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.