Bethany

First from Florida

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Mar 232022

Greetings from the Sunshine State!

Mud puddles, sand piles — you name it — our kids are up for getting dirty in it!

It’s vacillated a lot here lately between blue skies and cloudy ones. At times the weather makes us feel like God has brought us back to Togo’s rainy season! But then we go outside and nobody yells “Batoulé!” at us; the dirt our children play in is white and sandy instead of red; and we buy our carrots bagged from Aldi instead of fresh from a bowl atop a market lady’s head. While it still feels strange to be settling into life on this side of the ocean, we know we are right where God wants us right now.

We are almost six weeks in to a new job and new routines. It’s been challenging at times, but mostly good.

Caleb was excited to visit Papa at ITEC one day to watch planes and parachutes!

Jonathan is enjoying having specific projects and goals to accomplish each day. This is something he really missed during his medical leave. The ITEC team is very patient and understanding as he adjusts to his role. He is able to take a brief “sieste” each day right after lunch, and this helps him immensely in making it through the rest of the day. To quote Bethany, “Since we’ve been here, he is more like himself than he has been in a long time.”

Bethany, Caleb, and Sélah have had some adjustments too — we miss having Papa at home with us! But now that we’re mostly past the initial move period and the fussiness and sleep regressions that went with all those changes, we are doing much better (or we were until the time changed! 😉 ) and settling into our new routines, making good friends, exploring the area’s parks, stores, libraries, etc. We’ve had many kind people here help to make our transition go more smoothly and make us feel at home.

We are also excited that we may have found our new church home. We’ve visited about three times, and are looking forward to getting more involved there and getting to know the members better. This has been one of our big prayer requests since before moving, and we are excited to see God answering!

It seems we did not communicate very well about our employment status with ITEC. We hope we can clear up the confusion some of you have expressed. Jonathan is a full-time employee there, but because they are a non-profit organization, we still need to raise half of our salary. We are thankful to already have partners committed to 23% of that. If you, after prayerful consideration, would like to partner with our family in reaching the nations with the good news of God’s lovingkindness from here in Dunnellon, FL, please visit www.itecusa.org/donate and be sure to type “Jonathan & Bethany Edwards” in the memo box. (Mailing instructions included at the end.)

Some of you have also asked for more details about what exactly ITEC is and what we do. ITEC was started by Steve Saint, the son of Nate Saint. You may have heard the story of how in 1956 five men — Nate Saint, Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Peter Fleming, and Roger Youderian — were speared to death by the Waodani, a tribe they had been attempting to reach with the gospel. This tragedy opened the door for members of the Saint and Elliot families to show unconditional love to the Waodani and share Christ with them. Steve Saint spent part of his childhood in Ecuador among this tribe, and when he returned as an adult, they asked him to train them in the skills westerners did for them on short-term trips. They did not want to be always dependent on other people’s timelines and trips and technical skills to help their own people. They wanted to have the skills themselves: medicine, dentistry, aviation, mechanics, etc. and use those avenues to share the gospel themselves. This request led to the start of ITEC.

ITEC organizes short-term trips for the purpose of training indigenous people in the above skills. We also work together to come up with solutions to issues encountered during these trainings. For example, in 2002 they invented a lightweight portable dentist chair that can be easily carried into rural areas. ITEC works in partnership with churches and believers globally. Their mission is to “inspire great commission participation.”

“ITEC develops tools and training programs, trains indigenous Christ-followers, and equips others to do the same both domestically and abroad. Our goal is to eliminate the potential for dependency by partnering with, training alongside, and learning from the indigenous churches. We call this interdependency, a concept found in passages throughout the Bible, and clearly in 1 Corinthians 12:12-31.”

If you have other specific questions about ITEC and what we do, please do not hesitate to ask us. We are excited about what God is doing through this organization, and thankful we get to be part of it! This is another answer to prayer — to still be able to be directly involved in missions even though we can’t go ourselves long-term anymore.

Here is an interview with Steve Saint, the founder, about how ITEC got started: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qbr370WUfc&t=118s

And here is another video overviewing ITEC’s motives and some of the ways we carry those out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7ZXxlE4Blo

Thank you all for your prayers and for continuing to keep up with our family through this change.

