Missionary Jim White

Looking for teaching moments

2012-05-02T01:26:00.003-07:00

I imagine that most missionaries enjoy or at least appreciate teaching. Teaching is so vital to the ministry; especially here. In Togo, it seems that so many people know the basics about Christianity; Christ is God's son, He died on a Cross, the concept of Easter and the idea sin. But when you start getting into doctrine or specific bible stories they seem to be pretty much a blank slate and this is were good sound teaching and teachers can play such a vital role.

For example, the other night Andrew, a young man who has been visiting our church for a couple months now, came by our house. He told me he had been reading in Matthew (21:33-40) and needed some help understanding a passage. Personally, I truly enjoy moments like this, so we sat down on my front porch and opened our Bibles. We began reading and discussing the passage, which talked about how Christ was sent from heaven for us, how man rejected him and his message and how that he had died on the cross for us. Andrew just sat there in his chair soaking it all up. You could tell that this was all new to him.

Sometimes, I think we take it for granted all the lessons and the Bible stories that we've been taught in the past. However, it's times like my visit from Andrew that I'm reminded we have such an awesome privilege and responsibility to share God's word with people around us.

Life in Togo isn't always simple or easy.

2012-04-23T20:00:00.000-07:00

This past week has been one of the craziest ever for Adie and me since we arrived in Togo. We left early on Tuesday to head towards Lome then eventually to Accra, Ghana to do grocery shopping. Here in Kara the supplies are very limited and we haven't taken a trip south in about three months so we were due to stock up! We had been on the road for over an hour and still had about 6 more to go before we would arrive in Lome when three lights came on in our truck. One was for the fuel filter, one for the air filter and the other was for the battery. We called up our friends that we were following down and told them about our issues and said that it might be best for us to just head back to Kara rather then risking the trip to Lome. Remember there are no AAA towing services or even any real mechanics along the way! Our friends came back for us and after talking it through we realized that it was most likely an electrical issue and decided to risk the drive down south and have our mechanic look it over in Lome.

After seven and a half hours of driving we arrived in Lome around 1:00 pm. We dropped our truck off with the mechanic, ate lunch with our friends then headed in their vehicle for the border of Togo and Ghana. It took about 90 minutes to get all the passports stamped and the their truck approved for crossing. Once that was done we were finally good to go! We were on our way to Accra! It was Adie's first time in Ghana and she was pretty excited to see the difference between Ghana and Togo. The trip was about 3.5 hours from the border into the Ghana's capital. As we drew near, the road opened up into a free way, then eventually a toll road. The country even had overpasses which was a nice familiar thing for us to see considering Togo doesn't even have a central highway system.

We spent Tuesday night, Wednesday and Thursday in Accra shopping and looking around. Our friends needed to get shots for their seven month old baby so we were able to get that accomplished while we were there in a safer, cleaner hospital than we have in Togo. We were able to stay at a decent hotel near the capital. It can be tough to find someplace clean in developing countries so it was refreshing to find something on par. The only down side to the entire trip to Accra was that despite the fact that we asked several times for our rooms not to be entered, the maid at the hotel decided when nobody else was around to snag the key and sneak into our rooms. She ended up riffling through our things and stealing money from all of us. Thankfully we were able to get ours back (which was an amazing miracle!) but our friends still haven't had an end to their drama. Because of their situation, all Friday morning we were up at the local Police station filling out reports against the women in question. It was quite the hassle to say the least!

Friday around noon, we all left Accra and headed back to Lome. We got back and crossed the border without any problems. I called our mechanic, he returned our vehicle and said everything was ready to go. Adie and I went out to eat and on the way back to our room I realized we had some brake issues. I called our mechanic who lives one hour away to see if he could fix the problem for us early Saturday morning so we could still be back in Kara for church on Sunday. He drove out and was in the parking lot at 5:30 am. He worked on the problem till 11:00 am and had to rebuild the caliper on the braking system. Finally he finished and we headed for a local grocery store to pick up some frozen foods while he headed home. By the time we got to the store we had lost all braking power. The reservoir was completely depleted and all the fluid had leaked out. So, we had to call our poor mechanic James, back. He was almost home when he had to turn around.

After traveling for an hour, he arrived in the parking lot of the store to meet us. He decided that it would be best to put a used caliper on the truck rather then attempting to rebuild the old one again. He looked around for two hours and found what he needed and by 3:00 pm and by almost 4:00 we were back on the road and he was heading home. We drove from the southern part of Lome to the northern part to hit just one more store on the way out of town when I realized we had yet another problem with the brakes! I can't even begin to express how frustrated we were! It was here that we decided to have James come back again, take the truck home to his garage and that we would just stay in a hotel till Monday morning.

James took the truck back to the his garage and worked on it all day Sunday so that we could have it back by Monday. Meanwhile, Adie and I stayed at a hotel from Saturday night till Monday morning. It was pricey but wasn't dirty which was the main thing. Since we had already been through such a rough time with our truck we were just looking for something clean with hot water and ac. Thankfully it also came with CNN and a connection to the internet!

Thankfully, while we were down south, we had a young man in Kara that was able to fill our shoes for Sunday. He did a great job preaching and we were very thankful that he could help us out in a pinch!

Monday morning rolled around and we get all our things packed up, hit an atm and a grocery story then headed out of town. We did have some fuel issues on the way home, one time forcing us off to the side of the road when the engine stalled. Thankfully, it turned out to just be a fuel pump problem and that should be fixed soon. We pulled into our drive way at 4:30 pm 2.5 days after we attempted to leave the first time.

