Brett Surveys Southern Sudan

One of the wonderful opportunities we have here in Africa is being a part of exploring un-churched areas. Often there are people who are willing to be missionaries but don't know where there's a need. Brett, Matt, and 6 other students from Harding University are currently in the middle of a survey trip of Southern Sudan. You can read more information about the country of Sudan by clicking here. Now before anyone starts asking, "Isn't there a lot of unrest in Sudan?" I'll put your minds to rest. Yes, there is unrest in parts of Sudan...Northern Sudan, and as you can see from the map of North Africa, Sudan is HUGE. Brett and Matt assured their wives they would be no where near the areas of unrest.


I have been able to talk to Brett a few short times. The only things I know are that everyone is doing well (praise God), he is ready to come home and see his family while at the same time really enjoying the trip, God is guiding their steps and opening doors for them to find lots of information about the people there, and the Africans there are really tall (6 ft.).


They will return to Kara on August 11th. Please be praying for their safety and that God would continue to guide their steps so that His Word can be spread to another part of the world.

Pray for the Kabiye Children

Village Football (or soccer if you prefer)

Recently Brett has had several chances to head out to villages to practice his Kabiye speaking and comprehension. A great way to do this is to bring a football; not a pigskin, but the kind that you actually use your feet with :)

Kicking the ball around, asking how to say a word or phrase, drawing pictures in the dirt, laughing and forming new relationships is a huge part of our work here right now. With Brett making further strides in his Kabiye, we are moving ever closer to the ultimate purpose that God called us here for: the gift of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Kabiye people!

**Brett is pictured here with people from the village of Pou as well as 3 of our summer interns**

Our Prayer Picture

Normally, we would have a ton of these printed and sent to all our loving supporters. However, since we'll be adding a new little guy to our family in just a few months, we decided to wait until he is born. We will have a new picture for everyone during our next furlough, April 2008. If you simply cannot wait until then (ahem, grandparents) feel free to have this image printed at your local Sam's or WalMart. Click on the image to enlarge it before saving it to your computer.

And for those that are counting....this is post #200 on this blog.

Update on Brett

Just in case you were wondering....I've talked with Brett several times during their survey trip to Burkina Faso, Mali, and Northern Togo. The guys bought a phone chip for one of their cell phones and have been sharing the cost to communicate with their wives and children. It's been great! Even though we don't get to talk very long, it's always good to hear each other's voices and know everyone is o.k.

They've had some good interviews with people in Mali and are on their way back through Burkina Faso. I'm anxious to hear all the different stories about people they encountered. Please be praying for Brett's strength. They haven't had good rest at night and then he has been driving his group around all day. So often we get sick when our bodies are too tired, please pray for his health as well.

We've made it half way through our time apart from Daddy and Caden seems to be taking it well. Although, I can tell he's a bit confused when we look at pictures of Brett. His first reaction is pure delight and he points and says, "Dada" and then his face turns serious like he's realizing he hasn't seen his Daddy in awhile. Thank you for all your prayers and your support!

Happy 4th of July

...from our family to yours...

Blessings Of The Land

When we moved into our house back in March, this is what our yard looked like. Very depressing, don't you think?First, we had to find better soil to grow grass and plants in. In this picture you can see piles of "bonne terre" (good earth) that was then spread to cover our entire yard as well as a few small plants. I was dreaming of the day Caden could run and play in our yard...
With all the rain we've been having and help of our day guard pulling weeds for us, this is what God has now blessed us with. And yes, my son loves to run all over the yard, as well as my husband!

You can also see in the pictures our three growing trees at that end of the yard. Starting from the left: Frongi Pongi (I think this is the name), Mango, and Banana. The banana tree has impressed us the most with it's huge leaves that seem to appear new every day. Caden loves bananas and we are all looking forward to the day we can simply pick one off our tree to eat.

