Life is worth the living just because He lives

I’ve been meaning to update this blog every day this week, and I think I could write a long post on each day and still not be able to really fill you in on all we are doing and seeing. But… I’ll try to fill in the highlights!

On Sunday we worshiped at a little church in a village about 20 minutes away. The whole service was in French and Ewe (pronounced Eh-vay), so we understood… um… about 2 words. Cheryl Gayle was kind enough to translate a little for us now and then, so we at least knew a bit of what they were talking about. But it is still beautiful to hear the Word of God preached in other languages, and to look down at our own English Bible and know it is the same thing! I’ve found one of the most touching things is to hear them sing. Some of the songs are familiar ones to us, because they are English songs translated into French or Ewe. I love that, because our hearts can sing along =-) But I also love hearing their own songs in their own tribal languages. It almost brings tears to my eyes, as I can easily imagine I am hearing a little bit of heaven where people from every tribe and every tongue sing praises to our common Savior. Of course, maybe then we will understand Ewe?

We started in the hospital (Hopital Baptiste Biblique, or HBB) on Monday morning. The hospital has about 35 beds, and though advanced for Togo it operates like medicine in the US about 30+ years ago. Some of the patients have conditions that are quite familiar to us, but much of what we’ve seen is either completely different (for instance, I’ve never seen malaria or TB before). Most often the patients are much sicker than you’d ever see at home, because they come in much later. HBB is a tertiary care hospital, meaning a lot of people have already brought their loved ones to a government clinic or fetish priest before they come here as a last resort. I could write pages and pages on what we’ve seen, as the needs are tremendous and the patients (for me, especially the children!) are heart wrenching, but I don’t know where to start or where I would end with that. But this is what I come back to: every human being born on this planet will suffer and die, at one time or another. The whole reason this hospital exists in this place is so that we can use medicine as a means to share the love and compassion of Christ, and that by doing so the people may have a chance to know their Savior and understand the gospel before they (one day) die. Please pray for the medical staff here, that Christ’s love will be made obvious through their actions. Pray for the chaplains and missionaries (the ones who are here all the time and can speak the language), that they will be able to use the medicine as a platform to share the gospel and impact the community. Pray for the church planters (both national and American), that churches will be planted and grown from those who come to know Christ. And above all, pray for the hearts of these people. They are so open and friendly, but so gripped by darkness.

Most days Stephen has spent in the hospital, while I’ve been able to come and go. I am mostly observing and occasionally participating (this is because they have trained Togolese to do the bedside nursing here, and therefore those roles are filled). Because of that I’ve had the opportunity to do other things such as going to the market, visiting people, playing with the kids, etc – which has been great! Yesterday we went to the Village of Light, a school for blind children they’ve started in nearby Kpalime.

One more thing before I need to go… a few nights ago after dinner we began to hear the sound of drums and faint chanting, coming from the village just outside the hospital wall. For a few second I was enjoying the sound, until I was told that was the beginning of some kind of fetish ceremony (fetish means spirit worship – think witch doctors, animism, etc.). That made me sad, and also brought home the reality of the darkness and fear most of the people here still live in. Last night we were at an African “barbeque”, put on by one of the missionary couples for all of us short termers that are here right now (which, by the way – Stephen and I both ate snake last night!). At the end of the night a couple of the Africans that were there picked up a guitar and then a couple small drums and began singing. Beautiful sound, singing praise songs to our God. Some of the songs we could sing along with in English – like “Amazing Grace” or “I’m Forever Grateful”, sung simultaneously by us yovos in English and the Africans in Ewe. But my favorite was “Because He Lives… because He lives, I can face tomorrow. Because He lives, all fear is gone. Because I know, He holds the future. And life is worth the living just because He lives”. What a contrast between darkness and light, between fear and hope! That is the key to why it is worth it for us to be here.

P.s... Stephen is going to try to post sometime this weekend, so you can read his thoughts too!