Serving Him together,

Jonathan, Bethany, Caleb & Sélah

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9

To give online, visit www.itecusa.org/donate

To donate by mail, send check or money orders payable to ITEC.

Be sure to the memo says “Jonathan & Bethany Edwards”

ITEC
10575 SW 147th Circle
Dunnellon, FL 34432

Direction

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Sep 132021

“The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” Proverbs 16:9

This is update we’ve been hoping for almost 18 months to be able to send, but it is not at all the one we thought we’d be writing.

As we shared in our last newsletter, our desire is still to be in Togo, but God has ordained otherwise.

We feel the burden of the need for college ministry in the U.S., but as we’ve pursued several avenues for that, God has again and again closed the doors.

We prayerfully waited to make a definite decision because (1) Jonathan didn’t have an official diagnosis and he wasn’t stable on his medications and (2) we were hoping to be able to seamlessly transition from ABWE Togo to college ministry.

As we’ve prayed and sought wise counsel from the elders of our sending churches, God has given us clear direction for the near future. Since we are now only two weeks from when our furlough time with ABWE runs out, we and our sending churches have agreed that at this point there are too many unknowns to be able to work out the details of a new ministry responsibly and prayerfully. So we have made the hard decision to seek employment as non-missionaries until God leads us elsewhere. We still consider ourselves missionaries, still hear the call, and hope at some point to pick up career mission work again. But this step back will allow time to answer many of the unknowns without committing to something that would seem a forced decision born more of prudence than prayer. It is our hope to one day to be able to work out these details and to do it in a prayerful, unhurried way.

Jonathan has begun a more focused search for employment. His top choice would be to work in the IT field making millions of dollars, but if that doesn’t work out, we will consider other possibilities ;). Please pray that God would provide a job that is suited to his technical skills, as well as an employer that is flexible and understanding of his physical limitations and physical unpredictability. Another factor complicating employment is that at the end of this month the doctors will also attempt to reduce his medication dosage. This tapering is a slow process that will take weeks or months and will likely cause severe fluctuations in energy, mood, and motivation.

To everyone who has faithfully given, encouraged, and prayed to make this journey possible over the years, we want to extend our sincerest, most heart-felt thank you for putting Christ’s Kingdom above the joys of this world so that when we finally arrive we will hear voices of people from every nation and tribe and tongue proclaiming, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb” (Revelation 7:10). We ask that, for now, you suspend your giving to our account, but that you continue to support Christ’s Kingdom cause as He leads. What funds remain in our account will cover the immediate costs that remain and if a need arises, we will ask specifically for that.

We hope that in the near future that we will be able to return to Togo for a short time to get our house in order and say very difficult goodbyes. This will be a major undertaking for us with Jonathan’s health (and the concerns of Malaria) and because traveling with two young, energetic children is always a challenge. But it will also be an emotional time. We invested into and made friends with many of the Togolese. We Loved them and they Loved us back. And we will say goodbye to the co-laborers, our Togo family, with whom we strove toward God’s Kingdom purpose.

We ask that you pray for the immediate need to support ourselves financially while we seek a ministry (if God will open the doors later on). Pray that Jonathan would react well during the adjustment of his medications. Continue to pray that peoples of Togo would come to know God as Savior and King.

We will keep you updated on how the Lord leads.

Serving Him together,

Jonathan, Bethany, Caleb, and Sélah

In Everything Give Thanks

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Dec 012020

Printable version available here.

The people who walked in darkness
Have seen a great light;
Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death,
Upon them a light has shined.
For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. – Isaiah 9:2 & 6

Happy belated Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas to all of you!

It seems everyone we talk to feels the same way — beyond ready for this holiday season after such a difficult year! Like many of you, we decorated a little earlier and have found the Christmas carols stuck in our heads sooner than expected. We’re thankful that our hope in Christ is unwavering and not dependent on the circumstances in this unpredictable world. Despite the differences in our celebrations and gatherings this year, we hope you are able to see this season afresh as we remind our heavy hearts of that joy and light Emmanuel came to bring.

We have said it before, but we want to again thank our partners for your patience and faithfulness during this uncertain time. As Paul wrote, we thank our “God upon every remembrance of you.”

Thank you also to those individuals who have shared your uplifting personal emails, notes, and spoken words over the last few months. They have all been special and encouraging to us.

