Togo is located east of Ghana and west of Benin in western Africa

Togo is located east of Ghana and west of Benin in western Africa
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Monday, April 28, 2014

Let's go to... Indiana


Our pre-trip was a little bumpy.  Micah and I both came down with colds a week before we were to leave for our month long trip.  I’m not sure how Micah kept going, but with being pregnant, I was too sick and tired to even keep up with our normal daily activities, let alone get anything done from my long list of things to do before we left.  Our colds subsided after a few days and I had enough energy to check a few things off my list.  After just 1 day of getting my energy back, Liza came down (or up) with a 103.5 - 105 degree fever, off and on for 4 days.  She was cranky and clingy, and yet again I couldn’t get much of anything done.  Finally, on Monday her temperature went down and her smile came back.  Thankfully, Liza was feeling better before we left, but by then I was down to less than 24 hours to get my huge list completed.  We wanted to leave Tuesday morning, but I was busy until after dinner Tuesday trying to get everything done so we could leave.  And of course Micah was busy working until just before dinner Tuesday as well.  I still had a few things left on my list, but at least I could do them on the road.

Thankfully our trip hasn’t been as bumpy (besides the winter-weathered roads).  We actually had a great start when we went to pick up our rental car for the trip.  They upgraded us to a van before we even had a chance to ask.  Originally we wanted to rent a van so we’d have room for boxes of things to drop off with family and friends along the way.  But vans are almost twice as much to rent, so we settled for a car and figured we’d find another way to pass along our family keepsakes.  Of course this upgrade added more work for me to do before leaving, but good work, so that’s ok.  We have lots of space and Sam loves the new ride.  I do too; it’s much more comfortable for a pregnant mom than a car.


The first week of our trip has been in Indiana.  We’ve been staying with Micah’s Grandpa and playing with cousins all week (along with visiting schools and churches).  Sam and Liza have really enjoyed their time with Avery, Izzy & Paisley, as you can see in the pictures.



One day we journeyed to Fort Wayne so the kids and I could see Concordia Theological Seminary for the first time. We also met with a Pastor and his wife who lived in Togo during the early days of mission work there. He now goes back for intensive classes on a regular basis.  We all enjoyed the Biblical themed playground at the seminary.  One of our goals for our trip is to stop at as many playgrounds as we can.  Hopefully the weather doesn’t interfere too much.  





All in all, it’s been a great start and we look forward to our stops in Illinois and Iowa this coming week.






Friday, April 18, 2014

When will we be leaving?

We will be leaving when the base of our support network is large enough.  We don’t know for sure, but the following is our current schedule...

Feb - April: Presenting at Milwaukee area churches
Setting up churches to stop at on our month long trip
  Selling all of our baby stuff
  Eating all the food in our stand up freezer
  Starting to sort through things in the attic
  Getting our finances in order

April - May: Traveling to IN-IL-IA-MO-TN-TX to present at churches 

The following is our schedule as of today.  I will be updating it as more churches are confirmed.  There is a map on the sidebar of where we will be.  You can click view larger map and see all our stops.  (Unfortunately, Google wouldn't let me add any more stops, so Texas stops are not on the map.)  If we'll be near you, please come see us! 

Date
Date
Date
April 23
St. Paul's Lutheran School, Bremen, IN
8:35am presentation
April 24


April 25
St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church, Hamlet, IN
6pm CDT presentation
April 26


April 27
St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Bremen, IN
8am EDT preaching & presentation
April 28


April 29
St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Milford, IL
6pm fellowship & presentation
April 30
St. Paul's Lutheran School, Milford, IL
8:30am chapel
May 1
St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, Joliet, IL

St. Paul Lutheran Church, Williamsburg, IA
11am Ladies Guild presentation

7pm presentation
May 2
Lutheran Interparish School, Williamsburg, IA

Peace Lutheran Church, Glidden, IA
8:40am 7-8 Grade presentation

6pm fellowship & presentation
May 3
Mission Central, Mapleton, IA
10:30am  site tour
1:30pm presentation
May 4
St. Timothy Lutheran Church, Bedford, IA

St. Paul Lutheran Church, Clarinda, IA
8am preaching

10am preaching & presentation
May 5
Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Emma, MO
7pm presentation
May 6


