Togo Update--Please Pray!!!

The Country of Togo is going through a very difficult time, and we ask all of our readers to be in prayer. The presidential elections were held last Sunday, April 24th, under very tense circumstances. There were frequent clashes leading up the the election between opposition supporters and security forces that left several dead. Both sides accused the other of stuffing the ballot boxes, intimidation, and violence during the election. On Tuesday, the election commission announced that the candidate of the ruling party (RPT) Faure Gnassingbe, son of former President Eyadema, won the election by a margin of 60% to 40%. The opposition has not accepted this result, and have begun protesting in Lome resulting in more clashes with security forces and several more deaths. On Wednesday, the opposition candidate declared himself the winner of the election and President of Togo and encouraged his supporters to fight to overturn the official result.

Most of the difficulties are confined to Lome, and many foreigners are evacuating. The Tabligbo Team working in Southern Togo, about an hour from Lome, have decided to go to Ghana until things calm down a bit. Thankfully, these problems have not reached Kara, about a 5 hour drive from Lome, and everything is calm here. We have been able to continue visits to villages to teach and have experienced no problems. The phones are being restored, and we are still able to receive incoming calls, though e-mail is not currently working. Our team is in contact with the US embassy and other missions based in Lome and is updated daily on the situation there. We are hopeful that the situation will improve in the days ahead and that things will continue to be normal in Kara. We would appreciate your prayers for our team and for the people of Togo.

Brett and April Emerson-- emersonstogo@yahoo.com

Matt, Andrea, Abigail, Aidan, and Asher Miller-- miller@harvestfields.net

The Millers have been enjoying visits with Andrea's parents in Mt. Carmel, Illinois over the past couple of weeks. It was a joy to be in their peaceful home (that peace was sometimes interrupted by our energetic children, though we don't think Grandma and Grandpa minded that much!) We also enjoyed visiting with the Mt. Carmel Church of Christ with whom Andrea's father Gary ministers. During this time, Matt made a short visit to Arkansas to report to the Bella Vista Church of Christ and to visit with students and teachers at Harding. Matt met with our team's interns who will be coming to Togo in June, and was able to generate a good amount of interest in the teaching positions for our team. Please pray that seeds planted in the hearts of students in Harding will lead to teachers for our kids in the future.

We are currently in transit in Colorado Springs visiting with Andrea's sister Angelina Byron and her family. We will be moving on to Fresno, California on Saturday to visit with Andrea's other sister Lisa Bowden and her husband Morgan before returning to Colorado for a Gearhart family reunion.

Though we are enjoying our visit, our thoughts and prayers are with our teammates in Kara as they go through this time of uncertainty. We ask that you pray for them, that peace will be restored quickly and that Kara will continue to be untouched by the difficulties in the South.

Please give us a call if you have a chance! Our numbers: Matt- 205-281-0235 Andrea- 205-283-2513

With love, The Millers

Don, Jane, Mary Claire, Peter, Rachel, & Honor Neal-- togoneals@yahoo.com

Greetings from the Neals. This past few weeks have been challenging for us, but we praise God for the ways he is delivering us from adversity. Our biggest concern is obviously the elections taking place Sunday. We pray for peace, no matter what the outcome. Like the Reeves family, we are a little transportationally challenged at the moment. Our truck is in Lome undergoing major repair to the engine. We have our van and Don's motorcycle, so we are able to move around town and Don has been able to go to his village meetings.

Don is currently helping the congregations at Lassa Tchou and Sanda Te finalize their building projects. Both churches have walls built and are ready to put up the tin roofs. We praise God for the groups in the States who have donated for the project in Lassa Tchou, and anyone who would like to is welcome to help with the Sanda Te roof. We also praise God for the faith of these churches. They are desiring their numbers to grow and have taken steps of faith and worked hard to see these buildings built.

The weather seems to have taken a turn for the better here in Kara. We have had constant threats of rain since Tuesday afternoon. This has cut the temperature considerably, making sleep at night more comfortable and life in general more bearable. We are all healthy, learning and growing. The children all love school and we are seeing them change daily.

David, Becky, Hannah, Elijah, & Gabriel Reeves-- kabiye4christ@yahoo.fr

Dear friends and family. We pray this newsletter is finding you well. We know that you have trials and difficulties from time to time and we want you to know that you are in our prayers. We love each of you and appreciate so much your love and devotion to this work and our family. God bless you for your love and service.

Our past couple of weeks have been filled with blessings, but also we have had a few trials. Our vehicle is currently in Lome having the engine completely redone for the third or fourth time. I am losing count! It is going to be repaired and then sold. We have already begun the process of raising money for a new vehicle. Please be praying for this process and let us know of any congregations or individuals who we might contact about contributing towards a reliable vehicle for us. Elijah and Gabriel both had bouts with a stomach virus and a touch of malaria this past week and are now doing much better. Becky has been having some trouble with her exercise induced asthma some the past few days but that now appears to be under control. Please continue to pray for our health.

The kids have really been enjoying school as the year winds down to its final weeks. Hannah recently took part in “The Amazing Egg Drop” with her other 1st grade friends. They constructed an apparatus of their choice to protect their egg when they dropped it off of the second and third floors of the school house. Each of the kids did a great job using their imagination and knowledge to protect their precious egg. Hannah had a great time and was very excited when here egg exited the contraption unscathed. Elijah continues to enjoy being taught by Brian Dolinger. He and his friends have grown a lot this year being mentored by their great teacher. We praise God for Brian and Christy and the amazing work of love they have done these past several months in teaching our children and enabling us to continue our work in the villages. Work continues to move forward. The growth of God’s Kingdom cannot be stopped, even when our vehicle tries really hard. We spent almost an entire week in Tabligbo, Togo with the southern team when our truck broke down. Then, Don Neal came down to pick us up and his truck’s engine broke down as well! So there we were together hanging out with the Watchi Team and wishing we could be home doing our work. We did make it back, thanks to the generosity of the Tabligbo team in loaning us their teacher vehicle and got back into the swing of things as best as we could.

Dave had meetings in Legue Legue and Kara. Both meetings went well. The church in Legue continues to grow spiritually and they seem to really have a hunger to know God and his word. The meeting in Kara was with the leaders of this church. They are learning and teaching what they learn. Their faith is being stretched through the physical circumstances and difficulties that they are enduring at this time. Pray that their faith will grow through this trial and the teachings they are receiving. Bodowdaa has been meeting and worshiping together regularly in spite of my absence the past three Fridays. Last Sunday we arrived there to worship and found them working to replace some roofs on some huts. I thought for sure they had skipped worship for work but they had met earlier in the morning so that they wouldn’t miss their worship time. Oh, me of little faith. Praise God for the sp irit of independence from us and dependence on God in these baby churches. Continue to pray for these new Christians. Your prayers are effective and needed. We praise God for you and love you dearly. Thanks again for your love and support. The Reeves

Bryan, Tracey, Isaac, Graham, & Owen Ries-- btries@kabiyemission.org

Brian and Christy Dolinger-- dolingerbc@yahoo.com

Due to the current difficulties with e-mail in Togo, the Rieses and Dolingers were not able to submit articles for the newsletter. Both families are doing well, though. Bryan had the joy of witnessing the birth of an new church in the village of Tchikpiou, where Christians from Tchikpe have been teaching evangelistic lessons over the past few months. 5 people were baptized, and we pray that more will be added to their number soon.

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