Note: The declared value of the package means nothing so for customs/duties you can declare $0. If you want to send something specific, ask first and we can tell you if there is a better way to get it to us. Anything spillable or meltable should be placed in separate sealed bags.
Edwards BP10 Mango, Togo
Things to send
Notes and cards – We love hearing from you. Hopefully we can send something back.
Ziploc bags (1qt & 1 gallon) – You can also
use them to put other things in for organization and to keep them dry.
Saran Wrap, Aluminum Foil, baking/parchment
paper
Spices/seasonings/Flavorings, – Basil, Chili
powder, Black pepper, cinnamon, cream of tartar, cumin, thyme, paprika,
cilantro, ground cloves, bay leaves, parsley, oregano, curry powder, vegetable bouillon, packets of chili and taco seasoning, parmesan
cheese, Extracts (maple, vanilla, etc), unflavored gelatin, drink mixes
(lemonade, energy drinks)
Dried goods – Black beans, Red beans, dehydrated
fruits, almonds
Chocolate and candy – Sweet treats are always
nice. Keep in mind that these will melt
in the heat here and will get smashed, tumbled, and probably wet on their
journey so be sure to package it accordingly. Semi-sweet chocolate chips or
unsweetened bars for baking, M&Ms, sour patch kids, hot tamales,
lemonheads, and jolly ranchers are a favorite.
Pepperoni for pizza – Impossible to find here.
USPS Forever Stamps – These are great for
sending letters to people. We send the
letters back with returning missionaries who can then simply slip the envelope
into the mailbox.
Oreo Cookies and Nutter Butters – Because we
love milk and cookies. Our neighbor has
the fresh milk but getting the cookies to go with it is harder.
Womens’ Multivitamin – Strangely hard to find
and expensive when you do find them.
Party supplies/decor – food coloring and other
cake decorating supplies, candles, sprinkles, holiday specific napkins and/or
disposable plates.
Things not to send (or that might need special coordination)
Quickly perishable items (ie. fruits, cookies, bread, ice cream) – Packages can take 3 weeks to 6 months to reach us. They wouldn’t be good when they arrive. But seriously, if you can figure out how to keep ice cream frozen, send us some.
Anything with significant value or importance – things regularly go missing from packages.
Breakable items (unless packaged extremely well, ask yourself will this survive a drop from an airplane)
Hard currency and checks – Hard currency is almost certain to grow legs and checks cannot be easily cashed here.
Liquids (Unless specifically requested above.)
Items with flags or red clothing unless specifically requested. (Exception for decoration items such as for the July 4th Independence Day holiday)
Semi-realistic looking toy weapons
Anything with a snowman. Some have associated them with fetishism and demon worship.
Anything with Santa Claus. We’re promoting the true meaning of Christmas.
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
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
Hospital of Hope (foreground), the city of Mango, background, and the flooded Oti river (left) Credit: Judy Bowen
We’ve been on the field for ten months now and one thing continues to grasp the strings of our hearts. That so many people believe in Christ’s calling us to the peoples of Togo and are willing to sacrifice consistently for that cause. We could not be here without the churches and families who faithfully partner with us. And we want to say a huge thank you! Thank you from us and thank you from those whom we reach every day because of your partnerships. Only eternity will tell the impact that your efforts have and continue to make. We know that it is as much a sacrifice for those sending as those who are sent. We are all part of the same body and joyfully share in the same sacrifice.
In less than seven weeks, with God’s blessing, we will be in Togo. Plans have been made and tickets bought. And there is so much that needs to happen before then and start then. Our truck needs to ship still. We have arranged for it to be taken to port but it won’t be available in Togo until at least a month after we get there. We will need to find (or build) a house, get furnishings, move in – all while adjusting to a new culture, in a freshly learned language, far from the familiar. It’s exciting. It’s scary. It’s intimidating. It’s what we’ve been preparing for. In many ways it’s like anticipation of an inevitable battle. You acknowledge the fear as a reminder that you are merely human and then take courage affirming that the Word has proclaimed, “‘My grace is sufficient for you for My power is made perfect in [our] weakness.’ Therefore [we] will boast all the more gladly in [our] weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on [us].”
Language Learning Progress
Our most recent language test results show Jonathan was at A2 and Bethany at B1. Now Jonathan is at B1 and Bethany is just short of B2! We will have one final test in December to tell where we are and are hoping and planning to continue formal language learning, to a lesser extent, in Mango.
HAM
Radio started out as a casual interest, and grew until one day at a church in New Jersey a couple of guys gave a small transmitter radio to us. These HAMs encouraged Jonathan to pursue the hobby more and Jonathan used the opportunity during a recent visit to the US for a wedding (for Bethany’s sister) to attain his general HAM license. So if ever you’re on the airwaves, keep your ears open for him. This hobby not only provides a great pastime, but also a great ministry tool in allowing a way to set up high powered wireless networks and can be used as a education and training tool and emergency communication if ever all other forms of communication are unavailable.
