Day 10 – Nov 12 – Flight Home

As I write this I am on the first leg of our travel and I hope nothing noteworthy happens from this point on, we’ve already had enough excitement with the airlines this morning.

The pastors drove us to the airport at 9:00am and it was only a ten-minute drive. They stayed with us all the way to security. We prayed together and said our difficult farewells. Checking-in and going through security was a breeze, but getting onto the plane proved quite challenging. As we approached the gate an hour before our flight was to leave we saw that they were checking bags and people at a level we have never seen before. One lady was extremely upset and was calling an airline supervisor over to talk with her but I couldn’t tell what the issue was. One man checked our boarding passes and passports before we were allowed to approach the airline security area and holding area. Next stop was a bag search and thorough pat-down. The Ethiopian Airlines employee opened my suitcase and told me I couldn’t take any liquids on the plane. None, no liquids. He took my .25 oz under eye cream out and said “this can’t go on the airplane”. He told me I would have to check ALL liquids. They could check my back to my final destination. I told him I have an 11 hour layover in Newark and I need some of these things. I explained to him that all of my liquids are under the limit of 100 grams. He said “this is a TSA flight”. Anyway, to keep the story somewhat short, they were also telling Nathan that he could not take his oversize hand lotion bottle with him, which is understandable (even though he brought it with him which means it got through security in Seattle and Newark) but they were letting him keep his other liquids. I decided to pull out some things that I needed on the flight and I convinced them to check my bag to Newark so I could retrieve it there, they agreed. He finally cleared my bag and then looked through my murse (my shoulder sling bag). He opened the side pockets and moved the hand sanitizer out of the way to look down in the pockets and then closed them up again. Wait a minute…..he moved my hand sanitizer – A LIQUID – and looked inside the bag? Then he didn’t even open the back pocket to look at the iPad and laptop that were in there – they were searching everyone else’s laptops but he completely ignored mine. Next, he put my suitcase and shoulder bag on the floor behind him so the next guy could use the explosive scanner. He wiped the bags and put the swipes in the machine. He did the same with Nathan’s. I said “watch, now we will pick up our bags and take them onto the plane with us”. That’s exactly what happened, the bomb sniffer dude cleared our bags and we took them onto the plane with us, with EVERYTHING that they had told us we could not take on the plane.

Next stop, the ticket counter, where they checked our passports and our boarding passes again, the same that they had checked before we could even get to the security. She took the large part o the stub and then told us to have a seat. 30 minutes later we started boarding the plane and they looked at our ticket stubs again before they let us onto the ramp. Then, halfway down the ramp they checked our ticket stubs again. Nathan and I couldn’t help but laugh in frustration and the pure incompetence. The problem is not the people, it is that they have not been trained. They don’t even know why they are doing what they are doing, they are all looking for something different, and then when they find it they let you take it with you, anyway. AAARRRGGGGHHH.

Day 9 – Kpalimé Prison and 4 Audits

First stop today was at the market to purchase more soap. We have about 350 inmates at Kpalimé, the newest and only prison we have visited that has acceptable conditions for the inmates. The people that were selling us soap met us at the edge of the market so we wouldn’t have to maneuver through the traffic. Today is Saturday but it is market day so it is guaranteed to be a mad-house, even at 8:30am. They met us with the 7 boxes of soap we had requested of which we purchased 6 since we have a slightly smaller prison population than we had suspected, according to Roland’s conversation with the OC.

Before we left the apartment, by the way, Roland had told us that this OC is not an honest man so we need to be sure that we take no money in with us and we need to be sure that we empty and refill each box of soap before we enter the prison so they guards can’t slip something into the boxes and claim that we had brought it in with us, thereby requesting a bribe or fine for breaking the rules. He did assure us, however, that the prison is safe and we just need to be sure that we don’t take anything in with us other than the gifts.

It was a 90 minute drive to Kpalimé and we stopped along the way, at the outer edge of Lomé, to meet the other pastors and volunteers that will be with us: Blessed (Strongman) Tsevie, Jonathan Padaki, Luance, Esther, and Eric (who is traveling with us in our car so we can perform an audit with him before he heads home). Eric needs to leave from Kpalimé and said he won’t even have time to go to the prison with us. He arrived the night before the conference and we have had very little time to talk to him and get to know him. Our only opportunity for an audit is in the car this morning.

I was impressed with Eric. He has been doing prison ministry for four years and, for the most part, is doing it on his own. He has volunteers working with him but he began by himself as he felt called to minister to inmates and has continued without any real training at all. He has a big vision to open a transitional house for inmates to live when they are released and to teach them farming or another trade that they can then use for a career. He knows this is a big undertaking and understands that it will take time and a lot of resources but is trusting that if it is what God has for him He will provide. Our audit took just over an hour.

Jonathan’s car broke down twice en route to Kpalimé. We stopped once and I got it running again but then it lost power a second time and, when I drove it up the road (Pastor Zeph being concerned that I didn’t have my license), I knew it was losing fuel. The five of us in our car had to leave them behind while they waited for a mechanic to come help them. When we neared the prison we connected with a couple of Roland’s volunteers as they were walking to the prison and they joined us. It’s funny, this happens all the time in Africa, our host pastors are in contact with other volunteers and pastors and as we are driving down the road we pull over to someone that is walking down the highway and it turns out they have been communicating with plans to meet. They rarely tell us this information, we just seem to suddenly bump into other volunteers along the road.

