room. The 3 oldest kids started school in early September, and Ahni has been going to the preschool program each morning. They have all been adapting well and enjoying getting to know the other kids. Natasha has started working in the post partum and prenatal clinics part time, working a few hours in the preschool each week, and trying to keep everything running around the house. She has been doing all of this while growing baby number 5, who we are excited to meet in early April, 2018.
It was great having Bryce's parents here for a couple months, and we were so thankful for their help in getting our home set up. Claude built the swing set and treehouse you see in the picture above, beds for the girls, as well as several other things around our house. It was great to spend time with them, and we were thankful for the variety of experiences we had together. Here is a picture from near Dapaong the largest city in our region of Togo, which is about 1 hour to the north of Mango.
We have been working on building relationships and learning all that we can about several new cultures here. Our patients come from multiple different people groups with their own unique languages and cultures. Luckily we can communicate with many of them or someone in their family in French, but we still often need a translator especially for patients coming from the country to our north, Burkina Faso. It was fun to connect with one family who was from the local area. Their daughter was in the hospital for almost the whole time Bryce has been working. Sofia and Ahni were able to color and spend some time with her. They were all a little shy, but they also could communicate a little bit in French.
Part of adapting to our new environment is getting around on a moto. It really is the best way to reach most places locally. We are trying to work on getting the whole family on a moto, but 4 might be our max.
The motos do provide the bulk of transportation. It's even the way they move cattle at times.
On a more serious note, Togo has been in the news recently due to some political unrest. You can read more about this on news networks like the BBC. We had several patients at our hospital with a variety of injuries. It really was a great reminder, that the Lord has us here in Togo for such a time as this. We are thankful for the opportunity to be able to show the people here love in their time of need. Many of them wouldn't have any other options. Thank you for you support to allow us to do this work.
Praises
We were able to get our car out of the port. We were also able to get all of our supplies and appliances for the house that we had bought in Lomé. Many of the projects in our house have been finished. While we miss our friends and family dearly, this really is starting to feel like "home" and we are so truly thankful for this blessing from the Lord.
Prayer requests
Family
Please continue to pray for us as we seek to use our time here wisely. There are great medical needs, but we also have an important responsibility as parents to guide and teach our children. We are so thankful for the school, 1 full-time school teacher and other moms who are running the school here. They have a big job. Please pray for their stamina for the school year, and 2 more teachers who are preparing to join our team.
Team
We have been blessed recently to have many great short term surgeons and doctors. One of them Nathan Huber and his family will be working with Bryce for the next 8 months. Please pray for their family. We often have to cancel surgeries due to shortages of beds, anesthesia, nursing or a number of other things. Please continue to pray for wisdom as we try to do our best in this resource limited environment.
It was great having Bryce's parents here for a couple months, and we were so thankful for their help in getting our home set up. Claude built the swing set and treehouse you see in the picture above, beds for the girls, as well as several other things around our house. It was great to spend time with them, and we were thankful for the variety of experiences we had together. Here is a picture from near Dapaong the largest city in our region of Togo, which is about 1 hour to the north of Mango.
We have been working on building relationships and learning all that we can about several new cultures here. Our patients come from multiple different people groups with their own unique languages and cultures. Luckily we can communicate with many of them or someone in their family in French, but we still often need a translator especially for patients coming from the country to our north, Burkina Faso. It was fun to connect with one family who was from the local area. Their daughter was in the hospital for almost the whole time Bryce has been working. Sofia and Ahni were able to color and spend some time with her. They were all a little shy, but they also could communicate a little bit in French.
Part of adapting to our new environment is getting around on a moto. It really is the best way to reach most places locally. We are trying to work on getting the whole family on a moto, but 4 might be our max.
The motos do provide the bulk of transportation. It's even the way they move cattle at times.
On a more serious note, Togo has been in the news recently due to some political unrest. You can read more about this on news networks like the BBC. We had several patients at our hospital with a variety of injuries. It really was a great reminder, that the Lord has us here in Togo for such a time as this. We are thankful for the opportunity to be able to show the people here love in their time of need. Many of them wouldn't have any other options. Thank you for you support to allow us to do this work.
Praises
We were able to get our car out of the port. We were also able to get all of our supplies and appliances for the house that we had bought in Lomé. Many of the projects in our house have been finished. While we miss our friends and family dearly, this really is starting to feel like "home" and we are so truly thankful for this blessing from the Lord.
