The Ward Family to Togo

We are constructing 2 new Christian school buildings this year. And by "we" I mean that I am taking pictures and keeping track of the finances on a spreadsheet while John Teusink and his crews do the real work. We wouldn't be able to have Christian schools without the Teusinks and their ministry here in Togo. Truly God has provided all the people we have needed for this ministry to succeed: Roger, Koudjodji, Christy Sopcisak, Anne Miller, the Teusinks, CWE, my parents, and all the other pastors, administrators, and teachers. As we continue to grow we need many others to join with us but we know that God will provide, not only the finances, but the people who will work to spread the gospel and make disciples through this Christian school ministry in Togo.

The Jr. High school in Tsiko is finally receiving it's own building after sharing facilities with the elementary school for 3 years. This year they needed their own building in order to serve the number of kids they…

You may be wondering about our daily life in Togo:

Has Ebola changed our lives at all? No, there have been no cases of Ebola in Togo (nor in the surrounding countries Ghana, Benin, Burkina Faso). Please continue to pray that it won't continue to spread, but also pray for those who are suffering from the disease.

Daylight hours?
We are very close to the equator so it gets dark before 7pm everyday, and because it is dark so early I think it's hard to stay up past 9pm. We usually go to bed at 10pm unless we are having a get-together with other missionaries. No alarm clock is necessary because our kids wake us up around sunrise everyday :-)

Clothing? A lot of the other men who live here wear khaki pants with an African shirt because the African style pants feersand look like pajama pants. I, on the other hand, think that if it's socially acceptable to wear pajama pants all day then count me in!

What kind of food do we eat? Well, I eat whatever I can find. I love the food here, and…

Ice cream and the Good News: We concluded our teacher seminar with some ice cream, but more importantly, a discussion on giving the gospel in the classroom. Many of the students in our schools come from Muslim families or other families that do not believe in Jesus alone for salvation. These teachers may be the only gospel witness in their students' lives. So the teachers gave examples of students who heard the gospel in class and believed in Jesus, then we talked about how it is absolutely necessary to give the gospel and to be an example of a life that has been changed by the power of the gospel.

We just completed a week-long curriculum and teacher-training conference focused on rewriting the History and Geography curriculum for our Christian schools. The theme for the conference was: How should a Christian teach History and Geography? Christy Sopcisak and I reviewed some principles of teaching and curriculum, then the teachers crafted new learning objectives followed by creativ…