Sep 25

Permits, Visas, and Cards, oh my!

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I just realized that I forgot to report here that I received my Stay Card (Carte de Séjour). Much thanks goes to Pastor Kossi who did almost all the legwork and had the contacts to make this super easy, barely an inconvenience.

The Carte de Séjour is an official Togolese ID and allows me to stay for a year without any problems. It also makes me a card-carrying missionary, as that is what is given as my profession on the card.

Despite Pastor Kossi’s injuries, he spent today running around checking on requirements for a visa to Nigeria and getting paperwork requested for the visa to Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), like a residency permit and a certificate of non-condemnation (to show I haven’t done anything illegal here).

Lord willing, Pastor Kossi and I will go to Nigeria with Missionary Todd Ohlmann at the end of October for a week, and then to the DRC for two weeks. Please pray that both Missionary Ohlmann and I can get the needed Visas , I just heard from Missionary Ohlmann that he was able to get his visa for the DRC. He had been denied the past few times because of the political situation.

It turns out that a Nigerian visa should be fairly easy as I am now officially a resident in Togo, which is one of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS/CEDEAO [Communauté Economique des Etats de l’Afrique de l’Ouest]), as is Nigeria. Pastor Kossi does not even need a visa to travel to Nigeria.

Thank the Lord for granting a Stay Card! And for Pastor Kossi being willing to run so many errands, even though he probably should be resting and recovering from his accident (see the next post).

Sep 17

Updated: Accident 🏍💥🚙

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Monday last week, Pastor Kossi Blewu was traveling (on motorcycle) up to the land we purchased to check on the agriculture work there. He was making a left turn (and signaling) when the car behind him thought he was going to make a right, so the car tried to pass him on the left and they collided.

By God’s grace, Kossi was not gravely injured, even though everyone who witnessed the accident thought he was surely dead. He was taken to the hospital, which was nearby and spent the night there. He did not suffer any broken bones but his foot required a number of stitches. He went back to the hospital in pain on Thursday.

Kossi returned to Lomé last Friday. He is supposed to rest and not walk much, but he came picked me up in a taxi Saturday to go distribute school supplies to the orphans and to the kids in need. He was limping rather severely and obviously in pain. He has some severe abrasions that are visible and wounds that are covered.

The driver of the car turns out to be a pastor. The local police chief was coincidently (miraculously) there when the accident happened, and so witnessed the whole thing. And Kossi’s motorcycle was only very minimally damaged in the accident.

Please keep Kossi in your prayers as he recovers, especially that he will not push himself until he is better. And thank the Lord for His grace that things were not so much worse!

UPDATE 9/21/19: Kossi went to the hospital and had either the dressing on his foot removed or the stitches removed. I will know more tomorrow. This week he was in a lot more pain and has had trouble walking. I’d like to think that it is his body healing and he is feeling worse before he gets better. Check back for a more detailed update tomorrow.

UPDATE 9/22/19: Kossi will return to the hospital tomorrow (Monday) for followup. His left foot is still very swollen. He said it has gone down. Saturday they removed the stitches. They are recommending another x-ray to verify that he didn’t actually break something.

Kossi wants to make a trip up to see the land we helped them purchase on which to grow crops, raise animals, and build a church and possibly a school/seminary building. I don’t want him to push himself and slow his recovery. We will see what the doctor says tomorrow. Check back for further updates.

UPDATE 9/25/19: Kossi went back to the doctor today for x-rays. They confirmed that no bones were broken. His left foot is much less swollen. He did some physical therapy. The doctor said he was very smart to come in for treatment now, otherwise he would have more problems down the road.

Jul 24

Out of the mouth of infants…

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“Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies
you have prepared praise” – Matthew 21:16

Our church in the US often have a special service at the end of VBS where the children perform songs and recite Bible passages. Here in Lomé, Togo, they have a similar Sunday, but at the end of the (Sunday) school year.

The children dancing (click here to listen)

This past Sunday was the Sunday School children’s program. It was a delightful time of song, dance, and Bible verse recitation. You can see videos starting here.