We approached a solid concrete wall with barbed wire above and pulled through a large metal gate to a very large and modern looking prison. It even has a restaurant for staff members and, it turns out, even for inmates if they have money and want to order something to eat. There is a soccer field behind the building and a basketball court and some workout equipment (poured concrete barbells and a couple dumbbells made from coffee cans filled with concrete and a bar between them. It was sort of like Fred Flintstone weights.

Entering the prison there is a room centrally located between all of the tanks and there are five brown metal doors on each of two walls, each number 1 through 5. Behind the doors are small visitation rooms as one would expect to find in a modern prison. The door can be closed behind the visitor and the inmate is on the other side of a glass window and bars. On one wall is written (in French) “Visitors for Women” and the other says “Visitors for Men”. We first went into the office of the second-in-charge. She was a large lady with a large smile. No sooner had she asked us to have a seat than she told us that the OC was in his office so we got back up and walked to another corridor to his office. He was dressed in shorts and a short-sleeve shirt that was two sizes too small.

He took a few minutes to tell us that this is the newest prison in Togo and that the country is planning to upgrade all of the prisons to meet the standards of this one – standards that are more typical for the world. He recognizes, as do all prison staff, that their prisons are inhumane due to overcrowding and low government support. He told us that we are the first group that has ever brought any aid or supplies to the prisoners. He said it is very good that we remember them and that most people forget them and think that they are just getting what they deserve.

We presented the customary gifts to him. He was overwhelmed – it was a very nice meeting with him. After what Roland had said about him before we left the apartment I was excited that he was so open to us and happy to have us there. I asked Zeph if he was a Christian man, to which the OC replied that he was a “Catholic Christian”. We offered and he accepted our request to pray for him, after which the Togolese exchanged some formalities and then he excused us to get our humanitarian aid from the car.

As we were gathering our supplies the other members of the team arrived at the prison, it was perfect timing. The car had not yet been prepared but they limped it there and decided to have it repaired after the prison services. We all stood on the stairs for a group photo in front of the prison before heading in for our services.

It was determined that we would have two services (one service in two different areas). In fact, I broke the team up into two groups and was then told there would be three services. I began reformatting the group into three teams and was then told it would be two, after all. This is Africa. We finally made some final decisions, entered the prison, separated the humanitarian aid for each group and we each went a different direction.

Nathan led one team with Pastors Roland, Blessed Tsevi, Jonathan and a few volunteers. I took Pastors Zeph, Eric, Luance and two local volunteers. This was Eric’s first prison visit with PFC. He didn’t think he was going to join us due to time constraints but changed his mind when we got there, which I think was a wise decision. He would get home late (or even tomorrow) but it was important that he participate in a prison crusade with us. We did not have time for a full service so he didn’t get to see all that we do but he was able to be there, a blessing for all of us.

Both services went well but I can only really speak for the service I led. We only had about 20 minutes so I preached a sermon from Luke 18 and led directly into an altar call. There were a lot of men that were agreeing what I was saying from the very beginning so when virtually every hand went up at the end of the service I couldn’t help but suppose they didn’t understand that I was asking new believers to raise their hands. I’m not unable to tell how many of the 160 men were making a first-time confession of faith in Jesus but I certainly am encouraged that God has used the message of the gospel to cause such a large percentage of the men to claim Jesus as their Savior. I don’t think any men remained in their cells, it appeared that everyone was told to come out for the service.

I did not move into a healing prayer or a time to pray for the inmate church leaders because we were being told that time was up and that we needed to leave. After quickly presenting the soap, Bibles and soccer ball we began to leave. Then we were told that we were going to distribute the soap, so we didn’t actually have to leave, after all. Apparently the same happened with Nathan. We both cut our services short after being told time was up but then we were each asked to stay and hand out the soap. The soccer balls, however, had to be delivered to the OC’s office. The inmates were angry because they know that means they will never see it again. I told Zeph that I am well aware of that but there is nothing we can do about it except to exhort the OC to make sure they get it. I don’t understand why the officers and the OCs would hold back gifts that the inmates know about, I’m sure it causes problems within the prisons.

After we finished distributing the soap we walked back to the central area of the prison and discovered that Nathan’s team was still holding their service so we joined them just in time to see them distributing the last of the soap. Several inmates were asking me for my contact information and for Bibles and wanting to know how to reach us when they get out. I only give them the PFC website when asked for this type of information. A couple inmates were asking me to write down scripture verses they should read. I didn’t have time to make them a list so I just bookmarked the gospel of John and told them to start there. They kept asking us for things but we have learned well about inmate manipulation so we didn’t indulge their requests any further and we headed back to the entrance of the prison.

The Bibles were all left with the inmate church leaders and they were charged with making sure all inmates had access to them and they were instructed to be sure to shepherd the flock in the prison and work to disciple them and help them to grow in their faith.

Jonathan and his car full of volunteers stopped in town to get the car fixed. I don’t know what it was determined was the problem – they had indicated fuel pump and I am pretty certain it was either the pump or the filter but I did not find out at the end of the day what the problem had been.

