Wednesday, July 30, 2014

What do you do?


    I enjoy that people are curious about what I do here in Togo.  They frequently ask, « What does your daily schedule look like ?  During the school year this question is a little easier to answer but I still find myself saying, well normally this happens unless it is this day or that day, or well it just depends from day to day.  Now that we are on break, my schedule is even more confusing.  I am really not sure what each day will bring but in many aspects I love this.  I love it because it gives me the opportunity to just be available for people and to meet their needs.

  A perfect example of this happened last week.  Every Tuesday I visit Pastor’s house to teach English to his wife.  She makes these gorgeous bags and sells them to the missionaries but without English skills, communication becomes a problem.   In arriving at her house, I could tell right away that she was sick and it wouldn’t be possible to teach English.  She clearly had malaria but hadn’t taken any medicine so plans to teach English became a mission to find medicine.  I had to run back to my house to get ibuprofen, run to her house to give it to her, run back to the house for my wallet,  and finally ran around town to find every thing.  It was so worth it to know she had the proper medication and was feeling better.  Yes, this is a typical afternoon.

    One Saturday morning while visiting a student’s house, the mother was busy preparing lunch so she thought I should pass the time watchig a movie.  They couldn’t find the locally made Christian film so their second choice was Anaconda.  I am not sure why we ended up watching that but thankfully they found the christian film which had  lot of familiar faces in it.  We had good discussions about the film and even enjoyed great cooking.  Fellowship and food, the best combination to have. 

 

   Sometimes ministry is formal like when I have 2 single teachers over on Monday night and we study how to become virtuous women.  Other times it is so informal like unexpectanctly meeting someone on the road and encouraging one anoher with sicknesses or through busyness.  Ministry is about being flexible and loving on people whatever their needs may be. 

While school is out, I have enjoyed spending time with different groups of people and in different settings.  We have had an amazing 4 weeks of socce and I have really enjoyed this special time with the girls.  They have improved so much since there are only a few of them and they love learning new skills.  I really think we might hav a chance to be the first Togolese women’s team in the world cup in 2019 !  Through this time we have seen many children come to know Christ, including one of my students.  Our love for soccer and ministry can be combined to bring God glory ! 

  I have also had more time to crochet with the girls which they are getting pretty impressive.  They shared with me that they are able to sell the things and give the money to their parents so they can help out with expenses.  This is exactly why we started this program and I am praying that they will learn the blessings of knowing how to provide for themselves and trusting God to provide instead of looking for guys to help. 

   One thing on my schedule that is fixed happens to be my french lessons.  Every morning starting at 6 :30, a teacher and I sit down and translate a bible study from english to french.  This teacher loves to talk, so we always end up off topic but talking how heavy things like spiritual gifts or forgiveness.  Accomplishing tasks is important but be available andbeing an encouragement to them tops it all.

 

So maybe from this you have learned what I do or maybe you are more confused than ever.  What I hope yo take away from this is that if I spend an hour holding a baby that only has vision in one eye or if I invite a pastor’s wife over to eat omelette’s, I am not doing it in vain but I am doing it to show love to those who God has put on my front step.  There are days when I would rather stay in the house and get work done, but interuptions are gong to happen and the more we welcome then and see God working through them, the more we can benefit others.

What are you waiting for?


A typical conversation I conversation find mysef in is why I am not married.  While in this conversation  with a Ghanian official at the border, he flat out asked, « What are you waiting for ? » You just have to laugh and nicely proclaim that God is in control and I am not worried about what will happen.

  While pondering on this subject, I tried to think of it in a different context.  For example, we are in the midde of the holiday of Ramadan where the muslims fast during the day and party at night.  People every day are worshipping the wrong God and what are we doing about it ?  What are we waiting for before we start to boldly proclaim the name of Jesus ? 

 

     At the end of June, a nurse from the hospital came to give his testimony to our students.  He grew up as  muslim unti hecame bold enough to enter the church.  At church, he realized that Allah had always been this distant uncertain god but the one and only God wanted a persoal relatioship with Him.  After accepting Christ, his sister kicked him out of her home and was left to defend for his own.  Being the

youngest, he was always  spoiled by his mother but after his conversion, his mother would not even speak to him.  He  said that his whole family abandoned him but he knew God would never abadon him.  Through his suffering, he has grown closer to Christ.  All eyes were fixed on this man as his commitment to Christ was a testimony to us all.  Our muslim students were very intrigued and we are praying they will decide to make Christ their personal Savior despite fear from their parents.

 

In fact, our prayers for one of our students came true !  For the past 4 weeks we have had soccer camp for the community kids and our middle school kids.  At the end of each session, bible stories were presented starting with creation and continuing to with the gospel. At the end of the second week, a Togolese soccer player asked the kids if they were ready to accept Christ.  Many came forward but it was hard to tell if they were sincere or were hoping to get a piece of candy.  We split the kids into three groups and took the time to thoroughly explain the gospel.  I was excited that one of our students sat down in my group as I have been prayinng for him during the past two years.  He comes from a muslim family although he understands the truth .  He has been afraid to personally accept Christ due to the fear of his father.  That all changed on that Friday when he said he wanted to accept Christ and explained that Christ died on the cross for his sins and He is the only way to Heaven.  I wanted to jump up and down with joy in hearing this news and knew tbere was rejoicing in Heaven.  I then prayed for the children and spoke personally with my one student.  He is still afraid to go to church but will start being discipled by  a togolese christian.  With muslims, students are afraid to accept Christ so some think they can wait until they become of age but the problem with this thinking is that not everyone makes it to their 18th birthday or Christ might come before that.  Again, it is the time to ask, « what are you waiting for ? »  Yes, converting from an Islamic background is scary but  we it can’t be put off and we must continue to encourage people in this situation and we must continue to share the truth. The Togolese young mn who shared Christ with these kids cotinued his work the next week.  By Thursday, he went around to each player and asked them if they had a relationship with Christ.  If they weren’t able to resond, they were sent to talk to another young man who was explaining the gospel and would pray with the students.  This is a serious matter and we can’t wait to share this.

   Recently,  I am realizing how urgent it is to share the gospel and how open I can be.  One night I was taking a tax[CS1] i and we started on a conversation about what I do.  He told me that he went to church but when I presented the gospel, it seemed like he had never heard it before.  He was very open to what I had to say and said he understood the gospel in a new way.  I couldn’t believe that in 10 minutes,  had conversation with my moto driver who was very interested in the Good News.  I am so thankful to the Lord who uses us even when we aren’t expecting to share the truth.  God keeps telling us also, « What are you waiting for ? Don’t be afraid, just continue to share. » 

Now sometimes sharing the Gospel and being His light is not always straight forward.  For example, for the fourth of July, Anne and I had the girls over to make cookies and eat watermelon while finishing the third Narnia movies.  Sometimes it means helping buy dinner for a student whose parents are in Lome with their sick newborn.  On other days, it means visiting students and watching the horrible movie Anaconda while they find a Togolese Christian film to watch.   Yes, random but such is life. 

As I am learning, I can’t wait for anything to tell people that they are loved by Christ and that he died on the cross for their sins.  The time is now.