Prayer requests
Family
Please continue to pray for us as we seek to use our time here wisely. There are great medical needs, but we also have an important responsibility as parents to guide and teach our children. We are so thankful for the school, 1 full-time school teacher and other moms who are running the school here. They have a big job. Please pray for their stamina for the school year, and 2 more teachers who are preparing to join our team.
Team
We have been blessed recently to have many great short term surgeons and doctors. One of them Nathan Huber and his family will be working with Bryce for the next 8 months. Please pray for their family. We often have to cancel surgeries due to shortages of beds, anesthesia, nursing or a number of other things. Please continue to pray for wisdom as we try to do our best in this resource limited environment.
Saturday, August 19, 2017
August Nattier News
After years of preparation, prayer, and planning, we have finally placed feet down in our new country. We arrived in Togo July 30th. We spent our first full day in Lomé, the capital, to learn what we could find here. It's amazing how much this city has changed, even since our last trip here 3 years ago. We were able to buy a few of the groceries that are hard to find in our area, like cereal, cheese, boxed milk, and fruit. The next day we started the approximate 8 hour drive from there to Mango. We were greeted by a warm welcome from our team, and we were able to see our new house for the first time. We are so thankful for the teams and individuals who poured many hours of hard work into building it. We have been working hard for the past few weeks to unpack our boxes and finish up little things around the house, transforming it into our home.
It is currently rainy season. Here in Mango everything is green and pretty during this season. We have actually had a lot of rain since we arrived. We have been hearing that this is the most rain that they have had during a rainy season since before the year 2000. Here is the view from the front of our house during one of the storms.
We are thankful for the many ways are teammates have helped us while settling in. This is Natasha's cousin Susanna who works here as a nurse. She has taken both Natasha and Elli on trips around town for various tasks. On this trip, Natasha was able to pick up some meat and see what was available in a monastery just outside of town.
We are currently taking everything in and trying to learn all we can. Our teammates and the Togolese we have met have been extremely helpful in this task of learning yet another culture. We are currently in Lomé buying appliances for our house, which also provides us some time with decent internet to update you all. We are thankful for a teammate who helped us buy most of our appliances and countertops over the last few days. Next we will be visiting some friends working in Lomé and then some others who work at the hospital in southern Togo for a few days. Our freezer and stove arrived in Mango today via a taxi service, so we will have a home with a little more functionality when we return. We are excited for the rest of our appliances to arrive in the next few weeks, as trying to prepare meals without appliances in our home has been a bit challenging.
Prayer requests
Family
Bryce will be starting to work in the hospital in a little over a week. Please pray that we can work out the remaining details for our home and delivery of our appliances during this next week. We are currently working through issues with our polaris 4x4 that was pulled out of our container in the port. Please pray it will be released from the port where it's been setting for over 6 weeks. Then we can ship our countertops and remaining appliances on the same truck to Mango. It's a challenge working out the details for the long trip from Lomé to Mango, with the rough roads, so things arrive in 1 piece.
Team
Please pray for a work team that will be working on several construction projects the next week, including several around our house. Also, please pray for us to have wisdom as we work through the challenges of great medical needs with limitations in staff around the hospital, and how we can work at a sustainable pace.
Monday, July 17, 2017
June/July Nattier News
Endings and New Beginnings
We recently finished language school, woo hoo! We have been working on learning French for the past 18 months, and it has certainly involved an investment of lots of time and hard work. It has been a different season of our life, and we have learned quite a lot in addition to French. We are so thankful for God's grace in our lives during this time and every step of the way. Paul gives a good reminder of how we are able to succeed in these challenges of life in 1 Corinthians 15:10
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.
The Lord has so clearly been working in each and every part of our journey with Him, and we are so thankful for His work in our lives.
June 30th was our graduation from language school. As part of the ceremony, we were asked to give a speech, in French of course. Here is a picture of Natasha and I during our speech, as well as us with our two professeurs during our time here, Verena and Ambroise. They were excellent instructors, and we are so thankful for their handwork and patience with us during the process.
Graduation typically marks the end of a phase in our lives and the beginning of another. That is certainly true for us. We will soon be moving from France to Togo. We have been working for a long time to prepare for working in Togo, and we will be there soon, in just two weeks! It's been harder than we thought to leave France. We have made a lot of friends here. There are other language students who have become close friends. Many of them will also be leaving soon to work in French speaking countries. We will also miss the faculty and staff at our school and our friends that we have made outside of school here.
