Truck and Driver and Baby Update

We want to let everyone know that we are doing some better. My teammates here in Togo would surely tell you that I'm still not myself, but I have been comforted so much by your words of encouragement and your prayers for us. April and I feel so blessed to have so many amazing friends and family...

Abalo, the driver, is home from the hospital. I visited him each of the last two days in his home. Now that he is better, it is VERY difficult to be around him. God is teaching me so much about forgiveness and grace. If I can't give it to Abalo, how can I receive it from my God? However, my human nature is not easily suppressed, so while needing to forgive and give grace is the spiritual reality, it is not that simple when you add my flesh to the equation. Pray for April and me. Ask God to overwhelm us with the grace and forgiveness we have received from him, and the spiritual strength to give the same to Abalo.

The first trip to Abalo's house was to get his first hand account of the story. I asked Matt to go with me to help me with communication and to make sure I kept my cool, and the visit ended up going ok. There are huge holes in his story, and while I''m not willing to call him a liar, I will at least say that he is probably confused on some of the details :) He was, however, apologetic. He actually thanked me for saving his life and for coming to visit him in the hospital. I thought the "saving my life" line was a little dramatic, but then he explained that he was in pretty bad shape at one point and the money we gave his family to buy him meds was pretty crucial.

The next day I brought the police to his house to get his information and a statement so they could finish their report. Now listen carefully to what I'm going to say hear: Under normal circumstances, I take no pleasure in cruelly scaring other people or making them just about wet their pants with fear, but I have to be totally honest here and admit that it was a guilty pleasure for me to watch Abalo squirm and twitch when the two policemen walked into his home with their full military garb on. Maybe God granted me that pleasure, who knows :)

We also found out that the truck is semi-salvageable. We did not have full coverage insurance since it costs about $10,000 a year, but we will be able to get about $8,000 - $10,000 out of it to put towards a new truck. Which means we still have lots of praying to do, but we feel blessed to have our amount needed cut from $40,000 to about $30,000. The truck is now resting in our garage, awaiting a mechanic from Lome' to come and assess the damage and see what we can get out of it...

And now, the baby update. Prell has been almost completely off of her feet for several days now, and the contractions seemed to have lessened. However, we are taking no chances with this little life, and we are leaving tomorrow for Accra to wait for the baby. Please pray that this little one will stay inside for a few more weeks....

While in Accra, we will be able to communicate regularly and would love to talk with you. You can reach us by calling 334-239-3109, a stateside number that goes right to our computer. It costs you only what it normally would cost you to call Montgomery, Alabama. Thanks so much to everyone for continuing to bless us. Please know that we are doing better and that God is sustaining us. I am personally clinging to this verse in Psalms, Ch. 65 vs. 5:

"You faithfully answer our prayers with awesome deeds, O God our savior.You are the hope of everyone on earth, even those who sail on distant seas." NLT

May it be so!

Here is a pic from the last trip my truck ever took to a village here in Kabiyeland. Thanks be to God for blessing us with this truck, even if it was for a short time...