July 2008
REMEMBERING THE ONE
Dear Friends,
We left Lome the capital of Togo and went to a smaller town of Parleme. Our unsuspecting taxi driver (the one looking up in this picture) decided to stay with us and become our personal driver for the week. His decision of course was based on how much we were willing to pay. Seems reasonable, right? It’s how you get to the actual price that is so different. First, there is a lot of strong arguing and debate the seller must fight for what he can get and the buyer must fight for the lowest price. This is common in a lot of countries but in Togo it was more extreme than any other place we had ever been. At times we seriously thought people would start getting physical and hitting each other. Now, once the price is settled, you will experience the same thing all over again when you try to pay and they ask you for more. It was crazy! So once we settled the price with our driver he slowly warmed up to us as we included him in all our activities, this included one meeting in a small church of only twenty-five people. Because the meeting was at the last minute and mid-week we had no time to invite others to come. As a result we only had a handful of church members in the service and a large group of children. We were able to pray for the kids later to be filled with the Spirit and they really got touched.

Stuart was prepared to preach a message for the few Christians in the meeting when suddenly the Lord spoke to him and said, “Remember the One!” He thought about it and heard the Lord say, “Preach the Gospel.” So he did. He asked this small group of Christians if anyone wanted to get saved? Of course, they were looking around at each other curious as to why he would even ask? To our surprise from the back up walks our taxi driver. Not only did he give his life to Christ we watched as the Holy Spirit came touched him powerfully and he started speaking in tongues. Wow, God is amazing. All the other stuff we were going through, as distracting as it was, was not going to stop the Lord. Remember the one regardless of the situation and circumstances. Who is right in front of you? For us it was more difficult in Togo because their secondary language is French not English like Ghana but it’s not difficult for the Lord. The next day we searched all over town and found the only French Bible for sale and gave it to Elis, our taxi driver. We wrote a note inside and underlined Jeremiah 29:11.

He was now so joyful. As a result our drive to the border was pleasant and we went from listening to hardcore rap on the radio to gospel music. When we paid Elsi at the end of the trip there was no battle over the amount of money again, no manipulation for more just a grateful taxi driver. A child of God. Thank you, Lord.