ElusiveTangent – Jonathan & Bethany Edwards

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family!

It’s hard to believe we’ve now been in Florida almost three years. As we spend Christmas with family in Ohio, we are realizing just how acclimated all of us have become to the Sunshine State’s climate. We have grown to love this area where God has planted us. Our relationships here have deepened, our church here feels more and more like home, and Jonathan’s gardening efforts in our yard are blossoming beautifully.  

Jonathan’s health, although not where it was before Togo, has improved somewhat. Having a consistent routine, getting adequate rest, and just living in a less stressful environment daily seem to have contributed to this improvement. We are thankful for some progress, even if he is not where we had hoped he’d be by now. Just in the last week, he has begun trialing a new medication. We would appreciate your prayers through this process — we are hopeful it will improve his fatigue, aches, and other symptoms.

He has been working constantly to improve the IT at the ITEC office and enjoys the challenge. He has also gotten involved to a lesser extent with their aviation, engineering, and farming projects. 

In mid-July Jonathan and Bethany had the unique privilege of going on ITEC’s WAO Trip together. (A big thank you to Bethany’s mom, sister, & brother-in-law for staying with Caleb & Sélah so we could go!) It was an incredible, memorable experience. We listened to jungle rain thrum the roofs of skillfully fashioned longhouses as we nestled in handwoven hammocks; we fished from canoes on the beautiful Amazon; we planted banana and cassava starts in a clearing; and we feasted on jungle chicken and plantains. We met some of the Waodani tribe and heard firsthand accounts of their violent spearing days, how Christ was introduced to them, and how He changed their lives and culture completely. It was exciting to see up close how ITEC got its start.

Bethany has enjoyed getting back into piano lessons once a week from a lady in our Sunday School class. Unfortunately for us, our babysitter started college, so Bible study has been put on hold during this season. She misses the good teaching and fellowship, but is focusing on growing other relationships, managing our home, and training and homeschooling the children.

Caleb, five-and-a-half this month, is obsessed with all things aviation. We joke that his brain is shaped like an airplane, the way he can turn any stick, drawing, or toy into some sort of flying machine. His drawing skills have really taken off the last few months (No pun intended, but airplanes are his favorite thing to sketch). He has enjoyed starting more formal school with Mama this past year, and has made lots of progress in his handwriting and sounding out short words. His favorite place to be, though, is outside climbing trees, digging, and going off on some new adventure with “Little Fishy,” as he calls his sister in their latest imaginary game.

Sélah, three-and-a-half, refers to her brother as “Alligator” in their game, but even though she’s smaller she is often the one taking the lead in their antics. She is learning her letter sounds this year, and loves doing school like brother. She can spot something pink from a mile away, but is also quick to climb a tree all the way to the top or to wrestle her brother to the ground. Some of her other favorite things are squirrels, babies, dancing and singing (especially to the Baby Shark song), reading, and organizing (Yes, she gets that one from her Mama). She keeps us on our toes with her knack for mischief and her quick sense of humor.

We apologize for how long it has been since we got our last update out. Hopefully we will be able to stick to getting you updated every quarter from now on. And, Lord willing, our next update will bring news of a new addition! We are all excited to meet “Bump” around the beginning of March. We have enjoyed feeling his/her kicks and anticipating what sort of personality she/he will add to our family. We are thankful for this blessing!

Thank you all for your continued prayers for us. It can feel very different, and sometimes less impactful, not being “frontline missionaries” anymore, but the Lord reminds us that He sees each behind-the-scenes moment of internet-repairing and child-training and laundry-folding just as much as he saw us having church under a baobab tree in a West African village. So even though we still miss our friends and ministries in Togo, we rejoice to see the Lord’s provision and direction right here as well. He is always faithful; always with us, our kind and lowly Emmanuel. May you take time this season to slow down and draw near to Him.

Serving Him Together,

Jonathan & Bethany, Caleb, Sélah, and Baby Edwards

Greetings from the Sunshine State!

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.

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.

