On the 12th of November 2015, I and fellow Pastor Peter went on a mission trip to Togo by road. The journey was challenging, testing but also adventurous experience that took almost 9 hours us to arrive at our first stop - the village of AVEPOSO. We were welcomed by Pastor Chris, the pastor of Global Gospel of Christ Church, and family - his wife, daughters and a very cute newborn baby girl.
After a well-deserved rest, we met some of the many welcoming bright children of the AVEPOSO village and soon discovered that their living conditions were drastically below the western average, with people living below a basic 20p a day. Nonetheless, the children were very happy to see us and decided to put together songs and drama to welcome us. Afterwards, we even took group pictures and selfies with the children and their families.
Two days later - 15.11.2015, was a Sunday morning, and it was a chance for us to meet all the members of Global Gospel of Christ Church and they welcome us warmly; even singing for us a special song in their native language of Ewé. In the afternoon, Pastor Peter, Bishop Love, Daniella and I went to the neighbouring village of AGBAVI. In this village, there was a small Catholic Church but most people weren't Christians and worshipped different gods. The purpose of our visit to this village was to give support to the community in whatever way possible but we had to first go and receive permission from the chief of the village. By the grace of God, we were successful in our appeal and our plan to set up a youth centre for the youth and young children was also successful. In the evening, the children from Global Gospel of Christ Church had a very good time playing football.
The next day, we met with the 32 children that we are hoping to be able to sponsor to receive education, social care, vocational training and other necessities that can be provided by the local Church and/or community. Unfortunately, this was the last day that we would see the children and there was a lot of crying faces, long emotional hugs and promises of rapid return with solution and funds to support them out of poverty.
And this is where we request for your much-needed support, as the villages we visited and many other surrounding villages are still in dire need of basic necessities like Schools, clinics, water supply, roads, and transportation.
If you would like to support the cause and partner with us, please click the link below and help aid the development of deprived communities.
The Move of God
On our journey out of Togo the next day, we visited one last village - VOGAN TOKOINDJI. This was the birthplace of Pastor Chris - my host and relation to the chief of the village. The chief, in his warm welcome, introduced us to the villagers and announced our planned crusade in the only church in the village. It quickly became apparent that the villagers worshipped trees and many other gods at ancestral shrines. But when we did the crusade, the presence of God was so great that we were able to add another soul to the kingdom of God.
Out trip to Togo was an experience that cannot be forgotten, a once in a lifetime experience.