You know, life is crazy sometimes. We so badly wanted to just get home, get out of Lome and be ready to work in our church on Sunday but God continued to close the doors. I don't pretend to understand why God does what he does sometimes but I do believe that he has a way of protecting us from things and sometimes it take interventions like the one we had on Saturday to absolutely detour us from doing what “we” had planned to do. So, at the end of it all, at the end of all the break downs, repairs, troubles and worries we are thankful to God for all his provisions and protections along the way!

Easter Sunday here in Togo

2012-04-10T02:10:00.004-07:00

We had a really great Easter weekend. We decided to show a film on the Easter story at the church on Easter eve. Most folks don't have electricity so after dark there isn't much to do. So when there is a “free” movie playing you end up getting a great turn out!

Earlier in the week, we printed up invitations with tracts attached and handed out about three hundred in the neighborhoods around the church. When we pulled up on Saturday night we were praying for and expected a good turn out. To our surprise it was more then we could have even imagined. The church building was completely packed! Children were sitting on the floor, adults were standing next to the walls and there were several rows of people standing in the back. There were about 250 people there at least! When we got to the part where Christ was nailed to the cross we paused the film. We then took about 10-15 minutes and explained why Jesus had to suffer on the cross and how the people could be saved. After the presentation we handed out copies of John and Romans as well as more tracts to explain the gospel once more. After the film we had a young lady stay after to ask more questions about what she had heard.

Sunday morning we had 15 in our truck on the way to church. Morning service began at 8 am and we continued through the ABEKA flashcard story on the life of Christ. We were in the section on the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. Things like flashcards can be such a powerful tool here. Most don't have things like TV or radios so basic things like these cards can really help them to get a good picture in their minds of the stories.

In between the Sunday School lesson and the morning service we had a special treat for everyone. Adie and I asked a woman in our church to prepare donuts for everyone. She cooked 250 donuts and we were able to hand them out. It was a big hit! Food here is something to get excited about and free food is something to hit the roof over! Our building was packed out. All the seats on the benches were taken and there were some kids on the floor for the services. I estimate we had about 80 there for the service. We had a guest come and when we asked how he heard about the church, he said that one of his students gave his wife an invitation with a tract. He read them both and wanted to come check out the church. You never know the power of an invitation or a tract. We are going to his house this week to talk to him more about accepting Christ. Please pray that he will understand the gospel and become a Christian!

All in all, it was a busy weekend but we believe so much was accomplished for Christ. The gospel was clearly heard by hundreds. Paul said, I've planted Apollos has watered but God gives the increase. We are effectively planting and watering the gospel and now we are patiently waiting for God to move and increase the work in Lassa Bas!

Esther's dowry was paid and she's now officially engaged!

2012-03-26T13:11:00.001-07:00

This past Saturday, Adie and I were invited by a young lady in our church to come to her family's home to participate in her engagement ceremony. Here in Togo engagement can be a long process. In fact, a dowry is still required. Esther met her boyfriend a few years ago and over the past twelve months has been going through marriage counseling with a local pastor. It has taken this long for her boyfriend to get all the supplies and funds together to pay her family so that he can finally clear the way to not only marry Esther but to even be engaged to her.

Negotiations start early. Male members of the boyfriends family, known as a “delegation” will head out to the girlfriend's family house. There they will introduce themselves and begin discussing what they believe the dowry should be. From what I can gather these negotiations can take several meetings before a sum is ultimately reached. Once it is decided what the boyfriend will need to pay then he will start saving up to purchase all the things to present to the family.

On the day that Adie and I went to Esther's mother's house, the dowry had been collected and we were going to watch it be presented to the family. If it was accepted then the couple would officially be engaged and could set the date for the marriage ceremony. If the couple didn't fulfill the requirement and went ahead and married without the families permission then it would be considered that Esther was “stolen” from her family.

Adie and I transported Boaboda, the boyfriend, some of his family members and two other pastors with us to the village house. It wasn't too far from where we live but it was out in the middle of the bush! We drove most of the way and when the road ended we parked and hiked up a small path to the family's group of huts. It was a typical mud block compound consisting of several huts with walls linking them all together. They were all thatched; no tin roofs. They had no electricity or running water. In fact, they had found some old tarp and put it up between three of the mud hut buildings to provide shade on a blistering hot day that registered 95 degrees in the shade!

The meeting lasted about two hours. We arrived on time, but in typical african style, the time given to start was merely a suggestion! We started about 40 minutes later than the planned time of 3:00 p.m. Esther's father passed away several years ago so her uncles stepped in and were the principle negotiators of the dowry. Boaboda had brought all the dowry items with him minus 100 lbs. of corn that he was told to leave in town. So, we sat around and watched everyone talk in Kabiye for over an hour before the uncles got up and went to talk in private. After about 10 minutes, they came back in, questioned the father of Boaboda about his intentions to marry Esther and if they were truly honorable. Then they wanted to see that the dowry was fulfilled. So, a new piece of luggage was opened up revealing several other items including cloth, shoes and jewelry and an additional monetary gift was given of 40 dollars which is about a months regular salary here in Togo. When the uncles were satisfied they declared the couple engaged and we ate.

