Blog

Update on the primer and literacy work

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:38:17 -0400

Judy recently reported after talking with Vicki Ivester:

Thanks so much to all of you who prayed for the primer construction workshop led by Vicki Ivester over the past two weeks! I have asked Vicki to write for you a summary of how things went:

“ Imagine having Scriptures translated into your mother tongue language (in this case both Anufo NT and Tamberma Bible) but not being able to read. By creating literacy primers and then training volunteer teachers in our local churches, we will be able to teach church members to read God’s Word and also we’ll have a great outreach into the community. The Anufo-speaking community is mostly Muslim and the Tambermas are strongly animistic (fetishers). Both of these tribal languages have almost no printed material, no dictionary and no language helps. Nothing is simple about either language. Consider Tamberma, with 7 vowels, each of which can be doubled and/or nasalized, and tone (which is usually written in the form of accent marks) can be `` (down-down), ‘` (up-down) `’(down-up), or ‘’ (up-up). Now imagine our dismay at finding that none of our workshop participants, four from each language group gathered to spend two weeks creating primers, could read and write his own language. Even those who had assured us that they could found that they could not. God intervened in a spectacular way and by the end of the first day, one member of each team had learned to write his language using the standard orthography. Through long hours of brain-busting work, each team was able to complete all primer lessons to teach the sounds of all letters in their alphabet and then Bible stories for learners to practice their reading skills. We all learned a lot about the languages and were thrilled at these first steps in preparing literacy primers for both groups. After testing of what we did, we’ll meet again in a few months to finalize the primers and print test editions.”

There you have it. The two weeks were fruitful and we are grateful to the Lord for this answer to prayer! If this ministry of literacy is close to your heart, and you feel that the Lord wants you to invest in it financially, please let me know, and I will send you information regarding how to contribute. Why? Because there is significant cost for workshops, and when our Print Shop produces the primers, we will need to ask the Lord to provide for this. He is able!

Again, thank you for praying for this endeavor!

Thanking the Lord for His Word in other languages,

The spiritual battle intensifies

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:58:24 -0400

Dear Friends,

The past couple of days have included comments like this:

Judy: “Hey, my computer just went into standby while I was working! That never happens with a desktop! Oh! It just did it again! Why is it doing this?”

Vicki: “Where did the corrections go on this document? I spent half the day yesterday adding those!” and then, “This computer is not showing my flash drive, and I need to save this lesson so I can move it to the other computer!”

Judy: “The phones are out; we can’t get through by the land line!”

Vicki: “Oops, the cell network just went off in the middle of that call” . . . !

. . . and on we could go. Finally today I stepped back, thinking “What’s going on?” and it hit me. . . our battle has intensified at this time! Why did we not recognize this and spend more time in prayer? It is amazing that sometimes I can be in the thick of conflict originating from Satan and it can be so subtle that I do not recognize it. That is no one’s fault but mine, being too preoccupied to pray sufficiently. I am “not ignorant of his devices.” ( 2Cor. 2:11).

Well, there’s a reason for the battle being stronger than usual. My friend and colleague, Vicki Ivester, has come to Togo for a few weeks to help with some of our literature and literacy needs. As an expert with much experience in linguistics, languages, and translation, she is certainly the one to assist with projects here in Togo. She resides in the States to care for her mom, but visits Togo and other countries whenever she can, in order to help with language and translation projects.

This week, the work is with our BVI (Bible Visuals International) Visualized Bible series we are working on in order for our churches to have some teaching materials. For the next two weeks, it will be primer construction for the Anufo and Tamberma languages, so that these people can be taught to read the New Testament that is already available in each of their languages. As we seek to further the understanding of the people of Togo and W. Africa in God’s Word, obviously we are going to experience opposition from the enemy of our souls, who does not want God’s Word to be readable or understandable to anyone.

I am asking you to pray with us through November 3, which is the day Vicki arrives back in the USA. Pray for the members of the primer construction teams, as they have no experience in writing primers, and some of them will be hearing the gospel for the first time.

A pastor friend recently stated, “We LIVE in the throne room of God. He tells us to make our requests known.” I had not looked at prayer in that way before, and am challenged by the very fact that I am in His throne room. He will never leave me; He is near, and invites me to come boldly before His throne. Same for you, my praying friends.

