Many families, as well as our family, gathered around the table this past week to give thanks for what God has done in their lives and all the many blessings He has given them over the past year. In Togo, we are giving thanks and praise to the Lord for the lives forever changed and souls saved this past week. This past weekend there was a Evangelical crusade that where 300 unreached Watchi people traveled from villages near and cities far away to hear the Gospel for the very first time. Over the course of the 2 day weekend 175 individuals accepted Christ as their Savior and have begun their journey into turning from everything Voodoo to only Christ. We rejoice with our team who shared with us this news and anticipate the day we are able to join them in this great work that God has called us to share of His great love to the many unreached peoples of West Africa.

We have set a goal to be at 75% by the end of the year, we are now at 63%. We know this is a 12% difference but we believe God can do it. Below is a way that we can accomplish this together.

We wanted to give a quick up date of what God has been doing in Togo, he is moving in a wonderful and powerful way over the past few months. We know of 28 people that have made professions of faith in Jesus since last Thursday.  Twelve of these new believers are in the new church plant in Kpadape. There were just over 100 people in attendance this past Sunday. God has also been moving in the second church plant, the one we helped with in January, this past week Pastor Ben was invited to speak and share the gospel with a voodoo priestess. This priestess was known for running God followers out of the house and she was also known for being able to communicate with demonic spirits when the witch doctor could not. God spoke to her that day and she trusted him as her savoir, the people have seen a drastic change in her life through this new Faith. The priestess picked up the phone right then and had to share with her son in Ghana about her new-found faith.
Please pray as these new believers understand the true meaning of Christmas for the first time and as they grow in Christ through the next year.

We ask you to pray about partnering with us in prayer and in financial investment.

Click to become A Partner

“And she will have a son, and you are to name Him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Matthew 1: 21

Over the past months of raising support partners, we have received several good questions about why we are going to Togo. This is a great question and one we always try and answer to the best of our abilities. As Christians, we are all called to “go into all the world”, not just part of it and not just some of us. There are windows of need to serve our neighbors and community, our state and nation, as well as needs to reach people abroad: Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and ends of the earth. We can all witness and bring others to Christ through three areas: praying for missionaries and lost people, financially supporting short and long-term missionaries, and going ourselves on mission trips with our churches or going on the mission field full-time. God gives each of us individual callings or passions to certain areas of missions and people groups.

During this Christmas season the phrase we all commonly hear, “Jesus is the reason for the season”, resonated with me more than it ever has in the past. We celebrate Jesus’ birth and first coming into this world because we have all heard the true story of Jesus, Joseph, and Mary. However, the Wachi people group in Togo, have never heard about Jesus’ first coming or the promise of His second coming. God has laid this people group and country upon Marci and I’s hearts and has called us to follow in obedience to Him and go to share about the first coming of Jesus, how He came to save them from their sins. With your partnership of prayers and financial support, we know we can quickly spread the Good News to this unreached people group, so that they too, may hear of Christ’s first and soon-approaching second coming. Thank you all for your prayers and financial support. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and remember, Jesus is the Reason for the Season.

Prayer Request:

• Our goal is to be 50% by the end of December; pray about how God can use you in reaching Togo with the Gospel
• The hearts of the Togolese people, that God would start working even before we get there
• Housing, our leader is on the ground looking for our home

Click to become A Partner

“I will give thanks to you, LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.” Psalm 9:1

As we find ourselves in another holiday season, and who doesn’t love the holiday season? Not because of the decorations or presents to come, but for the time we get to spend with family and friends. I am sure everyone’s family has traditions for Thanksgiving and Christmas, well I know my family does. We always have certain food, my mom’s noodles and of course my favorite, Cranberry Wobbler. Don’t worry! I’ve already looked and when we are in Togo, I can still make this for my family! Remember how I mentioned spending time with family? In our August Newsletter, we shared with ya’ll the story of DeeDee, whose husband had wrongfully been imprisoned and had caused DeeDee to be left to take care of herself and her little family by herself. But how she handled the extremely difficult times with grace and faith in God. Well we have great news, DeeDee’s husband has been released from prison and is home with his family, finally! We are thankful that his release and charges have been dropped and is now able to return to his loved ones.
As we get closer to our goal of being fully funded, we are thrilled that one of our teammates was able to move in October and begin ministry. There are currently 3 of 8 team members serving in Togo. We anticipate a day coming soon when we will all be there serving together, reaching the Togolese with the Light.