Zeph, Roland, Nathan and I took Eric to the bus depot but the “bus” was empty and in Togo, as well as other African countries, the 12 passenger van doesn’t have a schedule, it waits to leave until it has a full load of 12 passengers and all of their gear packed into it like sardines, often also piled high to the sky with luggage, barrels, shipments of goods and even motorcycles and goats. Yes, you read it right, even goats and other farm animals. Since there was no bus available we took Eric with us to Lomé. We dropped him in a cab and he went to the bus station. It was 4:15pm and he still has a seven hour journey ahead of him at the very least.

I suddenly had a craving for ice cream so I asked Zeph to stop if he saw an ice cream cart. I have seen people pushing carts around and tooting a rubber bubble bicycle horn many times on this trip and then last time I saw one I noticed that an ice cream bar is about one dollar US. He said “you like ice cream?”. I think that was the dumbest question I’ve heard all week 🙂 He said “I will take you to the ice cream place. We drove a few miles to a hotel and restaurant that had an ice cream parlor, as well. We each had a double scoop which also came with two cones on top, with the exception of Roland to had two Coke Zeros (he said he didn’t want the sugar).

We returned to the hotel/apartment and the men walked up to our room with us. We told them we would be right out so we could do our audit with Roland and when we came out they were gone. We went to the roof to see if they were there and as I looked down to the street I saw Roland walking away. I hollered to him and he said he would be right there. Nathan and I waited about a half hour and then we called Zeph and they both arrived five minutes later. This is Africa. We were now very late getting started with our audit and dinner was ready before we were finished. By they time we sat down to eat the food was getting cold.

Roland was extremely excited with the gifts we gave him, particularly the Kindle Fire loaded with all of the PFC training documents and Inmate Bible Study Course materials.

After eating one last fried chicken and rice or potato dinner at the hotel with all of the volunteers (eight of us altogether) we performed our audit with Jonathan (Blessed translating). The audit took about an hour and Jonathan was jumping with glee when we presented him with his Kindle Fire. His teammates came running to the table to join him and they all began laughing and giggling. What a wonderful gift for them. Luance is technically savvy and he works in the elementary school administration office as a secretary so he is very familiar with how to use it so I know Jonathan will get some good training on it.

Nathan and I finally got to bed shortly before 11:00pm. This is the latest night of the week but we weren’t concerned since the only thing we have to do for the next two days is to sit on an airplane or in an airport.

We have an 11-hour flight tomorrow to Newark, an 11-hour overnight layover and another six hour flight to Seattle. We will leave our hotel at 9:00am Sunday and arrive in Seattle at 9:00am Monday (plus an eight hour time zone change). It will be 33 hours total travel time.

Day 8 – Nov 10 – Atakpame Conference

The AC at the Catholic hotel in Atakpame was troublesome and didn’t work at all in Nathan’s room. Mine worked just enough to cool the air a little bit. It was a hot and muggy night so Nathan had a really hard time sleeping. Fortunately I showered the night before because there was no running water when we got up in the morning. Nathan was not so fortunate. I awoke very early and did some more conference prep after having my quiet time in the 33rd and 43rd chapters of Isaiah, very encouraging words during a week of prison ministry. I called Greg for a few minutes – he and a team of eight others are on their last day of ministry in the Philippines. They will arrive home Saturday, the day before we depart from Lomé.

Breakfast at the hotel, like in Lomé, was very basic with a scrambled egg and some white bread. The bread, however, was much better than it has been the rest of the week. Zeph and Roland showed up at 8:05am as promised but, since we had just received our food, they also ordered and had a quick breakfast before we left for the conference.

It was a full house when we arrived. There were 47 already in attendance as we pulled into the parking lot and were greeted by all of our brothers and sisters. All others were in the church worshiping and continued for about 20 minutes while we got all of our materials ready for the conference. We took a count during the start of our conference and found that 25 of the 47 in attendance were already doing prison ministry. This is a testament to how effective Edwige was before she passed away in June of 2016. It also is evidence of the kind of work Roland is doing, having gathered this many prison ministry volunteers together in one place. Only a few of them are working with Roland but he knows all of them and is hopeful that after this conference they will be able to partner and they will see his vision of expanding the ministry of PFC through the efforts of many.

Nathan and I did a great job teaching the conference. We covered all materials and kept everyone engaged. Blessed Tsevi translated for us the entire time. When he got stumped Pastor Zeph was able to help him. Before lunchtime we had 54 attendees and we still had 54 at the end of the conference. These were people that are serious about prison ministry and, of the 29 that are not yet serving, 20 came forward at the end to be commissioned into the field. This is the greatest response I have seen in my 14 PFC campaigns.

Lunch today was made by a lady in Pastor Zeph’s church. She traveled all the way from Lomé to prepare and serve the meal. We had rice and beef with some really spicy peppers that I elected not to eat. The meals were prepared for only $3 each. Good job Pastor Roland – working hard to save the ministry money.

We couldn’t leave for Lomé until 4:30pm because I had to conduct my audit with Pastor Abel before he returned to Burkina Faso. After the audit we all gathered together outside for a photo shoot since this is quite possibly the only time all of these PFC Ministry Associates and Partners will be together in one place.

Driving home it was dark the last half of the way, something we try desperately to avoid, but we had no choice this time. The greatest danger is there are no lights on the highway, many obstacles in the road and potholes that can’t be seen until you are on top of them. And then there are the other drivers that can’t stay in their own lane and pass when they shouldn’t be. Travel truly is the most dangerous part of overseas missionary work. I always feel safe in the prisons, I never feel safe on the road. Hazards of the trade, I guess. The risks we take to bring the gospel to the least of the least.