It wasn't until I looked at all three of these picture together that I realize how much our yard had changed in just four months. I am so thankful for the blessings God gives us through His creation. Sometimes, I sit on the porch in amazement to what God has blessed us with here in Togo. It's the small things like a pretty yard that remind me how much He cares for me and desires to take care of me.

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a sigle hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousess, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow ill worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
Matthew 6:25-34

Learning More About God's Kingdom

Last week we had an opportunity to help out a local Kabiye lady named Evangelique. She is bound to this hand-powered tricycle because of a bout with polio early in her life. She made the effort to make the trek down about 1/2 mile of bumpy dirt road to our home to ask for help. She has an open and badly infected sore on her foot that is causing her alot of pain. She needed some money for meds, and while we were not able to help her with everything that she needed, we were able to bless her in Jesus' name. To show her appreciation, she returned to our house about a week later. Our fleshly instinct was to assume that she was there to ask for more money, but God humbled us when she simply dropped by to say, "Thank you and God bless you."
Please pray for Evangelique. She is a sweet spirit who courageously faces a difficult life each and every day. May God bless our friendship with her, and may He continue to teach us about His kingdom through encounters with sweet Kabiye people like our friend Evangelique.

Pray For The Interns

All the interns were dropped off in different villages this morning to begin their bonding weekend. Each one will live with a Christian family for two nights. I think there were probably lots of emotions this morning: excitement, fear, curiosity, anxiety, and everything else in between. I remember my bonding experience being a difficult one but also one I gained a lot of confidence from in trusting God when I had no one else (Brett and I bonded in different villages). Please pray for our 12 interns...that God would give them spiritual eyes to see things in a place where they may not understand anything that is going on, that God would give them the peace that only HE can provide, and that their hearts and minds would be open to specific things God may be trying to teach them during this exciting yet difficult experience.

You may remember an earlier post about learning to make soap. Several of the interns took supplies with them to teach their host families how to make soap. Our teammate, Becky, wrote a post on her blog about the learning experience you can read it by clicking HERE.

Our Team

Click on the picture for a larger image.

Ever wondered, "now who is Matt Miller?" or "who does Caleb belong to again?"... now you know. I hope this picture will help you put faces to all the names we mention in our letters and blog posts.

(Children are listed by age, not position in picture.)

Soumdina Po Wayi

Soumdina Worship
Uploaded by emersonstogo

Here is a short video of our worship time today in the village of Soumdina Po Wayi. SPW is a vibrant church that is full of enthusiasm and loves to praise God in song. The white girls in the background are 4 of our 12 college interns from Harding University. They have been a blessing to everyone that they have encountered so far in their 2 weeks living and working among us. Praise God that He is forwarding His Kingdom through the young Kabiye Christians in Soumdina Po Wayi and the young college interns who have a passion for world missions!

Africa Moment #6

What better way to start your morning than with slimy choclate seafood? Who can resist buyng chocolate clams from an exotic green bird in a tuxedo? How far will generic brand name cereals go to sell a few boxes? Hey, at least they threw in 8 vitamins...

Don't Take Water for Granted!

This picture shows Jonas the plumber and Adam the eletrician hunkered over the pump in our yard that brings water to our house. They are trying to fix the little machine that is causing us big problems. We have been without water sporadically for the last few months in our new home, and we finally think that we might have found the source of the problem. Please pray for our water situation!

Depsite the water troubles, everything is going quite well. The 12 interns from Harding University have arrived and are getting acclimated to life here. It is fun to watch them experience Togo and get excited about all of the little things that we take for granted, like lizards everywhere! We are very thankful that God is using them to help us see things from a fresh and different perspective once again!

More Car Troubles

I received a call from Brett this morning. They had left Ghana and were in Togo when they had car trouble. Several of the missionaries here in Togo that have Toyota Prados have had a tire completely fall off the car. Well, it happened to Brett today with a car full of interns. They are all safe and Brett sounded very calm and "oh well, that's Africa for ya" on the phone. I'm sure for the interns it was a nice welcome to Africa cultural experience. Please be praying the car is fixed and will hold for another month until our new truck arrives.