The Elephant in the Room
There’s also the elephant in the room. It’s the one bit of housekeeping that every missionary must talk about and everyone hates to bring up. At the end of the year, we an estimate being $150.00 per month below the 100% level of partnership. So far, we have been able to mitigate most of the shortfall with a surplus created by a strong US dollar but that is temporary at best and looks to be on the way out already. This shortfall is mostly made up of growing costs of US-base health insurance (as required by the AHCA). It might not seem like much, but this normal, slow attrition makes ministry just a little bit less efficient. It is also difficult to make up these differences when we are far removed from the relationships that God uses to fill these needs. Would you please pray for God to raise up several new partners to fill this need?
We continue to pray for you and thank God for your faithfulness in the same.
Six months. That’s how long it’s been since we arrived in France… and if our schedule holds, that’s how long until we depart for Togo. On days we feel like we’ve mastered the language enough to take on the world and others we struggle to get a simple “Bonjour” out correctly… and some days we want to give up, throw in the towel, and go “home,” beckoned back to the USA by the quiet whisper of comfort, familiarity, friends, and family. Continue reading »
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
“You’ll learn how to walk,” our friend Mike said as he helped us find our way in the new city. We were fresh off the train from the Paris airport and fighting off the haze of jet lag and lack of sleep as we walked through a dreary drizzle on our way to our new apartment located at the school where we would soon be learning to speak French. He had no idea how true his words were.
We had just finished a whirlwind holiday of family followed by a dizzying change of plans after our flight was cancelled and another delayed because of bad weather along the entire East coast of the US. The first day there wasn’t a jet flying to our destination. Day two, try two, and we were able to make the connection to our flight. Only by the grace of God was it delayed, allowing us to sprint (literally) from one end of the airport to the other to make our connection only minutes before the doors closed… only to find out on the other side that our checked bags weren’t as good as us at sprinting.
Just days before that, we were still unsure how God planned to allow us to get clearance to leave. Two days before Christmas we were feeling confused and depressed that the funds to receive clearance were still over $20,000 short. It was the cost of a vehicle. That was a huge gap. We doubted. Had we been misunderstood God’s leading when we applied for language school, bought plane tickets, and packed everything, that God wanted us to leave in January?
Then we received a message that someone was willing to donate a vehicle. We were overjoyed. But some details still remained such as how to pay for shipping and tax. But God… He knew beforehand and had already planned not just for the vehicle but also for these costs. The amount generously given by so many of our partners covered the estimated cost of these expenses. The day after Christmas we received our clearance to leave. We had doubted, but God had already gone before us and prepared all of the details. He waited until the last few moments because He wanted us to learn trust Him… to learn to walk in faith.
Now we are four weeks into learning French and feeling like babies. It’s a new culture, a new language, a new way of, well, everything. When you go to the store you don’t know where anything is and you don’t know how to ask for it. Even simple tasks like mailing a letter become complicated. It’s like having to learn to walk again.
So now as we walk around this new city learning a new language and new skills, we are learning to walk more by faith day by day in the One who has called us to this mission to fulfill this task. And we trust that He will be the one to go before us and work out all of the details for now and for our future and we must learn to trust Him and do our part even when the circumstances seem hopeless and we become discouraged and begin to doubt.
Please pray for us as we continue to learn French effectively so as to be good stewards and ministers of His gospel, that we will stay focused and not become disheartened by the immensity of the task.
Please pray for all of the details of logistics so that when the time comes our vehicle and house container will arrive undamaged, expediently, and not be caught in customs or incur unreasonable costs.
Please pray for our spiritual well-being, that we would continue to grow and fellowship in a place where the church services are in a language we don’t speak well.
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 4th and begin language school on the 8th.
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)
“As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go. And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’” Luke 9:58
The lights are glowing, trees stand tall in windows dressed in their seasonal attire, and stockings are hung by the fire with care. But even as Christmas approaches we find ourselves not decorating but instead undecorating, sorting, and packing. To think that less than two months ago we reached full monthly support, acquired our visas, finished our training, and received four of seven clearances to leave for the field. Now we’re preparing to pack our sea container, move out of our apartment, and live out of suitcases with family until we arrive in France.
In the last three weeks, God has generously bestowed $17,000 toward our expenses. Many people have sent us packages containing supplies that we needed. Thank you, everyone, for your generosity in helping us to launch into this journey to take God’s message of the coming of Prince of Shalom to those souls of the nations who have never heard of the joy of Christmas.
That brings us to the hard part of this letter; the thing that probably every missionary dreads. We don’t like having to continuously ask for money. But we also want to be on the field, probably more than you want us to be there. We need $23,000, the remaining cost our vehicle, to receive our final three clearances to depart for language school. Without this, we cannot go in January and would, at best, leave in March instead. If we don’t receive the needed funds by Friday, December 29th then we will be forced to reschedule. We are praying that we won’t have to do that. Will you diligently pray with us and help us take the true story of Christmas to the nations in Togo by giving toward the purchase a reliable vehicle?
To give a gift of any amount, please visit the giving page and follow the instructions there. (All gifts are tax-deductible, too!)
“Fear not, for I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all peoples.”
Serving Him Together,
Jonathan & Bethany Edwards
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 »