In our current line of work there are frequent changes of scenery, opportunities to meet new people and lots of goodbyes. Goodbye's are often difficult, but we are thankful for the opportunity to meet so many wonderful people at each point along the way.
We recently had a couple of visitors. This is always such an encouragement to us. Our close friends Curtis and Carolyn flew in for our graduation. We were able to enjoy a few of the local sites with them, like a nearby city, Annecy and a hike in the mountains. The following week, we were able to take a little vacation in the south of France with Bryce's brother Derek and his family. We had a wonderful time with our friends/family and it was really hard to say goodbye!
We recently finished language school, woo hoo! We have been working on learning French for the past 18 months, and it has certainly involved an investment of lots of time and hard work. It has been a different season of our life, and we have learned quite a lot in addition to French. We are so thankful for God's grace in our lives during this time and every step of the way. Paul gives a good reminder of how we are able to succeed in these challenges of life in 1 Corinthians 15:10
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.
The Lord has so clearly been working in each and every part of our journey with Him, and we are so thankful for His work in our lives.
June 30th was our graduation from language school. As part of the ceremony, we were asked to give a speech, in French of course. Here is a picture of Natasha and I during our speech, as well as us with our two professeurs during our time here, Verena and Ambroise. They were excellent instructors, and we are so thankful for their handwork and patience with us during the process.
Graduation typically marks the end of a phase in our lives and the beginning of another. That is certainly true for us. We will soon be moving from France to Togo. We have been working for a long time to prepare for working in Togo, and we will be there soon, in just two weeks! It's been harder than we thought to leave France. We have made a lot of friends here. There are other language students who have become close friends. Many of them will also be leaving soon to work in French speaking countries. We will also miss the faculty and staff at our school and our friends that we have made outside of school here.
In our current line of work there are frequent changes of scenery, opportunities to meet new people and lots of goodbyes. Goodbye's are often difficult, but we are thankful for the opportunity to meet so many wonderful people at each point along the way.
We recently had a couple of visitors. This is always such an encouragement to us. Our close friends Curtis and Carolyn flew in for our graduation. We were able to enjoy a few of the local sites with them, like a nearby city, Annecy and a hike in the mountains. The following week, we were able to take a little vacation in the south of France with Bryce's brother Derek and his family. We had a wonderful time with our friends/family and it was really hard to say goodbye!
We are currently working on one of our least favorite tasks, packing! We probably need to learn to embrace this task, because it's a regular part of our life. We will soon be sending our van from France to Togo, and then we will leave the 30th of July. We will arrive in Mango a few days later, the day before our 14th wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe we have been preparing that long for this day. It also means our next news will be coming from Togo!
Praise/Prayer requests:
We were thankful to learn that our container arrived in Mango last week. This means we will have beds and household furnishings to outfit our house! We will spend the first few weeks getting everything situated before starting to work in the hospital.
Please pray for our family as we make the transition from France to Togo. There are still many unknowns, and this can be stressful. We also know that it's all in God's control, and He will continue to guide us each step of the way.
Our team:
There are currently several other surgeons and their families who are in the process of preparing to come to work in Mango. One of them, the Hubers, will be joining us for almost 1 year starting in October. Please pray for them as they prepare to make this trip with a newborn. Please also pray for the Paulicks and Chmils who are both finishing raising support and who hope to start language school in the next year.
Monday, May 8, 2017
April Nattier News
The past couple of months have been pretty packed, but they have also been full of reminders of God's faithfulness to provide in big ways and small. We began the month of March by preparing for our fourth round of exams. This is always a stressful time as we take 8 different exams, some with multiple parts, over 4 days. Though we study hard and look for opportunities to use our french, it is often easy to feel we are not progressing as quickly as we would like. All this to say, it is always encouraging to see PASSING results at the end of another exam period. Once again, God has allowed us to progress into the next, and our final, class!!! We are thankful the work was evident as we both passed these exams. Natasha's parents arrived the beginning of April. We enjoyed 12 days with her dad, and Melody (her mom) has stayed here to help us with Ahni. Unfortunately, we had to also say goodbye to Linda who served our family well for the first three months of the year. We also had a brief visit from some friends, Andy and Christy. The Lord has definitely used these people to encourage us, and we have been abundantly blessed by each visit.