The Lord has already helped us make great progress with the BVI lessons. We praise Him for that! Please pray for continued success in this effort, as well as for successful construction of the primers needed to teach the Anufo and Tamberma people to read their Bible.

THANK YOU for joining us in this effort!

Serving joyfully in Togo,

Judy

Safety on the Togo roads

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:22:52 -0400

Unless you have experienced the joys of driving in another country, sometimes it is difficult to understand the dangers that lurk around almost every corner. Here is an excerpt of what transpired today to one of our colleagues.

I thought you should know about a little excitement that God brought our way this morning.

I (Peter) had to make a trip to Dapaong today for a "visit technique". On my way home, I was passing a transport when it happened. Despite the fact that he seemed to have a clear lane, the driver moved his truck into the passing lane. I was two-thirds past him at the time. I had to leave the road, which is not normally a problem, but this time, it was. I lost control of the truck. It jerked back across the road in front of the truck, crossed over to the far right, down the road bank, and up into a field of corn (and stones). I thought I was going to die, but God had other plans. When the truck was finally stopped, it was still on its wheels, the wheels were are still rolling fine (none of them had burst), the suspension was fine, and everything else looked good . . . except for the released airbags and the starred windshield.

So I turned off the truck and got out to look over the damage. (I had no damage to myself in case anyone wondered – except I think I might have hit the ceiling of the cab after one bump. I do not even have any marks from the seat belt. J) As I looked at the truck, I quickly noticed a few things. There was liquid under the truck. I feared it was gasoline, but it seemed to just be water. So I went to the front – sure enough, I needed some work on the radiator. Who knew that leaving the road way could wreck the front of a truck? Really, the damage did not seem too bad.

I decided to see if the truck still worked, and it did. I backed it up, and started back down to Mango. I was watching the engine temperature and any indicators of oil problems, and nothing was happening . . . for a while. Then, suddenly, I lost power steering, power brakes, and just plain all electrical power. So I slowly stopped at the side of the road and soon had someone's cell phone with which I phoned home to request a little help. (The radiator had pushed back against the fan, so it could not turn, which stopped the alternator from charging I think.) Alan eventually arrived, and we were able to tow the truck slowly back to Mango. Here is sits, chez-moi, until I find a qualified person to fix it – and some money with which to pay said person.

The moral of the story – don't drive to Dapaong! Well, seriously, it is a reminder for each of us to be cautious because not all drivers on Togo's roads will do what you expect. It is also a personal reminder for me to make this time count up here in Mango. God kept that truck from rolling over – and I don't know how. Please continue in prayer for the team up here. I expect we will all have various kinds of attacks as we seek a foothold in an unreached area.

Still serving Him together, Peter, Janice, Benjamin & Victoria

Please remember to pray for each of us as we travel many miles each day (both on furlough and on the field).

Photo update on Wilson with his van

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 12:11:12 -0400

Recently, Wilson, the man that does driving for us from Accra, Ghana to Togo was here in Togo for a seminar. At the end of the seminar he was able to stop by our Blind School to see the remains of his van after his near fatal accident. The pictures here help you to see who Wilson is and the extent of the seriousness. Thank you for your continued prayers on his behalf as he continues to heal up from the broken collar bone. Click here to see more pictures from the accident.

Roads a mess in Togo

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 14:28:55 -0400

It’s rainy season, and this year’s rains have done some serious damage to roads in Togo. An important bridge on the main South to North trucking route was washed away, so the big trucks that transport things from the port in Lome to not only Northern Togo, but into other parts of West Africa, are using “our” road, the only other road in the country that is a South-North route. So “our” road, which is surely NOT built to withstand the weight of over-laden trucks, is being destroyed. In the photo below, it’s good to at least see a “road crew” at work on a huge hole that has taken out half of the road! The palm branches serve as a warning that there is a huge hole, and that men are working.

Just today, we came over this road, and at one point, there is an overturned truck that has been there for several days. We got past the area, but we learned that later in the day, one of our Togolese brothers had to wait at that spot for four hours because another truck was stuck in the mud on what’s left of the road beside the overturned truck.

Please do pray for safety for us as we must use this road fairly often; it’s the only way to get groceries and to do other business—and also the only way to get to various ministries that we are involved in!