We want to extend a special thanks to Cavel Baptist for hosting us for almost 10 months already and taking such good care of us from housing to spoiling Caleb with toys. It has been a huge blessing to have our Christian brothers and sisters looking out for us and providing a home equipped with furniture, dishes, appliances, and even Christmas decor and much more that would have been a hassle and expensive for us to find quickly.

As for Jonathan’s health, there is not much new to report. He still has more energy and is doing much better overall than when we arrived in the US, and for that we are very grateful. His attending physician has told us that she considers him to be stable on his current medication regimen, and that he needs a minimum of six months of that stability to determine if healing is likely or if this is a long term issue. At this point, it is a game of wait and see. The good thing is that this process can take place concurrently with support-raising if need be – Jonathan’s energy allowing. With this time frame and other events taking place next year (see below), a return to Togo is unlikely before the end of May 2021.

In the meantime, he has started working with ABWE’s Live Global doing some stay-at-home tech work as his energy allows to aid the ministry of those partners around the world who need specialized expertise.

Caleb continues to thrive developmentally. He is talking more and more, and his level of comprehension takes us by surprise sometimes. A favorite pastime is exploring outdoors and getting as dirty as we will let him. He is one tough, brave, adventurous, and sweet little man who brings lots of smiles and laughter to our home.

However, he is in for a big adjustment around the end of April … Little Edwards #2 is on the way, which is another reason for our 2021 timeline. We are very thankful for another good gift from our Father and are looking forward to meeting him or her!

A year and some change

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Mar 092020

The 23^rd of December marked one full year living in Mango for our family. A lot has happened in that year, and we’ve changed in more ways than we had realized. (Warning: most of the photos in this post are of Caleb — guess that’s what happens when you become parents ; )

We’ve experienced a full year of Togo weather – harmattan/dry season, hot season, rainy season. Now the harmattan is dying down and it’s hot again. We sometimes miss the four US seasons, but we are learning to find beauty in these new ones. We’ve even acclimated so much we would wear jackets some mornings in December and January and reach for a blanket as the coolness of night crept in. But even the Togolese confirm with us that it is HOT right now, and we are thankful for the refreshment our compound pool provides on the especially rough days.

This little man always manages to stay ‘cool’ no matter what the weather is like!

We’ve had all sorts of new cultural experiences. We’ve adjusted (somewhat – it’s hard to take all the task-oriented American out of us!) to the slower pace of daily life here; to the bustle and layout of the local market; to the familiar shouts of “batoulé” wherever we go; to the usual French and Anufo greetings; to the donkey brays, guinea hen cackles, and cries of neighbor children around our home. God has grown our love for this town and the people in it.

Caleb hanging out with a market friend. Her shop is one we frequent often.

We’ve transitioned to life as a family of three. Having your first child is an adjustment no matter what country you live in. God continues to grow us as parents and teach us to depend on Him for the strength and wisdom we need to train up our Caleb in the way he should go. Our dinner table is not as quiet and clean as it used to be, but sometimes joy is found in the messiness. The last few weeks have posed a new challenge as we’re already dealing with bumps and scrapes that come with new mobility skills (or lack thereof 😉 ). Sometimes these accidents are harder on Maman and Papa than on him.

Family photo captured by our friend Becky during a team meeting

We’ve begun ministry in the hospital and elsewhere. Jonathan has dealt with server emergencies, … We spent a week and a half at the southern hospital so that he could receive training working on the phone systems as well. He has also done preliminary preparation for the mobile computer labs he hopes to start up.

Phone system installation at HBB in Tsiko

Bethany worked in the maternity ward before Caleb was born, and has just started to get back to working at the main hospital station. She has also been blessed as she does a chronological Bible study with R, one of the ladies who cleans for us. This past week we read through Isaiah 53 and came to the end of our Old Testament overview. Seeing her reaction and hearing her heart as she understands what she is reading has been a joy.

We’ve had the privilege of helping start a church plant in a nearby village. It has been a joy to teach (Jonathan) and witness the work of God in the hearts of these villagers as they hear stories of His love and grace for the first time.

We’ve rented our first (non-apartment) home. We had been praying for our future Togo home since before we left for France, and it has been special to see how God has answered those prayers, even down to the details we asked. We’ve slowly made this house a home – a place where we can show loving hospitality but also relax comfortably just as a family.

