so by now I do have darker skin, a native language with clicks and whistles, a hunger for raw fish or just fish sauce on all my food, I also have become immune to sleeping in my sweat on the floor… ok i’m joking a little wittle bit. BUT truth be told, I love TOGO. It’s been a heavenly experience so far, the Lord has been giving and providing in abundance!!! I LOVE spending time alone with God… He has given me a new way to worship and speak with him, its through the guitar! Ha weird and never thought it would happen but it has unfolded into a prayer language of mine.
So a taste of whats been our daily lives the past few days… im going to attempt to use bullet points (beka, my teamie, loves everything to look organized so this is a shout out to what I have learned from her)
welp this month was and still is our ATL (ask the Lord) month, we prayed into this month several weeks ago and God told us to come to Togo and actually spoke about another team we were to travel/work/play/worship/live with… being Rhema
We got into Togo and then prayed about contacts and ministries we were to come along side in Jesus name
The second day we arrived at our hotel/hostle we saw a sign for Compassion Ministry (C.M is a Christian organization based around feeding the children in poverty in the name of Jesus, many of the children are orphaned or have a single parent with low income if any, and all of the children are up for sponsors to provide food, shelter, a caretaker, spiritual influence, education and tons more.. bottom line the Compassion ministry is a blessing from God to millions)
Several days later four of us took a trip to re-find the sign we saw that pointed in a direction that would hopefully lead us to the Compassion base, welp we found it.. through some offroading but what would Africa be like without offroading taxi drivers?
We walked pretty much right in with the favor of God at our hands and spoke with the director of the Compassion Togo branch, he prayed with us before talking about any plans! ha we loved that. i got so happy cause boy was his smile huge.
Through several meetings and schedule stuff we planned to hang out with some of the kids on their biggest day which is Saturday. Some of us were able to go and visit some of the churches which support and house the events for the Compassion children… it was wonderful to see I must say God has His hands and heart involved in all areas of this program.
Well we also had prayed over another ministry called Mercy Ships Africa. Several weeks ago we were praying into this ministry and God put it heavy on both Rhema and our hearts.
After many email exchanges and favor from the Lord we were invited to work on board, with free meals! God is so good, He always is, but this time we felt his goodness and love in every step we took, mostly because we laid all of our plans for the month at the foot of His throne asking Him to take us wherever.
I have been selected along with my brother Tim (knight waverunner) to work the deck. the deck. the deck of a 500ft long ship.
Tim and I have used power tools, painted, cranked some massive machinery that pulled the ropes closer or further from the dock, we have toured the vessle for about 2 hours… lovely hard labor. No lie, i asked for it. I love to be outside, on a boat, in Africa… the water is B-E-A-utiful i’m tellin ya!
So after our tour and orientation about some of the equipment we were told to go from the top deck (floor like 8) down to deck two and “find” 2 escape routes. hahaha we had the greatest time “not getting lost” (wink wink) but just finding our way around a very unfamiliar place where behind most doors the halls and rooms look alike. anyway it was an interesting day but i love the ship
we have already started building friendships with many of the crew members, pretty much we are all split up in different areas of work on board, some in kitchen, some on clean up and some of us on deck and even a coffee maker boy.
What the deal is…. Mercy Ships is a Christian based organization that provides health-care/surgeries for FREE. Yes, the doctors and nurses provide free care to all the patients. For about 6 months the ship is docked, teams are sent out to pick up some of the patients who had signed up for care months before…. some are also cared for in their villages. But the ship cruises to several different docks and provide care for the wonderful African people.
Some dedicated, honored people are surrounding me all day, all of them with different stories about what the Lord has done for them, some are doctors all over the world and fly in for a few months to work for the Ship, some of the crew signed up to stay a few months and have stayed for years and years… their are families who have followed the voice of God to live of the ship.
Lives are being changed everyday for the glory of God
God provided good clean food for us this month. He is good and knows the needs of His children/friends
ok the bullets were makin me dizzy I think, im not used to any type of organization. Bottom line, i love Togo, i love what God IS doing here, I love the way we as a team (Rhema and Increase) have come together and worshipped/prayed over this month, i love the way i have clean water at my fingertips on board, i love several things about the toilets let me tell ya bout them..
I can sit and not be afraid
there IS toilet paper
a sign actually says to flush the toilet paper because it eliminates germs
i have soap and anti-bacteria for after my …. experience.
God is worthy to be praised.
My Pa is fixin to add another year to his life. Thank you Dad for being so wonderful to me. Happy Birthday i looooooovvveee YOU!
