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Goodbye Togo – 2008 Crowson Family Photo Album

May 16, 2010 By Murphy Crowson

The end of this "on the field" term is quickly coming to a close as our departure for furlough approaches. This was our fifth term in Africa and covered one year in Togo and 18 months in Rwanda. We put the "Goodbye Togo 2008 – Crowson Photo Album" together to give you a glimpse of our last year in West Africa and the special friendships and times that we shared there. I'm currently working on a "Hello Rwanda 2009 – Crowson Photo Album" which I hope to post sometime this coming week!

You can click this link to download the "Goodbye Togo 2008 – Crowson Photo Album" in pdf format. It's almost 18mb, so make sure you have a good internet connection. Also, it's best displayed in Adobe Acrobat 8 or higher viewing two pages at a time side by side. Enjoy:)

Here's an excerpt from the cover page of the photo album:

Our family moved to Benin, West Africa in 1998 and worked among the Aja for three and a half years. In 2002 we transitioned to Togo, the country just west of Benin and continued to minister to the Aja and began a ministry among the Watchi. Our years in West Africa were filled with challenges, victories, hardships as well as great times of joy as we experienced the power of God changing lives.

We love West Africa, it’s people, diverse cultures, tropical fruit, beautiful beaches, lively markets and at times even the heat! There will always be a special place in our hearts for this part of God’s beautiful world.

Filed Under: Christine, Featured, Murphy, Pictures, Prayer Answers, Stephen & Matthew, Watchi Tagged With: Agricultural Ministry, Christine, Church Planting, God's Creation, Matthew, Missions, Pictures, Stephen, Togo, Transition

Merry Christmas from the Crowsons!

December 24, 2009 By Murphy Crowson

This SlideShowPro photo gallery requires the Flash Player plugin and a web browser with JavaScript enabled.

Our family wishes you a very Merry Christmas this Holiday Season! May the Lord Jesus shine His Loving Light upon you and bless you in every way! To all of our family and friends in the States we want you to know that we love you and miss you and are thinking of you this Holiday Season!

We've had a fun week with four Xmas parties already and one to go! Monday we had a Christmas pancake supper and a visit from Santa (Thanks to Chris Shelby's parents for bringing over stocking goodies for all of the kids and for bringing "Santa"!). You will see pics of Stephen and Matthew with Santa in the slideshow.

Tuesday we made Christmas ornaments and had a party for Stephen and Matthew's neighborhood friends.

Wednesday we enjoyed hot chocolate, Christmas Carols and a White Elephant Gift Exchange. I was so glad to get rid of Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season 1. It was great when I was 7 years old! But now, 30+ years later, it's really cheesy…Heath was the lucky winner of that gift:) Enjoy brother… We also video taped our group singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". You'll see it in the slideshow. We do wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Today Christine and Stephen made homemade "York Peppermint Patties". Then she made Christmas Sausage Cheese Balls and is making Carmel Popcorn right now. It's a yummy Christmas!

Tomorrow we are going to have a "Progressive Christmas Dinner" with our teammates. We'll start with hors d'oeuvres @ 4pm at our house, then we'll head to the Shewmaker's house for the main meal followed by dessert at the Koonces (with another gift exchange—real ones this time). All are welcome!

Enjoy the pictures and video! We love you!

Filed Under: Christine, Murphy, Stephen & Matthew Tagged With: Christmas

Stephen Turns 11!

May 31, 2009 By Murphy Crowson

Today is Stephen's 11th Birthday! My how time has flown by! 11 years ago today Christine and I were in Quebec, Canada studying French at the University of Laval. Now, 11 years later we have a handsome young man in our family (and we are still studying languages!).

We celebrated his birthday yesterday with a mystery party with friends from team and school. Here's the invitation and a picture of "present opening". There are more pictures on our Pictures/Video Gallery page.

stephens11thbdayinvitation1

stephen11thbday-17

Filed Under: Rwanda, Stephen & Matthew Tagged With: Rwanda, Stephen

Crowson Family Picture

December 27, 2008 By Murphy Crowson

crowsonfamilypicxmas08-2.jpg

Filed Under: Christine, Murphy, Stephen & Matthew Tagged With: Family, Pictures

Matthew is much better!

December 27, 2008 By Murphy Crowson

Wow, thank you so much for your prayers. Matthew is like a new little boy today and feeling much better! The Lord is so good.

We are finished packing our bags and will soon head off to the airport. Please pray for a smooth check-in and safe flights.

See you on the other side…. :)

Filed Under: Murphy, Prayer Answers, Stephen & Matthew Tagged With: Matthew, Prayer

Prayers for Matthew

December 26, 2008 By Murphy Crowson

Happy Holidays everyone! We hope and pray that everyone is enjoying this Holiday season.

This is our last night in West Africa. Two weeks ago we said our final goodbyes to our Watchi friends in Togo and traveled to Ghana for some rest. We had a wonderful time at the beach in Elimina, Ghana and are now back in the capital of Accra where we are waiting for our flight tomorrow night to Kigali, Rwanda. We have been praying and planning for this day for so many years, it's hard to believe that it's finally here!

Today and tonight we ask for your special and specific prayers for Matthew. While we were at the beach he spent two days in bed due to a mild case of malaria. He is fully recovered from that now, praise the Lord.