They also had a special offering “competition”. In Togolais (Ewe) culture, a person is given a name based on the day they were born. Only after the parents get to know the baby (a week or so) are they given a religious or western name. Because everyone is known by their “day name”, everyone knows what day they were born on. For this special offering, they call out each day of the week and those who were born on that day comes forward to put their offering in the plate. The amount for each day it totaled and the winning day is announced, along with the runner up.

I did not know what day I had been born, so I had to ask Siri. She informed me I was born on a Thursday, so you can call me Yao or Yawovi.

In the offering my day came in second, only to be beat out by Sunday (on which Pastor Kossi was born), because there were many people born on Sunday and only a handful on Thursday. Pastor Kossi told me years ago he told the congregation that he would pray that more people born on Sunday would come to the church and that those who were expecting would give birth on Sunday. It seems God answered his prayer. I told him he needs to pray that more people born on all days come!

It was a great and joyous day based on the salvation we all have through Jesus, who took the little children in His arms and blessed them.

Jul 04

Rain Delay

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Today durning class with the pastoral students we had a torrential rain. No big deal in the US, but when you are in a tin-roofed church, a heavy rain drowns out any class (you think the gym at ILC is bad during a storm!).

When the rain started, the students moved up closer to the lecture and I moved closer to them and we tried shouting over the noise. At one point the rain got particularly heavy, so we took a 5 minus coffee break at which point the rain let up some and we could continue.

Click here for a video of the interruption
The rooster seeking refuge

The rain was so bad that a rooster sought refuge in the church. I guess he was wondering by when the downpour struck.

Rain also paralyzes the city and causes travel problems as most of the roads in the city are dirt roads and they become even more difficult to travel on, if not impassible. Also most of the transportation is by motorbike, which isn’t pleasant during a heavy rain.

This past week, Pastor Kossi was traveling up to the land the church body has purchased and is farming. He was caught in heavy rains and his cell phone stopped working because of the water damage. He has since replaced the phone and purchased a rain poncho to wear while riding.

Jun 28

Connected!

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I finally got the new apartment wired for internet. I’ve had access on my phone, but it has been difficult to do much, especially since my hotspot wouldn’t work. But this past Wednesday Togo Telecom finally came and ran fibre to the apartment and installed the Nokia modem and I’m back on-line.

We had been waiting on the electric company to increase the capacity to the apartment because the original installation didn’t provide enough power for the AC units. The owner had requested and given money for the increase, but nothing was happening, so the head pastor here called a friend who works in the government, who called a manager at the electricity company, who then immediately sent a technician with the pastor to get things sorted out.

The internet installation was dragging on for weeks as well. Finally the head pastor pulled some strings (or threatened to) and got us moved up the queue for installation.

It’s good to have friend in high places! It’s good to be connected.

I shared the story of the electricity in a sermon I preached at two churches here. I pointed out, however, that every believer in Jesus has access to Someone much higher than someone in the national government. We have access to God Almighty Himself! “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God” Romans 5:1-2. Through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have obtain access to the grace of God.

It is good to be connected. Through Jesus’s death and resurrection, we have a Friend in the highest place of all. Thanks be to God that He has reconnected us to Himself.

Jun 09

Pentecost is important!

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Pentecost is a important festival commemorating the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost after Jesus’ ascension. On that harvest festival, the Lord reaped a harvest of about 3000 souls and added them to His church.

In the US, however, Pentecost isn’t one of that major celebrations, like it is here. This past week we had evening meetings Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Tuesday we met with the 3 current pastors and the 6 seminary students and studied the work of the Holy Spirit using the explanations to the 3rd article of the Apostles Creed in Luther’s Small Catechism. The following evenings were services of prayer and instruction on the work of the Holy Spirit, except for Thursday, when there was a violent downpour that made any preaching impossible.

Heavy rain on a tin roof makes preaching impossible.
Pentecost Sunday gathering

This Sunday we had a big gathering in church, as many of the members from the church in Ghana came over and joined us for the Pentecost celebration. Pastor Moses from Ghana preached a sermonette, as did I.

Women from Ghana sharing a song. Click here to listen.

Rejoice that the Lord has poured out His Spirit on you, to create faith in your heart – faith in Jesus and His death and resurrection – through the witness of the apostles we have in God’s word.

Tomorrow is Pentecost Monday, a national holiday. Happy Pentecost!

