A fast week!
Trip Start
Aug 01, 2008
1
10
30
Trip End
May 01, 2009
Kara,
Togo
Sunday, August 31, 2008
I hope that none of you have been too affected by the hurricanes! Here we don't have "hurricanes" but we do have all the same rain and some of the wind! The roads here just keep getting worse. One of the men from Lome (the capital of Togo) came up here and took the bus back. The trip should have taken about 6 hours...it took 18! We are still without fuel here so please keep praying for the fuel trucks to get through soon! Propane...which everyone cooks with...has not been available in Togo for the past year, but now we cannot get fuel without going to the South...or the North...or the West...or the East! The guys go to where they have heard that fuel is available and hope that it is still there. Sometimes there is fuel...and sometimes not!
This week has gone by SO fast
Looking for "north" and waiting for a ride
! I cannot believe that it has been a week since I have pasted on here! Monday, our day off, was nice and lazy. We were going to go hiking, but it POURED all day...so I slept and did laundry instead! Tuesday was a really good day! The kids were very good and we seemed to have fallen into a groove that worked for everyone...give or take a few bumps! We had the Tuesday night devotional for the adults (I'm one of those now...so weird!) after Ashur's 4th birthday party. We had ice cream and cake with amazing chocolate icing! (it was not as good as Grandma's icing...but it was still good!) We sang for the devotional that night. Everyone was pretty tired and the guests were going home the next day so we got to bed a little bit earlier that night. Wednesday came very early. The Reeves, the family I was living with, went with Matt and the guests to Ghana because they needed to get propane and they wanted to go to the game park in Ghana to see if it would be something that we would all enjoy visiting! I was going to stay with their two older kids at the house that night, but Andrea Miller invited us to stay with them that night in the guest house. It worked out well because walking to school from the Reeves is a 30 minute walk and from the Miller's house it is only a 10 minute walk! Thursday was a pretty long day! All the kids had been excited about having a sleep over the night before and then they were pretty wiped out...even though the Reeves kids and I slept in the guest house! We, Daniel and I, have been playing dodge ball with them at recess almost everyday and they are getting WAY too good
Leaving from Lassa Tchou
! I guess we should not have taught them to go for the feet! :) We play teachers against students, boys against girls and if I am not out there...they play everyone against Daniel! It is pretty funny to watch! Friday the kids were so good! That makes sense since I about to start teaching the preschool! Oh well! Hopefully they will keep being good for Bennett! :) I have now moved back to the Miller's house! I am supposed to live here until November or something...so no more moving until then! It has actually been fun to move around. I have been able to get to know all the kids/families with school kids quicker than I might have otherwise! They all keep apologizing for making me move, but it has been kind of fun to move! Saturday the kids were great! I was able to jot down some things that I have discovered over my time of teaching the boys that will hopefully help Bennett! It didn't really rain that day either so that was nice! Emily and Rachel, the teachers from Talbegbo (I don't think I just spelled that correctly) that visited 2 weeks ago on their way to Timbuktu, came back through and stayed in the guest house with me. It was really nice to get to talk to them and we stayed up WAY too late talking! Bennett got into Ghana on Tuesday but Matt could not get him until Friday. So he had to find his way to the guest house when he got into Ghana AND his luggage got sent to IRAN before it came to Ghana! He was able to get it before it was time for them to drive back to Togo on Saturday, so that's good! They got to the Miller's right at 8pm last night and after dinner Matt took him over to the school where he and Daniel are going to be living.
Now the running joke here is that I can make any church not meet by just going that direction...BUT...that did not happen today
All dressed up or church
! I went with the Millers out to Lassa Tchou (it's said like it looks...use a little phonics and you've got it!). There were 80 people there this morning! They sang very loudly...and I had no idea what was going on...but I really enjoyed it! After church...here and in New Guinea...everyone goes around and shakes everyone else's hand. I think it's a great idea...except I don't know the language...BUT everyone smiles in the same language, so it worked out! There were SO many kids there! I think there were almost 40 kids and I don't know what they kept doing...fidgeting I guess...but every once in a while one of the older women would snap her fingers and snap at them and they would all sit up a little bit straighter! The building was a small, red mud, brick building with a door in one side and in the front. When you walked in the side door there were about 15 benches sitting perpendicular to the wall with the door. Other benches lined the others walls. All of the benches were full when we arrived but some of the guys stood outside so that we could sit down. This afternoon we are having service with all the missionaries over here at the Miller's house and then I am going to the Emerson's house for supper. Bennett is going to shadow Daniel and me for two days and then he is going to start teaching on his own on Thursday. I will start teaching preschool on Thursday...so please keep me in your prayers as I try to figure out a new lesson plan! One very exciting thing is that since there is no preschool on Saturdays, I will get to go to the market with Andrea! I will not have a class until 11am on Saturdays so I will be able to get out and see more of Kara!
Thank you all so much for your prayers and messages! I cannot tell you how much they mean to me! I hope that God continues to bless you all! I love and miss you all!
Comments
hi
Dear Bekah.
You are always in our thoughts and prayers. It sounds like everyone is waiting for propane and the rains to quit. We're praying for that too. Africa can quit throwing off those tropical storms, please.
Love,
Brenda Nutt