April's 1st Village Visit

Last week Becky Reeves invited me to join in going to the ladies out in Soumdina Po Wayi. I was excited for the opportunity because they were going to be teaching her how to make soap. Becky is doing a series of lessons on cleanliness. When she discovered during her last visit that some of the ladies knew how to make soap, she asked them to teach her. Becky had planned on teaching a lesson about clean water in addition to the story of the woman at the well....but as is typical in Africa, things don't always go as planned. The lady that seems to be in charge was in another village visiting her sick brother, therefore, no one was there to teach us to make soap or to hear the lesson. We did, however, schedule a time to return in a few weeks to learn how to make soap (and share the lesson). We're looking foward to bringing some of the interns with us. Our hope is that the interns can each teach their host families during bonding how to make soap, as so few Kabiye people know how to make, or have access to, soap in the villages.

Africa Moment #5

He gets His toes from another farm just down the road...

(or add your own caption!)

I Am a Child in Togo

Here is a little piece that Brett wrote for part of the Mission Weekend program. It was read at the Saturday night worship service as we focused on having compassion for the children of Guatemala and Togo. Thanks to Laura Plunkett for reading it with such passion and feeling!

I Am a Child in Togo

I am a child in Togo
I am a 10 year old girl
Today I woke up one hour before the sunrise to begin my chores
I fed the goats, swept the floor, cleaned the pots, and got water from the river
I did all of these things with my infant brother strapped to my back

I am a child in Togo
After I did my chores, I ate breakfast
Breakfast was some left over bean cakes and a glass of dirty river water
The same thing I eat every single day

I am a child in Togo
After breakfast I said goodbye to my oldest brother who was leaving for school
I don’t get to go to school because my family can’t afford to send me and they need me to work
I desperately want to go to school
But I never will

I am a child in Togo
I spend my morning working in the fields, planting seeds and pulling weeds
By mid-morning it is 100 degrees and there is no shade for me to work in
The work is hard, and I am tired

I am a child in Togo
When I finish in the fields I eat lunch
Rice and beans
The same thing I eat every single day

I am a child in Togo
After lunch I get to play some with the other kids my age who don’t go to school
We kick around a soccer ball made from twigs and leaves
We climb a tree
We chase the goats
I wish I had some toys to play with


I am a child in Togo
I want to keep playing with my friends
But my mother says it’s time to prepare dinner
I only got to play for 1 hour
And now I have to strap my baby brother to my back and do more work

I am a child in Togo
My mother sends me to the river to get water
The river is a mile away
And I have to go 3 times

I am a child in Togo
After I get the water, I pound some corn into powder
It takes me an hour to pound enough for my family
The work is hard, and I am tired

I am a child in Togo
It is almost dark and dinner is ready
I eat outside the house with my 7 brothers and sisters
Corn mush and spicy sauce
The same thing I eat every single day

I am a child in Togo
After dinner I am ready to sleep
Morning will be here soon, and I am tired
Tomorrow will be exactly the same as today
Because I am a child in Togo

WAMR

Our return to Africa started off with a bang at the West Africa Missionary Retreat. This is an annual gathering of Church of Christ and Christian Church missionaries from all over West Africa. This year we had representatives from Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, and Burkina Faso.

The idea of WAMR (pronounced WAMMER) is to be a time of refreshing and encouragment from the Lord for everyone, a break from the daily grind of life and ministry in West Africa. This year's speaker was Joe McReynolds from Atlanta, GA. He blessed us with many truths about God's character and who He wants us to be in repsonse to who He is. Papa Joe has countless stories of God working in his life and the lives of those around him in amazing ways. Thank you Joe for filling us up with Truth and encouraging us all to become more like our Maker!

Here is a pic of all of the missionary families who attended WAMR this year. It was a great group, and we all enjoyed worshipping and fellowshipping together. Praise God for what He is doing among us and through us, and may all of us working for Him in West Africa be fruitful and full of His Spirit!