During the middle of the month, we were able to send the container with our household goods that was still being stored in the US. We had packed our container in several steps as we were moving and preparing to leave 18 months ago. As a result things were not optimally packed, and our space was limited. Bryce's dad and a church in southern Illinois, Nine Mile Baptist Church, took on the huge task of unpacking and repacking everything. There was even help from some football players from Bryce's home town. As a result, everything that we desired to have with us in Togo was strategically packed in the container. The container was picked up, and it is currently enroute to Togo. The last word we heard, it's waiting to set sail on the Atlantic to Togo.
During the middle of the month, we were able to send the container with our household goods that was still being stored in the US. We had packed our container in several steps as we were moving and preparing to leave 18 months ago. As a result things were not optimally packed, and our space was limited. Bryce's dad and a church in southern Illinois, Nine Mile Baptist Church, took on the huge task of unpacking and repacking everything. There was even help from some football players from Bryce's home town. As a result, everything that we desired to have with us in Togo was strategically packed in the container. The container was picked up, and it is currently enroute to Togo. The last word we heard, it's waiting to set sail on the Atlantic to Togo.
The last two weeks of the month we had a break from school. The first week we spent just south of Barcelona, Spain. It wasn't as warm as we had hoped, but it was a good time of relaxation and rejuvenation. At the end of our time away, we all loaded into our van ready to head back home and found our van would not start. We had experienced problems with our battery before and knew we probably would need to replace it at some point. However, we were hopeful a jump would work once again as we were far from the mechanic we have grown to trust here in France, and we have both forgotten all our high school/college Spanish. We were able to play charades with our Airbnb hosts enough to indicate that we were in need of a jump. As the men were connecting the vehicles, a women came out from the apartment building across the street, and very animatedly delivered a message to our host. I didn't understand a word she was saying, that is, until I did. Suddenly, the foreign words she was speaking made sense to me and I clearly understood her message but my brain had not yet processed that she was now speaking French. I (Natasha) must have looked at her with confusion on my face because she then pointed to our license plate from France, and said she assumed we spoke French. She was right, and it changed everything to be able to communicate. She conveyed that she knew a reliable mechanic just down the road, who was open on Saturdays and also spoke French. After 20 mins of trying, our car still would not start, so our friendly bystander volunteered to take us to her mechanic. He was able to come back to the car with us and quickly put in a temporary battery. The car started, confirming this was the problem. We were able to drive to his shop where he ordered the right sized battery and replaced it, all for a very reasonable price. We had several chances to talk with him in French. He was originally from Morocco, and had worked in Marseille, France for 4 years. He was now in Spain but hoping to return to France. It made the 4 hour delay to our trip home much less stressful and a pleasant memory. It was one of those things that some might chalk up to coincidence, but we know that God displays His faithfulness in many different ways. We may never know what He was doing in this man's life and ours, but we know He weaves our lives in such a way as to work in and through us to show His love to us all. It is in this same way that we have come to know many of you who read this blog and support us in this journey. We thank Him for this, and we are thankful for all of you as well.
In other news, we have also had several occasions to experience the French medical system these past few months. From accidents like sprained ankles, to persistent abdominal pain, and even wellness visits and vaccines in preparation for our departure to Togo, we have been very pleased with the care we have received here in France. This has given us some opportunities to learn and practice our french medical vocabulary, and we have been amazed by the low price of only 23 euros for doctors office or even ER visits! Thankfully, we are all healthy now.
These past few weeks have been full of preparation for the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of our language school, and this past weekend was the culmination of this preparation in several events. Saturday and Sunday included events open to the public. On Saturday, Bryce served as a tour guide during the open house, and our chorale performed a song we had been preparing. For the celebration with our student body each class prepared something to share, a song, a skit, an elaborate poster, to celebrate this incredible event. We enjoyed much laughter and encouragement as we reflect on God's faithfulness in the life of our school. We are so thankful this school exists and for all the faculty and staff who have invested in the lives of 2, 603 students coming from 31 countries, going to 36 francophone countries to date. The impact this school has had in the french speaking world is far reaching- Only God knows how many lives have been changed.
Here are a few pictures from the festivities, including our classes skit.
Praise/Prayer
Family
Natasha will soon be done with formal coursework. Please pray for her to find some good speaking opportunities to continue practicing French. The rest of the family has just under 2 months of school work left here in France. Please pray for us all to finish well. We have begun the packing process once again. This might be one of our least favorite things about all of our moving and transitions. Please pray for wisdom and unity in our decision making.
Team
Our team is very short on medical providers. Please pray for those who are currently serving and that God would provide more workers to meet the great needs that exist in this part of West Africa.
We are also looking for teachers for the upcoming school year. Right now there is only 1 for over 20 students.