In December Jonathan took a trip to the US for 3 weeks for training on the integration of new digital X-ray system that HBB (Hopital Baptiste Biblique, in the south) will be utilizing. While he was there he got to visit with his side of the family for a while. Caleb and Maman missed him a lot, but the welcome home was sweet (once Caleb got over the initial surprise ;).

Last year we arrived in Mango just 2 days before Christmas, so it was fun this year to have more time to focus on to decorating and preparing our hearts to celebrate Jesus’ birth. The cooler weather was almost reminiscent of wintertime. We put up a tree that we’d gotten from departing missionaries and listened to lots of advent music. We only wish Jonathan had been able to be in Togo for more of the season.

We’ve all experienced malaria at least once. It’s no picnic, but we are thankful for effective and quick-acting medication. Allergies and GI bugs have also been occasional, but un-fun visitors. We are thankful that despite the many times he is held and touched and –yes, even – kissed on a regular basis, Caleb has not gotten any serious illnesses.

This brings us to our most recent developments. As we’ve mentioned in our group Facebook updates, Jonathan has been experiencing health issues for the last few months, with no explanation that we have yet found. After several checkups and repeated testing, it has been decided that we will spend some time back in the US to hopefully get some answers as to what is going on. We are sad to leave even temporarily, especially since we have no idea how long it will be before we are back, but we are praying and hoping that God will provide the answers and healing we are seeking. Will you please join us in praying for safe travels, divine appointments, and wisdom for the doctors we will see? Pray for us as we say “au revoir” to our friends. Pray that God will grow us more like Him and strengthen our marriage and family through this time. Pray that we would trust His timing and plans.

Serving Him Together,

Jonathan, Bethany, and Caleb

Caleb attended his first official church service in Tsiko — he found the choir’s special music especially touching 😉

Reginald: A Cultural Tale
One late afternoon, S, a neighbor whom we have been trying to get to know came over for a visit. As she arrived, she presented a gift “for Caleb” – a rooster. Bethany – not having received a gift of this kind before and not being sure quite how to respond – invited her in and they chatted through the typical greetings about family, the weather, etc. After a little while, S motioned that Bethany should take the gift from her, so Bethany got a plastic bag, delicately placed him inside, then promptly set the bag on the kitchen counter.
The two women continued talking for several minutes in the living room until S took her leave. At this point, Bethany had forgotten about the gift until she walked into the kitchen and heard unfamiliar noises. Being the naïve missionary that she is, she had assumed that the rooster – who had been quite dazed when S carried him in by his feet – was, well, not very alive. So you can imagine her surprise when Reginald (yes, we later named him) greeted her standing up on the bag beside the sink.
In a bit of a daze herself, Bethany went to seek the aid of her fearless husband, who had been working in his office this whole time. “Jonathan, I need your help with something.” He was more than a little surprised by this “something” he found as he came in the kitchen door, but took matters into his own hands, as Bethany had been hoping he would do. Long story shorter, we talked about keeping Reginald as a pet to help keep bugs down, but he stayed in our yard for less than 24 hours before his middle-of-the-night crowing and sabotaging of our plants gave us no choice but to have another neighbor prepare him for our dinner.

Which of these items does not usually belong in our kitchen?

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Nov 272019

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Thank you for being patient with us as this update is long overdue! Even in Togo, everyday life has a way of pushing non-urgent tasks to the back-burner. Let’s tell you a little bit about what we’re up to these days…

Caleb: At five months old, I am such a big distraction that Mom has decided she can’t take me with her to language lessons anymore. She says my big brown eyes are really hard to say no to, and that she and Daddy are going to have a hard time when I get a little older… not sure why I would ever need to be told no? I have an adorable smile that our Togolese friends and neighbors love. And I generally prefer being spoken to in French than in English. I am rolling over, laughing, and trying to talk — Mom & Dad don’t always understand me though, so I’m trying to go slow until they’ve learned a little more. It has also recently come to my attention that those two people do not eat in the same manner I do… while they expect me to be content with the same manna-milk each feeding, they consume all sorts of funny-looking and smelling things, and they have yet to offer me any. Again, guess that will have to wait until their comprehension has improved a bit — they don’t seem to realize that I’ve been asking politely for them to share. Maybe they’ll learn that skill soon.