The Emersons's Journey Back to Africa

So I just realized that we should probably change the title on our blog...because Africa is now home for us. After being in the States for three weeks, we were ready to be home again. Brett's mom says home is where your heart is; Brett says it's where your stuff is. Well, Africa is where our hearts and stuff are. So yes, we are home. We are thankful for a safe trip and thankful that all of our bags have arrived (even if it took 2 days). Thank you to everyone that has been praying about our travels. We enjoyed every minute with each of you that the Lord blessed us with.

If you don't read our family blog, then you might not know that we are expecting baby #2 around December 3rd. Please join us in prayer as we make the decision of where the baby will be born. We will keep you updated with info. about the pregnancy on the family blog: http://theemersonfamily.blogspot.com

All Church Retreat Worship Time

2007_ACR 2
Uploaded by emersonstogo

This year's All-Church Retreat was a great success! Kabiye Christians from all over the region descended on the village of Soumdina Po Wayi for 2 days of worship, teaching, and fellowship. We were blessed by their enthusiasm and passion, and we thank God that He is building up His kingdom among the Kabiye!

Welcome to Our Togo Life!

Emerson_Togo_Life
Uploaded by emersonstogo

Here's a small glimpse of our daily life in Togo...you'll have to come visit to get the big picture!

April The Chef

My kitchen skills are improving and I'm gaining confidence as the chef for our family. Yes, those are elephants on the top of my chicken potpie. Just to give you a little idea what went into this meal...here's the way it works: First, have houseworker make pie crusts. Secondly, cook entire chicken, wait for it to cook, wait for it to cool, pull the chicken off the bones and cut into bite sized pieces. Next, follow recipe from cookbook (I actually bought frozen peas and carrots in Ghana) - oh but wait, you can use the water that you boiled the chicken in for the can of chicken broth the recipe calls for so don't throw out the water when the chicken is done. In fact, put the rest of the "chicken water" in containers and freeze it for future recipes. After all that's done and you're sweating because the oven and the stove have completely taken over any cool air in your kitchen (remember, no AC in the kitchen...I'm sure some of you remember days like these), you wait for your masterpiece to become golden in color. Then you grab your bottles of pop, bottle opener, and enjoy a yummy dinner with your family.

This is the house that Brett built.

Yes, this is the petite maison (little house) that Brett built for our air conditioner that keeps our bedroom cool at night. It is a split unit and the outside part sits on the rood exposed to all sorts of weather conditions (ok, mostly just heat and rain). Now our little AC has a shady place to rest during the day and a dry place to enjoy during the rainy season. I think AC is going to be very happy here.

THANK YOU!!!

Thank you to everyone that sent us packages around Valentine's day...they all arrived this week! We were blessed in abundance with real Mac n' cheese, gatorade, cake and cookie mixes, toddler snacks, candy, lotions, magazines, and toys. The best part was they were all surprises, we didn't know anyone was sending us packages. Thanks to everyone who contributed items or helped ship the boxes to us. We are truly blessed to have people who love us like family!

Africa Moment #4

Enough said...

It's All In The House!

Sorry for the delayed post...we've been without internet for a day or so.

Here's some pictures from the unloading process that began at 7 AM Monday morning: Yes, they really carried most of the boxes on their heads like this!

This was the last item...and it was only 7:45!
Lots of work ahead of us.
Our houseworker, Antionette, was just as excited as we were.

It's Here!!!

The container is just sittin' out in front of our house, waiting to have it's treasures revealed. It's going to be hard to sleep tonight knowing that a big metal Christmas present is waiting for us in the morning...

Container Update

I'm back from Lome' after a meeting with the man who is handling the import of our container. It was a good meeting overall, and I learned that the container is going to be up here in Kara this weekend, probably on Saturday. This means that we can start getting settled in and moving towards a more normal life, and for that we are thankful!