Yes...we ate. Who knows what we ate but we ate! It looked like small pieces of cornbread with unidentifiable objects inside. It was definitely gummier than cornbread but not a terrible taste just very different from anything we're accustomed to! Then we drank...well, everyone else drank the lukewarm cokes, fanta's and sprites (Which are definitely special occasion drinks for these people!) but Adie and I just watched knowing that the freshly washed cups weren't washed in clean water and would definitely do some damage if we drank out of them!

Togo can be an interesting place to live. They do things so differently here and their customs and culture seem very odd to us. But through all these differences it was great to see a godly couple who have stayed pure. A couple who are doing things right and getting their families approval for this next big step in life. It's been a privilege for us to be present on such a big day in Esther's life and we are for excited for them to start their new lives together very soon.

One of our young guys comes to the Lord.

2012-03-16T04:54:00.000-07:00

Last Friday on the way to our weekly Bible study at the church, I had with me one of the young guys from our neighborhood. At first glance you might think him to be about 12 because of his size but he is really 17 years old. It was just the two of us and I had a least a 15 minute drive across town to our church. So, I decided to begin witnessing to him. He started coming to church back in January with us mainly through the influence of his brother. It's funny because most teens here have never ridden in a vehicle unless it was a taxi so to take a car ride once a week can really be a highlight for them! I think, more or less this is why he started coming to church. Either way, Adie and I were just happy he was coming. The Bible says, “Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” So, I figured the more he came the more he would get convicted of his need for salvation.

So, that brings me back to last Friday night. I started out simply asking questions like, “Qui est Dieu?” (Who is God?) Then I asked who is Christ? Was Jesus special? What did he do for us? We talked about sin, who commits sin and what the penalty for sin is according to God. We had a really good conversation and he really seemed understand the gospel. Towards the end, I looked at him and asked him if he had ever asked Jesus to forgive him of his sins, save his soul and become his Lord? He looked at me and told me he had. It wasn't the answer I was expecting to hear. I figured he wasn't saved hence the reason I was talking to him about getting saved. I asked him when did you get saved? He told me that on February 20^th of this year, he was at his home in his room and he had been thinking about what Jesus had done for him. He prayed that night and asked Christ to forgive his sins and to save him. I was so excited for him. I asked him if he had shared this news with anyone else. He told me that he had shared with his brother and several others.

For me it's so exciting to see how God is working. Sometimes you feel that if you haven't personally prayed with someone or lead the to Christ yourself that you aren't getting the job done. But God reminded us that for some the job is to sow, others to water but it is His job to bring forth the harvest. It was just great to know that Adie and I had a part in his salvation. We have had the privilege of bring him to church, teaching him God's word and seeing God work in his life. Really, events like this make living here in Togo completely worthwhile.

January and February 2012 Update

2012-02-29T07:52:00.001-08:00

God's been doing some pretty exciting things here in Togo over the past couple months! Since our last letter the church building has been completed and we are hoping to have an official dedication service sometime soon. On New Years Eve we held a special church party and packed out the building. We had a time of prayer, singing and games. Adie and I had a list of questions and then we asked them to groups of men, women and children. It was so much fun to see how excited the people got when they gave a correct answer! Here, where people have so little, useful items such as bags of pasta, small cans of tomato paste, bars of soap and candles make great prizes. We handed them out for correct answers and everyone was thrilled!

In January, Adie and I traveled down south to Lomé to be part of a pastor's conference on leadership. I and two other missionaries spoke during the week. We had nine pastors and their wives present for the three day conference. It was a huge success! We all enjoyed the sessions, eating together, and even playing games in the afternoons. Prayerfully, we will be able to organize and meet with these men and women anually for conferences such as this one.

While down in Lomé for the pastor's conference, we had our truck worked on. It is 11 years old and has had the diesel engine rebuilt three times. Our mechanic told us we were on borrowed time and would need to replace the engine completely. We seriously began looking for an engine in early January. After much prayer, God opened the door and gave us a salvaged drive train with less then 30,000 kilometers on it. This was much better then we could have ever hoped for. The alternative was getting something from Ghana and really not knowing anything about its history or its mileage. We had the new drive train installed and thankfully it works perfectly. The AC was also fixed in the process which we are so thankful for! Especially going into the hottest part of the year here in Togo!

In February, we've had several new vistors come to our church and have had many opportunities to share the gospel. I cannot recall how many times people have come to my house and we have sat under the gazebo where I have shared with them God's word and what Christ did for them on the cross. Please pray that God will work in hearts and that more people will get saved. There is so much religious confusion here that sometimes it is really tough for people to understand their true need for a Savior.

Adie and I have also had the opportunity to participate in two different evangelistic film nights. One of these nights was at our own church in Lassa Bas. Our normal church attendance on a Sunday morning varies between 60-80 but on a film night it is possible for that number to double. Many people in our neighborhoods would never set foot in our church on a Sunday no matter how many times we invited them but they would show up to see a movie! We showed the “Jesus” movie going through the entire life of Christ from birth to the ressurection. Half way through the film we paused and I stood up to share the gospel with everyone. We handed out tracts and bibles to everyone to help reinforce what was taught. After an invitation we finished the movie. Please pray that God will use these movie nights and our churches visitation program to effectively reach our neighbors living around the church.

In closing, we want to thank you for your gifts and prayers. Without your help it would be impossible to serve the Lord here in Togo.