Day 7 – Nov 9 – Notse and Atakpame Prisons

Pastor Zeph heard a loud bang this morning and the AC stopped working in the car. It is pretty rare we have AC in a car in Africa and he wanted to make sure it was working, so we got a late start this morning. We had to hurry, so in an effort to avoid the time that would be wasted by getting the AC fixed, I elected to pull the door panel off the door with a non-functioning window to see if there was anything I could do for it – there wasn’t. The rental car owner instructed us to take it to an AC shop…it was quite an experience.This shop on the side of a residential dirt road was an AC specialist. They obviously work on the same cars all the time because they had an assortment of upper dash panels/evaporators on the shelves in the shop along with a lot of used compressors and compressor clutches and other AC parts.

 

He checked it out quickly and found the compressor clutch had come off. They climbed under the car on the dirt road and installed a used clutch off a part that was on the shelf. They had us back on the road quickly with a functioning AC system. I have no confidence the repair will last long but we will at least hope it works until Sunday when the car is returned.

 

We left Lomé around 9:15 and arrived in Notse at 10:45am.

Notse is a small prison north of Tsevie (not to be confused with Pastor Blessed Tsevi) but still very much in the southern region of Togo. There were 213 inmates in an institution built for about 75. The female OC welcomed us into her office and we presented her with gifts. She was overwhelmed with thanksgiving. We entered the prison at about 11:15am, another prison I was familiar with.

 

Walking through the gate we entered a courtyard that was typical of most of the other prisons in Togo, it was about 30’x60’ with cells around the exterior. I will guess from memory that there were probably four or five cells for the 213 inmates. I am certain, like at other prisons, they are sleeping on top of each other or taking turns sleeping.

The area where we stood to hold our service was under the cover of a permanent, heavy tarp to produce shade. It was very hot, in the mid-90’s, so we were thankful for the cover. About 150 men gathered in front of us and to the left. To the right was an area where some men were seated nearby and listening intently and other men were behind them playing games and going about their business. Each of us participated in the service with Zeph interpreting.

After the service we were asked if we could personally distribute the soap to the inmates because they weren’t sure they would ever see it again if we left it with the guards. They had a list of names of the inmates and they read them off one at a time and they each worked their way to the front when their name was called. It took about 20 minutes for everyone to get their bar. On our way out I realized that we had not taught them our handshake so we showed them, receiving the expected applause, and we left for Aakpame about 1:50pm. We were at Notse prison for 2 hours, a very full and excellent visit.

Blessed met us on the side of the road in Atakpame. He lives in this town and rode to meet us on his motorbike. He led us up a steep, rocky dirt road to another familiar institution. We turned right between a couple homes down a long driveway, past a few parked motorbikes and up to the prison.

 

The OC was a Muslim man with a copy of the Q’uran on his shelf. After our usual greetings and gift exchange we told the OC that we were short on soap, not enough for every man to get a bar. We had hurried to get there because we were told we only had until 4:00pm. He told us to go into town to buy some more soap because he wanted to be sure everyone got a bar. It was pleasing to know that he cared about them.

We drove into town and found a little shop with the same soap we had already purchased so we bought two more boxes and returned to the prison. Our first stop here was to the women and youth area. This looked like it consisted of two separated areas but the juveniles were brought into the ladies’ courtyard for our service. Since we were short on time I shared a brief message about the love of God in Christ and the need to recognize our just wages but the promise of salvation through faith in Christ. There were 18 boys and 5 ladies, all of which raised their hands at the altar call. Nobody else on our team shared in this service, we gave them gifts (including a soccer ball) and went to the main prison to see the men.

We walked into the area between the inner and outer gates where there was a small sign hanging above the inner gate than I remember from my visit here in 2013, a sign with the three monkeys saying “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”. We entered a densely packed courtyard about the same size as Notse prison but with twice as many men (417). This prison was probably built with the intention of holding about 150. There isn’t even room to walk in here, you have to squeeze between others to get around. Most of the men stood attentively listening to us during our service and 40 raised their hands indicating a decision for Christ.

We didn’t distribute the soap, we left that to the inmates, it would have been total chaos and would not have been a safe move. We did throw the ball into the crowd, though, left after showing them our handshake. We had to close at 4:00pm exactly so our healing prayer and our prayer for the inmate church leaders was brief.

Arriving at a Catholic Nun-operated hotel around 4:30pm we checked our rooms, verified they were sufficient and we checked on dinner options. The restaurant said they didn’t have anything ready and it would take about an hour. We went to another hotel restaurant that told us they had food ready so we had a seat. We waited more than an hour-and-a-half for our food and received a phone call from Jonathan before the food came, telling us he had arrived in town, so we ordered more food for him and his two volunteers, Luance and Esther.

I don’t know how long it’s been since Jonathan and Blessed have seen each other but they embraced as if it’s been years. Jonathan had never met Roland so they self-introduced and we all ate rubber chicken for dinner. Eric arrived as we finished eating but there was some fish ready so he ate while we got to know him.

 

Jonathan arrived from the north of Togo with two of his volunteers, a Luance and Esther. Just about the time we finished eating dinner Eric arrived from Ghana. They had some fish ready so he had fish and rice.This is the first time Eric has met any of us. He contacted our ministry about a year ago and we are hopeful that he may become a missionary partner in Ghana. We have not had a representative in Ghana for a couple years since Pastor Martin left the ministry.