The bad news is that we are going to have to pay alot more money for the container than we originally thought. The contents of our container have a declared value of about $6,500, and as a registered church organization, we are required to pay only a 10% import tax (it's normally 25% for household goods). HOWEVER, the Togolese government very recently passed a law declaring that all 20 foot containers like ours automatically have a value of $30,000, even if it's filled with nothing but toilet paper. Bummer for us! If you do the math, you can see that this new law changes our bill drastically. They made the change because a missions organization, which shall remain nameless, tried to claim that their container was only worth $30,000 and the Lome' Port Authority later found out that it was worth well over $100,000. Needless to say, this did not make them happy. Thanks guys!

So we are going to be very hard pressed to come up with the cash we need to pay the customs agents when they arrive in Kara this weekend, but we will begin praying that God will continue to provide, and we would ask that everyone please pray with us...

Our Container

PRAISE GOD!!! We found out today that our container has arrived in Togo. It will still be several days (maybe weeks) before we can get it out of the port up and up to us in Kara. Join us in praying for that process as it can sometimes be a difficult one. Brett will be driving down to Lome (the capital) to begin that work sometime this next week.

Nestor Revisited

In my previous post about my friend Nestor from the village of Legue Legue, I talked about how I looked forward to spending more time with him. God has provided in the form of bi-weekly teaching trips to Legue with David Reeves, one of our teammates here in Kara.

Nestor's health seems to be declining; he has a leg injury that gives him alot of pain, and he seems to be very low on energy. I took him some ibuprofen for his leg 2 weeks ago, and he was glad to receive it, but I could tell that he is discouraged by his current state of health.

Nestor's wife is a Christian, and she comes to all of the teaching times we have. Today I had David ask her in Kabiye (she doesn't speak French) if Nestor would come to the teaching times if they were closer, and she said yes. For our next visit, I hope to encourage David to move the meeting somewhere closer to Nestor's house since he doesn't have much use of his legs. He has been a nominal Christian since the beginning, but the Spirit tells me that he can be much more if he is shown more love and more attention is given to his problems.

Don't get me wrong; Nestor is a very needy person who can often be manipulative and sneaky in trying to get what he wants, but I just can't help it. My heart is full of compassion for him! I want him to know God in a way that is intimate and more than just a one way, "God what can you do for me and my problems?" relationship.

Please pray for Nestor and the rest of the village of Legue Legue. They are a struggling church, and they need God's Spirit to encourage them and bring them into deeper relationship with the Almighty. They may be hard to love at times, but that just means we need to love them that much more. Love knows no boundaries, no limits, and it does not play favorites. I commit to try and love Nestor and the people of Legue Legue just as God has loved me...

Africa Moment #3

I wonder what the going rate for Jesus is these days...probably out of our price range...

France to Africa

France to Africa
Uploaded by emersonstogo

Here is a short video of our travels from France to Togo. This is just a brief summary; a full length video would be much more eventful!

Village of Hope

Yesterday we spent the day at the Village of Hope, a Church of Christ organization about an hour outside of Accra, Ghana. It's known mostly as an orphanage, but they also have other thriving ministries, including a K-9 school (soon to be K-12) and a medical clinic. We first met Fred Asare, the director of VOH, in Montgomery last year when he and his wife Faustina were on a fundraising trip. They are wonderful people and perfect for the roles that God has called them to. We also got to finally meet Tommy Drinnen, who we had been just missing crossing paths with for some time now. He is a great guy, and that assessment was only enhanced when he loaned us the first four seasons of "24" on DVD! Caden got to spend some time with the kids in the 2 and 3 year old classes at the school. He jumped right in and started playing blocks with the 2 year olds. They were fascinated by his white skin and smiley face, and a good time was had by all.We look forward to continuing our relationship with the great people at Village of Hope. Having them down near Accra gives us more friends close by, and it makes West Africa feel just a little bit smaller...

Africa Moment #2 (We think there might be alot of these to come...)

