The first two months back in Togo have been very busy, but we are finally feeling that we are getting back into our groove. Keeping a house here in working order can sometimes be a part-time job, as it seems that I have had either the plumber, the electrician, the repairman, the painter or the carpenter at the house more days than not over these past six weeks. Heidi jumped right into homeschooling Abby and learning how to handle all three girls while carrying her heavy workload of cooking and cleaning and continuing to minister to both the kids and the ladies of our “neighborhood”. She is an amazing woman and, in my opinion, the perfect missionary wife. I started teaching in the Bible Institute right after I got back and really before I even had my bags completely unpacked. It is such a joy to teach these students the Word of God, and I’m excited about what God has in store for those that will graduate in June.
As I explained to those churches that I visited while on furlough, in addition to continuing to lead the Bible Institute and oversee our first village church plant, we are planning to both start a small orphanage and plant a new church among the Lamba people about an hour from our house. The Lamba are the largest unreached people group in Togo, and we are excited to take the gospel to these that have never heard it before. I have been looking for a while for a good translator who speaks Lamba as one was not easy to find. Now I believe God has answered our prayers with a godly young man who grew up in another part of Togo, but who is Lamba and speaks the language fluently. With a translator found, the next thing to do is to determine where we are going to start our witnessing efforts.
After scouting out the area known as Defalé for about an hour, I asked my guide if he would show me the way to the top of a mountain where it looked like the Catholic Church had placed a very large cross. He guided me up the mountain where I found out that I only had it half right. It was the Catholic Church that built this monument, but it was not a cross; it was a statue of Jesus. It is ironic that these people are the largest unreached people group in Togo; they have “Jesus”, but they do not have the true gospel. Please pray with us as we work, by God’s grace, to change that.