Bethany: My ministry has shifted slightly and is now more home-centered. Since having Caleb, I’ve been focusing on relationship-building and language-learning. As I think we’ve mentioned before, Caleb has made it easy to create new friendships and deepen the ones we already have. The Togolese women love seeing that I feed my baby exactly the same way they do and they enjoy holding him and commenting on his chubbiness. Although they do still think I’m silly for carrying him in the front while they all wrap their babies on their backs. 😉

In addition to continuing French lessons, I have just begun to learn Anufo, one of the more common tribal languages in Mango. While grasping the pronunciation of this tonal language is often difficult, I’m enjoying the opportunity to be able to communicate more with the ladies at market, in our neighborhood, and at the village we visit on Sundays.

A few weeks ago I was excited to get to start a Bible study with the woman who helps clean our house each week. Please pray for R as she has expressed the desire to “start” Christianity and that the Islam her husband practices “does not please [her].” Pray that God would continue to work in her heart through His Word and give me wisdom to know the words to speak to her as well. Our first two times of study together seemed to go well.

Last month I got to spend an hour each Friday in our MK (missionary kid) school. It was a joy to get to know our MKs better and work on some fun 3-D art projects together.

Jonathan: Starting in early September our main server at the hospital began experiencing small problems, and then only a few days later suffered a complete system failure and the near-loss of all of the information on it including — well, everything. The backups, somehow, were corrupt and only by the grace of God was the data recovered after about a week of sleepless nights. One of the soon-to-arrive short-term workers rushed a new server out to us in less than a week – it was a minor miracle that one was set up and ready to go and within driving distance of our courier. After two very long months, the system is almost restored to where it was before. We discovered the cause of all of this mess was an electrical issue that bypassed all of the safeguards.

Not long after that I contracted Malaria again for the 3rd or 7th time this year. This is probably because I was outside so much at night due to the server issues. It took four weeks and three tries to get rid of it the last time (hence why it depends how you count) and by the end of it I had become silly, useless tired all the time. As treatment was wrapping up, we took a small vacation to the southern hospital where it is much cooler, greener, and generally quieter. This was much needed rest for both myself and Bethany. However, as seems always the case, the staff there asked me to join in on some of the IT projects they have for the ongoing renewal of that facility… so much for vacation.

The village study has been proceeding well with the participants increasing in their curiosity and their questions getting more complex. Their understanding ranges from complete ignorance to having heard many different (mostly false) gospels. Having spent about six months laying foundational groundwork, we will be covering the betrayal, crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection either just before or just after Christmas. They’ve begun to take up a collection to put on a Christmas feast customary in churches… despite the fact that it is too soon to count this as a church. We won’t break the news to them that we don’t technically consider them a church but we will instead let their passion for celebrating what God has done through Jesus continue to grow while discipling them in the truth. The end of this foundational work also means that we missionaries are trying to step back from the direct teaching role and have a Christian national whom we can work alongside and disciple as the primary teacher. Please pray that God would raise up someone who can take the lead in teaching these people in His truth. Pray for us as we work through how best we can continue to support and grow in His truth.

Recap of how you can be praying:

Our physical health; rainy season has ended, and we are hoping this also means the end of malaria for our family for a while!
Wisdom for Bethany to know when to start adding in some time to work at the hospital and for both Jonathan and Bethany in finding a healthy home/outside ministry balance.
Continued relationship-building with the Togolese — particularly with our guards, house help, neighbors, and coworkers.
Bible study with R
Village Bible study
That God would raise up a Christian national teacher whom we can support and work along side to lead the village study.
For God’s provision of additional or increased partnerships to make up what we are currently lacking in support, about $500/month.

Thank you for your faithful prayers!

Bonjour from Mango, Togo

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Mar 132019

It has taken us much longer than anticipated to get this update written. A lot has happened in the last two and a half months! We arrived in Mango just two days before Christmas and settled temporarily into the home of furloughing missionary friends. After a few weeks of adjusting (a process we’re not sure we’ll ever be done with!) to the culture, weather, dialect, having guards and house help, shopping and other aspects of everyday life, we slowly began integrating into our outside-of-home ministry roles. Exactly two months after arriving, we were able to move into a home of our own. We are thankful for how God had already gone ahead of us and provided exactly the details we had been praying and hoping for in a house.