Evangelistic film night at our church

2012-02-12T09:57:00.001-08:00

Every Friday night we have a Bible study at our church and this past Friday we showed a movie afterwards. About 4:30 pm we loaded into the truck with 8 teens from our neighborhood and a load of film equipment bound for the church. We held our Bible study then started setting up the equipment. It was funny to hear the remarks (mostly teasing!) calling me a 'great technician' and such. They were amazed to see all sorts of strange looking electronics. Our church is in a neighborhood where at least 95% don't have electricity and almost everyone still draws their water from local wells. They don't have televisions and most of them don't even have radios. So, to show a film on the wall of the church that measured 10 feet by 10 feet was a sight to behold!

We wanted the film night be be evangelistic in nature. Our church typically runs between 50-80 on a given Sunday but for a film many more people from the neighborhood will show up. We showed “Jesus” which is a movie starting with Jesus' birth and ending with His ressurection. The unique thing about this film is that it is in the Kabiye language. For some of these people, this is the first film they have ever seen. On top of that, it is in their language and gives a very clear presentation of the gospel.

We set up the projector, the generator, dvd player, speakers, and lights and began showing the film around 6 pm. Here in Togo the sun generally goes down around 6 pm year around and comes up about 12 hours later; so an early start time wasn't an issue. Half way through, I paused the film to present the gospel to about 120 people. They all listened very intently for 20 minutes. Afterwards, I gave an invitation and we handed out tracts with copies of John and Romans. We encouraged them to come talk to us; especially if they had made a decision that night and to come back to visit the church anytime.

Many people here are steeped in voodoo and animism. These practices sometimes mix with other forms of loose Christianity that allow them to worship spirits and God at the same time. It can be difficult to teach people that becoming a true Christian will separate them from these false teachings. Depsite this, we know God is moving and we are so grateful for the people that came out on Friday night!

God has given us a new engine for our vehicle!

2012-01-24T04:19:00.000-08:00

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!

Pastor's Conference 2012

2012-01-22T10:24:00.000-08:00

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.

Helping out one of our widows.

2012-01-14T13:30:00.001-08:00

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!

A couple church teens earning money for school.

2012-01-13T06:14:00.001-08:00

Every Sunday, Adie and I have the privilege of taking about 10 folks with us in our truck to church. Many of them are students that for one reason or another have endeared themselves to us—most likely because everytime they come over, Adie brings them out some sort of fresh baked cookies or goodies. They act like they are interested in talking to me but everytime they drop by the house they seem to always be looking around for 'Madame Adie'!
Anyways, some of the young guys from church needed some work. The work wasn't to have money in order to go out to eat, buy a game or even see a movie. Instead, their need was much more basic; they needed money just to stay in public school. Schools here do not really charge much but they do charge.

Although, the term “much” can be an aweful relative term. To us, it's not much but to the average Togolesse who if they can find work, might only make 3 dollars a day for working 12 hours, then this is a major obstacle! So, Adie and I found a solution. We don't have much extra work around the house but we did have some trees that needed trimming. So, with a hand made latter, three machette and some rope, the guys climbed up two of our trees and with in two days had them down to just the bare trunks. It was amazing to see how quickly they worked. It gave us an opportunity to help our church teens and they in return helped us with our tree situation.

Celebrating the New Years with our church in Lassa Bas.

2012-01-04T06:58:00.001-08:00

Here in Togo Christmas is a big holiday but it is New Years that is the most celebrated. Often times Christmas is associated with Santa and children here but New Years is a day that adults will have new outfits made for, purchase expensive foods that they might not usually eat and head out to see friends. It's a very social holiday around here.

Adie and decided that we wanted to do something special with our church family on New Years eve. So around 6 p.m. we all met up at the church and used oil lamps and flashlights to produce our lighting. We had a great time of prayer, songs, quoting scripture and playing Bible trivia. We decided to break the church into groups. We had the kids in one section followed by the women and then the men. I think all together we had perhaps 60 folks. Adie and I had gone out a couple days before and purchased little items such as chicken broth cubes, small cans of tomato paste, little bags of pasta and soup bars. So as we would ask trivia questions we would hand out these prizes for correct answers. Now, I understand that it seems trite passing out the prizes that we did but most folks here consider the items we handed out either essentials for living or luxury items. So they were all pretty thrilled that we had prizes to hand out. We even had some carrying bags, Mt. Dew and a few little thermos' to hand out. The folks were so thrilled.

Togo is unique in so many different ways but I love how we can gather together and worship God. Sometimes life can function at it's most basic levels here yet it's awesome to be around folks with so much joy. New years eve was a night that Adie and I won't soon forget!

Getting together with our Teens for a film night.

2011-12-19T02:17:00.001-08:00

Adie and I have been wanting to do something special with our teens for sometime now. We decided to have a film night at our house. We opted to do this rather then have it at the church because culture here would allow just anyone who is passing by to stop in and join in on the festivities. The point of our little celebration was to reward our faithful young people and give us an opportunity to get to know them better.

Our place is quite far, in Togolese standars from the church. It would take about 90 minutes to 2 hours to walk to our house from the church. So, the trip isn't taken too often by many of our members to come out and visit us. However, we still planned to have it at our place despite the distance because we would have more privacy and the simple fact that the Togolese love to “visit” your house. I'm not to sure what significance it has but they still love “to know” where you live.

