Guest Column: David, Sandi (Wright), and Caleb Haustein
After three years of being away from Togo, it has been so wonderful to be among former teammates and Togolese brothers and sisters again. God has blessed our two and a half weeks here with good health, safety, renewed friendships, and new experiences. One of Sandi's favorite experiences was going with Brenda to the Dagbati Women's Cluster meeting this past Saturday. It was encouraging to see many new Christian women, and even more encouraging to see the spiritual growth of her old friends as they led the meeting, fellowshipped together, and prayed and praised God freely. She also enjoyed introducing David and Caden to the Christians in Nyinoume, Fiove, Nyitoveglovi, and Ahonkpe.

As David finishes medical school next month, we are thankful for several medical experiences that he's had while being here. During a two-day trip to the Baptist hospital in Tsiko, he was able to shadow a family practice doctor and to see what working at a mission hospital is like. He also got to see patients with a nurse practitioner in Voasso. A highlight of the trip was visiting Komlan, the Hollands' houseworker, who has recently suffered a series of strokes. Because David will be specializing in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, it was interesting for him to see the challenges facing the disabled in the third world.

Caden, our seven-month-old son, has enjoyed all of the attention that he has received both from the missionary families and the Togolese. The first thing every Togolese woman does when we see her for the first time is to grab Caden to hold him and to call him, "My little husband!" Caden has loved interacting with the missionary children; he doesn't see many children at home! His favorite experience, though, was "playing" with a little bunny at Hammer and Dela's house in Vogan (I'm not sure the little bunny enjoyed the playdate as much as Caden- he mostly tried to desperately hop away!).

We are thankful to God for the opportunity to return to Togo, and we're hopeful that our visit will encourage the Togolese Christians that when the missionary families leave in the next few years, they will continue to remember them through prayer and return visits.

Jeff and Brenda Holland
In some ways this was a normal week. Jeff went out to the villages. Josiah went to school. Brenda and Ellianna held down the fort. In other ways, the week was a little crazy. We had the Reeves family, missionaries in Kara, stop by for a night. That became a few nights after their car's motor seized up. We had an early going-away party for the teachers and our apprentice. Brenda got the "thumbs up" from the doctor to make our trip (a doctor has to sign a document stating that in his professional opinion, Brenda won't deliver mid-flight.) And somewhere in there we managed to get packed.

This Sunday we head off to the USA for our furlough. God allowed us to get everything around the house "moth-balled" for the next few weeks while we are away. Please pray for our travels. We will first travel to Jeff's parents' home in Denison, Texas. From there we will hit the Texas towns of Abilene and Tyler. In Tyler, we will spend time with our sponsoring congregation, West Erwin Church of Christ. Lord willing, if Brenda has gone into labor at that point, we'll go up to Searcy, Arkansas for the delivery of what looks to be a baby girl. Now if we can just decide on a name???

Just as a side note, Josiah was very excited about getting his Presidential Health and Fitness award this week. He and all of the boys at school worked hard through the year and all received awards for there efforts.

Murphy and Christine Crowson
We are having a great time with the Homewood Church. Our schedule is quickly filling up with breakfasts, lunches and dinners! Wow, God is certainly providing our daily bread:) We are so thankful to God for this church and praise Him for all of the ways that He is using them to reach out to the lost across the globe.

If you'd like to contact us while we're in the States you can reach us @ 501-230-8633. We'd love to hear from you!

Marty and Louise Koonce
What a busy week we have had! Marty spent many hours driving to and waiting in Lome for passport and visa renewals. Diplomatic details can be some of the most frustrating experiences. When all is said and done, he has all documents in place to be able to drive the Hausteins back to Ghana for their Sunday departure. We have thoroughly enjoyed their visit and it is hard to let them go.