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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

ITEC

Jonathan has been searching for a job for about three months now and recently God pointed us toward a small mission in central Florida called ITEC (Indigenous peoples Training and Education Center; itecusa.org).  Their focus is to partner with other like-minded missions and Christian nationals around the world to provide  technical skills through which they can share the gospel – mechanical, dentistry, community health, sustainable farming, and many other areas.  This gives the nationals both an inroad by which to form relationships and teach the gospel and make disciples, but also a practical means of income.  This idea came to fruition after the nationals with whom the founding missionaries ministered continued to make requests for such a program. Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a meal.  Teach a man to fish and he and his family and their families will eat for a lifetime and can teach others how to fish so they can also eat all the while sharing the gospel with those they are teaching & feeding.

Jonathan will work there to maintain and upgrade technology, advise the directors on how best to use technology to accommodate future needs and economize available technology, and train staff and missionaries.  This will be a missionary position and we will need to raise some amount of monthly support.  But that is in the near future and we’ll let you know more about it later.

Mango or Bust

We’ve finalized plans for our return trip to Mango in the first weeks of January to say our goodbyes and finish up some things that were left undone when we hastily left.  This will not be an easy trip. Traveling this far and for so long is always a struggle, more so with two energetic young ones.  Add to that the complications of Jonathan’s condition and additional requirements for COVID19 and it’s easy to see that this will be quite the trip.

It will be an emotional trip too.  We miss Mango.  We miss our friends there and the fellowship.  We miss the labored striving and the joy of teaching in the village.  (Sure there are things we don’t miss like going days without a shower or hand-sized, furry, eight-legged critters scurrying across the floor at night.)  The sacrifices paled next to joy of striving for the kingdom in a place that was ripe for harvest.  Now we will go and say farewell and close a chapter of our lives that ended before we were ready.

Please pray for us as we prepare and go that God would bless this time and that He would be glorified in it all.  Pray also for the parents and the children as we travel.  Pray that none of us, especially Jonathan, would not get malaria and that we would have energy.  Pray that we would all have negative COVID19 tests throughout the journey, that our flights would not be cancelled, again due to COVID19,  and that there would be no other complications.

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year

Oh, and a belated Merry Christmas from our family to yours.  May the God of all hope be the light of hope into your life that you might “be ready to give an answer for the hope that is within you.” And a happy new year to you all.

Jonathan, Bethany, Caleb, and Sélah Edwards

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 It was the morning of December 31^st, 2019 and Jonathan woke up feeling exhausted.  He had returned from a business trip for radiology integration training in the US only a few days before and had enjoyed an exciting Christmas celebration with friends from the village bible study. This was not a new feeling.  In fact he had experienced it many times before. In less than 48 hours he had gone from feeling upbeat and energetic to what you might describe as the worst flu you’ve ever had, with every muscle in your body rebelling in pain.  Another bout of malaria, he thought, and so he made the decision to visit the clinic that afternoon before the New Year’s celebrations kicked off and everything closed for a few days.

But at the clinic they found nothing wrong. In fact, they found nothing abnormal at all.  He was in great physical shape.  Thinking it was a virus, they sent him home with a memo to call if it didn’t go away.  It didn’t. Visit after visit went the same way.  Tests, results, healthy.  We tried keeping a rigid schedule thinking maybe it was the first signs of burnout.  No go.  In fact, the longer this went on the worse it became.  Soon not only was there exhaustion but he was showing signs of major depression.

It was at this point around the end of Feb 2020 that the doctors, team, and we decided that returning to the US was the only real option.  So we packed our house up and got on the plane. Many of you will recall this journey and we thank you for your consistent prayers during that time.  Of course, little did we expect that while we were flying, COVID would strike and whole continents go on lockdown.

In the US we visited doctors.  They confirmed what the doctors at Hospital of Hope already had confirmed.  Physically there seemed to be nothing wrong.  The exhaustion remained.  Some depression remained – though this was slowly vanishing in part with the help of medications.  But visit after visit revealed the same nothing… and we slowly began to realize as the year went on that this wasn’t going to be an easy fix.

Today, many of the symptoms remain still.  The depression, so far as we can tell, has passed.  But the medications are still needed and for the most part seem to be what is boosting his energy such that he is at least functional.  But he still becomes easily exhausted even over seemingly simple things and the pain still comes and goes.  On the best days he is able to get 7 or 8 good hours each day with 9-11 hours of sleep each night and a 2 – 3 hour rest required after lunch.

