19 Years

Thank you for praying for our family trip to Togo last week. The Lord heard your prayers and blessed us with a challenging but encouraging visit. The challenging part was sickness as Stephen had fever with vomiting during both flights to Lomé. After a day of rest in Lomé though he was better. Christine came down with the same virus on Wednesday but persevered through it and we all made it to the end exhausted but healthy!

The picture above is our family with Christians from the Batoé church. Our time in Togo was so special, and yet so short! We met with and greeted Christians from eleven different churches and still didn’t get to see even half of everyone that we wanted to! Nevertheless, we were encouraged to see faith stirring in people’s hearts as they live their lives in service to their Creator. God is alive and working among the Watchi and our prayers of many years are still being answered. Praise God for His faithfulness!

Da Emily: Da Emily, pictured above with our family, was the house worker at the teacher house (after she worked for the Bunners for several years). Since our departure she’s been working in an orphanage taking care of 22 boys! Her faith was strong and she is doing well.

As well, we had traditional “fufu” with Papa Kofi and Da Adjo. Kofi is one of the elders in the Tabligbo Church. They are doing well and were surprised to see us!

Fo Yao: We were also able to visit Fo Yao (pictured above). He was our house worker all of the seven years we were in Togo and was Matthew’s best Togolese buddy! The boys prayed over him at his house. His son, Moses (pictured left of Matthew) is getting to be a big boy. It was good to see Yao doing well. This was one of the trip highlights for Matthew!

Photo and Video Gallery {Pictures and Video from our Trip}

 

Sedomé/Batoé Church and Denni Situation

Sedomé Church: When a leader falls, it brings shame and discouragement to the Christians. This is certainly the case in Sedomé. The shame and discouragement was so great that many refused to come to worship for weeks after the whole thing blew up! Others in the village hurled insults and ridicule at them and their shame and embarrassment was great! Even in spite of the challenges the Christians were facing, I found them strong and encouraged. Most, if not all of the Christians have returned. In fact, one man told me that there’s a small revival taking place as those who used to be luke-warm are taking their faith more seriously! Pictured above is Akossiwano giving a testimony during worship of how God blessed the birth of her seventh child! We praise God who is turning a terrible situation into a blessing! Only He can do that!

Report on Denni: Thank you for praying for the difficult situation with Denni. The Lord answered your prayers and we experienced some amazing things. (Pictured above are the boys and myself after the meeting with Denni just before a yummy lunch of beans, dried cassava and oil. The woman smiling is Denni’s wife, faithful to Jesus even in spite of her husband’s sin!).

First, I didn’t even expect Denni to be in Sedomé the weekend that we were planning to visit. Normally, if someone knows that a “confrontation” is coming they would make themselves scarce. So when Denni showed up at church during my lesson Sunday morning, I was surprised!

The lesson I planned aimed at accomplishing two goals: Confronting him publicly/directly about his sin as well as encouraging the faithful Christians that the way of the righteous will stand forever while the way of the wicked will perish. Again, to my surprise, Denni stayed through the entire lesson (I expected him to get up and walk out).

After worship the men were asked to stay to discuss something important. Again, I expected him to leave, but he stayed. For the next three hours we had a huge discussion concerning his actions, sin and consequences not only for himself but also for his family and the faithful Christians in the Sedomé church. The Holy Spirit moved all of the leaders to share, confront and even offer forgiveness. Everything that I could have ever dreamed or prayed to be said was said. No stone was left unturned.

Rather than argue or point his finger back at the other men, Denni sat quietly with shame written on his face and listened to every word. Towards the end I could see tears dropping on his forearms and then his hands began to shake. I felt moved to pray so I got down on my knees, looked him in the eye, told him I loved him, and then prayed that God would give him the strength to repent and return to Jesus. He sobbed for more than 20 minutes as we prayed.

The day could not have been planned more perfectly. The words could not have been articulated more powerfully. The leaders could not have been more unified. Denni’s heart could not have been more broken. Mighty prayers were answered.

Denni left with his head hung low and then we had a meal with the rest of the Sedomé men and leaders. Whether Denni will repent and restore fellowship with Jesus and the church is left to be determined. I pray that God will give him the strength to do just that. Even if he doesn’t though, the Word of God was victorious as the men and women of the church held fast in obeying Jesus’ words in Matt. 18:17 to have the church as a whole confront him and make his choices clear. I saw courage and determination in the hearts and faces of the rest of the Christians there to stand up for what is right and to say the things they had to say no matter how difficult or complicated the situation.

Thank you again for your prayers. God listened and He answered. Let us continue on in prayer for Denni, that he would find his way again!

Night in Batoé: After our time in Sedomé, we drove to Batoé, a village located by the Mono River to spend the evening/night with them. They had swept, cleaned and prepared a whole private compound just for us, complete with our own private bathing area, bathroom and courtyard! It was soooo hot, we slept outside under mosquito nets (pictured above). They were prepared for us to stay for more than three days and were disappointed when we said we would only be there two days and one night:( This was the boys first night to stay in the village like this. Afterwards, Stephen commented that “life in Africa is hard”.

Our time was spent “listening and counseling” Christians and Leaders as they came one by one and in groups to update us on how they are doing. One woman, Doneno, especially needs our prayers. Her husband (a lifetime alcoholic) had a fight with the church leader’s mother in January. During their “spat” the women called out to the “gods” in desperation (the woman denies that she did this). A few days later he became very ill. As he grew sicker and sicker, he began telling everyone that this woman had put a curse on him and that’s why he was sick and dying. His last conversations were filled with these accusations. After five days of sickness, he passed away. The accused woman fled the village in fear that she would be harmed or killed (what they often do to people accused of sorcery). The woman returned a few weeks before our visit and the whole village and Christians are afraid of her. In fact, when she came to worship on Sunday, the rest of the Christians refused to come. Finally, the woman’s son, the leader of the church there, confronted his mother and told her to stop coming to church. Now the Christians are worshiping together again.

