Not a project

Last Tuesday night, I was on my way back to the hospital when I stopped at the neighbor’s house to talk to the lady who sells spices.  I was getting all the names in French and then had a small, delightful conversation with her and her husband, all in French.  I walked away feeling so accomplished and filled with pride for carrying on a decent conversation in French.  However, I then hopped on a moto where I had a difficult time grasping a word he said.  So much for knowing French or I learned the important of staying humble and realizing only abilities come from the Lord.   I was able to tell the driver “trop vite!  Doucement!”  (Too fast, slow down!)  as he swerved around every pothole.  I appreciated him trying to beat the rain but I thought it would be more beneficial to stay in one piece during the process.  Anyways, when I was talking to my neighbors, the wife asked me if I was with the Peace Corps and her husband asked me what project I was with.  It dawned on me at that moment that the people are accustomed to white people “yovo” coming and going and fulfilling a good deed here and there.  I am not here, we as Christians are not on this earth, to complete a project and move on.  We are called to harvest the field continuously and share Christ with all those in which we encounter.  Christianity is not a project we are graded on but it is first a personal relationship with Christ which extends to a lifetime of service to our King in whatever capacity He has given us to serve Him.  I am glad they asked me those questions as I wanted to be reminded that I am not here to do my project of teaching English and helping the teachers with better teaching methods.  I am here because the Lord has called me here and I am called to tell the nations about Christ and his saving message of eternal life by believing that Christ has died for our sins.

In other news, I spent Wedneday morning hiking up the mountain extending right up from the hospital and compound.  I hiked with some short term people although we probably hiked farther than we should have.  The way down was a spectacular view as the fog had lifted and the palm trees, side of the mountain farms, and distant mud shacks filled the vast landscape.  We were able to find the grassy air strip which will enable missionaries and patients to fly between the current hospital and the new hospital up north.  Have you seen a grass air strip in real life?  I hadn’t but it makes you feel like real missionaries out in the middle of nowhere.  I enjoyed the conversation with people close to my own age at one point we began to share our testimonies.  How amazing that after meeting people just the day before and walking down a mountain with them, you can be engaged in a meaningful and personal conversation because you all share the bond of Christ.  The more I meet people from all over the world, I realize that Christians are really brothers and sisters in Christ and we have a responsibility to each other to encourage one another and speak the truth.

The lady I life with is a midwife at the hospital which keeps her busy but she never delays from wanting to help me.  As an independent person myself, I feel bad to make her do things for me, like chop up my vegetables to eat but I think she likes the idea of taking care of someone.  I appreciate her tremendously and she is tolerating me even when I only take a few bites of Banku or Fufu.  Wednesday night, I had decided I needed to spend quality time with her so I promised to teach her how to crochet thanks to my wonderful friend Barb.  However, first she insisted on cooking me dinner and steaming the green beans that Bea gave for herself and not me.  She definitely loves to serve!  Anyways, during the preparation of dinner, the power went out so there went our planned activity of crocheting. Number one rule, never plan anything, because it will never work out the way you plan.  Anyways, we ate in the dark and then watched a movie that I had borrowed which she loved.  It is interesting watching American movies with Africans as they have not experienced all of the same things so you have to explain a lot of it or sometimes I feel embarrassed of all we have that they exploit on movies.  However, they get so into it and that is fun to watch.  Needless to say, we are bonded and I am happy to live with her. 

One night while I waited outside the hospital for a moto, a man pulled up on his moto packed with bags and other goods  He got off, took off his coat, and put it on the ground where he proceeded to pray the Muslim prayers with his prayer beads.  I found this interesting as he was right in front of the Christian hospital but no one seemed to mind.  I mean of course we want him to know Jesus Christ but what a blessing that the Christians don’t give him a hard time as this won’t win him to Christ.  When he finished, he got up, talked some with the people close by, and then hopped on his moto to begin his treck up the mountain.  This reminds me, especially after the tragedies in the world, that we must pray for the Muslims to accept Christ and look for opportunities to share the Good News with them.

We have one day left until teacher training and we are frantically trying to get everything done although the end is near!  God has sustained us through these last few weeks and all summer for Bea while we rewrite curriculum or implement new changes.  I had the opportunity to take fables and rewrite them for the third grade students and I wrote a value curriculum for all grades to use.  I am really excited to share these with the teachers and help instill in them the importance of teaching values to the children.  Today I spent a good deal at this little thin walled cement copier business finishing the last of our books.  Actually the building is rather large compared to the small copier they have inside.  It looks like it is from the 90’s and it can’t even do two sided.  However, the man has adapted and he does around 15 copies then puts the paper back into the bottom so he can do 15 copies on the other side.  Voila!  Two sided paper!  I promise I will never complain about taking a long to copy papers as it took over an hour to make 200 hundred double sided papers.  The power going off didn’t help although that was only for a few minutes.  Part of the culture is you just learn to wait and accept life as it is.  It is finished and that is all that matters. 

Here in Togo, I am now called  a Yovo, which is the equivalent of an Obrunei(white person) in Ghana.  However, the Togolese children get presentation points as they have a little song to go with their chant of yelling Yovo at me whenever possible.  “Yovo, Yovo, Bon soir.  Comment ca va? bien.”  (White person, white person, good evening, how are you?  Fine)  Of course this is done in a high pitched sing songy voice worth hearing at least once but probably not a thousand times a day.  I am trying to teach the children in my area my name so they won’t call me Yovo anymore but this might take some time as it did in Ghana. 

I love the culture and the people here as it never gets old to ride on motos, see men in full suits riding motos with plantains on the back, watching a small boy get on the back of a moto after he puts his machete on the side, or walking outside to chickens right on the doorstep, or watching the morning fog rise from the mountains.  This is Togo and this is now home where I can pour my heart into these wonderful children and adults. 

Please pray for the teacher training beginning on Monday.  Pray the teachers will be excited to teach, will listen to our advice, and actually implement these new ideas in the classroom.  I have waited long enough for this and I am ready to begin working alongside the Togolese and offering a quality education to the children based upon the foundation of Jesus Christ.