Kabiye Team News
May 1, 2001

Dear family and friends,

Happy May Day! (Or Labor Day, as it is being celebrated here today in Togo!) Today is Togo's national holiday to honor those who labor and we are reminded of May Day back home as people are riding all over town on their motos with bright orange-red flowers strapped on the back in celebration. We are finally back on line, thanks to our friend Chris Umphenour, who works here in Kara for SIL with computer support and came over to temporarily fix our computer. He predicts, however, that our hard drive will quit for good as it has some serious problems, probably due to the power surges in the electric lines here. But for now, we are able to read and receive emails so keep 'em comin'! We are pleased to report that it has rained here now 4 or 5 times since our last Reeves' Review in March. It has been a welcome relief to the heat, although the humidity is not likely to let up for awhile. We also got an air conditioner installed in our bedroom 4 days ago and Dave claims to have had some of the best sleep of his life! Elijah's heat rash has disappeared, also, and that makes me feel better to know he's not so uncomfortable. Some of the hibiscus plants that Dave planted a few months back are now regularly blooming and it is amazing the way the beauty of a single bloom can revive one's spirits, especially when surrounded by so much dirt and waste and desolation. It's funny in a way. I forget most of the time how little "beauty" there is here in the city until I see it contrasted with the grass in our yard and the flowers that are blooming and I am compelled to praise God for His beautiful creation in nature. I don't want to give you a distorted picture of Togo, however. Although there is a lot of garbage in the streets and sickly looking animals and primitive (by American standards) concrete buildings, the hills are beautiful, covered with trees and some of the rock formations in this region are gorgeous. Also, we are finding that there is a lot more wildlife than we ever could have dreamed existed here in Togo and neighboring northern Ghana and Benin. Dave and one of our teammates, Matt Miller, took a day and a half to research some Kabiye villages they had been told of, located a bit southwest of Kara, near one of Togo's two large "game parks" and spend part of their time looking for wildlife while they were there. We had visited this game park back in '96 when we were interns and were fairly disappointed as we had been told that there were elephants but had only seen army ants (which we also see in our kitchen every night) and baboons. However, being the adventurous explorers that they are, Matt and Dave had asked around to see if any of the villagers had seen elephants or knew if there really was an elephant population in Togo. Much to their excitement and suprise they were assured that many elephants had been sited on a regular basis outside and around the northern border of the park. During their trip they took a small detour into the park with some of the park "rangers" and set off on foot to track elephants for the afternoon. They followed tracks, waste, broken trees and the like but were not seeing anything. Just as they were ready to turn back, they spotted 5 females and two babies. They followed them for a good while, Dave walking in a submissive position (I'll let you imagine what that looks like!) in case the elephants felt threatened if they spotted their trackers. However, the elephants, they were told, were not aggressive and there have been 50 in the area that have been spotted consistently over the past few years. Dave was as excited, perhaps as I have ever seen him, at the siting and tracking of these "huge elephants". We praise God for his wonderful creation all across the globe and (I can say even in the midst of culture shock) in Togo, West Africa.

Language learning is coming along. Dave is feeling good about the amount he is learning and the time he is able to practice out in the villages. I am still only able to have lessons three days a week with Elijah being so small, but am planning to add one more day a week sometime within the next 5 months and am looking to start going out to one of the villages Dave will be working in starting once a month once I am able to leave Elijah for part of a day. This time is challenging for me, for those of you who know my in-born desire to be around people a lot, but God is faithfully giving me peace and joy as I spend most of my time mothering Hannah and Elijah and providing domestic support for our family. He is also showing me the joys of quietude and speaking to me much through them. I have only to say that this culture shock thing is all I thought it would be and more! (I guess that rule could be applied to almost every aspect of our life here in Togo:-)) Because today is a day of relative stability I am choosing this time to write this review! If I had written it two days ago you might have been shocked at some of my perceptions of life here! Through it all, though, we want you to know that God is only molding us and creating in us an ability to more fully give Him glory through our weaknesses, for His power is perfected in our weakness (2 Cor. 12:9) and when we are weak, then His strength can be fully manifested through His Spirit to our Spirit. May He always be praised for the re-creation He continually performs in our lives through avenues we would never expect, and often never choose. We know, and take great joy, in the fact that He is also doing this work in so many of your lives and that your lives are bringing glory to Him. We love you so much and thank you with all of our hearts for the prayers that you offer up for us and for the Kabiye people. Your support is such an incredible way that God has chosen to minister to us through you. Thank you for being vessels for Him! May your day be blessed with joy as you abide in Our Lord, Jesus Christ, who has given us true life.

In His Love,
Becky (for the Reeves family)