To Mango, to Mango, jiggedy jig...

   Stephen and I have the chance to visit Mango again this trip, and we just decided today that we will go. If any of you followed our blog during our last visit to Togo, you may remember we made a trip there last time (on the menu on the right, look up 2010 and find the post titled "Our Mango Adventure"). This is exciting for us because that specific town is where we are actually praying about coming back to long term. I'll tell you a bit about it so you can share in our excitement =-)
    Mango is in the far northern part of Togo, about an 8hr drive from here. It is kind of the "ghetto" of Togo. A mostly Muslim town made up of an assortment of not-very-well-liked tribes, even their own government ignores them (case in point - the government has recently decided to turn off their water supply and no one knows why! Also, when the president decided he needed an extra generator for some political rally, he simply took theirs). While they do technically have a government "hospital" in the town, it receives virtually no money and therefore its personnel, supplies, and equipment are negligible. After some of the leaders of the town saw and experienced the care and love at the hospital down here in Tsiko, they begged ABWE to start a hospital up there too. Yes, a Muslim town begged a Christian evangelistic gospel-sharing organization to come to their town and start a hospital. Who can say no to that? For many years ABWE has been raising money to build this hospital, and it is in the final stages of construction - set to open in early 2014. For about the past 5 years, church planters have already been at work there - helping to build the hospital, and in the process building relationships with the community (oh yeah, and learning the tribal languages!). Stephen and I are excited about this project because 1) it is in a completely unreached area 2) the town is full of Fulani, an unreached (and despised) people group that Stephen and I particularly have a heart for 3) the medical work is just part of a team where the whole focus is on planting a church and discipleship, and 4) we really like the team that is already up there working!
   Having said all that, it is also HOT. Dry. Dirty. Not nearly as pretty as the tropical forest and mountains in this area (savannah-type region). Life is pretty hard there. We are visiting now because we likely will not have another opportunity to make a survey trip before we make a decision about where and what we will be doing in the future. On Thursday, a missionary family that has been working here in Tsiko since 2007 (the DeKrygers) will be moving to Mango, and Stephen will hitch a ride with Todd and follow their moving truck up north. Friday morning Jennifer and her boys (along with "Aunt Kelly", a wonderful older missionary lady who has been here forever teaching MK's) will be driving up in their van, and Evelyn and I will join them. I think we'll be headed back down here on Monday via taxi (don't worry, we will drive back with a trustworthy taxi driver known to the missionaries up there - I'm pretty sure it'll be better than the public bus we took last time!). I highly doubt we'll have internet access up there, so please don't worry if you don't hear from us until next Monday. Please do pray for us, though. Obviously road trips don't tend to be super popular with toddlers. Evie has been sleeping great here for almost a week now, and I'm a little sad to potentially mess that up again. Pray for safety, health, wisdom, and all-around happy attitudes =-)
   Thanks all for your prayers and encouragement and love! I believe Stephen has a half-written blog post he will likely try to post before we leave, but other than we probably won't be posting anything until we return.