 

We all fellowshipped for a short while but Nathan and I had to prepare for tomorrow’s conference so we went back to the hotel. All of the pastors followed us to our hotel and, shortly after we arrived, Abel arrived from Burkina Faso. He is such a big and animated man. He hugged each of us when he saw us and nearly squeezed my stomach up into my throat. I called all of them into my room for some photos and we photographed the whole team together with the exception of Nathan who had gone to his room to all Angela for her birthday.

 

There were no more rooms at the hotel so all of the other pastors found rooms elsewhere in town and Eric stayed with Blessed at his home.

Day 6 – Nov 8, 2017 – Three Prisons and a Visit with the Superintendent

This morning began at 7:30am when we headed directly to Vogan for our first prison service. The drive took about an hour and we were in the prison by 9:00am. This was such a busy day I’m trying to remember it……hang on a minute……it feels like it was two days ago……oh, yeah, here we go:

The OC was wearing a T-shirt so we questioned if he was the man in charge of the prison – he was. Nathan took the opportunity to present to him our gifts to which he was very thankful and invited us into the prison. He, like every other OC on this trip, was adamant about no photos inside the institution. He only allowed a photo of us with him in front of the main gate.

 

Vogan prison has a courtyard about 30’ x 80’. There was a covered portico in the center and there were about 60 men seated there on the floor and another 50 men seated around the courtyard, some cooking and some doing nothing at all, and a few still in their cells. There are seven cells around the perimeter. If they are all the same size as the one that I was able to look into they are about 15’ x 20’, each housing about 20 men. There were 136 men and two women in this prison.

 

We were offered a bench to sit on and we began our service. Our outline for each service today was the same but neither one went quite as planned. Nathan gave the IGL message at Vogan, I served as Emcee, Zeph gave his testimony, Roland gave a sermon followed by a sermon by Nathan. He was cut short so he transitioned a short message into an altar call. We were told we had to leave so I took two quick minutes to present the gifts of Bibles, soap, Ibuprofen and a soccer ball. I don’t recall the statistics (they will be in my final trip report) but we had about 30 men and 2 women make a commitment to follow Jesus.

 

We left Vogan around 10:30. As we were leaving Roland made a phone call and told us that the Superintendent (that we were not able to visit a couple days ago) is at his office in Lomé so he wanted to return there to meet with him before we went to our next prison. The distance was about the same as it would be to go the prison although in a slightly different direction. It appeared we had plenty of time if the only other plan for the day was to go to one more prison so away we went – back to Lomé.

 

We made it back to the Superintendent’s office building around 11:30am. We waited for almost an hour for him to finish in another meeting. A lady was selling oranges so Zeph bought one for each of us. She had cut the rind off, leaving the white part on the outside of the “orange” (which was actually green). She then cut a hole in the top and when I started peeling it the pastors laughed and showed me that I was just supposed to squeeze it and drink the juice from it. It was the sweetest green I ever had (I’ve never eaten a green).

While waiting we discussed our plans for the rest of the day. There was confusion about what time we were expected at Tsevie Prison. While we waited for the Superintendent (for about 45 minutes) I asked Roland what time we had to be there. Zeph then told us before 2:00pm. I tried to understand what he meant by “before” 2:00pm. It turns out that means we need to be done by 2:00 because the OC is leaving at that time and we have to be done before he leaves. It was now 12:15pm and it was going to take an hour or more to get to the next prison. Fortunately Roland called the OC and he said he would wait for us.

 

The Superintendent was a sharp-dressed man in a nice, cool air-conditioned office. He spoke very good English so we chatted for a few minutes and discovered that he had been in Seattle in September to look at a machine that would create energy and make fertilizer. He asked why we were here and was very pleased. He told us that he knows it is hard work and that not many people are doing what we are doing. He thanked us and gave us his authorization to visit all of the prisons in Togo. We gave him gifts and headed out to Tsevie.

We arrived at Tsevie Prison sometime around 2:00pm. We were met by two other PFC volunteers that serve at that prison. They carried all of our gifts and we proceeded to the check-in area. The OC called us into his office where we did the customary exchange of gifts and he thanked us sincerely for what we are doing. He gave us no time limit so we were able to conduct a full service.

After checking our belongings with the guard we entered through a steel door into a holding area with a four-foot square cistern filled with water on the right. As we passed it we entered another door where there was a hallway and one large cell. We then walked through another gate style door into the courtyard where about 400 men were packed into an area about 30’ x 80’. They were packed in so tight to listen to us that we had about a four foot circle in which to stand. We were leaning back against the gate while the speaker would move to the front. We were all packed in tightly enough that we were all touching each other the whole time. It was very hot, about 95 degrees (as it has been every day this week).

 

I found it interesting that when Pastor Zeph was preaching or translating, because I was so close to him, I could see steam coming from his mouth. I’m no physicist so I don’t know why that was. The order of service was the same as planned but I mistakenly introduced Roland to give his testimony so then Zeph gave a sermon. Nathan then preached about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead and I gave an altar call. Zeph offered a healing prayer, I prayed for the inmate church leaders and presented the gifts.

Toward the end of the service there was a Muslim call to prayer and a few men walked over to what must have been the east wall of the prison. This didn’t slow anything down and I was very pleased to see the entire team continue without skipping a beat or paying it any notice.