Jonathan has enjoyed finding a routine in his IT role at the hospital, while at the same time balancing that with working on overseeing and completing various projects on our new abode. There have been and continue to be at times frustrations and setbacks with timing, details, and lack of French technical vocabulary, but lots of progress has been made and Jonathan has done a great job meeting the various challenges that arise. On top of all this, he has also been busy coordinating details for getting our truck to Mango. We hope we will soon be heading down to Lomé to pick it up as it has been a longer-than-expected process. Thankfully, in the meantime we have been borrowing a vehicle from some friends, and Jonathan was also able to purchase a moto, which provides him with a much smoother ride over bumpy dirt roads.

Bethany started orienting to the maternity ward (here that includes Labor & Delivery, Postpartum, and NICU) at the hospital around the end of January and works there two to three days a week when house and other life necessities don’t interfere. It is a big change from the Medical-Surgical Progressive Care Unit in Roanoke, but she is enjoying learning how to care for and minister to the moms and babies here. When she’s not at the hospital, she keeps busy trying to turn the new house into a suitable nest, getting used to shopping at market and elsewhere around town, getting to know the lady who is currently our house help, and more. Having someone else in your kitchen/home is an adjustment, but it didn’t take long to realize what a huge blessing it is to have someone help with cleaning and cooking — with as quickly as the Harmattan dust collects, and with the lack of most typical western ‘convenience’ foods/items.

Our Youngling is growing steadily and getting stronger and more active. At the last ultrasound everything looked great and right on track. He or she seems to be developing quite the personality, giving the doctor quite a difficult time getting all her measurements. And if Bethany is standing against the sink doing dishes too long, lots of kicking seems to let her know somebody wants more personal space 😊 The Youngest Edwards has even started helping with ministry. About ten nurses needed to practice finding and counting a fetal heartbeat for an in-service a couple weeks ago, and she/he was glad to volunteer.

A woman at market making fresh *beignets* (basically the Togolese version of doughnuts, typically eaten with a spicy *piment* sauce)

Overall life here is going well. We find that sometimes God needs to remind us that any abilities we might think we have – whether spiritual, linguistic, technical, relational – are in no way why we are here. Sometimes we make the silliest language mistakes and tell friends with a new baby that God has blessed us instead of them and then don’t realize until a few minutes later why they laughed. Sometimes we forget to give money or accept items with only our right hands (Bethany 😉 ) or to ask all the customary greeting questions (How are you? And your family? And how is the morning/day/work, etc. going?) . So we just try to laugh at ourselves and do the best we can, praying that God uses us in spite of ourselves and that we don’t get in the way so much that we offend others or hinder the work He wants to do through us.

Our missionary team has welcomed us graciously and showed us where to find things and how to get places around the community, hosted us for meals, loaned us items until we could get our own, helped us transition into the hospital, answered lots of random questions, and so much more. We are grateful to have such a patient and kind built-in family and support system here.

We also continue to be thankful for those of you reading, for your steadfast prayers, encouragement, and financial support. Being in Togo has made us realize and appreciate afresh the generous provision God has provided through our partners.

In a previous update around October we mentioned that we would be under-supported significantly by the end of the year. We truly wish that this weren’t the case. We don’t like having to focus on money and would rather keep our focus on ministering here rather than on the means to stay here. Unfortunately, despite our physical distance from the US, its economics and laws still affect us in profound ways. (plus the fact that we’re adding a third member to our family). Currently we’re 9%, $505 per month below where we’d like to be. So here it is by the numbers: In 2018 & 2019 the IRS changed rules governing the taxable income and insurance rates went up 20%. That’s about $258 per month, and there are added fees and costs associated with making and keeping a third person a legal resident within the country. Unfortunately as happens when you have a fixed amount and some of the money is shifted elsewhere in the budget it must come from somewhere else. We’ve already shifted $350 per month (the maximum available) from ministry funds to cover these but there is still a deficit of over $155 each month that reduces our salary. While we would not say that we are suffering because of this, we do know that it limits our ability to minister effectively. Thus far God has been gracious to provide gifts that have offset the difference. Would you pray with us that He would continue to help us to fill this gap so that our focus can remain on ministry?

