Togo

No picture to spice up this blog, I apologize. I am in Togo, a country 18 hours away from my home along dusty bumpy road that is sometimes filled with potholes. We were blessed to come on a chartered, six seater plane on a trip that took just over three hours. Eight of my fellow missionaries and I are attending two seminary courses as part of the MATSIL program at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. 

It has been challenging! Imagine it! 45 hours of class crammed into 5 intense days. Our first class was Survey of the New Testament. I learned so much and took so many notes! I am excited to reread them and internalize all that we covered. 

A highlight of last week was the moto-taxi ride that we took to the bakery to buy croissants and other goodies.  I was with two of my friends in a white person parade of motos. It was so much fun though. Togo is very different from Niger. The cultures are completely different, the languages are miles apart and the climate is amazing. 

It has rained three times since we have been here!!!

This week our class is Biblical Hermeneutics, or interpretation of the Bible. We are studying rules of Biblical interpretation and then how to put it into practice. I am excited for the chance to exercise some of the skills I learned last week as well as new material. 

The highlight of this week has been an unfortunate incident with the projector. It started when my friend offered to help and I snidely remarked that I had it under control. Already feeling slightly like a prideful jerk I apologized, thanked him for the offer and went to work setting up the movie. We plugged in all the cords and I handed the power cord to someone to plug in. The projector did not light up so I started to check it but everyone said it was just warming up. Knowing that that was the case, I joked with my friend Carrie as we waited.

Then, without warning smoke filled the room! The projector was fried. Everyone was surprised, but we immediately knew that the 110 v projector was sizzled to oblivion by the 220 v electricity here. I, being the one setting it up felt horrible because this projector cost over $9,000 when they purchased it. Luckily for me, the projector was 12 years old and basically a dinosaur. They were actually surprised that it was working at all. My supervisor was very understanding. He was tempted to come in an ream me out but held back the urge to cause me tears. 

So, as you can see we have been busy and our weeks have been filled with fun events. I am enjoying getting to know some of my coworkers better as we delve into God's word.

Please pray that I would be diligent in my work and that I would grow in knowledge "to be prepared for every good work"

Thanks guys! I'd love to hear from you!