Heavy Duty CHE Car?

Another prayer concern that is on my heart this morning!  I have been asking you to pray for a heavy-duty vehicle for the Community Health Evangelism (CHE) ministry.  Yesterday, in the prayer update, I added a web-site for a vehicle that one of our Mango missionaries recently purchased.  After I sent out the e-mail, the comment was made that perhaps that link got lost in the e-mail.  Hard to imagine that since the e-mail prayer update was so short and concise (yes, I am joking!!).  Anyway, here is the link below that will give you a glimpse of this particular vehicle. Cost is approximately $38,000 which includes purchase, customs, shipping, and whatever else my colleague in Mango needed to pay in order to get it here!

Web-site: http://ecom.toyota-gib.com/Default.asp?WCI=VariantDetails&WCE=VID:2008431 

I was going to try and send just a picture of the car, but can’t quite figure out how to do that!!  Thank you so much for your interest in this village ministry – and thank you for your prayers!

Serving our Lord together,
Sharon

Mango Missionaries!

Happy May 1st (in case you have not yet received those holiday wishes!)!  This is a huge celebration here in Togo – parades, lunches for employees, etc.  So, from this Togo missionary, enjoy your May Day!!

I realize that I just wrote yesterday, but two things are very heavy on my heart today.  I will probably write them in two different e-mails so they don’t get lost in one. 

For this e-mail, I would like to ask you to pray for our nursing students who are currently in Mango, Togo.  They arrived last evening – a tiring trip but a safe one for which we thank God.  They will be in Mango all day today and tomorrow and then head back south on Friday.  This morning they will be marching in the May Day parade with the Mango missionaries and Togolese employees (those who are doing construction on the hospital site).  This afternoon they will take a tour of the hospital property and see the amazing way that God is working to build the hospital there.  There are a number of other activities planned for the students for the next two days including some special prayer times.

This morning, as I thought and prayed for the nursing students, I began to realize the huge commitment that this is for them to move to Mango to serve as nurses in our future hospital.  We recruited heavily from the north for this nursing class - with the goal of having students who already had connections with that part of Togo.  So about five of our 20 students moved here from the north of Togo; a number of others have ties with the north (although some of those are ties from way back in their lives, not recent connections). But we also have a number of students who are from this area (Kpalime region) and a number from the Lome area.  These students will be moving to Mango to serve God there – not just for a year or two, but for a lifetime!  That is huge.  It hit me today that this is truly like being a missionary for these young men and women – leaving behind home and family and friends – in order to serve God.  A person can say, “but this is a small country; it only takes about 7-8 hours to return to Lome or Kpalime”. But for someone who has almost no extra money, and who does not have transportation access like we are used to in more developed countries (I.e., taxis here in Togo, usually way overloaded and not always the safest), this is a major change and it is a major commitment to our God. 

My heart’s prayer is that God would put such a huge burden on the heart of each of these students – a burden for the souls of people in the north of Togo, many of whom have never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, people who are enslaved to a religion that cannot give hope or true peace!  Would you please pray with me today and tomorrow (and even after that!) for each of these twenty students?  Please pray that God will work in their hearts individually as they are in Mango.  Please pray that they will return home with a passion to study and learn and prepare for their missionary service in the north of Togo!  Please pray that, as with any missionary, they will view this as a privilege and a joy as they are called to serve the One Who loved them and sacrificed everything for them!  Thank you for your prayers for each of them!

Serving our wonderful Lord together,
Sharon