 

Our last stop was a Juvenile institution in Lomé. The lady in charge received our gifts and welcomed us with open arms. She walked us back to a classroom area where there were about 20 boys aged 15-18 years. We were told we only had ten minutes so I shared a short message about my life, my time at boarding school and the difference between what we think is good and what God requires of us. They were very excited to receive the gifts – especially the soccer ball.

Back at the hotel we waited about 75 minutes for our dinner and all four of us enjoyed our standard fare that we have eaten each night at the hotel/apartment – Fried Chicken with rice or potatoes and Fried Plantains. I have looked at the menu and asked about the other items listed but they are all “finished”, the African word used to say that they don’t have it or that it’s all gone. Chicken is the “choice” of the week.

 

It is 8:15pm and we are all wiped out from a long day. The pastors went home to see their children and get some rest. We begin again tomorrow morning at 8:00am to drive about 300km and visit two more prisons. We will be staying in another city tomorrow night and holding our prison ministry training conference on Friday. Saturday we will have one more prison visit and then perform our audits with Roland and our other partners.

Day 5 – Nov 7 – Leadership Conference

This morning we were scheduled to meet with the Togo Prison Superintendent and the Prosecutor. Our first stop, however, is to Lomé Prison to meet with the OC who was not there when we visited the prison yesterday. He was a very friendly Christian man who was very thankful that we had come. I shared with him about our ministry, told him the nature and purpose of our visit, thanked him for welcoming us and presented gifts to him.

He then told Nathan and I that he believes that what we are doing is very noble. Most people forget the prisoners and that the people that do remember them generally just remember their stomachs. He said that of the 1,800 inmates in his prison only 200 of them are new prisoners. In other words, the other 1,600 have been released and keep reoffending. The recidivism rate is very high because their hearts aren’t changed, they need the word of God to transform their hearts. He said that he believes that if only one person is saved all our efforts are worth it. I couldn’t agree more. Nathan and I were both very encouraged. I hope all that are reading this are encouraged, as well. The greatest gift we can give to any man is the knowledge of the love and grace of God through Jesus Christ and we can then pray that God will work in their hearts and draw them to himself.

Upon leaving the office we asked to take a photograph with him, to which he obliged. I then asked if I could take some photographs outside the prison, looking at the prison gates, etc. to which he agreed. He remained in his office to talk to another person that had requested his attention and the rest of us walked outside and I started taking some photos. Immediately one of the guards came toward me to tell me it was not permitted. The pastors started explaining to him that we had the permission of the OC so I continued taking an few photos. Just then another guard, a BIG guy, came toward me yelling at me. Nathan and I stepped back and I began trying to get the attention of Roland and Zeph, but they weren’t hearing me. This big guard was being very loud and angry to where Nathan and I actually got a little scared of what might happen. Just then the OC came out of his office but did not seem to do much about it, but the guard stepped down and returned to his post. It was time to leave…we all walked to the car and drove away, headed for the Superintendent’s office.

We drove to each office (Superintendent and Prosecutor) and neither of them are in the offices today due to the scheduled protests. Unfortunately this means we still do not have permission to enter the Juvenile Prison. We were originally scheduled to visit the youth today but a few weeks ago our clearance was denied and we are not sure why. We were hopeful that the prosecutor, a friend of our host pastors, was going to be able to tell us why it was denied and give us a recommendation for clearance. Since neither of them were in the office we will have to try again tomorrow.

On the way back to the hotel (apartment) Zeph pulled over to buy us each a coconut. He wanted us to have coconut water. The lady on the side of the road had about 100 coconuts still on the branch in the middle of the sidewalk. With a large knife she cut the ends off the coconut to expose the water inside. There were no straws so we drank the water from the coconut and then she cut it in half and made a scoop from the husk and cut out the meat.

Our final stop was to purchase snacks and drinks for tonight’s conference and then Nathan and I went to the apartment for the afternoon. Here we sit now as I write this. Nathan is balancing our treasury and I am writing to all of you that are sound asleep and not reading this, anyway.

We will be leaving around 6:00pm to teach our leadership conference.

Our Leadership Conference was a great success. 18 men from different churches around the area and Nathan shared about Biblical Examples of Good and Bad Leaders, I taught on the Five Levels of Leadership, and Nate closed with an exhortation of the need to preach Jesus and WHAT Jesus must be preached.

We had a snack/meal for each of them and we got home to the apartment around 9:30. Pastors told us that they have a prayer vigil tonight so they will be up all night and be with us tomorrow at 7:30am to drive us two Tsevi and Vola Prisons. We are hoping to visit both prisons and be home to Lomé in time to meet with the Superintendent and the Prosecutor. Heading to bed now at 10:30pm in preparation for another busy day tomorrow.

Togo Day 4 – Nov 6 – Lomé and Aneho Prisons

Sorry for no photos. We have very poor internet connection so I am having a difficult time getting them loaded into the blog. Hopefully some photos will be coming soon. I will try to put them in previous posts, as well. Thank you for your care, concern and prayers. We are well aware of the protection we are under, greatly due to your prayers for us.

We are still not over our jet lag. Days are long and if there is a time during the day when it gets quiet and the car stops moving or there is not something to keep us engaged, we are nodding off before the sandman has a clue.

