5 Cent Mission: Here Comes The Rain Again

The rainy season is in full swing here in the south of Togo. We've had many days of sunny morning and then the clouds form and we get afternoons, evenings and nights of rain. It's not as hot, which is nice - however it is more humid. It's actually really similar to the weather those of you living in SW Ontario are dealing with through the summer. Temperatures are in the low- to mid-30s with high humidity during the day. It does cool off in the evening, enough so that we don't always have fans on in the house. Thankfully it doesn't rain every day.

Roads now have big puddles in them

Farewell To Family

We were blessed to have family in the same country for many months! Erin and Nate and the kids were serving up in Mango while we were down south in Tsiko. We had an opportunity to share American Thanksgiving, Christmas, a month together while teaching at the Togolese nursing school in Mango, a couple of long weekends together then finally a few hours together before they were headed to the airport to fly home.

Kylie, with a new friend at the clinic

Horsing around at the pool (I'm sure we broke several
of the pool rules).

Nate - telling stories to a bunch of Moba kids at the
Nok caves, near Daopong.

Two-wheeled Fun

Since we have extended our time here until May 2019, we decided to get some cheap and fun transportation. We bought a couple of motos to run into town on, and to explore the surrounding countryside. We went together with two other families and got a bulk-purchase discount on five motos altogether. We've enjoyed getting out and seeing some more of the villages and scenery here in our area. So far there have been no injuries in our family, although one of the other doctors has maybe had a couple of 'exciting' things happen to him!

Our motos getting prepped to ride home.

Our rides! 150cc's of furious power from Chinese
brand Apsonic.

Vacation Bible School

Aside from Derek's maintenance work around the compound, and Christine's medical work inside the hospital, we have had the three boys helping at the local summer day camp at the local school. Grace Bible Church in from Virginia Beach, Va sent a team to help run the event again this summer. Vacation Bible school is a week long kid's club full of crafts, Bible stories, games and snacks! The thing about running VBS in Togo is you just never really have a true grasp on how many kids to prepare for. The first day there were 362 kids in attendance! That's crazy. Just imagine trying to get them all sorted out into their correct age groups, and running the program with them.

But wait!!! It gets crazier. By mid-week there were 460 kids. By Friday there were close to 600 kids attending. The staff must have been exhausted. Our boys were wiped out on Friday night! How cool is it that so many kids wanted to attend. Thanks to the Grace team for coming and sharing with the kids in Tsiko and Adeta!

Getting ready to start game time with the first group

Someone sticks out in a crowd...

A Bunch of Other Stuff...

A rather large spider

Let's see, a moth with the face of a sheep?? Really.

Not an advertisement for Leatherman tools, but it sure
beats picking them up by hand!

A Giant Huntsman spider.
Double-click on this picture. Do it, then google more information
on these! This was in our house.

The Milky Way has been visible this month on clear nights

If anyone has traveled in West Africa, you know vehicles get abused. The roads are bad, vehicle maintenance is an afterthought, and respecting the vehicle load limits is absolutely neglected!

Here are a few pictures I submit as evidence of this.

Overloaded?

Not quite overloaded yet

Always room for more paying customers on the taxi

Okay, this isn't safe.

Local butcher shop

Spending some quality time with an old friend,
the boiler - for hospital sterilization.

One last thing... or maybe not.

We are pleased to announce that our house has been rented. Only in a way God could pull it all together, a missionary family from Thailand is going to live in our house until we are ready to come back in May 2019! We are once again blown away by how god puts everything together in just the perfect time, to satisfy his plan. We are pleased to be a part of it. Praise God for blessing us with these renters, and for providing them with a great spot to spend their time back home in Canada. A win-win situation!