Saturday, July 30, 2005

Jeff and Brenda Holland
God continues to bless the work. We are praying for a great rival among the churches as well as for a great awakening among the Watchi people. Please join us in spiritually battling for these people. Strongholds of the enemy will fall. Victory will be announced and fulfilled in the Name of Jesus!

Training and preparation for the “all-church” conference are going well. Pray for God’s Holy Spirit to come upon the churches with power and for God to provide a hedge of protection around all of the conference attendees.

Jeff had some interesting experiences this week. One was climbing 25 feet in rafters to drop a plumb-line to show the local masons that the wall they were constructing was not “plumb.” Another experience was travel down a new dirt road cut from Dagbati to Tabligbo. The road goes over some swampy areas, but everything seemed to have dried up. Jeff had almost made it to the town of Tabligbo, but just before reaching railroad tracks from the cement factory, he realized that there was a huge mud pit at the base of the elevated tracks. Tree stumps on the sides prevented him from getting around. So he went in reverse for a good distance before finding a place to turn around. He then took nearly an hour to get home in the dark. So much for short-cuts!

Ellianna turned two on Friday. When asked how old she is, she heartily says “Two!” However, when trying to get two fingers raised, she usually either puts up just one or all four. She is enjoying her new tricycle and baby doll stroller and received some money to buy Togo souvenirs.

Murphy and Christine Crowson
I returned from a two week survey trip to the Dogon people of Mali this week. Wow! The Dogon are one of the last ethnic groups in that part of the world who have maintained the animistic traditions and haven't turned to Islam. The amazing discovery was that they are ripe to hear the Good News of Jesus. Our survey team is convinced that if a team of committed Christians would be willing to live among them, multitudes would come to Jesus. Here we have a nation ready for the Gospel, all that stands in the way of a great harvest are people willing to teach them about Jesus!

Dogon land is definitely a hard place for Westerners to live due to intense heat and dust. They live just below the Sahara Desert and receive the least amount of rain that a place can receive and not be desert. If you want to look Dogon land up, it's just below Timbucktou, Mali. An amazing, loving people, I really enjoyed my time among them and look forward to being with them again. In one interview we asked an old man of a remote village what he would do if he had $200. "I would buy food and share it with everyone in my village because we are hungry." A generous heart to be sure. He thought of his community before he thought of himself. Pray to the Lord of harvest to raise up a team of church planters willing to endure the hardships of this life so that the Dogon can enjoy the blessings of the next life with Jesus!

Another fun experience was that our car broke down again:) On the way up to Kara the engine started making a really weird knocking noise so we left it in Kara and took Don Neal's car. After our return to car I had a very hard time finding a mechanic up there who could fix the problem and didn't know what to do. After fasting and praying I felt that I should go ahead and try to drive the car down to Tabligbo in southern Togo (a six hour drive) where it would be easier to find a mechanic.

After three hours of driving the engine started to die so I pulled over, opened up the hood and begged God to have mercy on me and my car. After that the car started up again and did well for another 2 hours when it started to die again. This time I was less than 40 minutes from home! I pulled over, opened up the hood, and begged God again to have mercy on me and the car so that I could get home to my family. God heard and answered and it started up again with no problem and I made it safely home.

Today a mechanic is coming to look at the engine. Please pray that the car can be fixed and that the Lord would bless us with a long season of a working car so that we can continue our ministry with churches that are far away from our home.

Thank you for your prayers! He is listening and He is answering!

Marty and Louise Koonce
We have made it back down to Alabama this week for a little more Togo'ish like weather. We had a great visit to Warrenton and the surrounding areas. Every church we have attended as been incredibly encouraging. We will be speaking at three churches here in Northern Alabama in the next couple of weeks, but will be having more down time of sorts as we try to rest up for our last month of furlough prior to our return to Togo. The boys have thoroughly enjoyed being with friends and now their Alabama cousins. Please pray for us to rest and focus as our return begins to grow closer. Please pray for the works in Togo as well, particularly in Ahepe, Atitogon region, Tabligbo, Afakomi Kope, and Vogan.

Anthony and Maureen Parker
It seems that we caught some of you by surprise with last week's mention of our move to the States next year. We've spoken of this in a lot of different contexts, and it slipped our minds that we had never mentioned it in the "Times." So, yes, our family plans to leave Togo and move to the States around the end of April next year. Leaving will not be easy, and it is not because of any dissastifaction with the work or the team that we have made this decision. It just seems to be the right time both in terms of our family's needs and in the development of the work. We ask for your prayers as we seek God's leading for future ministry.

Our family has struggled with sickness this week. It seems that Maureen and the boys brought some kind of flu virus back from Singapore. The boys are well now, Maureen is still fighting a cough and general tiredness, and Anthony started running a fever yesterday. Please pray that we will all quickly recover.

Anthony returned to a mountain of work waiting to be done on the Train & Multiply material, and he has been able to make some progress on that this week. Please pray for the Tabligbo leaders as they deal with a situation involving the marriage problems of one of the elders. This affects this man's leadership not only in the local church, but his considerable respect and influence among the Watchi churches as a whole.

We praise God for answering our prayers and yours regarding the teacher situation. In August, Stacey Sexton and Jenna Stephens plan to come to teach our kids for the upcoming school year. God is faithful!