Update on accident with Wilson and others

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:57:59 -0400

The Lord has graciously spared our brother, Wilson's, life! Thank you for praying. He has made such phenomenal progress that he was discharged on Saturday to our guest house and plans are being made for his return to his home in Ghana on Monday. He is very sore and does have a clavicle fracture and his face is healing nicely from the multiple lacerations. The bleeding on his brain has subsided and things seem to be settling down neurologically. Thank you so much for praying.

The sad part of this update is that the driver of the other van was in worse condition than Wilson and died on Thursday morning. A couple pastors and I went to the hospital on Friday afternoon/evening and spoke with the last victim to still be hospitalized. He accepted Christ as his personal savior and lives close by one of the pastors. That pastor is going to follow up with him and this will be a great thing.

Dr. and Mrs. Crowe along with Dawn continue to feel the aches and pains that come after such a serious accident. Dawn learned after all of this that her digital camera was stolen by someone after the accident. Probably one of her "rescuers" helped himself to the camera as it was not secured in her luggage as all of the pieces went flying about the inside of the van. Pictures can be see from our photo gallery.

Again, thank you for your prayers and comments to us (they were forwarded verbally to Wilson).

I am so sorry for this update coming so late but we've not had internet connection for the last week.

Urgent prayer request!

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:07:56 -0400

This evening just after supper and I received a phone call from one of
our administrators indicating that there had been a bad accident in
Kpalimé and there was concern on how to proceed or who should go as it
involved 3 of our short termers and our driver. The news we had was the
3 Americans were ok but Wilson the driver was in serious condition and
had been taken to the Kpalimé hospital. It ended up that 3 of us (Dr.
Briggs, Devine-our lab supervisor and I) went down there and we were
able to bring Wilson back here to our hospital for further care and
evaluation. Presently, Wilson is stable and in very serious condition.
When I left to come home the people at the hospital were saying he had a
broken left collar bone but I don't know anything else. He has several
facial lacerations that were sewn up by the surgeon in Kpalimé and has
unequal pupils which can mean he may have a hematoma developing on his
brain.

Please be in prayer for Wilson that the Lord will spare his life.
Please also be praying for the 3 short-termers, Dr. Crowe, his
wife-Terry and a nurse friend who has never traveled outside the
US-Dawn. They are all ok but obviously very shaken up. As to those in
the other vehicle, the last we knew, there were no serious injuries that
we know of. They continued to say that Wilson was the one hurt the
worst. Thanks for praying.

I have to travel to Lomé tomorrow to see a dentist for a broken tooth
and will take pictures and place them on the website.

Termination by Air France of Mission airfares

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 10:25:50 -0400

26 March 08

Dear Friends

Once again, Air France has advised us that they will be terminating their missionary / humanitarian airfares effective 31 March.

As you may recall, they have announced a termination of their airfares in the past and we have been able to have them extend these rates, however, as of this moment, there is no indication that this will happen again.

If these rates are terminated, it will mean a profound increase in many of the airfares that mission and humanitarian organizations have enjoyed thus far.

As we expect a major rush in processing Air France tickets in order to beat the ticketing deadline it is important that your tickets be ordered by the FRIDAY 28 March. Any tickets booked / ordered after 11am Pacific time, we be at the new higher airfare.

Regards,
J.W. (Bill) Toews
Manager
Menno Travel a Raptim Company
Phone: 604-853-0751 (ext 304)
Toll Free: 1-800-667-5559
Fax: 604-853-4931
Email: bill@mennotvl.com <mailto:bill@mennotvl.com>
Website: www.mennotvl.com <http://www.mennotvl.com/>

Financial help needed immediately!

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:58:46 -0400

We recently had a sudden change in plans in regards to container shipping. We’ve been working with a doctor who indicated his willingness to help cover all the cost of the next hospital container as long as it was 50% medical. Recently we learned that he along with the others who were going help have changed their position on the amount of medical supplies that are needed. They don’t feel we have enough but haven’t indicated how much more is needed. After doing some calculations, we have 62% of the container space occupied by medical supplies.