Our view one Sunday morning at *Bel Amour*, the local baptist church we attend occasionally

Praise God with us …
… that we are here starting ministry in Togo! It has felt like a long road at times, but He has been faithful to bring us to where He has called us.
… for the provision of a house here that we both like and think will be a good fit for our family for as long as God has us here.
… for good staffing currently at the hospital. Bethany is thankful she has not felt pressured to rush into full-time working before she is ready.
… that Jonathan has had a smooth transition as he has gotten back into working with the IT at the hospital.
… for an uneventful pregnancy thus far; our little one seems to be growing well.
… that we’ve stayed healthy so far in spite of changes in environment and diet.

Pray with us …
… that we would be a light to our Togolese and Burkinabé neighbors.
… for continued growth in our cultural and lingual understanding.
… as we form relationships with new guards, house help, co-workers, and others in the community.
… that God would give us a clear idea of how we should focus and prioritize our ministries.
… for the situation in Burkina Faso, and that the Muslims in northern Togo, Benin, and Ghana would continue to reject extremist ideology and not permit it to be taught, that the restrictions this causes would not hinder ministries, and that Christians in affected areas would continue to stand firm in their faith.
… that we’d be able to get our truck soon.

On our way from the airport to Mango, we stopped at a popular landmark

Thank you for taking the time to read and pray.
Serving Him Together,
Jonathan & Bethany and Youngling

Advent & Pineapple

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Dec 122018

Emmanuel has come to us
The Christ is born, Hallelujah!
Our God made low to raise us up
Emmanuel, has come to us”
– God Made Low by Hansen/Kauflin

Joyeux Noël à tous!

We hope this update finds you and your family well and growing in your love for and knowledge of our Emmanuel, God-With-Us, during this Advent season.

This year once again we are in the midst of preparing to transition from one country to another. It is a bittersweet time as we pack to leave this community that has become special to us these 11+ months. But at the same time we are ready to finally be in Togo, to begin serving there and to settle into a ‘more permanent tent,’ as Jonathan refers to it. It is hard for us to believe we have just finished out final exams and are in our last two weeks of class. The three of us fly to Togo on the 22nd, the day after our last class! Yes, you read that right — we found out during our time in the US that we had a little stowaway tagging along! We praise God for this wonderfully-made gift and look forward to meeting him or her around the beginning of July.

Here are some other ways you can be praising God and with us, and continuing to pray:

If you have not already heard, our truck made it to port! We are so thankful for the assistance of some friends who drove it down to Texas for us, and now we are excited to receive it hopefully sometime in February.
Please pray that God will provide a temporary means of transportation during the time before the truck arrives in Togo.
Praise God for a fruitful year of French training! It can be easy to get discouraged when we think about the progress we still want to make to minister effectively, but we have come a long way since January.
Pray as we continue our language studies in Togo, and as we refine our vocabulary to fit what we will need most in our everyday lives and what will most effectively communicate the good news of Emmanuel with the Togolese.
We are thankful that we have a temporary place to stay when we first arrive in Mango. Please pray as we begin searching for a longer-term home, whether it is one that is already built or needs work. Pray that God will provide one that works well for our family and allows us to show hospitality well to those around us.
Pray as we settle in and adjust to a very different culture and climate. Pray for guidance as we begin serving in the hospital and elsewhere. All the anticipated changes can seem pretty overwhelming at times, but we are thankful for a God who is always with us and who will equip us for the work to which He has called us.

Serving Him Together,
Jonathan, Bethany, and the littlest Edwards

Heartfelt

Heartfelt Language-learning, Update Comments Off

Mar 302018

Est-ce que sais-tu qu’il y a un Dieu qui t’aime?”

For those of you reading with no French background, that string of words probably means about as much as it would if one took the alphabet and scrambled it up into a random sentence. You might see one or two words you could guess, but the question doesn’t mean much to you.

We’ve been learning French for almost three months and, while we can understand the meaning of that question, it still does not speak to our hearts with near the same extent as hearing,

“Do you know that there is a God who loves you?”

~ A sunset from the window of our apartment – we love that we have a view!

Want to know a few neat things about being immersed in a language other than your mother tongue?
Having your ears and eyes opened to the uniqueness and worth of each people group’s tongue.
Hearing a conversation and sometimes not understanding a lick of it, but seeing in each set of eyes understanding that comes only from communicating in the language your heart speaks.
Hearing fellow believers sing praise to the same God you worship, and knowing that He understands every single word and a heartfelt breath of ‘Worthy’ or ‘Thank You, Lord’ is no more beautiful to him than ‘Digne’ or ‘Merci, Seigneur!’