 

Our hosts arrived perfectly on time this morning, at 8:00am sharp. I have been very impressed by their punctuality and concern for time and our schedule. However, this morning we started our day at the International Bible Society. The Bibles we had planned to purchase were too small for most eyes so we looked at other options and wound up purchasing 100 leather-bound Bibles in the local dialect and 100 French New Testaments. We then went to the market and the fun began.

We couldn’t move. The car was stuck in traffic for over an hour as we crawled through the district. We parked for a while while Roland talked with some people and it turns out we found the same soap for even less money than we had found it for yesterday. This led to a delay, though, and by the time we had the soap delivered to us and fought traffic to the prison we were more than an hour late. Once we were in the traffic jam there is no way we could have made it on time, anyway, even if the soap had been ready for us.

When we arrived at Lomé Prison where there are roughly 1,800 inmates the guards checked out our clearance letters and then told us we only had 15 minutes for our service. We hurried in through the gate and were directed to the women’s area of the prison. We were temporarily stopped by another guard who had not yet been notified we had clearance. The chaplain spoke to him and we walked to the same area I had been in 2013 where Nathan shared a short but concise gospel message with the 81 incarcerated women. About 30 of them were actively seated around us listening but the area is small and all the women could hear him. Interestingly, this is the first time I can remember ever speaking in a women’s prison where there were no children. They may have been in the cells with there mothers but there were none in the “courtyard” (which was very small).

This took about 10 minutes and then we were escorted to the men’s prison. This is a very packed and semi-enclosed outdoor area where men were gathered in groups in different areas. I remember it being even more crowded in this prison 4 years ago. There were men playing games in one section, Muslims on the ground for their call to prayer in another area right next to the “chapel” where many men were gathered and singing praises as we walked in. Since we were so short on time we didn’t hold a full service here, either. Instead I was introduced and I shared one of my favorite messages about the Rich Young Ruler. It was very well received and, although it was a very large prison and we were in front of a rather small group of about 100 men, I am certain that many more were able to hear. We were told we had to leave right away so we gave them 40 Bibles and 40 New Testaments and we left for the car.

On the way to the car Nathan was stopped by a Sudanese man that was just released from a 40 year sentence and was trying to get home to Sudan. We regrettably had to tell him that we were not the people that could help him.

 

Next stop Aneho Prison. It was about a one hour drive to Aneho and I started falling asleep on the way there. We arrived during their lunch hour so we met with the Officer in Charge (OC) and I presented the gifts to him. He was very thankful and, after we prayed for him, he walked us to the courtyard. The prisoners were all eating so we had to wait about 15 minutes.While waiting we watched the guards play a game that appeared to be a cross between Backgammon and Sorry (they apparently don’t have any work to do).

When we entered the 30’ x 60’ prison courtyard we found it full with all 450+ inmates. The twelve ladies were seated on benches against the wall next to us. We didn’t move more than 5 feet from the door because it was so crowded, You do the math with the size of the courtyard and the number of inmates. These men all sleep in six cells that surround the courtyard.  It was very tight quarters and quite noisy behind our audience of approximately 150 inmates.

I shared the IGL message and Nathan served as emcee. I gave my testimony followed by Zeph’s short sermon and then I shared again about the Rich Young Ruler. Roughly 30 men and two women raised their hands to indicate they had made a commitment to surrender their life and to walk with Jesus. I then exhorted the other men in the prison church to embrace these men and then Roland offered a prayer for healing and Nate presented gifts (10 Bibles and 10 New Testaments) to the inmates. Many of the men were personally asking Nathan and me for Bibles and we had to tell them that we have a limited supply and they will all have to share. One of the men was from Ghana so he spoke English. This has happened in each prison so far on this trip. Togo is also the country where this happened in 2013 and I gave my Bible to a man that had no access to God’s Word since he couldn’t read the French Bibles in the prison. For this reason I always carry a Bible on the mission field that I can give away, I never carry my favorite Bible.

It was quite noisy and chaotic in the prison while they distributed the soap to each inmate so we left as soon as we could. One man stopped Pastors Roland and Zeph and pleaded with them help since many men are being wrongfully accused of stealing a chicken and being thrown into the prison for a long time, even years, awaiting trial. Once again, there was nothing we could do to help him.

We drove back to Lomé and had dinner at a nice outdoor restaurant with very poor lighting and terrible music videos on the big screen TV. I tried a local dish, I can’t pronounce or spell it but it is basically a peanut soup/stew with chicken and some root vegetables served with rice. It was quite tasty. Nathan had standard fare – chicken with rice. The pastors had another traditional dish of a corn meal paste served with chicken.

Arriving back at the room the AC was repaired, the living room was cool and, with the help of the hotel staff, we hauled all of the remaining soap and Bibles up to our room. We discussed tomorrow’s plans with the pastors and sent them on their way.

Tomorrow is a big day but there is some concern of civil unrest due to political issues. We are scheduled to visit the Superintendent of Togo prisons and then visit the State Prosecutor. We are hoping to receive permission to enter one of the institutions that they took off of our list. We are then scheduled to hold services at the youth prison and, to end the day, we are teaching a leadership conference to 12-20 church leaders in the evening. It will be another long day with some possible hurdles.