Here is our dilemma, they now will only cover ½ of the $7,000 to ship the container and told us that we need to find the balance. We are packing the container this weekend and will ship it on Monday. However, due to funds being tight, we are asking you to pray with us that someone would be willing to help with a portion or all of this shipping. If you know of someone who would be willing to help, please have them contact us immediately so that things won’t be delayed.

Update to urgent prayer request

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 07:49:52 -0400

This just in:

Dear Friends,

I am so touched by your care for my friend Magguie! Many of you have written to say that you are praying for her, and I am so thankful to tell you that the Lord has answered your prayers in such a positive way! Magguie has been discharged from the hospital, and will come in daily for several more days to finish her IV antibiotics. She is also taking an oral antibiotic, as our docs here do not want to take any chances with a recurrence of this infection in her knee. A number of you readers are involved in medicine to some capacity, or you have some experience with the effects of diabetes and know that leg problems can be disastrous for these patients.

For those of you who keep regular prayer lists and would like to pray for Magguie, please add her name to your list. Pray that the Lord will give her wisdom as she raises her two daughters, Cynthia (13) and Rhoda (8). Her husband lives in the capital city of Lome and only visits rarely. Magguie says he recently became a believer, so I am hoping that this is a reality and that fruit will be evident in his life by his love and care for his wife and girls. He has a second wife in Lome. Life can be complicated here! Anyway, please pray that Magguie’s health would be stable, so that she can take care of the girls and do her translation work with us at the CRC.

Thank you again for caring and for praying. I find it to be a tremendous comfort that we can pray for each other, no matter where in the world we are, or how far apart.

With thanksgiving to you and for you,

Judy

Urgent prayer request-June 9, 2008

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:44:49 -0400

This just came in from Judy, the director of our Christian Resource Center:

Dear Friends,

Many of you will recognize Magguie’s name; she is my good friend, with whom I have worked at the CRC for a number of years. She is the head of our translation team, and does great work. Maggie is the center individual in the picture.

A few years ago, Maggie discovered that she is diabetic. Together we work to manage this disease, which is not easy in a third world country. Thankfully, Magguie’s diabetes is pretty well controllable with oral meds. She is quite thin and from time to time becomes ill with malaria or some other sickness. She has been doing quite well in recent weeks, but on Saturday, after working in her field, her knee became very swollen and painful. Sharon and I went to see her on Sunday, and the swelling had diminished, but the pain was severe. Today, Monday, she is an inpatient at our hospital, with strong IV antibiotics and pain meds. The medical staff is not sure what is causing this problem.

Please be in prayer for Magguie. It’s a scary thing when a diabetic person gets sick, but it’s even more scary when there is a problem with the lower extremities. I don’t know all of the technical implications, but I do know that this thing is not good, so I am asking you to pray with me that the Lord will intervene---that He will use the meds to take care of this infection.

Thank you for caring and for praying!

With appreciation to you and for you,

Judy
CRC and Print Shop
ABWE Togo, W. Africa

If you would like to send Maggie a note of encouragement, you can do so through Judy by clicking on Maggie.

Container is packed!

Sun, 25 May 2008 16:27:35 -0400

Thank you for praying for the container packed. Here is a portion of the letter sent to all missionaries who had items on the container.

Dear Colleagues,

I can’t believe it but the final box went into the container about 2:30 this afternoon! That means everyone’s boxes are on this container! Yes, your read that correctly, even those who were to be on the second container. We had 7 people show up to help load the container and things went a lot faster and tighter than I had anticipated. Actually we had a surprise, Thursday afternoon, Jo and I were at the warehouse moving things around and getting ready for today when we heard someone banging at the back door. Jo went to see who it was and low and behold it was the driver for the truck with the container wondering where I wanted the container! I couldn’t believe he was there and the driver said his dispatcher had told him he had called me and I said to bring the container! I never received such a call. So, we were a little surprised (pleasantly). Friday, afternoon, Jo and I began loading boxes onto the container and had a good head start for this morning. After breakfast with the people who came to help, we got to work and couldn’t believe how fast it went. There was only one injury. The fellow (a good friend of mine and professor at Cornerstone) tore a tendon on his arm. Not sure what is going to happen or when he will have to have surgery for that. Please be in prayer for Dr. Adams.