We’ve realized it can be easy to (without realizing it) have the mindset that our language is superior simply because we know it best and it makes perfect sense to us (usually!). We’ve discovered this in class as we often find ourselves comparing the two languages: “Well, in English, we say it this way…” But as foreign as other language structures might seem to us, each language works for the people who speak it, and God knew what He was doing when He decided to “confound” our language (Gen. 11). It’s all part of His beautiful redemptive plan.

~ A peek into a recent afternoon of class

So even though we know we cannot learn French perfectly in the time we will be able to spend here, we are praying we learn well enough to develop friendships with the Togolese people and to share the love of our abundantly-merciful God with them in a way that truly speaks to their hearts.

Please pray for us as we have our first set of exams this Tuesday (April 3rd). We are praying that they would accurately reflect our current levels of French and that nerves or test methods would not get in the way. These are not pass/fail exams, but rather an estimate of our current French level. They will begin at 8:35am our time (2:35am ECT) and last until 3:35pm (9:35am ECT).
Pray as we continue to study and learn, that we would learn quickly and well the vocabulary necessary to effectively build relationships with the Togolese people.
Pray for all of the logistics of shipping our vehicle and container to Togo. While this is still a few months away, we want to make sure everything is in order so that we can all get there around the same time.

Joyeuses Pâques! Happy Easter!

~ Visit to the Eiffel Tower at the end of February

Alléluia!

Alléluia! Uncategorized Comments Off

Dec 282017

Who is like you, LORD God Almighty?

You, LORD, are mighty, and your faithfulness surrounds you.

(Psalm 89:8)

These last few days have been a whirlwind – not the typical whirlwind, but one that has swirled us in deep uncertainty, swooped us up and carried us atop mountains, only to drop us again without warning into valleys, and then soar us up to the clouds.

As we looked forward to sharing the Christmas season with Bethany’s family, we also hoped and prayed that God would soon confirm His plan for the timing of our departure for France. Ever since July, we had sensed Him leading us to aim for January and to trust Him to take care of the money and other details needed to make that happen. But as our hopeful departure date neared, we questioned whether we had heard Him correctly. A deficit of $22,000 still remained. Had we been naïve to think we could leave so soon? Would we need to change our plans yet again? After several conversations with knowledgeable individuals, we slowly, yet disappointedly, began to shift our mindset and pray about what another few months would look like here in the States.

But on Christmas Eve morning, we unexpectedly received overwhelming and welcome news. We were being gifted a truck! With this generous donation, we would only need to make sure we had enough funds to ship the vehicle to Togo – thankfully we already had a huge start on meeting this need because of the generosity of those who have given toward a vehicle in the last several months.

After additional important conversations about details and more prayer, we are overjoyed to share that we have been granted final clearance to leave for the field! We will depart for France on January 4^th and begin language school on the 8^th.

We are so grateful for God’s provision in bringing us to this long-awaited place. After praying and working toward this goal for many months, it still seems surreal that we are actually leaving!

Please pray for us as we work on accomplishing all the details that need to be taken care of before we go. Pray as we say our final bittersweet goodbyes to family here. Pray as we begin studying French, that we would learn quickly and thoroughly so that we can share Jesus clearly with the Togolese.

Most of all, please join us in praising Jehovah-Jireh with us for His great faithfulness! We have learned so much about trusting Him through this journey, and we look forward to continuing to grow in Him during this next season. We hope that in whatever season you find yourself, that you trust God also, because He is indeed “… able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us … to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21)

Lasts & Firsts

Lasts & Firsts Togo, Update Comments Off

Oct 242017

Click here for the printable version.

A lot has happened in the last month, and even more changes are coming over the upcoming two months, as they will (hopefully) culminate in us leaving for language school.

Westwood Baptist, Bethany’s sending church, hosted a spaghetti dinner and silent auction at the beginning of the month to help raise our outfit and passage fund. We were very blessed by all the hard work and generosity displayed by the church during that time.

A few days later we headed to the French Consulate in D.C. for our visa appointment! Thankfully everything went smoothly and we even had time to stop at a few museums before heading back home. Continue reading »

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