So, Saturday night we challenged all who had bikes to ride them out to the house. That was about five of the eventual 26 that would make it. Another guy road a motorcycle, a few walked from near by and 17 of us crammed into my poor little vehicle that at max. should only hold about 10!

We decided that the night would be light so we showed a film called The Polar Express. The kids loved the festive film. During that film, the feasted on Koolaide, Popcorn and homemade cookies. All of these things are a special treat for them. Sugar is expensive and they don't often get a lot of it. And for the film, most don't have radio's at their house yet alone t.v.'s or electricity. So to come to our place and get to watch a film outside was a very neat thing for them.

It was so great to have them. They all had such a terrific time as did Adie and I. We took about ten minutes at the end and just encouraged them reminding them that they are the future of our church. There is an expression in French “soit fidéle”. The idea is that you would long to be faithful. I attempeted to challenge them to be faithful to God, to the Word of God and towards the goal of growing in their faith. We have such an amazing group of young people. I am really excited to see what God will be doing in this church over the next 5-10 years!

Mrs. Phillippe has finally come home!

2011-12-17T17:00:00.000-08:00

On Saturday after having spend 22 days in the hospital, having 3 operations and 9 blood transfusions, Mrs. Phillippe was finally cleared to come home. Randy flew the 90 minute flight down to the ABWE missionary hospital to get her and family. It was the same route that Randy had taken two weeks earlier. The drive would have taken nearly 6 hours and the first flight was extremely time sensitive.

She arrived down south a week after Thanksgiving. By that point, she had a hysterectomy, 2 surgeries and the 9 transfusions. But for some reason she wasn't getting better and was starting to drift in and out of commas. So, the decision was finally made, against the doctors wishes up here in Kara, that she should be moved as soon as possible down south to the Baptist missionary hospital which is staffed by American doctors—some donate time others are full time medical missionaries.

When she first arrived they started doing tests and discovered that her major problem was with her creatinine levels. I've been told this is a major way of telling the functionality of the kidneys. A normals persons is around 1.2 but hers was as high as 15.8. I asked more about this and was told that her kidneys were functioning only in the 16% range. Mrs. Alderman an RN from the US and a long time missionary here told me that in the US someone would typically be put on dialysis when their kidney functions dropped below 35-30%. However, here we don't seem to have the machinery to be able to offer dialysis. So, the doctors could only give her medicines and that is when so many believers started praying asking God to touch her body and heal her.

The first week down at the ABWE hospital, we didn't see much improvement. We were up in Kara and they were down in their nestled in the mountains and phone reception was hard to come by. But it seemed she was starting to talk, drink and attempt to feed her baby. However, her numbers were still very high. They actually climbed from 13+ into the 15's. But then this past week an absolute miracle started to take place! On Tuesday we heard the news that her creatinine levels had dropped from 15+ to 7+. Then again on Thursday we had heard that it was dropping even lower and by Friday we received the good news that she would be able to finally return home.

Saturday, Adie and I went up to Sarakawa where there is a dirt runway that Randy uses has is main take off. We were accompanied by the Huffs and about 8 other nationals who were all just excited to see Mrs. Phillippe as we were! About 12:45 pm, we caught the first glimpse of the plane and about three minutes later it was on the ground and taxiing toward the hangar. When the plane came to a stop and the engine was cut, we all rushed up to meet and welcome her. She looked weak and tired but was in very good spirits. She was accompanied by her husband and her little three week old son, who is healthy! The Huff's brought up their three girls ranging from 13-5. It was the first time they had seen their mom in over three weeks and I don't believe they every full understood how grave the situation truly was.

We were able to take Mrs. Phillippe and her family back to their house and visit with them a bit before we left them so she could get some rest. God has truly been so good to her and her family. She has so many relatives who don't believe and we pray that this will be an tangible sign to them that our God is real and that he is still working miracles to this day.

November & December 2011 Update

2011-12-13T05:02:00.000-08:00

The past few months have been nothing short of amazing! So many incredible things have happened and we are so blessed to have been part of them. One of the many blessings has been our new church building. The roof is on, the air blocks are in the window openings, the first coat of paint is up and the metal doors have been hung. Everyone has been excited and chipping in to help with the construction. We have only been in the new building for about six weeks but our church is still in awe at how God has given us such a wonderful gift—a permanent sanctuary!

December 1^st, Adie and I marked five months of marriage. It is crazy to think that we left for Togo only six weeks after being married! She is slowly adjusting to her new life here. French now seems to be the big challenge for her. She has been meeting with our French professor, Mr. Batcho a couple times a week. If you would, please pray that she will continue to improve in her French and for me as I continue my Kabiye language studies.

This past week, Adie and I had an interesting ministry opportunity. We went to a local orphanage where, with a very generous donation from a kind lady back in the US, we were able to purchase 48 new mattresses for the children to sleep on. We decided that we wanted to do more than just deliver some much needed mattresses so we created a special evangelistic dedication service. The orphanage is without a TV and most children have never seen a “movie” of any kind here. So, we packed up our projector, generator and other supplies to show a film about a man and his family who gave up their Voodoo fetishes and decided to follow Christ. It is a very pertinent topic for the Togolese who struggle with the subject of Voodoo even to this day. After the service we were able to clearly present the gospel, give out tracts and bibles, as well as some t-shirts. Please pray that God's word will not return void and that through these efforts and future follow up by the local church many of these young folks will come to Christ.

