The countdown begins...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!  (I guess I owe everyone a belated Merry Christmas as well!)  I'm not sure where December disappeared to.  I find that as my months left here in Togo become less and less, time seems to be accelerating towards that April deadline.  I have officially been here for 21 months and while it has gone so quickly, it's hard think of a time before Togo. Premature babies that were born the month I arrived are now walking and beginning to talk!

As most of you know, I will be leaving Tsiko in 4 months, at the end of April, to head back to the US.  I will have finished 2.5 years with Samaritan's Purse Post-Residency Program (which included language school) and will be stateside until I am able to raise the necessary support, and finish the required training for ABWE.  I spent 4 days in December up in Mango, my future home.  Visiting Mango is always somewhat poignant for me as I see people and ministry that I love, yet am not yet a part of.  That being said, I would never trade in the time I have spent here at HBB, as there is a beautiful ministry here of Christ's love being shared and lives being changed--including mine.

The amazing, hard-working Hospital of Hope construction crew now has the entire hospital under a roof and tiling has began in the clinic and OR.  Walking around the empty rooms you can almost see and hear the patients that will line the halls in 1 year's time.

medical wards

YAY ROOF!

Operating Rooms

I also got to visit some very dear Fulani friends of mine.  I met the wife over a year ago when another missionary brought here down to deliver her third child.  Although she had 2 living children, her two last deliveries ended in still-birth.  She spent over 3 weeks with us waiting to deliver and stayed about 2 weeks after.  Joyously for me, she stayed in my home with her healthy baby boy during the days that followed her hospital discharge.  We nicknamed her son "Petite mangue" (little Mango) and the name continues to this day.  He is now almost 13 months old and a cutie pie!  Please pray as their is a change I may be able to live with this family in a home they are currently building that is just down the street from the Hospital of Hope.  This would be an amazing opportunity for language learning (the language of Fulfulde) and a chance to really pour into their lives while sharing about the Good News.  I long to hear them singing His praises one day!



Also, this week the Northern team has been overwhelmingly humbled by a $250,000 grant that has been donated to the project, specifically for lab, X-ray, and solar power equipment!   This is a HUGE answer to prayer and an encouragement to know that we will be on track to open our doors with the necessary equipment on Jan 8, 2015!

Pediatrics Ward

Please keep in your prayers the continued needs of both HBB in the South and HOH in the North.  As some staff that help the South function, move north (especially Anesthesia Techs), this will leave holes in the South that need to be filled.  Both hospitals/fields are also in need of teachers, trained lab techs, and doctors, and well as church planters and chaplains.  God is working here in Togo and we are looking for folks who want to be a part of it!

I can't thank you all enough for your prayers and encouragement.  I am hopeful that I will finish out my last 4 months here in the South with enthusiasm and with attention to all the the Lord still has for me to accomplish for the Kingdom.  I am also hopeful that I will be able to return to Togo by Nov/Dec of 2014 to help open the Hospital of Hope.  I am trying to balance work & ministry while trying to complete my training requirements for ABWE so that nothing will delay my return.  I appreciate those who have stepped out in faith in supporting me already and I fully trust in the Lord's timing for my return to this country that I love and consider home.  Pray that while I have this huge goal for 2015, my eyes will stay fixed on what the Lord has for me here and now.

Praying that the Lord will show Himself to you in ways that expand your awe and wonder of His glory and grace.

kel