May 7

May 8
Faith Lutheran Church, Jefferson City, MO
7:30pm presentation
May 9


May 10


May 11
Heavenly Host Lutheran Church, Cookeville, TN
8am CDT preaching & presentation
May 12
Heavenly Host Lutheran School, Cookeville, TN

Concordia Lutheran Church, Kingsport, TN
9am CDT presentation

7pm EDT presentation to circuit
May 13
St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Wartburg, TN
7pm EDT presentation
May 14
Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, McMinnville, TN
6pm CDT meal, presentation, preaching
May 15


May 16


May 17


May 18
Faith Lutheran Church, Plano, TX

Faith Lutheran Church, Wylie, TX
9:30am Bible Study

7pm presentation
May 19
Faith Lutheran School, Plano, TX

St. Luke Lutheran Church, Olney, TX
8:40am presentation

7pm presentation & ice cream social
May 20
Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Wichita Falls, TX
7pm presentation & snacks
May 21
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Harrold, TX
7pm presentation


June - Aug: Presenting in MN, UT, & around Milwaukee

  Sorting through & selling all our possessions (including our house)

Aug - Dec: Continuing support network building

  Learning French w/ Rosetta Stone or at a local school
  Our newest family member will be joining us in October
Dec:   Move to Albertville, France
Jan - July:  Albertville, France for French immersion classes
July - June:  Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Africa for cultural immersion
July 2016:  Dapaong, Togo to teach theological education

Disclaimer:  All plans subject to change at any time.

It seems like it will be a long time before we actually go to Togo.  However, everything planned is necessary for us to be able to share the Word of Christ in Africa.  Our mission has already begun.  We have already met many people at several churches who are joining us in our mission and we look forward to meeting countless more!

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

What do we do with all of our possessions?


I have over 500 tags (quality baby items) entered online for the JBF sale next week.  JBF is North America's leading children's and maternity consignment sales event.  I’ve either received a lot of our baby stuff free from friends or bought them at the JBF sale.  I always figured I’d sell all the stuff I’ve bought at the JBF sale, right back where I got it.  I just didn’t think it would be so soon.  Lord willing, we aren’t done having kids.  I figured it would be a few more years before I started reselling all of our baby stuff.

Yet, I’ve come to realize (actually I knew it all along, I just couldn’t help myself), we don’t need all the baby stuff we have.  All a baby really needs is love.  I am the one that needed over 500 quality items for our babies.  I’m the one that needed the bassinet, crib, pack ‘n play, changing table, swing, high chair, car seat, multiple strollers, too many clothes to count, and endless toys.  Why?  To keep our babies “happy”, so I could be “happy”.


In all honesty, I cannot wait to move to Africa and be freed from all of these earthly belongings that keep us “happy”.  I’m looking forward to spending more time with our kids and less time trying to entice them to be “happy” playing with the things I’ve bought for them (or me).  I’m not saying we’re going to live without any baby stuff in Africa, but at least our lives will be simplified a great deal.  (I know it’s hypocritical, but don’t tell the people at the JBF sale that they don’t need my stuff!)

The baby stuff is almost gone and soon I will move on to sorting the rest of our house.  So what do we do with all of our possessions?  I’m making lists of what to pass along to family and friends, what to put in storage and what to take to Togo.  Everything else will be sold through a liquidation sale or donated.






The “Take to Togo” list keeps changing daily.  We cannot decide whether to take a shipment or not.  At first we were going to take a shipment.  Then we decided we didn’t need it.  We would just take what we could fit in our 8- 50 pound bags on the plane.  Now, we might be able to combine shipments with our fellow missionary, Rev. Jacob Gaugert, who will be in Dapaong with us, but we aren’t sure yet .

I’m struggling between truly wanting to simplify our lives and wanting some of our American conveniences.  I’m wondering if simplifying our lives a great deal, would be too hard.  Our lifestyle will be so incredibly different in Africa compared to here.  If we leave everything we’re used to in America, will that be too much of a change for our family?  I imagine for most people the decision would be easy- just take the stuff.  But, I still have that struggle with wanting to get rid of it all.  We honestly don’t need it.  After all, most of the people in Africa live without all of our conveniences.