One of our dear friends, Mrs. Phillippe, is in critical condition and could use your prayer. She is a national pastor's wife, who on Thanksgiving day gave birth to her fourth child. Shortly afterwards she started hemorraging. To date she has had 3 major surgeries and 9 units worth of blood transfusions. One week after giving birth, she was mercy flighted by Randy in his airplane to the ABWE missionary hospital which is about 6 hours away by vehicle. The American doctors down south believe that they have stabilized her health but her kidney function is minimal—within failure levels. This has been a very trying time for her family, friends and of course their church. She is a godly woman, great mother of three daughters and now a son and wonderful wife. It is our prayer that she will recover fully and be able to return home soon.

Our church at Lassa Bas is doing well. One of our ladies led her widowed sister to the Lord and then Adie and I found out that she lives just up the road from us. It would take Madame Donga and her five girls over 2 hours one way to walk to church so each Sunday morning at about 6:50 am we head to their place to pick them up for church. It's such a joy as we fill our little truck with 12-15 riders each week from around our neighborhood and bring them to church with us.

Please keep the church in your prayers. We are still going through the final stages of construction on the church building. We have several young folks working through discipleship material right now. It is our goal to see all these new converts grow in the Lord. Also, we are still without a prospect of a national pastor to take the work from me. It is our hope and prayer that God will raise up someone to take the work sometime in the next couple years.

Thank you so much for being such a part of our ministry through your prayers and gifts. We are so honored to call you our friends and partners! Adie and I both wish you all a very Merry Christmas!!!

Jim and Adie White

Bringing Christmas gifts to the Orphanage

2011-12-12T02:05:00.000-08:00

Saturday night, Adie and I packed up our generator, projector and other film stuff and headed out to a near by orphanage. I haven't been to this orphanage in years and it was the first ever visit for Adie. Apparently, there are nearly 60 children that sleep at this particular one. Honestly, it was heartbreaking.

About 18 months ago, while home in the US on furlough, I told a story about my visit to this particular orphanage and a very kind lady approached me about how to get involved. Over the course of a year she was able to raise a grand to help purchase new mattresses. So, this past Saturday we were able to purchase and deliver 48 brand new matresses for the orphans. And boy what a thrilled it was!

We brainstormed about what would be the best way to give this gift and to make it a lasting one. Well, we knew that the matresses would eventually wear out but the message of Christ would last the test of time. So, we decided to show an evangelistic film to the young folks. Now remember they don't have a t.v. and probably have never even seen a feature film before in their lives; so this was a big deal for them. It was a private showing of a film they've never seen before. The film followed a real life story of a family that was caught up in Voodoo worship and sacrifice and when all started to fall apart they realize they were missing something. The film is called "La Solution" and depicts Christ as the only solution for eternal life. The entire family ended up coming to Christ and renouncing all their fetishes. It can be a bizarre story for American's to watch because it is so foreign to us but for the Togolese it is so close to home--something that so many deal with on a daily basis.

After the film we were able to share the salvation plan with the kids. We also gave them N.T. Bibles, tracts and a t-shirts (which they were thrilled to receive). The kids were so excited that we would think of them and their needs. Christmas is an wonderful time of year and I am so thankful for the dear lady in the US who took this burden on her shoulders and made such a difference in so many of these children's lives!

So many have so little but to know that some have Christ...it makes all the difference.

The woman lead to the Lord by her sister.

2011-12-06T08:41:00.001-08:00

About a month ago one of our ladies in the church won her widowed sister to the Lord. She happened to visit our church that next Sunday and I got to meet with her just after the services. She told me that she wanted to continue coming to church but it was too far. The walk alone would have taken 2 hours one way. So, Adie and I decided that we could go pick her and her family up each week before church and take them with us. For the past four or five weeks now, we have left the house a little before 7 am to get Mrs. Donga and her girls in order to take them to church. They have been such a blessing. We've given the family Bibles, started the family into some discipleship material and Mrs. Donga has asked for us to come by and teach her how to pray. It such a sweet thing to see a new Christian and their desire to grow in Christ! It makes ministry here in Togo just that much sweeter!

Praying for Mrs. Phillippe

2011-12-01T00:11:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was a unique day. It was a time of celebrating and a time of prayer. The celebrating part came early in the day when Adie and I went over to Jon and Hiedi's house for dinner. We had a great time not only eating but also helping to wish Heidi a very happy birthday.

That evening is when the praying really took over. It turned out that Mrs. Phillippe a natonal pastor's wife also gave birth on Heidi's birthday. However due to some serious complications she had to undergo an emergency hysterectomy just hours after giving birth. She had to then return again to the operating room for a second surgery the next morning to help control bleeding from the previous surgery. She had 7 blood transfussions over a span of less then 36 hours.

Over the course of the next week, she was up and down. We thought on Monday that she might be getting better. When Adie and I went up to the hospital we saw Heidi there visiting so we went in and Mrs. Phillippe was talking and seemed good other then it sounded like she had a cold coming on and her legs were swollen. Her son was good and seemed to be nursing just fine.

