Death to Life ....

         During my time in Togo, I have been able to be a part of seeing a village Bible study progress and grow into a church. It’s something that came out of extreme grief and so many questions before the Lord to seeing lives changed and renewed by the love of the Lord. 

 

    Many of you know the story of a little boy, Tama aka Puddles. He was a medically fragile child that my best friend and I cared for in and out of the hospital for many months and at times in our home. He ultimately went to see Jesus just before his first birthday. 

        His family became fixtures in our life and in a way to cope with our own grief we started visiting his family in their village. His tribe is Gam Gam and no one in his family speaks French and I do not speak their language other than simple greetings. But every time we would head out there, the Lord would provide a passerby to translate for us. 

It was a healing time for me as I had felt like my heart had been crushed by the losing of this little boy and I could not understand why it would happen. It was soon evident that a chaplain needed to be a part of this so that better communication could happen. 

 

We asked our Gam Gam chaplain if he could start doing a Bible study with this family. He did and not one but two Bible studies started in this small village. Everyone in the village knew Tama’s story and that was a jumping point for the Lord to do something there. 

 

The Bible studies continued and grew and many, over the course of a couple of years, became believers and followers of Jesus. Tama’s Mom and Dad were part of that group as well and the transformation was incredible. Tama’s Mom then became pregnant about a year and a half after Tama died and she ultimately gave birth to another boy. They named him Solomon citing that when David’s son died, the Lord gave him another and he named him Solomon.  

A full circle, ashes to beauty story, is rare and I feel privileged that the Lord has allowed me to be a part of this one. A church now exists in the town and when I am not working on Sunday mornings, I attend. This is the church. 

 

 

 

        Not that impressive by the standards of the west but this is what they have right now and every Sunday they gather sing and learn more about the Lord and how best to live for Him. The church has recently decided that they want to find a way to build walls and make this a proper structure. It’s a big undertaking for them and it is fun to watch these new believers work out all of the things that we take for granted like tithing, offering, what to do with money, etc. 

 

            “But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.” 2 Corinthians 3:16-18

 

            The transformation of this community is so evident and the Lord radiates from them. You can see it on their faces and hear it when they worship. What a day it will be in Heaven when we all worship before the throne of the Lord. All in our own language and all at once, no division, just children of the Lord worshiping the King. I get to catch a glimpse of that here and it is amazing. 

 

I am attaching a video recording of this church worshiping Jesus. Hope you enjoy. 

    Church audio

 

    If you would like any more information about this story or would like to help with the building project for the church, please contact me directly. mssndoc@gmail.com

            

Solomon and his mom at a recent visit to my house 

Thank you for your prayers and support. I could not be here without that and it is never taken for granted.