Going to new fields?

Agbozume, Ghana

1930 local time

This day has been full of opportunities!  We travelled across the  border into Togo this morning.  While crossing proved to be fairly easy, it was not completely free of frustration.  Our team left the hotel around 900 and rode the 45 minutes to the border crossing.  Once we had cleared the Ghana customs office we walked the 100 yards or so to the immigration office at the Togo border.  Since done of us had the required Togolese visa, we had to negotiate our way into permission to enter the country.  After a bit of clever conversation (and $100USD) we were able to obtain the necessary legal stamps and signatures on the pages of our passports.  From here we rode the 20 minutes to our planned meeting point. Here we met both Rev. Bright and Brother Happy.  What about that? It was a Bright and Happy day. Both of these men are proving to be necessary parts of our potential future ministry inside Togo.

Pastor Bright has been working alongside our GEM teams for the past three years.  We first met him when his mother was attended to by Dr. David Ney on our first dental project in Ghana in 2008.  Once his woman was ministered to by our dental ministry she informed her son who came (during that very project) to thank us for our service.  Once he showed up then, he has been with us on every project since that time.  He has watched our ministry, joined us in set-up and tear-down of the film crusades and has even translated in some of our schools.  Over the course of the six projects (2 per year for three years) he has been praying that GEM would begin a similar work in his home country of Togo.  Today, it seems, we took our first step toward this dream.  He had arranged a meeting with a group of 10 pastors/evangelists who have a heart to move from the traditional church settings into the rural evangelistic work that GEM conducts.  I found a strange love building in my heart for each of these people.  The looks in their eyes said it all.  My only concern is that they want to begin this work immediately.  As I met with them both Jeff and I repeated reminded them that the ministry must begin small and allow God whatever He chose to do in His time.  I can hardly wait to see what our Father is going to do in this new place of ministry.

Brother Happy is a man I had only heard of yesterday.  Apparently he is a friend and colleague of Bill and Judy McCall from Mooresville, NC.  These former missionaries to Togo knew this brother and thought that it would be a good idea for our paths to cross.  After a brief meeting with this brother I can begin to see that perhaps God is doing something else wonderful in our lives.  I am thankful for friends like the McCalls who read our updates and pray regularly for us.

This upcoming week promises to be another filled with excitement and ministry.  Please continue to pray that we will have the strength to do all that this project has planned for us.