Megan Marie: Togo

Over the summer (June 17th- July 3rd) a group of students (plus Josh) from Seacoast Church and I went to Togo, Africa on a missions trip. Even though it's taken a while to post this, I wanted to make sure I'm able to share a piece of the experience with everyone. While on the trip we had numerous opportunities to share Christ with the people of Togo and watch their lives change. We brought over 200 people to Christ.

This is a pic of our team at 5AM before our flight left for D.C.

We had 3 flights to take before we went to Togo- Charleston to D.C., D.C. to Ethiopia (with a stop to refuel in Rome :) )and then Ethiopia to Togo! Total travel time was around 27 hours.

Togo is in Red

The first taste of Togo we got was using the bathroom at the airports. There wasn't any soap or toilet paper and the toilets looked pretty different. It was a lot better than I expected considering when you think of bathrooms in Africa, you think of a hole in the ground (but don't worry, that came later ;)) We went from the airport to the missions house. It was where we would be eating our meals for most of the trip and where we would do most of our hanging out (we did have a TV there so we could watch the World Cup that was on at the time). We immediately found a few little kids who were running around the back of the missions house and we started playing with them. Amazingly, we all felt right at home. We stayed in a hotel our first week in Togo because the edge team (a group of college kids) was staying in the missions house. We would get picked up early in the morning for breakfast (and I mean early) and then dropped off after dinner for team time and sleep. Our first time actually getting to see Lome was on Day 2.

The missions house

We went to the site where they are building the new missions house to help make bricks. We had to mix cement, mold the bricks, let them dry and then stack them. They were extremely heavy and most of us were much more entertained by the children running around. They were so lovable! They would fight over holding your hand and being held. Even though we spoke different languages (for the most part) it seemed so easy communicating with them. We would play things like Simon Says and different clapping games. They loved it when we took pictures of them and then let them see. They thought it was magic!

Brick at the construction site

Later in the day we went to the basketball courts for sports evangelism. Since I'm not much of a sports person, I mostly handed out salvation bracelets and talked to the people. They all had tough questions about Christianity but it was a great test for me.

Dancing in the rain

On Day 3 we went to a church in Lome where Josh spoke. We preformed our Lifehouse skit which was a lot of fun. This was the first time we experienced what it was like to see rain in Togo. Everything floods! They have some heavy duty cars that make it through those puddles!! Since it rained so hard we just went back to the missions house for about 4 hours to hang out and take naps. After that we went to the Cyber cafe to get in touch with our families.

On day 4 we went back to the construction site (I guess that's what you would call it). It was hard for me because I saw a sick dog and it eventually got to me. Even though it was starving it was so darn sweet! I couldn't help but cry. Later in the day we held a beginners English class for the kids. It was fun trying to teach them our language and see how different things translate (like trousers instead of pants). We then went to play soccer for more sports evangelism.

Day 5 we got stuck at the missions house. There were roadblocks because people were boycotting the raise in gas prices. Pastor Francis felt it would be safest if we just stayed home. It was good resting for the day and just hanging out but we all wanted to get up and do stuff!

Day 6 On our way to take pictures for our visas we got pulled over by the Togo police. They were kind of scary with their big guns and military uniforms but after they gave them money they left us alone.

Day 7 was travel to Djon day. We spent the day packing up things in the hotel and hanging out at the missions house. We went for a walk to a small market down the road and then left for Djon around 3. On our way to Djon we had car trouble. Since it was dark by the time the car was fixed we decided it would be best to stay at a hotel for the night (the road to Djon is up a mountain and of course it isnt paved). We had a really great night laughing and eating subs that our cook, Cosee, prepared on the spot.

Day 8. We got up at 5:30 am to get on the road. The road to Djon was so beautiful! Everything was so natural on the mountains and the air was so fresh! Whenever we would go through a little village they would chase the van screaming "Yovo!" which means white person in tribal. On the way there was a little boy who was holding a dead viper he killed with a machete. He was selling it for about 4 dollars.

Pic with the soccer teams

Church in Ksengbe

For our days in Djon, everything pretty much runs together. We would travel to the village of Ksengbe and do hut to hut evangelism. We also had church there on Sunday. We did baptisms and had a wonderful time talking to people and helping them commit there lives to Christ (including the chief!!!) In Djon we held soccer tournaments and handed out bracelets. The winners of the soccer tournament got jerseys, a ball and a trophy. It was awesome to see the teamwork and good sportsmanship they had by the end of the tournaments. A lot of people accepted Christ during the games. We had a great time there because the children were in our front yard. We were also able to go up on the roof and we had an amazing view of the mountains.

View from the roof

Waving good bye

Baptisms

Simba!

Photo Cred: JRay

After we left Djon (with a new team member- Simba) we stopped in Akloa before going back to Lome. We hiked up a mountain in Akloa to a beautiful waterfall where we swam and had a great time. At this point we were sad because we knew our trip was coming to an end (it really flew by!).

When we got back to Djon we had a lot of down time to help prepare us for reentry. We visited the beach and the pool at a hotel in Lome. We got to shop at a tourist market and really just do a lot of hanging out. We put on a "leadership camp" for local youth leaders. We played team building games and had a really great time. At the end our team (Team David) won the spirit stick for our creative team song/ dance.

Before our flight home

Leaving Togo was extremely hard. Knowing that there was no guarantee of coming back to see everyone we got so close to was a hard thing to accept. We also knew that we had a long trip ahead of us that we felt like we just did. None of us were ready to see a plane again. It was very hard coming back because America seems so selfish. We are always in a hurry and our worlds revolve around money and material things. The people in Togo are so happy even though they have nothing. They are very relationship based and time doesn't really matter. Everyone is so friendly and so welcoming!

Our last little adventure happened on the way back. We had been talking about getting 5 Guys Burgers in the DC airport for a long time (we wanted American food so bad!). When we got there we didn't have much time but we figured we'd be fine to get a burger because it was right across from our gate. Ashley, Zach and Rashad went ahead on the plane and Josh, Miranda, the Maggies and I got our burgers. They announced that they were boarding our flight so we went to get on. Right as we got there they announced that the doors were closed. We missed our direct flight home. We ended up having to fly to Atlanta and then home, adding 7 hours to our trip.

Food- All of our meals in Togo were pretty good! We had a lot of fruit (bananas, pineapple, MANGOES) that were REALLY good. They tasted so different than the American version. We also had a lot of carbs like pasta and rice. Everything we ate was seasoned with an orange seasoning - even our eggs! And then there was fan ice! It tastes almost like a fudgesicle and it was so good!

Josh's Birthday celebration!

Bathrooms: In all of the places we stayed we had bathrooms- a tile room with a working toilet, sink (we couldn't drink the water) and shower head (the water was cold and pressure wasn't great- but it was still a shower and we were happy with that!) Traveling was a different story! In towns that we stopped through it was a big brick pit with a wall made of reeds for privacy. Other places it was a bush.

Travel: We rode in cars or walked everywhere we went. The cars were like American cars, although I'm not so sure an American car could hold up in the water they get. The roads flood completely!

Language:Most people spoke many languages. We heard a lot of French and tribal and a good bit of English.We had translators everywhere we went.

Children: The kids were everywhere! They were so sweet and loving! They would follow us everywhere we went and fight over holding our hands. I could show a million pics of them!