All of this, after a year of searching for answers, brought us and the doctors to one conclusion – that returning for more than a few weeks at a time to Togo – or any mission field with malaria – was out of the question.  Beyond that, the stressors of everyday living in a foreign culture demand that you be at 100% and Jonathan is far from 100%. 

We mourned at the news even if it wasn’t unexpected.  We missed our friends. We strove for Togo for years and were ready live out our days there. Then God intervened. He declared loudly and clearly that His plan for us was elsewhere. We questioned why God would do this: send us through the entire preparation process, to get us there for a year and then bring us back to the US.  We had just begun to really get our footing and begin developing our ministries further.  From a resource perspective it made no sense.

We know that God’s plans are not ours and His ways are not ours.  And when you “own the cattle on a thousand hills,” when you can literally speak anything into existence, the material becomes trivial. God has been teaching us many things through this. As He speaks through Paul,

“’My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.’ [2Cor 12:9-10]”

As we stare at the the ripped up pieces of the letter of expectation we sent to God, we rejoice at the new prospects that have been laid before us. It is our desire to continue to reach the nations as missionaries; In this God has so far made it clear that He would like us to remain in His work in that capacity here in north-central North Carolina. Following that lead, we’ve begun looking into and praying about the opportunity to start a ministry for college age young adults both for evangelism and discipleship. Our hope is that they will, upon receiving the Good News, take it to every people and tribe – reaching those peoples despite our inability to go ourselves. Right now we don’t know much about what this would look like and that is one of our biggest prayer requests: that God would make clear His leading, work out the details, create the relationships, and provide the resources.  Would you please pray with us about this?

Bethany, Baby, & Caleb

Bethany has been praying and seeking God’s will for our future alongside Jonathan, and attending occasional meetings in-person and virtually as we go about this slow and hazy process. As previously mentioned, it has been difficult to see the whole trajectory of our ministry lives change, but God is opening our eyes to the potential here in North Carolina and teaching us again to trust His unchanging character in the midst of what seem like big life changes to us.

Bethany has enjoyed getting involved in a weekly women’s Bible study on Philippians and getting to know some of the ladies from the church here better.

The warmer spring weather has made it a lot easier to get outside – whether it’s to walk, take Caleb to the park, plant flowers and hang bird-feeders, or hang clothes on the line.    

We are two weeks away from Baby Edwards #2’s due date, so a big focus of Bethany’s has been preparing our nest for his/her arrival. Bags are packed, labor playlist edited, house-cleaning in process, and baby stuff organized and waiting. We are so thankful to still be staying in a local mission house for the time being and to have a place of our own to bring Baby home to.

Caleb is not so eager for Baby to come. The last few weeks he has sensed a change coming, and has been considerably more fussy and clingy. Please pray for him as he transitions into his soon-to-be role of big brother. We are not expecting it to be easy for him (or us!).

His verbal skills have really leveled up the last month as he’s mastered subjects from basic colors to construction vehicles. He is now attempting whole sentences and singing. A couple of his favorites are “His Mercy is More” and ”Country Roads.” He absolutely loves books – especially when they are read to him, but he also occasionally reads them to himself and his (stuffed) friends. He surprises us with how emotionally invested he becomes in what happens to the characters. It is fun to watch his personality and interests grow.

The immediate future

We are currently working on the beginnings of furlough and are available to visit nearby NC churches and can visit more distant churches within a month or two (Baby Edwards and Mama need some time). We would love to share with you all what God has done and what He continues to do in and through our lives. If you would like us to visit you or your church, then let’s set up a time.  We’ve also entertained the idea of an e-visit.  If that’s something that interests you then please let us know and we’ll try to work something out.

Those pesky numbers

21%; that represents $1391 per month we’re below on our support level.  We are praising God that through this trial for over a year now we have not last a single supporter due to being in the US or because of the pandemic. It is a true blessing that  we have such faithful, giving partners and a faithful God. The deficit represents the increase in costs, mostly insurance premiums and cost-of-living inflation. We aren’t asking you to cough up more funds, although we would never turn them down, but we would ask that you pray for more partners to fill this gap as it is eating at our limited reserves. Please pray with us that God would fill this need.

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.

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.  

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.

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.

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

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.