Community

   While attending the university, the buzz word  at Taylor was community.  Taylor wasn’t just about getting a degree but about learning how to live in community together to grow in Christ.  As I quickly discovered as a freshman, it is possible to live in community without reaping the benefits of such a thing a helping others grow.  Due to the soccer schedule, I was living next to people and passing them in the hallway but not taking the time to eat meals with them or get to know them on a deeper level.  Thus, community isn’t enough ; it must be intentional community.  I must be willing to give of myself to encourage others and they in return can give to me as we are all striving to be the hands and feet of the church.  This lesson in college helped lay the foundation for my work inTogo.

Although I left America 4 weeks ago, I have only been in Togo 3 weeks but it seems a lot longer as I have already had amazing coversations with teachers and friends I meet along the way.  I was very slow a buildig relationships last year but now that we all realize I will be staying for awhile(until Jesus returns) I think we all feel comfortable being real with one anther.  The week started with a visit from nursing students who came to speak about health at the school and then I convinced them to do a craft with the kindergarten.  For some reason, I thought glitter would be fun idea even though I absolutely loathe it ! Needless to say, they were doing much of the work with the glitter.  After that, we made a mad dash to Kpalime, a half hour away, to greet the 4 schools there which I haven’t had a chance to see yet.  It was a joyful reunion and they are all excited to get back to work thinking of ideas to help their schools.  At our third stop, we started talking to the director and which resulted in  long conversation about keeping you salvation and other interesting things.  The teacher who came with me was whispering,  « um, we won’t have time to visit the last school but spending time in our current location was more important than sticking to our schedule.  This director really understands the importance of our curriculum and said that if a teacher doesn’t use our curriculum, that person is an enemy of his.  Ha, seems drastic but glad he is on board with us.  He also said that there tests scores are a lot higher than all of the other schools and new families are from school are starting to come to church.  It is so important that we build that relatioship between school and church so we can also help the parents grow in Christ.

   That afternoon, we expeienced major storms, such is the life in rainy season, and was without electricity.  I was starting a bible study with 2 teachers but only one came due to the rain so we sat outside and used our phones as lights as we ate omelettes and discussed being a woman of virtue and how to receive guests in your home.  It was during that time with her that I realized the important of intentional community and if I was going to advance any more in this culture, I needed to start with strong relatonships.  

 

  If we want clean drinking water, we have to fill it up at the hospital pumps where the water is filtered.  We carry it in large yellow contaners that kind of look like gas containers.  Obviously  I cannot carry this 40 minutes walking back to my house so  I asked a teacher to pick me up on his moto.  While I was filling my container, I started talking to the kids around me and they busted out singing, « I have the joy » in French which is quite popular at school.  So they we are, in the dark with only the stars, and we are singing « I have the joy down in my heart. »  I am sure there were coversations about the weird yovo but that didn’t bother me as being in community and doing random things with these precious people is more important.  After the teacher brought me home, we ended up talking a long time about community or how to all work together for God’s glory.  It is such a joy to live alongside these people and strengthen one another to walk closer to the Lord.  

  This week i was able to show the Jesus film with the neighborhood kids along with popcorn of course !!! It was in there mother tongue which really helped the younger ones understand.  We watched it on my projector thanks to my parents awesome birthday present and then discussed it afterwards.  Them being able to watch and hear the words, made the gospel come to life for them.  By the end of that, it was time for kids’ club.  I talked about being the light of the world by using the verses : « Jésus leur parla de nouveau, et dit: Je suis la lumière du monde; celui qui me suit ne marchera pas dans les ténèbres, mais il aura la lumière de la vie. »     Jean 8 :12

  Teaching this concept helped me realize how much  I need to be that light, I need to live my life differently than the rest of the world in order for God to be glorified.

 

My week of community continued on Saturday when we had a meeting with pastors about the schools.  We are heading in an exciting direction and are praying that the pastors of the schools understand our vision.  I was able to encourage them since I happen to know a pastor pretty well.   I also shared with them that our schools are the future for Togo and we have an awesome opportunity to bring Togo to Christ through a Christian worldview.

 

In returning home,   I went to a pastor’s house to ask him a question but no one was home.   I found his wife at church teaching the children so  I randomly gave an impromptu follow-up on the lesson and of course shared the joy!!! The kids didn’t want to leave so they followed me through the village as I greeted different families.  The pastor’s wife was filling up her fifty thousand buckets at the water pump so I happily pitched in and man it is hard work!!! Who need weights when you can just keep pumping water all day!! I had to laugh while doing this as it brings the saying, “meeting around the water cooler” to a whole new level.  When everyone has to get their water at the same place, it definitely creates community.  When we finally reached their house, she realized that she didn’t have the key so we were kind of locked out.  She decided instead to have me visit their new house that was farther away into the bush.  Growing up around construction sites,  I loved this opportunity to spend more time with the family and learn more about the culture.  So hours later then my original plan,  I finally met with the pastor under the stars watching his wife prepare food on the open fire. 

 Yes, life is different and there is never a dull moment but we can never forget that we are striving for intentional community.  We are striving for a community that functions only with the word of God.  We want a community that has the same vision so we can bring others into that community in order to encourage them and share the God’s truth.

 

  I pray that this week, you may find ways to make community intentional.