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.
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