Doneno, a Christian, came to me discouraged, frustrated, angry and in need. Her husband is gone and she’s left to take care of the six children on her own. Also, it’s important to know that these women (Doneno and the accused church leader’s mother) live within 100 feet of each other and see each other everyday. The situation is very sad because there’s no way to know the real truth. As the man passed away, he left his own curse on the church and village with his accusations… words that can’t be confirmed as truth or denied as lies.

No matter what the true is, the answer is for Doneno (and the rest of the village) to forgive, love and pray for their enemies.

While I spent time listening and counseling Christians in Batoé, Christine walked three miles with Christian ladies from Batoé to visit the Agodeke Christians (with temperatures in the low 100′s)! Since our departure the men and would-be leaders in this church have either died of sickness, left the church or left the village. There are 12 women however who are still faithful to Jesus. One of the women knows how to read. So on Sundays, they all come together to sing, pray and the reader will read from the Bible. They’ve been doing this on their own for over a year now. What faithfulness! They were encouraged by Christine’s visit (as was Christine)!

Adangbe, Literacy and the Ag Mission Farm

Kpotonou: On Tuesday, we visited the Kpotonou Christians in Adangbe. I was encouraged to hear that Dzo and Massan (pictured above at their home) had started a new church that meets in the school house close to their village. Three people were baptized last year, one of them being a voodoosi (wife of a voodoo idol/spirit). Dzo and Mawuko, the other church leader in Kpotonou, have never gotten along really well and I think that’s what prompted the beginning of a new church. A Barnabas/Paul type situation where the men went their separate ways. It’s not my favorite way to begin a new church, but nevertheless, new people are coming into the Kingdom. We found the Christians in Kpotonou unified and encouraged.

Evé Literacy: Earlier this year, Minen, the wife of Laté our Agricultural Missionary among the Watchi, began a literacy class with Christian women in Adangbe. Literacy has been a huge issue, especially among women, and is a huge need in the Churches. Christine was able to attend one of the classes (pictured above) as a dozen or so women gathered together to learn how to read. One thing we are super excited about is that Minen is using the same literacy materials in Evé that we are using in English and Kinyarwanda in Rwanda! The literacy teaching process was developed by Literacy International and then their staff worked in the local languages to put together the primers for teaching. In fact, this past week, Christine had her first Kinyarwanda Literacy lesson with a Rwandan woman who wants to be able to read her Bible. The lessons and process are the same, no matter what language they are using! Exciting!

While Christine attended the literacy class, I met with church leaders from three churches in Adangbe. Some are content with the way things are and aren’t really looking to grow or make disciples. Others are frustrated by their failed efforts to plant new churches and stopped trying in their discouragement. Still others are working even now in four different villages to make disciples and bring families to faith. We talked for three hours about the need to keep trying even though past experiences have been challenging and unsuccessful. Sometimes, they need to change their methods. Other times, they just need to keep trying, washing the dust off their feet in unreceptive villages while praying for and seeking people and villages of peace who are seeking God. I pray that they will not give up, but continue to do the work of evangelism and church planting, as it is our Lord’s command to continue to make disciples. My words during this trip were much more challenging than ever before. So much so, that some are probably wondering if this is the same Murphy who worked with them before!

Ag Mission Farm: One of the highlights of my visits back to Togo is always a visit to the Agricultural Mission Farm. When we left Togo two years ago, we took the money from the sale of our old Prado (may it rest in peace) and bought 40 acres of land to begin a mission farm. Since that time Laté and a team of other workers (Yohaness, Emmanuel and Kossi are pictured above working with the Mission Farm’s 2-wheel tractor) have been clearing, plowing and planting season after season. The main goals of the mission farm include providing a place where Watchi farmers, church leaders and other Christians can come to “see” new agricultural techniques and crops that they can use and plant in their own farms to increase productivity of their land as well as generate more income for their families and churches. As well, another dream is for the farm to produce income for ongoing and future development and ministry projects that the Lord will lead us to in the future. Funds for Watchi Development will be generated in Watchiland! 100% sustainability is our goal! Likewise, the Ag Ministry will provide us a ministry that we can use to serve others in new villages as we search for people and families of peace. We call this an “Access Ministry”.

One of the main crops on the mission farm is pineapple (of course!) Stephen and Matthew are pictured above with Yohaness each holding a 10 pound organic pineapple! Yummmmmmm, we ate them on the spot and they were delicious! We praise God for pineapples. This year the farm will have it’s first major harvest of pineapples and we are expecting 5-10 tons! As well, we are planting teak trees, corn, peanuts, cassava and have a plan to raise goats, chickens and plant tomatoes in the dry season. The farm currently needs a water well to do these last few projects. If you are interested in helping with that, let me know!

We praise God for the Agricultural Ministry and most especially for Laté and Minen Lawson (Laté is pictured left showing us two huge pineapples. Their hearts of service, integrity and passion to disciple others are constant sources of encouragement to us. We also praise God for the blessing that He has placed upon the farm as we see the land producing more that we expected. Many people are and will continue to be blessed through this ministry. Families are becoming economically stable. Jobs are being created. School fees are being paid. Access Ministries are being developed. A foundation for future development and ministry funding is being laid. Hope is replacing despair. All in the name of Jesus! Praise God!