They continue to make good progress building our home. We are so thankful for those working hard to finish so it will be ready when we arrive. Here are the latest pictures showing the inside is being finished and paint is starting to go up on some of the walls!
Thursday, March 9, 2017
February Nattier News
Le Progrès (progress)
The past two months have been full of progress. We enjoyed a wonderful visit from Bryce's sister Aimee and her family, and we had the chance to take them skiing in the French Alpes. Everyone enjoyed the views of mount blanc on the back left, and despite a few falls no one got hurt too badly. We consider it great progress that all 11 of us survived the day on the slopes (the two youngest are not in this picture but enjoyed skiing with us earlier).
The problem with progress, is that it means you haven't yet obtained or completed what you seek. Well that is certainly the case for our French. We are improving little by little, but often progress seems slow and difficult. It's been helpful to remember why we are learning french. Additionally, it has been great to see our three big kids start to enjoy speaking french. They have all of a sudden begun to show how much they have learned over the past year. Finally, we have also been encouraged by how quickly we are approaching the end of our studies in France and the beginning of our ministry in Togo. We have started to discuss the dates of our transition to Togo. Stay tuned, there will be more to come soon.Praise/Prayer FamilyWe have been immensely blessed by Linda our current nanny. She has been taking good care of all of us. It's amazing how God is constantly orchestrating things for His glory. Linda had a fear of flying, but deep inside she has had a desire to visit Switzerland. Well, we live pretty close to Switzerland. God used this desire, that He had placed in her heart years before, to help confirm that He had prepared her for such a time as this. Ahni's prayer at the dinner table tonight was a sweet reminder of how thankful we all are that she came, "thank you for giving Nana Linda a safe flight to our house, and thank you for the food." Another praise, last week we got approval for the extension of our visa, so we can stay here for the remainder of the school year! Please pray for Natasha's mom who will be coming to help us for 6 weeks. Also please continue to pray for our family as we finish our time here in France and in school. Our four days of finals are quickly approaching, and this is a stressful time for all of us.TeamPlease continue to pray for our team in Mango. Our team recently released the following information: The Hospital of Hope is once again facing Lassa Fever season here in northern Togo. We are taking precautions to limit the risk of exposure to our team and medical staff. Until further notice we are limiting our clinic services to follow-up and urgent cases. The Hospital of Hope has accepted two Lassa Fever patients who arrived from neighboring countries. Please pray with us for wisdom and safety as we provide compassionate care in Jesus name. If you would like to help cover the cost of treating patients that are facing prolonged illnesses like Lassa please consider a donation to the Hospital of Hope Patient Care Fund.
Philippians 3:12-14New International Version (NIV)
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
The past two months have been full of progress. We enjoyed a wonderful visit from Bryce's sister Aimee and her family, and we had the chance to take them skiing in the French Alpes. Everyone enjoyed the views of mount blanc on the back left, and despite a few falls no one got hurt too badly. We consider it great progress that all 11 of us survived the day on the slopes (the two youngest are not in this picture but enjoyed skiing with us earlier).
We have seen a few pictures of our house in Togo. The team has been making steady progress with it's construction, and our house there now has a roof. We are thankful for all their hard work and diligence, so that we will have home when we arrive.
The problem with progress, is that it means you haven't yet obtained or completed what you seek. Well that is certainly the case for our French. We are improving little by little, but often progress seems slow and difficult. It's been helpful to remember why we are learning french. Additionally, it has been great to see our three big kids start to enjoy speaking french. They have all of a sudden begun to show how much they have learned over the past year. Finally, we have also been encouraged by how quickly we are approaching the end of our studies in France and the beginning of our ministry in Togo. We have started to discuss the dates of our transition to Togo. Stay tuned, there will be more to come soon.Praise/Prayer FamilyWe have been immensely blessed by Linda our current nanny. She has been taking good care of all of us. It's amazing how God is constantly orchestrating things for His glory. Linda had a fear of flying, but deep inside she has had a desire to visit Switzerland. Well, we live pretty close to Switzerland. God used this desire, that He had placed in her heart years before, to help confirm that He had prepared her for such a time as this. Ahni's prayer at the dinner table tonight was a sweet reminder of how thankful we all are that she came, "thank you for giving Nana Linda a safe flight to our house, and thank you for the food." Another praise, last week we got approval for the extension of our visa, so we can stay here for the remainder of the school year! Please pray for Natasha's mom who will be coming to help us for 6 weeks. Also please continue to pray for our family as we finish our time here in France and in school. Our four days of finals are quickly approaching, and this is a stressful time for all of us.TeamPlease continue to pray for our team in Mango. Our team recently released the following information: The Hospital of Hope is once again facing Lassa Fever season here in northern Togo. We are taking precautions to limit the risk of exposure to our team and medical staff. Until further notice we are limiting our clinic services to follow-up and urgent cases. The Hospital of Hope has accepted two Lassa Fever patients who arrived from neighboring countries. Please pray with us for wisdom and safety as we provide compassionate care in Jesus name. If you would like to help cover the cost of treating patients that are facing prolonged illnesses like Lassa please consider a donation to the Hospital of Hope Patient Care Fund.Monday, January 2, 2017
December Nattier News
Incroyable! (Incredible or unbelievable in English, but a great French word. I recommend putting it into google translate and listening to the prononciation.)
