I will start off by saying Matt and I had no idea what to expect from this country. Very few World Race teams have ever been here so we had no point of reference for what people have done in the past or what ministries they have worked with. I was a little scared of Togo if I am being honest. We knew it was a big place for Vodoo and Lomé, the capital and city we are serving in, has one of the biggest fetish markets in the world. There was so many ways our minds were spinning and wondering what it would be like.
There are 3 teams here in Togo all staying at the same residence. There are 5 rooms for about 22 of us. Matt and I are sharing a room with Josiah this month (the only other guy on our team/squad besides one male squad leader who is around for 6 months). The power goes out a lot. It is very hot here and we don’t have AC. Our shower floods. There are people around everywhere with so many of us sharing a small space. There are many reasons that we could be frustrated but GOD IS SOOO GOOD. Despite the tough living conditions, it has been such an an amazing month for the Kingdom. We have every fleshly reason to be upset or carry some bitterness but as followers of Christ we do not have to submit to the flesh. We are led by the Spirit. It is all about perspective and choice. We want to rather manifest the goodness of God and His Joy in every circumstance He is worthy.
All of that said, what are we actually doing?
This month we are doing a lot of teaching and preaching in a church network that spans local and village churches all over Togo. We are also teaching and serving at a Bible school here that is geared toward equipping future Pastors to go and plant other churches everywhere God sends them. We preach and teach at least 3-5 times per so we spend much of our free time preparing for our next time to share! Our first day of ministry Matt and I taught a class on marriage at the Bible School. Something that we definitely were not at all qualified to do but it was still fun. This past Sunday morning we went to a church about an hour away from where we were staying. It was definitely the most “bush” place we have been in Africa and it was so cool! So much joy! So much dancing! And so much love! I gave a Sunday school lesson on discipleship and spiritual multiplication and Matt gave a sermon on God being a giver. I learned the proper way to do an African dance while tossing back and forth a white handkerchief. Matt jammed out with the guys dancing and got a lot of loud “Amens during his sermon.”
Matt thrives in teaching and preaching. He gave a 3 our lesson on the Trinity at the Bible school and still had about 1 and half hours left in order to finish the talk amother day I wouldn’t say that those are my gifts but it has been really fun for me to dig into the Word for the purpose of learning to teach and not just learning for myself.
We have less than two weeks left in Togo before we head to Thailand (which we are super pumped about) but we are so excited to see what other surprises Jesus has up his sleeve for us here.
We have so many more pictures we would love to share but the internet here is not strong enough to do so 🙁 We will make sure to post as many as we can when we are able to! Love you guys and thank you so much for making all of this possible!! It is truly a dream to be serving the Kingdom on this journey!!
