November 2011
13 posts
Togo Day 13 (11-17-11)
Recap:
Togoville
Village Krispy Creme
Rover Roof Rider
Voodoo Temple
Guitar
Fetish Market
Van Sand Saving
Worship Service
Goodbyes
We crushed it today. We fit so much in… it’s crazy.
Fist, we woke up at about 5 or 5:30am and drove about 45 min through some villages and rough roads to a small town called Togoville. This is where JJ purchased some lakefront property for a...
Togo Day 12 (11-16-11)
Recap:
Guitar
Painting
Basketball
Courtyard Kids
Guitar
Generosity
Of course, we started with early morning guitar lessons again. At this point, they’ve spent about 2 weeks with me and we’re now just playing through songs. I’m so proud of these guys.
JJ and Melissa are so gracious to have so many groups staying with them throughout the year. They have a huge heart to...
Togo Day 11 (11-15-11)
Recap:
Guitar Lessons
Lome, Togo
Guitar Lessons Unplugged
Why do you want to play Guitar Frank?
We started with Guitar lessons this morning early at 7:30am. We learned some new chords as well as the purpose of a capo. After that, Melissa, JJ and I drove to the capitol to take care of some business. The capitol drive is about 45 minutes long. While we were there, we were able to go by a...
Togo Day 10 (11-14-11)
Recap:
gratitude
guitar
reading
guitar
voodoo pressure
I went outside at 8:00am for our morning guitar lesson, and one of the Boys showed up that I didn’t expect to see. He had come by before school to show me something. You may remember me blogging about the orphan boy that had some serious clothing needs. He came by the house on the way to school to show me what he had purchased...
Togo Day 9 (11-13-11)
If don’t read all of this, at least skip to the BOLD section below.
Today, we were visiting a Church 3 hours north that JJ helps and coaches. The road had a ton of pot holes and we were bounced around like crazy, but it was a beautiful drive. It was very lush with palms, banana trees, mountains, etc… Great view!
When we pulled up to the church, they had just started and I heard...
Togo Day 8 (11-12-11)
Recap:
Brick maker
Needs being met
Caiman
Soccer
Guitar
We woke up early (as they do every Saturday) and started making bricks at about 7:30am. We worked till about 11:30. Holy cow this is such hard work…. but this church IS GETTING BUILT! I’m blessed to get to invest sweat and hard work in this Church with these Men of God.
This next paragraph is for those that supported...
Togo Day 7 (11-11-11)
Rundown:
guitar
popcorn sifter
toothless sharks
monkey bath
more guitar
Today started out with another great morning guitar lesson. This morning, we started translating (with the help of JJ Alderman) some songs into french. We had a great time. I love seeing the smiles on the guys faces when they start playing all the way through a song and hear it in their own language. It’s...
Togo Day 6 (11-10-11)
Todays Rundown:
guitar lessons in the am
Electricity out (generator)
Truckers
Netcasting
Downtime reading and rest
Guitar Lessons
Guitar lessons are going great. We started playing our first song as a group today (Blessed Be Your Name). THey love it. We also gained a new student… Atien. He hasn’t been able to join us because he’s been having to work in the fields all...
Togo Day 5 (11-9-11)
We started with an hour guitar lesson then jumped into building bricks again. They started building them this summer and already have about 2800 built. They are about a quarter way to being ready to build their church and wall. After that, they will make more bricks and build a children’s church. I love that I’m getting to partner with them in this.
At 3:00pm today, we went to...
Togo Day 4 (11-8-11)
Today, started like the others so far. I woke up and guys were ready to get starting working on guitars. I had my faithful 3 morning students again: Jonas, Simon, and Frank. I’m so proud of them and their hard work. Today we got into building chords and they killed it (as usual). We also worked more with some rhythm. They’re doing great with everything I teach them.
After our...
Togo Day 3 (11-7-11)
Today was the start of 2-a-days. We Did guitar lessons in the morning and the evening. We weren’t supposed to start till 8:00am, but there were guys down there 45min or an hour before practicing. They wanted to get a head start. Love it! I worked with the morning group for about 2.5 hrs.
We took a break afterwards to have lunch and go pick up some drinks. We needed to drive into town...
Togo Day 2 (11-6-11)
Had a great second day. I was able to help lead worship today in the church in To go. I played backup for their worship leader, and was able to play/sing 4 songs as well. They were mesmerized. I guess they’ve never seen a guy play and sing…especially in their church. Either way, I really enjoyed it. Today was another first: As I was leading, I gave a brief introduction of each...
Togo Day 1 (11-5-11)
It’s only been one night and one full day now and I feel like it’s been such an experience already. Let’s start back at the airport upon my arrival. I had just finished my 4th plane ride and I was on hour 32 of my journey. Pretty Exhausted. Everything had gone great up till I was merely 4 feet from the door exiting the airport. The airport security in Lome (west africa)...