Tonight our night guardian stormed into our bathroom (at our request) and bludgeoned a cute but intolerable mouse to death with the toilet brush. Then he laughed, accepted our thanks, and took the mouse outside. We are consciously choosing not to speculate as to what he might have done with it after that...

Africa Moment #1

Today I had to shoo away 7 head of sheep who were grazing near the front door of the post office before I could check my mail...

Just a Friendly Reminder...

...to pray for our container as it makes it's way to our new home. Brett took these pics on the mountain pass near Kara last week when he and David were heading down to Lome. Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon sight to see!

The Time Has Come

Our time in Albertville is quickly coming to an end. On January 3rd, we will board the train and head to Paris where we'll spend the night before flying to Accra, Ghana. We will be in Accra for a few days as well as Tabligbo (home of missionary friends) and Lome in Togo. We have several things to take care of in the "big" cities before traveling north to our new home in Kara. We hope to post soon after our arrival so everyone will know we made it safely. Until then, please be praying for our travels...espcially with a 14 month old. After 3 years of "traveling", our journey has finally brought us to our destination...Africa. Praise God!

We're Finished!!!

Finals. Are. OVER!!! Yep, we made it through our semester of French with flying colors. We're not fluent or anything, and we know that our time as students of the French language is far from over, but God has blessed us with what we need for right now.

Language learning is such a funny thing; different people learn in totally different ways, and we are perfect examples of that. April can tell you anything you want to know about grammar or vocabulary, but Brett can speak with a lot more fluency and confidence. The two will even out eventually, but for right now, we are the perfect complements to each other, just like always. It's not up to us anyways, because language is not a possession to be acquired by our money and hard work; it is a gift that is the Lord's to give, and we thank Him for what He has given us so far....

We'll get our grades on Friday and if they're good, we might just post them :)

The Blessings of Church Family

Yesterday we watched worhsip services at GracePointe via webcam. To "be" there really was an amazing blessing! At the end of service, our webcam video was put up on the big screen, and our church family was able to see and hear us LIVE! I think just seeing Caden sent people into tears...After the service, people could come up to the webcam and say hi to us, and we saw it and heard it in real time. This was the best Christmas present we could have received, and it filled our hearts at a time when we really needed it. Thanks to my brother, Chad, and all the other GP'ers who made it happen. We love you!

We leave for Togo on January 4th, a little over 2 weeks from today. We are sad to leave France, but beyond excited to be in with our teammates in Togo, exactly where we have wanted to be for months and years now. We love it when a plan comes together, and God's plans always do. Peace!

Have You Ever...

...started to get ready to go to the store, and you couldn't remember what country it was in??? Sounds strange, but it happened to us yesterday. We went to Geneva, Switzerland to get Caden a yellow fever shot and to apply for Ghanaian visas for April and Caden. We had to stay overnight because the doctor's office that gives vaccinations was only open in the afternoon and the Ghanaian Embassy was only open in the morning, and we had to have the shot for Caden before we could apply for the visas...

So everything in Switzerland is quite expensive. Depending on what international data collection agency you ask, it is somewhere between the 5th and 10th most expensive country in the world. Since we had to stay overnight and the hotels in Switzerland are way overpriced, we stayed in a hotel just across the border in France, which was a mere 5 minute drive from Geneva and about 50 euros cheaper.

Anyways, that night we decided to go out and do some shopping at a Carrefour we had seen on the way home from Geneva to our hotel just over the border in France. Carrefour is kind of like a huge Super Walmart on steroids. Seriously, it is huge. So as we were getting ready to go, I casually asked April, "Do you remember what country that Carrefour is in?" This is a question that probably never crosses the lips of most Americans, or most people in the world for that matter. It's a question that is somewhat unique to Europe, where everything is close, the population is very mobile, and a whole other country is never that far away. Just another cool little quirk of our 3 months living here so far...

