A Great Reunion!

This weekend has been a great reunion!  Jim Kennell, Greg Bailey and family and Murphy Crowson and family have all been at our house!!  We were all teammates together here in Benin for many years…this marks the first time all of us have been back together again (even Stateside....and our reunion is in the country where we all worked!)

The Crowsons arrived Saturday afternoon from Togo where they now minister.  Jim was out in another village doing some research for his doctorate (he even spent the night there!)  After some fun time of fellowship, Greg, Murphy and I went to encourage some Aja Christians who had gathered for a time of prayer and fasting.  They asked if we could come at the end of their day of prayer and offer an exhortation.  It was so encouraging to see over 40 Aja believers spending the day together interceding on behalf of one another and the darkness around them.  We broke the fast with them with a meal of corn meal “mush” and green sauce!  Yummy!!  After the meal, we stayed with them a little bit longer as they showed the Jesus Film (translated into Aja by the JESUS FILM PROJECT) to over 150 people!  It was another encouraging sign, especially for Greg who had not returned to Aja land since they departed in 2000.  We left about 9p to rejoin our families at home…the ladies had already put the VERY tired kids to bed….wow, 9 kids under one roof!!  Christine (Crowson), Melanie (Bailey) and Kelly are having a great time talking about all kinds of things!!

On Sunday, it was a special treat…Jim returned from his research village (exhausted after staying up most of the night visiting and talking with the friends he has made there…this was a village where he worked a lot when he was here between 1998-2002).  For the first time in many, many years, we were worshipping again with some former teammates!  It was surreal for me.  It was probably sometime in 2000 when we last sat together in worship.  Greg spoke an encouraging word to the Christians, reminding them that neither Benin nor America is really there home…heaven is!  We’re all aliens and strangers on this earth if we are in Christ!  The people were very encouraged (both Greg and Jim have done amazingly well in remembering their Aja language….Greg didn’t need a translator at all…the Aja people are very surprised and it reminds them that even if we are not physically present with them, that God is keeping them in our minds, even by guarding their language in our heads all these years.  Murphy speaks Ewe over in Togo, but still managed to resurrect his Aja language to encourage the assembly at the end of the service.

We shared together a meal of beans and warm Coke…but it was a sweet sacrifice of the host church (of less than 30 Christians)!  May God pour out his richest blessings on the church at Ainahoue (yee-NAH-way)!!

By the time church was over about 4p, we were all so tired, but no one dared take a nap…too much conversation to have (and the “worn out” kids all mustered enough energy to swim!)  We stayed up until late into the evening catching up and talking about a slew of topics!  It is a sweet blessing to have all of these former teammates back here with us, and to call them all such good friends!

Today, we’re heading to the beach for a couple of days of rest and reuniting with some other missionary friends from Togo.  It’s also a great occasion to celebrate Lael’s 1st birthday tomorrow (Tuesday).  Because we have to transport the cake there (and decorate it on-site), we’ll probably throw the part this evening.  She is such a joyful little girl and we thank God for our Kadi Lael!