However, on Tuesday she took a turn for the worst and slipped into a comma. Randy, a missionary pilot with a plane and his wife an RN made a decision to offer flying Mrs. Phillippe from the hospital in Kara to an ABWE missionary hospital down south which is staffed by volunteer US doctors. Mr. Phillippe pondered the decision and after asking the local doctors they began preparing her for transport and gave her an additional 2 pints of blood bringing her total to 9. However, the next morning, Wednesday, the local doctors strongly advised against moving her and it seemed like she was might never leave. She was doing a bit better, awake and talking again but that might have had something to do with the blood. She had been very animic. Then Wednesday night came and she started slipping towards a comma again. She rambled and talked with out making and sense. The decision was finally made late Wednesday night that despite what the local recommendations were, that Phillippe would pull his wife out of the hospital and accompanied by Mrs. Alderman (an RN) and piloted by Randy, they would all head down for the ABWE hospital on Thursday morning.

This morning (Thursday), I got up about 4 am and headed up to Sarakawa where Randy's plane was prept and ready to receive Mrs. Phillippe. Around 5 am, Jon showed up with Phillippe, his wife and their son. We loaded them into the plane and around 5:30 am (local time) they took off on their 90 minute flight for the missionary hospital.

Eventhough the babe is in good health, Mrs. Phillippe is in critical condition. This flight cut a drive of 6 plus hours down to a 90 minutes. However, she isn't out of the woods yet. Please pray that the doctors down south will have the wisdom to diagnose her and that God will grant healing to here body so that she might be returned unto her family again. She is a precious and godly woman and it would be wonderful to see her with her family and church once more.

Finding opportunities to get involved

2011-10-30T13:58:00.000-07:00

With the rainy season coming to a conclusion we are seeing more and more folks heading out and cutting the tall grass near their houses or farms then burning them off. At our church we too have some stuff that needed to be trimmed so we call for a work day this past Saturday. Adie and I arrived up at the church about 7 a.m. I arrived with my trusty shovel and the other workers, about 9 in total arrived with their little handmade farming hoes. Together for about 2 hours we knocked out a large chunk of the work. It's ironic that I could have brought my weed eater or perhaps my lawnmower and we could have finished all the work in about 2 hours but the church members, first off prefer their method and secondly it allows more of them to get involved and take ownership of the church. It was pretty great to see so many guys and a couple girls come out to use hoes to cut down weeds on the church property. It's tough work but they never complained, in fact, they joked around and even sang a bit. We concluded the morning with prayer and Adie broke out the rest of her banana-chocolate chip muffins which was a smashing hit among our church folks!

Then today (Sunday) around 3 pm we asked for volunteers to come back up to the church to help us move and sift sand for the stucco phase of our building project. The sand had been delivered last week and was sitting outside. However, it was riddled with stones, leaves and small roots. So, Adie and I were back up at the church, shovel in hand once more but this time I had a bucket to boot. We spent about an hour working with 24 of our church members. We had everyone from mothers in their 50's to little boys and girls near 6 or 7 years old helping. The older ones would take 5 gallon tin bowls and fill them up before taking them into the church where some of our young men would sift it all by hand. The little ones would have everything from a small pot to a coffee tin to carry their load of sand up and into the church to be sifted. Honestly, it was such a great thing to see!

The past two days have taught me so much about serving the Lord. It doesn't matter how old or how young you are. How big or how small you are. Or even how rich or poor you are. God wants to use you. When you see an opportunity to get involved in the work of the Lord then you should jump in completely!

September/October 2011 Update

2011-10-10T05:07:00.001-07:00

It is hard to believe that time has gone by so quickly! Adie and I have been here in Togo since mid-August. She is attempting to adjust to such a foreign atmosphere. It has been a huge step of faith for her but God has been blessing every step of the way. Since we arrived, she has organized and decorated the house, started shopping around in Kara, begun her French studies and has helped me in the ministry. Please keep her in your prayers as she continues to acclimate to Togo.

This month we had some pretty exciting things take place at the Lassa Bas church. First off, the church building that Randy has been helping to build has been completed enough for us to move in. While it has not been completely finished the walls are up, the floor has been poured and the new tin roof is on. So, we had our first “unofficial” day in the building with an attendance of 83! God has also worked it out where I have I become their interim pastor. This is temporary and we are continuing to pray that God will raise up a national to take the work. If you would please pray with us that God would indeed provide a pastor swiftly for the Lassa Bas church.

Adie and I also had a couple teens come buy the house last week. One has been a faithful member of the church for five years now. He and his friend had walked 2.5 hours one way to get to our house. I went out to greet them and that is when Essowe, the faithful teen introduced me to Marc. He proceeded to tell me how he had led Marc to the Lord and that he wanted to share that with us. It was such an exciting moment for me to see how our teens are taking their faith to the next step, sharing it with others and bearing fruit. What an amazing blessing! Please pray for Marc this month as we begin to disciple him that his faith would grow. Please pray that our church members would continue to share their faith with the community.

In closing, we would like to say thank you for coupling with us. We truly love what we are doing. There is something about the peace of God that floods your soul when you are in the center of His will and we truly are. Thank you for having a part in the ministry here. We never take your love, prayers and generosity for granted.

Running a Sunday School bus route in Togo!