What's incredible? Where do we begin? We have just finished Christmas and started a new year- 2017. Christmas, while December 25th has come and gone, is still something that we find absolutely amazing and awesome. Christ, a member of the trinity, left heaven and came to earth as a human with the most lowly of beginnings- as a baby in a manger. He lived a perfect life, full of compassion, worked many miracles, paid the price for all sins on the cross, and was resurrected on the 3rd day. These events from 2000 years ago continue to impact and change lives today. He has changed both of our lives, and he is the reason we are studying French and will soon be headed to Togo!
As we reflect back on this past year, we are amazed that we have already been in France for 1 year. We recently completed the coursework for the level of b1.1, and we took our 3rd round of exams. We are pleased to report that, despite having the flu and sleepless nights, we both passed. Grâce à Dieu (Thanks to God)! We are steadily learning and improving in our French (although we may or may not still rehearse a line five times in our head before it comes out of our mouths, or replay a conversation over and over after we had it). It's really hard to explain the challenges related to learning a second language. Let's suffice it to say that we still have a lot to learn about French. In fact, we could probably study this language for several years and still not be fluent. That being said, we are able to understand more and more and communicate some of what we want to say. We are thankful for God's help as we learn French and his grace as we make lots of mistakes along the way.
This past year we have had the help of several women with our children. Learning French is really a full time job with several hours of homework most days, and thats after being in the classroom all day. These women allow us to study, complete homework assignment, meet with language partners, and off load some of the other tasks that keep us from studying. Their investment in our family and ministry has been a great blessing. We honestly wouldn't have been able to progress in French at this rate without their help. Our last helper, Olivia, will be starting school in January, so we recently started looking and praying for one more person to fill the final gap until Natasha's mother is able to join us. We were amazed to have several women who were interested. Linda, a member from one of our supporting churches, felt the Lord leading her to serve in this way. While there are many challenges and obstacles to face when considering leaving your home country, friends, and family behind for 3 months, she has graciously said YES to this call. We couldn't feel more blessed or excited to have her join our family next week. Please pray for her as she finalizes her affairs stateside and travels across the ocean to join our family.
The start of a new year brings with it new opportunities, challenges, and change. We have begun thinking about 2017. We have started to prepare for finishing our language study here in France. Next up, we will be headed to Togo! We recently learned that the construction of our home there has begun!! We also learned of another surgeon and his family who have committed to come join the team after completing all of their preparation and language school. These are both encouraging, and we thank God for continuing to provide in so many ways. We don't know exactly when we will make the transition there yet, but it should be during this year. This is both very exciting and a little scary. We know from this last year, that being in a new culture and setting brings many challenges and changes. However, we also know that God will be with us, sustaining us, through this journey in the good times and bad.
Please continue to pray for our team as the medical work there is challenging. Please pray for the current staff and that God would send more laborers. Our team is especially in need of teachers for the 2017 to 2018 school year. Our team has a school house and has lots of kids, and we need teachers to help train up our precious children. Having teachers helps make it possible for team members, like Natasha, to work more in the hospital and other venues of ministry. Right now there is just one teacher for 20 plus school age students of various ages. If you or someone you know are interested in coming for part or all of the school year, please contact us.
We are excited to begin working in Togo, but we still have lots of work and ministry opportunities remaining here in France. Please continue to pray for us and our remaining time here. We desire to finish well.
We want to end this year by thanking the many people and churches that help make it possible for us to continue on this path God is leading. We are so grateful for your FAITHFUL support and encouragement. We are thankful for YOU and for God's continued work in your lives and in ours.
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