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.  

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 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.  

   

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.

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!    

February Nattier News

Le Progrès (progress)

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.

http://myaccount.abwe.org/p-2108-hope-patient-care-fund.aspx   

   

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.    

October Nattier News

We are currently enjoying a little repose from school.  The schedule from school can be pretty hectic with our school homework and projects, in addition to the children and their homework.  Our language school  takes these breaks whenever the public schools let the children off, which involves a 2 week break about every 6-8 weeks.  We enjoy this time to rest and catch up on some of our administrative work.  We also try to take the time to explore a little bit, which also gives us opportunities to use our French.  This break, we have enjoyed having a few visitors, which included Natasha's sister Tiffany and her husband Brian. Also, we are excited to welcome some dear friends (The Viger's) this week.  One of our little adventures took us to Beaufort, a little town up in the mountains that makes some wonderful cheese.  The French take their cheese very seriously, and Beaufort cheese is a very good one.  I wish we could add the smell to this picture for you all to experience.  It's part of the reason Ahni doesn't look to thrilled in this picture.  She doesn't like "stinky cheese."  This particular tour was very interesting, but of course completely in French.  It gave us a good exercise and challenge trying to translate it into french for our visitors. 

This region is also known for it's natural beauty, and people love to come here from all over for hiking.  The cows graze up in these mountain and that leads to different flavors for the cheese at different times of the year (the type of grass and flowers consumed makes all the difference).  Currently it's Fall here, but there will soon be snow at this altitude, and the cows will be moved inside barns for the winter.  You can see Mount Blanc, one of the highest point in Europe, in the distance which has snow on it year round.  

We want to try and update you on what language school looks like for us at this point.  We are in our third trimester, so we are among the upperclassmen (a somewhat scary thought).  In fact, this fall a whole new group of students arrived.  One of the families who arrived is also headed to northern Togo, the Wreesman's.  It has been very enjoyable getting to know them better, and we look forward to doing this for many more years to come.  Stephen is a family practice doctor, so they will be living on the hospital compound a couple of houses down from ours. 

Our coursework involves a lot more practice and use of what we have already learned in the form of discussions, writing, watching films, and reading.  It's great to be entering the application phase, but it might not be quite as you'd imagine.  For example, before the movies we go over the some of the vocabulary for the film.  Then while watching the movie we are trying to pick out these phrases, and put them into context.  Next, we follow it all up with a discussion about various topics from the film.  While it's great to be at the point we can watch movies and understand a little, it's not the same as watching a movie in our mother tongue.  It seems to take a lot of brain power and effort to listen carefully and decode what's being said within the context of what we are seeing in the movie.

Our current reading assignment over break is to read a classic french novel, written by Marcel Pagnol a famous french author.  Natasha and I have also started meeting with language partners to focus specifically on speaking.  This seems to be one of the biggest challenges for us, putting all the grammar and rules we have learned in the classroom into the various topics of conversation that arise.  We make a lot of mistakes, but we are learning from them.  It's one of the things the Lord continues to use to teach us about humility.  

Clubs are very important and common here in France. There seems to be a club for everything, from scrapbooking and movie club to curling, archery and every other sport imaginable.  We are strongly encouraged to join at least one club as an avenue to building relationships and using our French. Bryce has had a chance to play basketball as part of a club here in Albertville.  Last year he just practiced with the guys one night per week, but this year he decided to play with them competitively.  It's been a lot of fun for him, and he has been learning some different vocabulary as well.  When they are giving strategy or ideas, it's quite challenging.  He is thankful for their graciousness to repeat it, or some times explain differently, or slower whatever was said.  They can probably tell from the look on his face that he didn't understand. Natasha has also joined a club that offers various workout/aerobic classes. She has enjoyed the challenge of step aerobics with at least 40 other french women each week. 

We are often asked about our kids.  They are doing well.  Just like us, they have their good days and bad days with school and with the language.  They haven't picked up the language quite as fast as we had imagined or been told.  However, they have really made strides as of late.  Just the other day, Sofia relayed a brief message that our neighbors had asked her in French.  We were impressed that she had mostly understood and responded appropriately, in order to relay a message to us.    

Prayer requests:

Our family

We are making steady progress in learning French, but learning is sometimes slower and more challenging than we would like.  Please pray for our stamina, mental, physical and relational health during this time.  This past month we have had some sick kids and adults.  We praise God for our good health last winter.  We were able to avoid many of the colds that other students and families experienced.        

Our team

There are many needs for medical professionals.  Please pray with us this month for nurses.  There were several nurses that went to Togo for 1-2 years to help open the hospital, who have started to leave.  They played a very important role in the ministry there.  Now there is a need for more nurses, especially until the graduation of the first class of Togolese nurses in Mango in a few years.  If you are a nurse, or know a nurse who might be interested in being a part of what God is doing in Togo, please contact us.

August Nattier News

Nous avons réussi nos examens A2.  We have passed our exams for A2.  This past trimester has been very challenging.  First, the subject matter seemed significantly more difficult.  Then on top of our normal class, we started giving oral presentations in French to our class, reciting stories from Genesis from memory, and gave a 15-20 minute devotional in front of the entire school.   Well in spite of all of this, by God's continued grace in our lives, we have succeeded in passing another level.  That puts us half way to our required competency in French.

We have also been very blessed by the 4 women who have helped during these past two trimesters.  Madisen left just a few days ago.  She had all four kids for the past 3 weeks, since the big kids got out of school the beginning of July.  Before she left we took her to Paris, since this was a life long dream for her.  

While we were there, we had a chance to spend some time with the Malley Family, our classmates/friends who are also bound for Togo after language school.  The kids had a blast playing in the gardens surrounding the former French monarchy's homes/palaces.  

We are currently enjoying a break from language school.  We have found that learning a new language is different for each person, but it has been pretty challenging for us.  It's a full time job that is always there to be worked on.  This seems like it shouldn't be too different from previous training and school that we have been through.  However, there is also this phenomenon known as culture shock.  It's one thing to learn about it, and quite another to deal with it in the midst of other stress.  These changes and stresses can have many effects, and we continue to look to the Lord for the strength to face them each day.  We greatly appreciate your continued prayers for our family!

Another things that has become clear is the need we all have for rest.  God's example of resting on the 7th day was for us.  I'm quite certain that the all powerful God was not tired in spite of all that he had done the prior 6 days of creation. He did not have a need for rest. In fact the Bible tells us in Psalms 121:3-4 "He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.  Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep."  

God also gave Israel the command of a Sabbath day.  What does sabbath or rest look like for us today?  Well this has been a question, that we have been working through.  In medicine we know that people need treatment 7 days a week.  However, in order for us to remain healthy, it's absolutely necessary to find time to rest.  We know this will be challenging once we get to Togo, especially if Bryce is the only surgeon.   We have also found this can be challenging in language school, especially when we have an exam almost every weekend along with homework and projects, 4 wonderful kids who deserve and need our time, and much more.      

We really appreciate those who pray for us and faithfully give to help us continue along this path to serving in Togo. We are encouraged by those of you who message, email or snail mail. 

We know, though the road is full of challenges, that God is growing and shaping us in ways like never before and He is preparing us for what lies ahead. 

Prayer requests:  

Our family: Please pray for wisdom for our family as we look to find rest and recovery from the stresses of the last year, especially the past two trimesters of language school, and balance for the future. 

Our team: Since our last prayer letter, the Lord called another member of our team home, and several others have dealt with significant health issues.  In spite of all these challenges, we understand that God has been working through it all and they have seen fruit!