Pray for Antoinette

Antoinette, our wonderful house helper, is leaving at 5:00 AM tomorrow morning to go to Tsiko, the Baptist Mission Hospital south of here. After a month or so of illness, her health continues to be a mystery to us and we ask that you join us in praying that the American doctors there can give her (and us!) some answers. Pray for health of safety of her three children that she is leaving at home.

Time for Survey

It's that time of the year again, time to pack up the trucks and head to Mali to survey the Dogon people. So what's a survey? Good question. A survey is a trip to learn more about the need for missionaries among a largely unreached people group. In addition, we take a look at the logistical aspects of missionary life: what's available, how much it costs, what the government requires of missionaries and so on and so forth. Survey trips have resulted in mission teams locating to many fields all over Africa and the world over the last 20 years. As I write, in fact, there is a team of 10+ students at Harding University who are making plans to live among and minister to the Dogon people, a direct result of survey trips to Dogon land that our team has been undertaking since 2004. This is the 3rd year that I have been involved, and it has been eye opening to say the least.Please pray for our safety. Anything can happen on trips like these, and it usually does, and we are asking God to go before us and make our paths straight, in the West African understanding of straight at least :) Pray also for April and the boys, as they we be without me for 10 days. I praise God for my family and the strength that they have that allows me to make these journeys. May the Kingdom expand as a result of our efforts!

Goodbye Eli

This morning Asiki came to us saying that one of the twins was in the hospital again. A few hours later, he returned to tell us that Eli had died. We are saddened of this news and are still trying to process it. There are mixed emotions running through us. This is not uncommon here for children to die before they are one yet is there something we could have done? We're thankful Eli was/is not Asiki's only child. As parents ourselves, it is never easy to watch someone lose a child. We are not clear what caused him to die, although, Asiki was saying he had "bad blood" again. It's possible that Eli had a problem that could not be handled here.

Our hearts are morning this loss...but know that Eli is no longer in pain. Pray with us for Asiki, his wife, and Elise (the other twin) as they mourn the loss of Eli. He would have turned one this month.

Pray For The Sick

We've been back in Kara for about two and a half weeks. During this time, it seems people we love are becoming sick. There are three people specifically we want to ask you to pray for:

• Antoinette, our houseworker, has been sick for almost two weeks. In the two years she has worked for us, I think she has missed work because of sickness three times. She went to the doctor who put her of medication for high blood pressure. Her daughter has been helping us at our house and I can tell she is concerned about her mother's health as well. Antoinette lost her husband years ago, if something happens to her, her three children will have no parents.
• Erik's wife, I don't know her name, is sick. I don't know anything other than Erik did not work today because he was taking her to the doctor.
  
• Eli and Elise, the twins, have been in the hospital. They were not eating. They are both doing better now, but I ask that you continue to pray for them to gain strength.
  

Through all of this we ask that you pray for our health and strength as well. Because life here is difficult physically, a simple headache can feel like an illness. We are thankful for each of our prayer warriors and praise God that you are in our lives.

Missing Home

Veronique's Visit

If you are a regular reader of our blog, you know about Veronique and her story of how she lost the ability to walk when she was a little girl. Just before we left Togo, she came to our home to share this excitement with us....

Veronique
Uploaded by emersonstogo

Together for Togo Updates

We now have less than two weeks until the 2009 Together for Togo conference! Much prayer and planning have gone into this conference, with much more to come in the next several days leading up to the big event. We want to update you on three things in this email. First, the deadline to register, second, an update on the registration costs for the conference, and third, the conference schedule.

We would like to ask everyone who plans to attend the conference to please register by this Sunday, March 29th. This is especially important if you will be needing housing during your stay in Montgomery, since we will need the week before the conference to make the final arrangements on where everyone will be housed. If you won't know until the very last moment whether or not you will be attending, registration will be available at the door when you arrive, but housing will not be available for late registrations. Please visit www.togetherfortogo.com and register today!

We would also like to announce an updated pricing schedule for the conference. Registration for the full conference weekend is $65 per adult and $10 per child to cover the cost of food and other expenses. However, if you can only attend a portion of the conference, pricing is as follows: $25 for Friday only (includes dinner), $35 for Saturday only (includes lunch and dinner), and $10 for any single session (Friday night, Saturday morning, Saturday evening) if you do not plan to eat with us for any meals. After registering at www.togetherfortogo.com, please make payment out to Grace Pointe Church of Christ, write 'Together for Togo' in the memo line, and mail it to Grace Pointe at 1565 Ray Thorington Rd., Montgomery, AL 36117. All funds will go directly towards the costs of putting on the conference.

We would also like to note that free housing will be provided for all out of town attendees. A big thank you to the members of the Grace Pointe and Vaughn Park churches for graciously offering their homes for the conference weekend.

Finally, we want to give everyone a heads up on the conference schedule. GracePointe will open it's doors on Friday, April 3rd at 4pm to begin the on site registration process, and the evening meal will be served at 6pm. At 7:15pm we will worship together and listen to a keynote speaker. On Saturday, April 4th, we will begin at 9am with worship time, followed by breakout classes and another keynote before lunch is served at 12pm. We will begin again at 2pm with more breakout classes which will continue until dinner is served at 6pm. We will have more worship time and a keynote speaker at 7:15pm before breaking for the evening at 9pm. On Sunday, GracePointe will have two services, at 8:00am and 10:15am, with combined adult classes in between. We look forward to sharing in these special times with everyone!

Please visit www.togetherfortogo.com today to register for the conference. We continue to ask that you be in prayer for the success of the conference and that God would be glorified as we gather to celebrate the advancement of His Kingdom in the tiny country of Togo. God bless you!