The Ward Family to Togo

Six months after we moved to Togo, La Lumière middle school moved into their newly constructed building.




The middle school teachers have shown spiritual growth over the past few years and are discipling their students.  Here's a link to a video of one of our middle school teachers sharing his testimony.
Now they’re ready to expand into their new high school building as well!  We are so thankful for the three CWE teams who came out over the last month to build the high school.

Please pray for the school board as they work to hire godly teachers and set school policy.   The 2017-'18 school year is scheduled to begin at the end of September, but because of strikes the 2016-'17 school year has been extended through July.  Please pray for the short summer we have been given, that it will be productive with the teacher seminars we have planned and that they can have a good start to their next school year. Especially for the high school as they start for the first time!
And just f…

Thank you so much for praying for our family during our short visit to the States.We spent some time with relatives on my side of the family as we attended the memorial service for my grandfather.Cyrus had an ongoing dental problem that we finally got taken care of as well.Finally, we were able to be there for my parents as my mom underwent surgery to remove a benign tumor from her neck.Please pray for her complete recovery (Ruth Schaefer). It’s good to be back home in Togo.  The Christian School students returned to class on Tuesday after an Easter break.  We were surprised to find 2 wells being dug at La Lumière by a German group!  It's a huge praise, because this has been something that we've been planning to put money and effort towards that God has taken care of another way.  Over the next 2 months we’ll focus our time on visiting schools.  Andrew will conduct teacher interviews for his Ed.D dissertation.  Please pray for our safety as we travel and for wisdom on how we can…

The purpose of the Christian school is to glorify God by sharing the good news and making disciples of Jesus Christ.  One of the ways we accomplish this is by teaching the Bible in the classes.  Here is one of the teachers of a "La Vrai Lumière," a school that started this year. He was so excited to share the lesson of the 10 plagues that he even brought a grasshopper to show the class!

With more schools starting every year, we want to keep providing this curriculum.  Will you help us?
We’ve been offered FREE space on a container coming out in a few weeks and would love to be able to provide the following Bible flashcards to the schools.  So we're giving YOU the opportunity to get involved in the teaching of the Bible to the Christian school students!Click on the links to view items on the A Beka website!


1st Grade-  CreationNeeded:  NONE JosephNeeded: NONE
2nd Grade -
Moses Series TwoNeeded: NONE
MosesSeries ThreeNeeded: NONE

4th Grade-  EstherNeeded: NONE

5th Grade-  The First Ch…

It's been 3 months since Alethia's birth.  Since then, I've mostly been a homebody, trying to get a handle on my new normal, but we did get the chance to visit the Kpalime schools to introduce her to the teachers.  Togolese baby girls have their ears pierced shortly after their birth, but Alethia's ears are untouched, so everyone thinks she's a boy.  I put her in purple and pink, but added a bow to help them figure it out since Togolese don't assign gender to color.
Aside from the earrings and all colors being neutral, I've noticed some other differences of mothering an infant between Togolese and American cultures.  Togolese wear their babies on their backs, while Americans usually just carry them in their arms or wear them in a wrap on their front.  Backwards.  My house-helper calls me special.  :-)  Then there are the diapers. Togolese babies don’t always wear them.Many babies here rarely wear them, actually. Not my cup of tea.

So life goes on, and mostly …

We have a tremendous opportunity to start a Christian high school in Adeta, Togo, but we need your help.

The Christian school in Adeta has been growing quickly because the community has seen the the high quality of education at our Elementary and Middle school. We’ve also seen an amazing spiritual impact among the teachers, students, and families of students through the teaching of the word of God and the making disciples.

It’s been amazing how God has brought many people together to accomplish the establishment of the high school. The local Togolese pastors and parents have been disiring to start a school for a while, but just recently a church in Virginia has commited to paying the operating costs for the first 3 years for the school to get started, and another ministry (CWE) has decided to build the new school building and pay for 3/4ths of the costs. That means only $10,000 remains needed to start the new Christian high school.

Please pray and consider contributing to this new p…

I remember once when my mother gave me a book for my birthday. I cried. I thought that a book must have been the worst birthday gift a parent could possibly give to a child. What was she thinking?!

The book she gave me was “The Jolly Postman” by Janet and Allan Ahlberg. And I loved it. Today, I love books and I love reading more than almost anything else. I can think of no better gift than a good book. I have hundreds of books on my shelves, and my kids already have mountains of books even though they themselves are just beginning to learn how to read. They ask me to read to them every single day.

 My kids probably own more books today than most Togolese kids will read in their lifetime. Very few books are available to Togolese kids, and most of the good books are closely guarded and locked away because they are so valuable. It is very difficult for the teacher to help their students become proficient readers when there are so few French books available to them. Today we made a big s…