Yesterday, however, his ear began to hurt and continues to hurt him even now. Either an infection or swimmer's ear. He is in so much pain that he has stayed in bed for two days now and is brought to tears every few hours when the tylenol wears off. Tonight is his second night with this pain. We started him on antibiotics this morning combined with ear drops and continue to give him pain medication.

Our flight leaves tomorrow (Saturday) night around 9pm Ghana time (3pm Texas time) and we are praying fervently that the Lord will completely heal him by then. An ear infection is no fun on a plane climbing to 25000 feet in the air.

So, please pray right now and through the day and tomorrow that the Lord would heal him and take away the pain.

Our trust is in the Lord God. He has abundantly blessed us ever step of this transition and we are waiting in hopeful expectation that He will heal Matthew.

Thank you for your prayers! God is listening and He is answering!

Filed Under: Murphy, Prayer Needs, Stephen & Matthew Tagged With: Matthew, Prayer

Somali Pirates

December 8, 2008 By Murphy Crowson

We came across an article in the news this weekend that put a new spin on our move to Rwanda and added another element to our prayers for God to bless our transition.

Somalian pirates have been attacking ships up and down the east coast of Africa. If the attack is successful they take the ships to a Somalian port and hold it for ransom.

Last week they attacked a container ship off the coast of Tanzania! That's where our container ship is headed to transfer the container to a truck to ship it to Kigali!

Here's the news article if you'd like to read it: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081207/ap_on_re_af/piracy_5

So the boys prayed this morning that pirates would not be able to attack and capture our container ship.

What an interesting twist to our transition! In all things may the Lord protect and guide us during this time!

Filed Under: Prayer Needs, Rwanda, Stephen & Matthew

Goodbye to Rachel and Emily

November 5, 2008 By Murphy Crowson

Today Rachel and Emily will leave West Africa to return to the States. It's been an amazing school year and we are SOOOOOOOOO thankful for their servant hearts and for the excellent job they have done teaching in our school. Our families will truly miss them!

Yesterday, just after we arrived in Accra, Ghana, Emily received an email giving her the opportunity to work at KICS (Kigali International Community School) in January. She quickly accepted this invitation and will be flying to Rwanda in January to begin working at KICS where our boys will go to school. This is VERY exciting for us as there will be a familiar face at the new school for our boys. Amy, one of our teachers last year, is already teaching at KICS making two familiar faces that our boys know well!

God has been so generous to us for so many years by providing so many amazing teachers as well as churches who have supported our school in Tabligbo. Lord I praise you and thank you!May the Lord watchi over Rachel and Emily today as they travel.

Filed Under: Murphy, Prayer Answers, Stephen & Matthew

Matthew’s foot ordeal…

November 1, 2008 By Murphy Crowson

Last week, while I was in Ghana taking the Howards back to the airport, Matthew had some drama at home…

The boys were swimming in our back yard and Matthew cut his foot on a rusty old pipe. The cut was deep and didn't bleed hardly at all (which at the time we thought was a good thing). Christine, the teachers and Koonces all helped at different time to clean the wound and bandage it up.

After looking at Matthew's shot record we discovered that he was overdue for his tetanus shot! His last one was at 18 months old. Christine called our doctor in Lome but he was on vacation. What to do….?

We asked a close friend who is a doctor for advise and he suggested that Matthew needed the treatment for tetanus as well as the vaccine.

After a lot of thought and advise we decided that the Koonces would bring Christine and the boys down to Lome to meet me as I returned from Ghana and then we would go to the Baptist Hospital in Kpalime where American doctors could look at his foot.

Their advice and suggestion was the same, give the treatment for tetanus along with the vaccination.  So Matthew got three shots that day (not something he welcomed with great excitement!).

All is well now and his foot in on the mend. The cut probably needed stitches to keep from scarring, but now he will look "tough" with his scar… Tough is cool, right?

While we were with the doctors he also gave us treatment for something we might have picked up in Mali while we were swimming in a waterfall called Schistosomiasis. We're all taking treatment now for it so all is well.

Thank you for praying for our safety. God has and continues to take good care of us.

Filed Under: Pictures, Prayer Answers, Stephen & Matthew

Stephen and Matthew coming to faith

October 13, 2008 By Murphy Crowson

My heart's desire as a father is for my children to give their lives wholeheartedly to their Creator. It has been exciting to watch Stephen and Matthew's faith grow over the years. Moreover, it's been neat to see how both of them came to the same decision to be baptized, but in different ways. Let me explain.

Stephen, my oldest, understood the reasons why Jesus died on the cross, why we need His blood to cleanse ours, why we needed to be baptized and what happens in that spiritual moment when we are buried with Christ. In his understanding, his motivation to be immersed into Jesus came from a desire to be obedient. To him it was a natural step as He grows in His faith and desire to listen and obey His Master.

For Matthew, although he understood all of the above, his journey to faith was more emotional. At night over the summer he would ask Christine, "Mom, sometimes I lie and do bad stuff. If I died tonight, would I go be with God?" Matthew, although only eight years old, had a conscience that knew right from wrong. He wanted to be with God and have his "bad stuff" washed away. For him, the motivating factor was finding forgiveness in Jesus because he was sad for the things he had done.

Two boys, two hearts, two paths to Jesus, One faith, One Lord.

Thank you Lord for bringing both my boys to faith in your Son. Guard and protect their hearts and continue to lead them down the path to You!

Filed Under: Murphy, Stephen & Matthew
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