May 27

Rough Road Ahead

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There are three kinds of roads (that I have seen so far) on the city of Lomé: paved, cobblestone, and dirt.

The paved roads are reserved for the down-town business area and major connecting arteries, as far as I can tell.

A paved street in Lomé

The next level down is a cobblestone road, which isn’t the old-style brick, but is a new-style flat brick that must be cheaper to lay than paving. It is however, almost as rough as the old-timey cobblestone streets you find in the US.

Cobblestone street in Lomé

The most common street, however, is simply dirt, not gravel, but dirt. It’s a fine, brown dirt that gets packed fairly tightly. Somehow it still manages to have pot holes, however. And muddy and full of ruts after a rain.

A typical dirt road in Lomé

It seems that the nicer the street, the nicer the area. I told an American who has been working here for many years that the apartment I found was on a cobblestone street and she was impressed! That seems to confirm my suspicion, although the owner of the apartment building lives (in a very nice compound) on a dirt street, so it may more indicate how close one is to a major area.

I was thinking paved roads would always transition to cobblestone before one reaches dirt, but that only holds true in the major areas. On the way to the main church here, the main paved road turns to dirt a couple hundred feet into the side street.

A rather abrupt transition from paved to dirt
May 23

Pardon my French!

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Today (Thursday) I taught the seminary students for the third time (not counting this past Sunday evening when both the current pastors and seminary students gathered together to study Luther’s Small Catechism). The students told Pastor Kossi that they had trouble understanding my French. I guess my accent isn’t very good (or, at the very least, isn’t what they are used to). I told them I have trouble understanding their French as well (and they seemed surprised at that). The accent here is different from what I am used to.

My comprehension isn’t helped by the fact that the church has simple thatched walls that go 3/4 of the way to the roof. They are nice for letting in the occasional breeze to help keep one from getting too hot, but they also let in all the noises of passing motorcycles, vehicles, and neighborhood animals.

I pray at my accent will improve (or at least they will get use to it) and that I’ll get used to their accent and be able to understand them better. Of course half that time they are speaking Éwé, which I guess they will force me to learn. Until then, I asked them to “pardon my French.”

May 18

Deposit…deposited

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Today (Saturday) Pastor Kossi had a man come over to exchange money so I could have enough to make the deposit on the apartment. Then we went over to the owner’s house. After a long conversation in French/Éwé, we gave him a 6 month deposit and 3 months advanced rent ($206/mo based on the rate of 582 CFA Francs to $1 the man gave me this morning).

We then went to a bank downtown so I could withdraw money from the ATM (Guichet Automatique de Bank [GAB] in French) in order to pay for the AC installation. My bank gave me 602 CFA to $1! That is above the market rate, it seems. I will have to go back to that ATM again if it keeps giving such a favorable exchange!

I should be able to move into the place next Saturday. I am really looking forward to getting settled (and having AC!).

May 15

A Nigerian prince and princess

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This past Sunday I met a Nigerian prince and princess. No, they did not ask my help in transferring 2,000,000$ US out of the country that they discovered in dormant bank account. That was a difference prince who emailed that offer the other week (although since I’m here, I’m not sure I can help him).

This was Martin and Tina Essien from west Nigeria. They are very involved with the church there and made the 4+ hour drive to meet Missionary Todd Ohlmann and me.

We spent Monday running errands together, most significantly visiting the apartment I plan to rent, to discuss with the workers how I would like the kitchen finished. Missionary Ohlmann, Pastor Kossi, and I had met with the owner Saturday and he was surprised that no cabinets had been put in the kitchen. The worker claimed that the owner hadn’t asked or discussed kitchen cabinets. The owner asked him what he had been doing all this time then.

As a world traveler and wise businessman from Africa, having Martin (who also speaks French) provide another set of eyes was useful in visiting the unfinished apartment.

Martin wants me to visit Nigeria (as does the Mission Board). I was unable to obtain a visa for Nigeria before coming to Togo. The Lord willing, I will be able to get a “Stay Card” (Carte de Séjour) for Togo, and that should allow me to get a visa for Nigeria from the embassy here. The plan would been then go to Nigeria when Missionary Todd Ohlmann goes there this fall.

Pray that I will be able to get the Carte de Séjour and the visa for Nigeria (as well as other neighboring countries).