Togo Day 3 – Nov 5 – Baby Dedication and Sunday Sermon

Jet Lag – Oh my goodness! I awoke at 3:00am and, since I was still wide awake at 3:45 I decided to get up and get my day started. Not so with Nathan – He was awake at 2:00am and tried (too hard, apparently) to go back to sleep but to no avail.

I don’t feel it is wise to go running outside so I made 25 trips up and down the four flights of stairs at the hotel. It’s quite hot and very humid already at 6:00am.

 

Breakfast was at 8:00am – an omelette and white bread with tea or drinking chocolate. Pastor Zeph was here promptly at 9:00am as promised. He offered a prayer and we left for the church which is about 10 minutes away.

The worship was lively and loud at the church and we were greeted warmly by young men to wanted to carry our bags for us. They escorted us to the front of the church where we sang along with the choir of young ladies, I suspect it may be the female youth worship team. They sang for about 45 minutes and then the church choir sang one song a cappella before the pastor exhorted them (rebuked them) to become more involved in the church.

Then it was my turn. Zeph introduced Nathan and me and invited me to give the Sunday message. I shared with them Five Biblical Principles of Evangelism. I wound up speaking for about an hour (it always takes longer when using an interpreter). Praise God the message was well-received and he was glorified through the preaching of his word.

Next was a first, I’ve never been asked to dedicate a baby, but today the church was dedicating a new baby and Pastor Zeph asked if I would do it. They placed the baby in my arms and I prayed for her and for the family that was committing to raise her under the care and admonition of the Lord.

Nathan then did a great job offering the benediction to which everyone was very thankful. This concluded the service and we went to Pastor Zeph’s office where we were each given a Coca-Cola and we discussed the humanitarian aid we will be purchasing for the prisons. We determined that we will be giving gifts to about 4,500 men and women in the seven prisons we are scheduled to visit so our budget will provide a bar of soap for each of them. If we are able we will also provide other aid but this we are certain we can provide. We are told that the inmates are fed (although minimally) by the prisons but soap is not provided. Each inmate will get a 300g bar of soap, enough to last them for a good period of time.

 

Roland took us to the market (which is mostly closed on Sunday) but there were some booths open. One of the ladies in the church sells drinks in the market so she knows many of the vendors. She met us there and was able to negotiate a very fair price for the soap and we arranged to have it delivered to a meeting place for us tomorrow and on subsequent days, saving us the time-consuming journey into the heart of the extremely busy marketplace during the week.

 

Pastor Roland had other preparations to make and other things to attend to so he returned us to the hotel at about 1:30pm. Nathan and i took the rest of the afternoon to rest (we each needed a nap) and prepare for the rest of our busy week, discussing the logistics and specifics of our leadership conference tomorrow and our prison ministry training conference on Thursday.

Nathan commented earlier today that he doesn’t recall it being this hot in Malawi or Ethiopia as it has been here. It turns out this is the hot season according to Pastors Zeph and Roland. The air conditioning is not working in our living room today.  Although it seemed to be a very hot day at church and in the market it seems to be much cooler this afternoon than it was this morning and yesterday.

After writing the above entry we went to the rooftop dining area/bar for chicken dinner and it began pouring rain. It was close to the heaviest rain I’ve experienced, made more intense because we were under a gazebo with a metal roof. It cooled easily 20 degrees or more from this afternoon.

Safe Arrival in Lomé – Nov 3-4, 2017

Our flight from Seattle to Newark was scheduled to depart at 5:34 am so, in order to save our wives the trouble of driving in the middle of the night, we stayed at the Ramada near the airport.

Our flight was delayed two hours ON THE TARMAC while we waited for them to de-ice the plane. Apparently the first attempt was done incorrectly so we had to wait for them to do it again. Then they had trouble with the truck so they had to get a different truck, but then we had to wait for the de-icer to warm up before they could apply it. I couldn’t help but think of what a problem this was since, in theory, this would mean that no airplanes could depart from Sea-Tac for two hours.

 

Our flight to Newark was uneventful although we arrived two hours late. We still had a 6 hour layover so we decided to take the train into Manhattan for dinner. While on the train we sat across from a young lady (freshman in College) named Shri. She was born in India and holds to an “every religion is OK, they’re all about the same” theory. We shared the gospel with her and left her with a booklet. She walked us out of Penn Station and directed us how to walk to Greeley Square where Nathan and I each had a delicious BBQ pork rice bowl and a fish taco.

 

We were then told that the train is notoriously late going back to Newark airport and it was rush hour so we hurried to return, only to discover that our flight was again delayed by about an hour.

I slept well on the flight to Togo (about 6 hours of solid sleep) but Nathan didn’t sleep so well.

 

When we arrived in Togo we were met by Pastor Roland, our PFC Missionary Partner, and Pastor Zeph, pastor of the local church and widower of our past Missionary Partner, Edwige. They drove us to the hotel which was only a ten minute drive from the airport where we settled in. We have an apartment with a living room, kitchen and two en suite bedrooms.. The AC was not working in the living room when we arrived but Nathan and I each went to our rooms and napped for about an hour during which time they repaired the AC.

 

I prepared for my Sunday sermon (we have been asked to preach at church) and Nathan did some prison sermon prep and then the pastors joined us for dinner at about 7:00pm.

Our accommodations are comfortable with the exception that we are sleeping on box springs without mattresses. We will see if this will work for the entire trip. We may just purchase some eggshell foam or something, although I slept decently overnight (but woke up at 3:00am). Jet lag has visited us.