What does this mean for the second container? Well, there is a lot more space on that container than we anticipated but not to worry, we have a lot of stuff the hospital where Jo works that has given us that we can fairly easily fill the container. So, please don’t have anything sent as we need to take some time off before we leave. If there is actually an emergency for something, please contact me and we’ll see what can be done.

This container will be picked up on Tuesday morning and head to port from there. As soon as I have any information on what is happening with the container, I will let you know.

To view pictures of the packing, stop by the gallery and check out container packing.

Greater is He that is in You.

Mon, 19 May 2008 20:02:42 -0400

Dear Friends,

Recently our colleague and resident photographer, Judy Bowen, submitted this story. I hope it will touch your heart.

Steve Mills

Judy writes:

This is a bit longer than you are used to receiving from me, but because it’s a story, I think you will appreciate it. I have attached a composite picture to illustrate the story. (Please let me know if you have any problem opening the attachment.)

Yesterday was the Lord’s Day, and at one of our village churches, there was a big event, to which all of us missionaries were invited. Those of us who could do so responded to this invitation, and we went to a fetish burning ceremony at a small church plant in the village of Goudeve. Here’s the story, from my perspective.

Months ago, a young man gave his heart to Jesus. But he was no ordinary man; he was a charlatan, or a fetish priest---a servant of the devil that people could go visit to get help solving their problems. You know that Satan does have power, and he does much of his work here in Togo and other places through fetishism. He has servants that use objects as he bids them to perform ceremonies, asking him to work on the behalf of the person asking for help. People go to the fetish priest if they can’t have a child, or if they are sick, or if they need money, or if they have an enemy upon whom they want to exact vengeance. The fetish priest listens to their request, and then he performs the related ceremonies, imploring the spirits on behalf of the person. He then demands a large sum of money or livestock—almost always much more than they can afford--from the person in exchange for his services.

Yesterday, the young man in question, called Esohanah, was ready to be rid of his fetishes, as he certainly no longer needed them. He was prepared to make a clear break from his former life. So he walked many kilometers, along with several family members, to the chapel at Goudeve, just about 15 minutes from our hospital compound, where a number of us live. The gospel was clearly preached in the small but packed church building: there is one God! Jesus Christ has the power to save! And there was much singing, and a number of testimonies by believers. Esohanah clearly testified to us all that he had accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, and that TODAY he was destroying all of his fetish objects.

At the end of this worship service, we all gathered behind the little church building. Several of our local pastors were in attendance, and they had Esohanah empty out the bag of fetish objects and explain what each item was for. There was some gravel, a number of feathers, a couple of tin bowls, a bottle of alcohol that he would drink before the ceremonies, a dried up animal of some kind, a piece of goat skin, some dried bugs, the clothing he would wear to do the ceremonies, a few coins, a clay pot, a wooden stool and a small wooden table, and many other things . . . he brought it all to be burned.

The pastors prayed and read scriptures about the power of God, how He is greater than our enemy, the devil. They emphasized that the objects themselves had no power at all, but that Satan could use them through his lying, evil ways.

The pastors and Esohanah then broke up the small table, the wooden stool, and the clay pot; they smashed the tin bowls, shattered the alcohol bottles, and made a pile of everything. Then one of the pastors poured kerosene over the stuff, and lit a match and touched it to the pile of objects. The small flame caught and blazed. Another of the pastors led in prayer once again, and then we all began to sing various hymns about the power and love of God as the fire destroyed the objects used to invoke demonic power. The people clapped and smiled joyfully, and we all sang with all of our hearts, that is until tears of joy caught some of us and we were not able to sing with our mouths. But our hearts kept on singing for joy. We were outside in the hot sun, and I got chills and the hairs on my arms stood up as with all of my heart and soul I rejoiced that Jesus Christ is Lord, and is greater than our enemy Satan.

I continue to rejoice today that I had the privilege of witnessing this ceremony yesterday. I would ask you to pray for Esohanah, that his faith would grow, and that the Lord would use him in a great way to testify for Him, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

With thanksgiving to you for your prayers,

Judy

New website soon to be up and running

Fri, 16 May 2008 19:19:14 -0400

After some time reflecting on the needs of the Togo Team, we have decided to go ahead with making some changes that we feel will help you to better appreciate our field.