The Holidays

So, today is Thanksgiving...or at least what we know as Thanksgiving. There is no such holiday here in France, so the students here are having a traditional Thanksgiving meal on Saturday with turkey, dressing, and all the other side "fixins". I'm really looking forward to it, but as I sit at our computer and read our friends' blogs, I am reminded of how special the holidays are to be able to spend them with friends and family (not to mention the traditional family smells). Now, I've spent holidays away from family before and lived through them, partially because i knew it was just one holiday and I would be with them for the next one. But this year is different and somehow seems a bit harder because I know I won't be with my family for any of my favorite holidays this year...or the next five years. I know that our teammates will become our family and celebrating holidays with them will be wonderful...but this Thanksgiving, we're celebrating with people we've only known for 3 months and will possibly never see again. So everything is different and sometimes different is hard. I simply have to remind myself of why I am here and what God has called me and my family to. I will join all of you today in counting our blessings and thanking God for what He has given us...for every good thing is from the Lord.

We love you all and miss you tremendously on this special day. --April

GracePointe Sheperds Appreciation

GracePointe Sheperds Appreciation
Video sent by emersonstogo

A big thank you to our sheperds at GracePointe for everything you do. We could not ask for a better group of men to receive spiritual leadership from. We love you all!

Send Off Sunday

It's hard for us to put that day into words, but fortunately one of our sisters at GracePointe, Robyn Barnett, has a beautiful post on her blog. You can read it here.

Here are some pics to go with the post, thanks to our sister-in-law Betsy, and my best friend Mike. Also, as always, we give great thanks to our GracePointe family for being so loving and supportive. The next several years in Togo will be a light burden because of our relationship with you. We love you all!!!

Amos 4:13

He who forms the mountains,
creates the wind,
and reveals his thoughts to man,
he who turns dawn to darkness,
and treads the high places of the earth—
the LORD God Almighty is his name.

Our Apartment in France

France_Apartment
Video sent by emersonstogo

Since school has yet to begin, we've had a little extra time on our hands, so we thought we would make a short video so everyone can see where we will be living for the next 4 months. Enjoy!

We Have a Castle Too

With all of the beautiful mountains surrounding us, it seems a little unfair that Allbertville also has a pretty sweet castle right here in the hills south of town. We took a little hike up the hill yesterday, enjoyed the view, but found that the castle was closed for renovations. Please don't tell the Albertville Police Department, but Brett is planning one of his classic forays into areas with supposedly restricted access...we've said too much already...

Here is one of the pics we took. April likes this one the best because we're all looking at the camera....
...but this one is Brett's personal favorite...

The View From Our Bedroom Window

The clouds rolled in late yesterday afternoon, providing us with this beautiful snapshot out our bedroom window. We love waking up to the mountains, eating with the mountains in the background, walking to the store with mountains all around...basically we just love it here! School starts in a week, so that will change things a little (OK, alot), but one thing that won't change is the mountains. Except in a few months they'll be covered in snow...

Sendoff Sunday post is forthcoming, but we need some people to send us pictures!!!

Welcome to Albertville!

Over the next several days, we will be posting pictures of our adventures in our home for the next 4 months of Albertville, France. We have been here only 2 days, but we have already had some rich cultural experiences. By "rich", we mean funny and/or embarressing!!! Here is the first pic. It's of Brett and Caden walking around town. Those beautiful mountains, the French Alps, surround us on every side. Albertville is a city that is easily walked or biked, and we look forward to living in such an amazing place, even if it is for just a short time...

A Special Blessing

We spent Sunday night with one of the homegroups from GracePointe. They made a quilt for us that contained the symbol our team uses showing an outline of Africa with a cross in the middle and a loop around Africa depicting that God's love will encircle the continent. That would have been enough...but they had prayer knots sewn onto the cross. They took the quilt to church and as people tied the knots, a prayer was said on our behalf. We have a list of everyone that tied a knot. There are over 365 knots. That's more than one prayer for each day of the year. Now that's love!