Prayer Request:

• Our goal is to be 50% by the end of November; pray about how God can use you in reaching Togo with the Gospel
• The hearts of the Togolese people, that God would start working even before we get there
• Housing, our leader is on the ground looking for our home

Click to become A Partner

“Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:21-23

During this last month, God’s overwhelming peace and love has been faithful and never failing. Many know about the adoption process we are going through and how hard it has been for us and those close to us. I am going to be open and share what I have learned during this time, this month this is Marci writing. As I was talking to Taylor one night while I was away on work, he said that February was the best but also the worst month he has known. That was the month we got to bring our girls home but two weeks later they were back in foster care. I was one of those people that said,” Oh that would never happen to us”, “we don’t have to worry about that happening”. Well when we say never sometimes God has a different plan and that plan may be a completely different direction than how we wanted it to go. During these last several months, I can tell you that my faith in God has never been stronger and that I haven’t felt closer to Him then I do now. People have asked us how we have gotten through this time and how we still continue today, my answer to them is that I haven’t gotten through it, but God has given me the strength to get through it. I can tell you without a doubt I wouldn’t have been able to get through these months without Christ holding me through it all. I don’t tell you this to make myself look better, because there were days that I was down on my face, tears streaming down my face asking God how this could happen to our girls. He lovely wraps me in His arms and gives me the peace I need. So, as I finish up my letter I wanted to leave you with this quote from Proverbs 31 Women’s Ministry – “Peace comes when we fix our eyes on God’s love rather than our uncertainty.”

God has not only been faithful to Taylor and I during our adoption journey, but also in our partner development with our ministry to Togo. During times of uncertainty and fear, God would bless us with one of you joining our ministry in financial support. It is moments like these that we clearly see God’s hand in not only our adoption journey, but our continued confirmation of our calling to bring the Gospel to unreached peoples in Togo, Africa. We have reached 42% currently, steadily getting closer to our goals of arriving in Togo to spread the Good News.  Our hope is to let each of you know how important you are to us by your prayers and support.

Click to become A Partner

 Time keeps flying by for us, but we are grateful for the relationships and partnerships we are making as we progress in our mission going to Togo. Great miracles have happened this past month for us; we had the opportunity to share with several churches and individuals across the states, connecting with them personally about our passion to win Togo to Christ. God has also provided us the opportunity to raise $5,500 of our second payment of the tractor in just three weeks! We are truly humbled by the people God laid on their hearts to give towards this project and know He will provide the final payment on His timing.

Another miracle I would like to share with you is from in Togo, at the second church plant we helped construct back in January. The church is now fully plugged in and there are now two structures used for ministry and a soccer field at this location, which has come in use this summer during mobile sports camps evangelism. This summer, Togo Palms held their mobile sports camp here, bringing in 83 kids of which 50 accepted Christ and are now being discipled!

The picture below of the young woman and child is of DeDe. Her story is such an encouragement to anyone in need of God’s promise and hope. Her husband is in jail for a crime that he did not commit, she has very little food at home, is jobless with two little kids at home, has been refused help from her husband’s family and is 10 months behind on her rent. She has been following Jesus for less than 90 days, she is faithful to church, is learning and growing, serves any time something is needed, tells her friends about Jesus and does it all with a smile. Only Jesus can bring hope to our most difficult of circumstances.

Thank you for partnering with us through prayer, communication, and financial commitment! We ask that you continue praying for the hearts of the Wachi people of Togo to be open to the Word and for us as we continue making life-long partnerships with others in our journey to Togo. Pray that the 3^rd and final payment for the tractor we are purchasing in Togo is met through. And finally, we encourage you to share with us your prayer requests, as we wish to pray for needs in your lives and encourage each other in Christ.

   Reconnaissant…French for thankfulness. The month is flying by as we continue to see God leading us down the path to Togo. God has blessed us in many ways the last 30 days, many of which I will share today with you. We ended the month of June with our first church presentation of our ministry in Togo at Petal-Harvey Baptist. We were able to meet great people and partners through that opportunity.

On July 9th, we spoke to Pleasant Hill Baptist, a small country church filled with mission-minded people on fire for the lost in Togo. Marci and I are blessed to have partners in both churches and are excited to see how God will use our partnerships to reach unreached Togolese with the Gospel.

One thing I want to share with you all for this month is the power of prayer and giving has had on Marci and I’s lives, thus far. As some of you know, we are not only in the process of raising partnerships and funds to go to Togo, but also raising money for a tractor which we are in the process of purchasing in Togo. We were able to work a payment plan with the man selling the tractor and its attachments and we were able to raise the first payment of $5,000 by the end of June. Over the last week of offerings and special gifts we now have $3,400 of the $5,000 needed by the end of September! Marci and I are humbled and blessed by those who have given towards this goal. God has showed us once again, that if we trust in Him and in His plan, He will provide all that we need. The purchasing of this tractor and attachments, which is already in Togo, will help us in one more way of building churches and building the VBS sports camp safely and efficiently.

We ask you to pray about partnering with us in prayer and in financial investment.

Click to become A Partner

As you know we started the construction of the church outside Aneho, in January-February when we went on our vision trip, and we are thrilled to announce that the church is complete enough to have had their opening church celebration in that village on Saturday! The impact was incredible, 110 Togolese accepted Christ as their Savior! We are humbled and amazed at God’s great work He is continuing to do in Togo and cannot wait to arrive to serve full-time to continue God’s good work which He has started there. We ask for your continued prayers and partnership with us in our goal to reach unreached peoples with the Gospel.

Click to become A Partner