2011-10-09T14:26:00.000-07:00

In college, I ran a Sunday School Bus route. We would go out each Saturday to visit our regulars, look for new folks to invite and then come by on Sunday morning to pick them up for church. Sometimes, I fell like everything I do here in Togo as a missionary has its roots tied into those days back in Jacksonville. Take this morning for an example, Adie and I left the house around 7 a.m. for church. We had five guys meet us at our house wanting a ride to church. Our house is about a 2 hour walk from the church but only about a 15 minute ride. We gave them a ride and en route we stopped to pick up an elderly lady in her early 70's. Interestingly enough, she told us yesterday that she has no idea how old she actually is. There are no records of her birth. So it was at her house that we also ended up picking up some extra little ones since we had more space in the rear of the truck. Now, the truck itself only has 6 seat belts but "they say" you can supposedly put another 4 more in the rear--that would be 10 total. Well, we kind of pushed the limit and had 17! We had 7 up front and an additional 10 more in the rear. It wwas an interesting ride to church to say the least! So, it would seem that those three years spent running buses every weekend on the north side of Jacksonville wasn't in vain! I have ended up using everything I learned from there each and every weekend here!

God does reward faithfulness

2011-10-05T13:18:00.001-07:00

There is a young man teenager named Alo who started visiting the church back in late winter. I noticed him particularly because he is paraplegic and literally crawled into our church one Sunday morning. I approached him after the service and came to find out that he lived about 2 miles up the road and had crawled up a dirt road to get to the main drag where he took a motorcycle taxi to the church. He was then going to crawl home if need be. After hearing his story, I offered to give him a ride to the main street and give him taxi fare for the rest of the way. This was the cycle of things and he became a faithful visitor.

I left this past summer to come home for a couple months to get married and upon my return I was noticed the first week he wasn't at church but they he showed up the next week. So, I asked around. One of the young guys who lives near him told me that his parents threatened to cut him off (any food or fiancial aid) if he kept coming to the church. He thought about what his father said then decided to keep coming. I found the dedication quite moving; especially knowing that he's in highschool and has no way of providing for himself yet alone making the money he would need to get back into school.

Well, he continued to come faithful and I continued helping him like I was before I left to get married. One day, I started enquiring about his wheelchair and if he actually had one. It turns out that he did but he told me that really all he had was the frame. I decided to head over with one of the church members to talk with both Alo and his father about what the family would be willing to do to help with the repairs. It turns out that Alo was right. He literally only had the frame left. It turns out that everything else had been stolen from off his wheelchair. This was the reason he was needing to crawl everywhere he went unless he was able to scrounge up some money somewhere.

The meeting went well but it turns out that about $50 dollars would be needed to repair his wheelchair and buy the necessary parts and his family, being very poor could only come up with about $4 dollars worth. So, we chipped in and this past Sunday after a couple weeks of the wheelchair being in the shop getting fixed we were able to give him his new/old wheelchair back. He was so thrilled and was smiling from ear to ear when he took it for a spin.

I love the fact that when others discouraged him about attending church, being faithful to the Lord and studying the word of God that he decided it was more important to stand up to the opposition, do right and obey God. I feel that God blesses that and I am so thrilled that now Alo doesn't have the mobility problems he once had and is able to be a good testamony of God's grace to his family.

Our first unofficial day in the new building!

2011-10-02T13:17:00.000-07:00

On Friday of this week, Adie and I drove over to the church in the neighborhood of Lassa Bas where we are serving. Randy has been working on this church building project for a couple months now. Currently the building is in the roofing stage so when we arrived on that morning it was awesome to see that they had almost half the roof already installed. By that evening they had finished the entire roof and only had the cap pieces to install on Saturday morning.

Today (Sunday), was our first day in the new building. While we won't actually have a dedication service until the entire building is complete it was still nice to finally be able to move from out old building; a tin roof, thatched wall, dirt floor building into this one. So for our first official unofficial day in the new building God blessed us with a good day and 83 folks in attendance.

Rafters up at Lassa Bas!

2011-09-21T03:27:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Adie and I drove about three miles into town to run some errands. We stopped by the post office and mailed out a handful of cards before heading over to the church property. In the past couple weeks the work has really kicked into high gear. And thanks to Randy and his organizational skills, I think that we could be actually meeting in the building sometime by the end of the month or the first of next.

The rafters are completely welded and up. During our visit yesterday we saw that the finishing coat of paint was going on the steel. This is a rust prevention step before the tin is mounted. The local mason was there as well fortifying the steel struction are the walls. This step strengthens the roof as a whole against heavy winds which tend to blow in at the beginning and end of the rainy seasons.

All in all, the project is looking really great and we are excited to be moving in soon!

Sunday Morning at Lassa Bas

2011-09-11T05:21:00.000-07:00

This morning we had a great couple services at the church. Adie and I arrived around 7:30 a.m. for the morning Sunday school hour. Before we entered into the church building we took a moment and walked over to the new church building under construction to see the progress. The rafters are laying on the floor waiting to have the last coat of paint on them and the walls were all up. From there we headed back over to the current building and were greeted by our church folks. While Adie still can't say much in French or even Kabiye, a big smile and a warm hand shake seems to go really far.

During Sunday school we pulled out an ABEKA flashcard lesson and I taught on the Sower and the seed. Everyone from the children to the grandparents in the church were just drawn to the images. These are folks, most with out electricity yet alone something fancy like a t.v.--so something simple like flashcards can be very compelling and enthralling, as it was seemingly today. After Sunday school, the kids left and went outside for their version of children's church and I had all the adults in the main building where we learned more about Faith and what it offers us as believers.

All in all it was a great morning! Adie remarked to me on the ride home, even though I can't speak to them, I just love their faces and smiles. The kids seem so excited to sing about the Lord. I was thrilled to hear that she's started to connect on some level here with the Togolese. It's a great sign of things to come.