New Depths

Two tiny girls lay there, nearly comatose, the first day I walked through the hospital. Yesterday, one of them got off oxygen and took out her IV and feeding tube. She got to eat for the first time and was sitting up and smiling at her mama. The other one didn't make it.

The sound of weeping and of crying
will be heard in it no more.
"Never again will thee be in it an infant 
who lives but  few days,
or an old man who does not live out his years;
the one who dies at a hundred
    will be thought a mere child"

Isaiah 65:19b-20a

I missed Tabaski by about a week. It is an Islamic holy day remembering Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac. It is commemorated by killing animals and there are streams of blood that flow down the streets.
Every day I hear the call to prayer from the mosques.

All day long I have held out my hands
    to an obstinate people,
who walk in ways not good,
    pursuing their own imaginations—
 a people who continually provoke me
    to my very face,
offering sacrifices in gardens
    and burning incense on altars of brick

Isaiah 65:2-3

The chaplains pray in languages I don't understand. Jesus and Peter and John speak French on the videos playing in the different wards. I watch as another nurse teaches children how to color for the first time. One missionary hasn't had time to get ready for her trip to the States because people keep coming to her and asking for help. She gives them food and clothes and prays for all of them. On Wednesdays, the chaplains go to villages and spread the Gospel to people hearing it for the first time. The Christian radio station has its' grand opening next month and so many more Togolese will have a chance to hear the Good News. The maintenance crew meets together every morning before work and nonbelievers are mentored and discipled every day. People come to know Christ on a regular basis.

The Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.

 He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, 

to proclaim freedom for the captives, 

and release from darkness the prisoners

Isaiah 61:1

I fell a few days behind on my Bible reading plan, so today I got all caught up. I ended up reading the last 6 chapters of Isaiah. I gotta say, it struck me in an entirely new way. The language used in Isaiah seemed more alive and applicable. It was much more powerful to me than ever before.  I was hoping to find a verse about bugs or critters because  roaches and elephant beetles and mice and spiders and mosquitoes and termites and ants and frogs and geckos and praying mantises and grasshoppers and snakes are much more alive and applicable in Togo than in the States. Oh well. 

I've been here for two weeks. 1/16 of my time here. So much has happened and there has been so much to get used to. It feels like an odd time warp when talking to people back home. As you can imagine, living in a third world country is different. However, God is still the same and is still at work. There are so many lives being changed and influenced. It's a privilege to be here and witness it. Even though I do miss the privilege of air conditioning and grocery stores. 

"And I, because of what they have planned and done,

am about to come and gather the people

of all nations and languages, 

and they will come and see my glory."

Isaiah 66:18

Specific prayer ideas if you're the praying type: 

-Preparation for my class is coming along, but I still have a ways to go

-Pray for me developing relationships in order to encourage others but also for myself

-Pray for the many ministries around Mango

-Health and safety

Praises:

Basically everything so far. I'm here and doing well. People are very kind to me and the Togolese are very patient with my poor French. I got to blow bubbles with a little boy. I'm being stretched but not beyond what I can handle so far. And God is good.

Love you all! 

-C-