anything new?

Well, today the girls got a first-hand look at poverty and were really touched by it. An old lady who was obviously blind in one eye and looked dirty and, well, just plain poor came up to our taxi as we were at a traffic light. The girls looked all over the car for something to give her. They asked many questions and prayed for all poor people tonight. This is the kind of thing God can use to help these kinds of people. For a number of years, Elena remembered the street kids in Nairobi who lived on a roundabout in the middle of the city. She was so touched by their plight that, some years later, she wanted to give some money to help them. We made Christmas ornaments and sold them. After hearing what they were for, the kid's club Elena went to, matched the amount. It was all sent to a home for Street Kids we know of in Kenya. They in turn sent a thank you telling how many bags of beans , rice and corn the money bought. It was all because a little girl was touched by what she had when she was about 4 years old and it had stuck with her. Maybe our girls will be inspired to do something similar now.

Interestingly, I haven't seen the abject poverty here that I saw in Kenya. For one thing, there don't seem to be as many street kids. Another is there don't seem to be any slums. Maybe that's part of it, I don't know.

On another note. How many of you take something to the bathroom with you to read when you know you'll be in there for a while? Come on, admit it, you do it, too. Well, for us here, bathroom reading has taken on a whole new meaning. We now read the toilet paper. We've bought recycled paper produced in Ghana and the big game is to try to find as many letters still on the paper as possible. We have quite a collection so far! Next week I want to make a chart to hang in the bathroom. We can tick off each letter--upper and lower case--as we find it!

Tomorrow will be our 4th Sunday here (tho the first one was the day after we arrived so we just stayed here in our little flat that day). It seems the Togolais like to begin worship early. We have to get up at 5:45am to be at the church (about a 15 minute walk) by 6:45am! Personally, I find it almost unholy. I mean WHO gets up that early, or rather, who gets up that early and wants to socialize at that hour? Honestly! At least we then have basically the whole day ahead of us. Depending on how long the service lasts.