A short planned visit from the Reeves family in Kara turned into an extended stay for engine repair. Dave, Becky and their children came down to see Sandi and David, but on their way home, only 30 minutes from Tabligbo, their engine died. After getting to the mechanic in Lome, their teammate Don Neal came to the rescue, only to have the same type engine trouble at the same location. We were so sorry for their trouble, but were pleased to help by giving them all a place to stay. They have returned to Kara via our teacher vehicle. Please pray that the work on their cars will be done quickly and honestly.

Tomorrow we send the Hollands off for their trip to get a baby. The boys enjoyed a pool party picnic as a send off for Josiah on Friday afternoon. The countdown has begun for the end of school. Just when you get in a homework routine . . .

Louise felt like a member of "Two White Guys Moving Co." today when she loaded and brought home a slightly used fridge. We were blessed by the sale of another missionary family who is leaving the country.

Marty was able to get in some of his planned meetings this week in Tabligbo, Vogan, and Atitogon and he was able to continue his French language refinement along with some Kinyarwanda. Marty's French teacher is from Rwanda and has been helping Marty prepare for a survey trip there in either October or November. Please pray this week for the Tabligbo elders to be more decisive and persevering in their decisions. They are really struggling to stand up and truly lead their church. Please pray also for Vogan to really embrace the leadership training. In Atitogon a leader named Blaise needs your prayers. We aren't yet sure of the details, but he is struggling in his faith and is no longer attending the training sessions. Continue to pray for the following weak churches: Topeglo, Hompou, Togbonou Kope, Glita Kope, Avadzime, and Afakomi Kope. Thank you for your love and the prayers.
The Koonces

Anthony and Maureen Parker
It's been great for our family to be home this week following our Wild West Africa road trip with our friends, the Hendersons. It's been a joy to have David, Sandi, and Caden Haustein as our house guests for most of the week. Jeremy and Jonathan enjoyed being back in school with all of their friends here. Although we're not quite at the end of the school year yet, we held a small party to honor our teachers for their work here before the Hollands left. We seldom mention that Jeff and Brenda also do a lot of work to keep the school running.

Anthony has gotten back into editing the Train & Multiply materials, as well as working with the leaders in Tabligbo.

Please remember to pray for a peaceful and fair political process in Togo as we approach elections on April 24.

Josh and Kyleen Bontrager
We were blessed to worship with the Tabligbo church on Sunday. We always feel welcomed there and a part of their family. Tuesday, Josh helped Dave take his car to Mawuko in Lomé for repairs. He enjoyed spending time with Dave. Wednesday we had our workers over for dinner. We enjoyed their company and were thankful for the Hollands being there to help with translation. The big news this week is that the Holland's will be leaving tomorrow morning. They have been great neighbors and friends to us. We will miss them so much. We should have a chance to see them while they are on furlough. We are starting to pack up for our departure in May. We are very excited!

Jeremy and Rae Newlin
We have had another great week here in Tabligbo. We began the week attending church with the Holland's. We had a blessed time worshiping with the church there.

With some uncertainty about how traveling would be we, due to political protesting, were not sure if we would be able to make a much needed Grocery shopping trip to Lome on Monday. Thankfully we were cleared to go later in the afternoon.

This week at school we had the President's Challenge. It was exciting for the boys to be able to compete in the various physical fitness activities. They all did an excellent job and had attitudes and positive sportsmanship. We were very proud of them.

On Thursday the team held a party in honor of our coming to teach the children on the team. We have really been blessed by our time here, working with the four missionary families. God has richly blessed our lives and taught us so much about what it means to serve.

We were very thankful for a big rain that came in last night and left us with cool weather today. It wasn't so great for the pool party that we had today as a send-off party for Josiah, since today was his last day before they leave for furlough!

Teachers Needed for Tabligbo MK School!
They're waiting for you!  The Watchi team is looking for teachers for the children on the team for the 2005-2006 school year.  If you or someone you know would be willing to dedicate a semester or more to serving our team in this way, please contact us. For more information, check out the MK School section of the Watchi Harvest web site (click here).  Have a look at the
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