In 2007, there was a 2002 model truck that I enquired about but the seller here in Togo wanted 20,000 US dollars for it. Well, I did not have that kind of money so I continued to pray that God would give me just the right vehicle that I would need for the ministry here. Six months later, I had about 12,000 dollars saved up all together towards a vehicle. I was ready to head down to the port in Lome and see what we could get for that price. Truth be known, 12,000 was not really going to get me a lot. The prices on both electronics and vehicles are extremely inflated here. That being said, I was challenged to give the seller one last call and see if they would accept 6,000,000 CFA instead of the 8,000,000 CFA they had once asked for. I thought it would be a long shot but the vehicle had sat for 6 months with no serious buyers interested. To my suprise, the seller agreed to drop the asking price by 2 million francs. This was a huge answer to prayer! Not only was I getting the vehicle I once thought would be perfect but now I was getting it for 2,000,000 francs cheaper! The exchange rate was playing in my favor too and when it was all said and done I was able to purchase the truck for 12,000 dollars instead of the original asking price of 20,000 US dollars.

Well, fast forward to this year. The truck has been a blessing but at the same time it has had some issues. The engine had been rebuilt three times, two of them by me. The frame and cabin were in decent shape but the engine was completely worn out. The mechanics told me the last time they rebuilt the engine that it was just a temporary fix and that I needed to start saving up to get another. Here in Togo, there are really two directions you can go with engines: expensive and really really expensive! So, we decided to merely go with the “expensive” option. Adie and I started praying that God would provide what we needed. We decided that after saving for nearly 6 months we would send a mechanic over to Accra, Ghana, (three hours West of our capital city of Lome and about 12 hours from the town that we live in) to look for an entire drive train to replace the one in our vehicle. The mechanic came back and said that it would cost nearly ½ of what the vehicle cost us a few years back (6,000 dollars) and there was no guarantee on the drive train. Most likely these engines would be coming down from Europe but there was no way to verify how many miles they had on them. The only traceable fact would be the year it was manufactured. So, with that information in hand, we thought this might be our only viable option until we were approached with the option of purchasing a drive train from a salvaged vehicle. The vehicle was wrecked with only about 5,000 miles on it. After much prayer, God had put a virtually brand new motor, transmission and 4x4 right into our laps! It was such an awesome answer to prayer! With the Lord giving us exactly what we needed, during the Pastor's conference last week, we were able to drop off our truck at the mechanic's garage and over the course of three days he installed the newer, bigger and better engine in our truck. It even came with AC and power steering; two things ours was lacking!

Our truck has been one miracle after another. God has amazingly heard and answered our prayers. We now have a truck that should be reliable for so many years to come and we'll be able to continue bringing our 10-12 weekly riders with us to church. What an encouragement to see that God will always meet our needs! 

This past week, Adie and I drove 7.5 hours down to Aneho which is a town on the southern border of Togo and Benin. We met up with nine national pastors and their wives as well as two other missionaries for a Pastor's conference to teach on the topic of Spiritual Leadership. This subject covered many issues that are very relevant for these men and women. Most of them all knew each other from training in the same Bible institute that was held up in our town of Kara. But this was the first time they had all gotten together since the last time we held a conference in 2009.

The pastors and their wives traveled from all over Togo. One couple traveled nearly 12 hours to make the conference and most of them had a drive similar in length to ours. The conference ended up being a great experience! It was an opportunity, where for 2.5 days we ate meals together, had four-two hour sessions each day on various topics and even had some sports time; it was quite amusing to see the pastors and even some wives playing soccer in the sand!

The conference was a huge success and we thank God for all that was accomplished during those few days. It was an encouragement to all that attended and it was challenging for us who were teaching. The goal now is to schedule a conference like this one about once a year with varous relevant spiritual topics to challenge and encourage these pastors and their families.

The fall, Mrs. Dunga was lead to the Lord by her sister. She has five girls and lives a couple miles up the road from me which is about a two hour walk from our church. Ever since she accepted the Lord she has been riding pretty faithfully with us to church each Sunday.

Well, back in November when Adie and I were visiting them, we realized that her kitchen desperately needed to be re-thatched.  She has been a widow for nearly 5 years and with five girls can use all the extra help.  She lives in a pretty typical 

village style house made of mud blocks with a tin roof. Her cooking space or kitchen is a seperate room-building near the house. It was leaking too much this past rainy season and was abandoned until it could be repaired. Realizing that she needed help rethantching her kitchen, we organized a work day with our church men. Adie and I, headed out this morning for the church where we met up with 8 guys volunteers. We left the church and went straightway for Mrs. Dunga's and picked up another 3 more en route. All together, we had eleven men from about ages 15-25 helping us and within four hours we had her kitchen roof mended and rethatched.

The Bible talks about how we as believers must take care of the widows and the orphans. Here, in Togo, there seems to be such a great opportunity to actually put this commandment into practice. Needs are so great here but it was awesome to see our young men step up, fill a need and help out one of our widows!