Wednesday, December 28, 2011

In Togo!

Hello all!

We are busy here in Tsiko, Togo.  God is working!
We have little time to update this blog and the internet is VERY slow here, because, well it's dial-up.
Lydia has her own blog, and has posted a couple of times and will continue to do so.
Check out her blog for some posts and pictures!
Keep praying!
Here's a link:

www.lydiablickley.blogspot.com

Friday, December 23, 2011

We DID make it! Hit the ground running.

I don't have time to write much, we are off in 15 minutes to a remote village to help with a Bible School.  The kids plus a couple of the Dekryger kids are going to be doing a mime, and we will be helping with crowd control.
 Lydia, Gabrielle and myself will sleep in that village along with the local missionary in this village-no elec. , no running water.  The other 3 will be going back to a bigger town to sleep in a missionary's home.

Adam is working VERY hard, they had the patients lined up, his first case was the night we arrived.  We came and he went to do his first surgical case. (this was after traveling for 2 days and 2 nights).  He was exhausted!  Yet, he was up and gone before the rest of us woke.

More later, wanted to let you know we are here, our accomadations are great.

We ask for continued health and strength.  It is extremely hot here, and it has taken a bit for our bodies to adjust.

Blessings, The Blickleys

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Off we go!

Well, we are ready to go, today is the day!  All of you have richly blessed us with items, finances, words of encouragement and last but most certainly not least PRAYERS.  Please continue to cover us, we cannot do it without you!  In my devotions this morning, one of the quotes that stuck out to me was "God listens to prayers, and he chooses to use them to change the world around us."  As seen in Ezekiel 16 and Exodus 3. So, in saying that, please, PRAY for Adam and the surgical patents he will see, PRAY for the water filter project, and please PRAY that we will be able to see what the Lord wants us to see and serve how He wants us to serve, unhindered by health or strength issues!!

 Here is an excerpt from Jennifer DeKryger(our friend and missionary we will be working with) and her visit to the village where the water filters are going:

Yesterday I had an adventure of heading out to Kpegadze, that's the
village we are going to give out the filters and do
the training. Andrew  and I went with the community health evangelism
team that we will be working with from our hospital. We met with the
pastor there and the other representatives that they usually work
with. We walked around the village and saw the two water sources they
use, both small "creeks" that looked pretty bad. One was pretty much a
big puddle and was infested with insects. This village has the
problem that the local herdsman bring their cows to drink from their
small water supply. So you can imagine what the cows do to their
water small supply. I took some photos and I'll try to attach some of
them to another email. We explained our goals to help them with water
filtration and then prayed together. It was quite humbling to hear
these people cry out to God and ask Him to make this project work for
them. They kept telling God about their children who suffer from
disease because of their lack of clean water. I could barely pray to
wrap things up. All this to say, let's continue to pray that all the
details come together for this to work. They are all very excited.

I've also been in touch with a driver from Ghana who is planning on
picking up the filters on Monday. It's the same guy that will be
picking you up from the airport. Please pray that he can cross the
border without any difficulties and without anyone asking for bribes. 

God is answering the prayers of His people, the people of this village! 

Well, here is the "26-pieces-of-luggage-mound and us  :  ) Ready to go! (well, almost anyway, Gabrielle will not be wearing shorts : )  ) 






This is Sandy the clinical administrator from GRWH.
She spent numerous hours ordering meds and arranging
for donations. A big shout out of thanks!  She even made a last minute house delivery of some medications needed for Togo!!!

Our theme verse for the trip comes from Luke chapter 9.  Verse 2: ..."He sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick."  The following verses 3-5 outline our goal for our attitude in that we want to become one with the Togolese people sharing in the culture and shedding the to common sense of American superiority. This was the theme for my first mission trip 20 years ago to Panama and has made a lasting impression for all the trips I have made since. 


 BLESSINGS!  The Blickleys