September Newsletter 08

SEPTEMBER 2008

Togo!

AN INSIGHT INTO THE MINISTRY OF LCMS LONGTERM MISSIONARY MEGAN BIRNEY SERVING CHRIST IN TOGO, WEST AFRICA

FES September Term I hope September has found you all in great spirits! After three months of summer weather, I know I am ready for a cool down! However, here in West Africa there isn’t a real reprieve from the heat. However, I am looking forward to the ‘harmattan’ when the rains subside and while the days are still hot, the humidity lifts and the nights cool down. We have been staying in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso for the past three weeks for FES (Field Educational System), which is a program that allows the children of missionaries in isolated villages in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, and Niger to come together and participate in group schooling. I have been having a great time teaching in this program and witnessing the pure joy that comes from these children being together. There are twentythree children (ages 6-13) in twelve families involved in the program. Three teachers, including myself, run three separate age groups. I have been working with Caleb and three other 1st & 2nd grade boys (Josh, Benji, & Josh) in language arts which is fun, but has proven to be a challenge corralling four spinning attention spans into one activity. They are all great story tellers who love Dr. Seuss and have therefore won my heart. In the mid-morning, I spend my time attempting to teach math to the 5th-8th grade group (Abigail, Timmy, Mikaela, Jonathan, Angela, Nat, Emily, Katie, Abby, Daniel, & Joshua.) I’ve gotten great at im-

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provising math games to suit students studying topics ranging from fractions to algebra! They are an awesome group and it’s so neat to see them thrive in the fun competition that the classroom presents. God has truly blessed me through these children. On our way here, we had a flat tire and our housing arrangements were less than ideal and the culmination of these stressful situations came crashing down on me. I just began to feel like I couldn’t handle this mission, that it was too hard and I didn’t feel purposed. God’s grace is sufficient and the first day walking into that classroom (completely unprepared due to circumstances!) I was in awe of where God had brought me all over again. Being willed by Christ in the capacity of teaching these children has been an incredible experience and has reminded me of the true surrender that missionary work demands. “But thanks be to God, who always leads un into triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.” •

Pray that God will continue to be with Jesse as he has been so brave with his broken elbow. Pray that God would keep Glenn & Jesse safe as they travel to and from the children’s hospital in Paris for Jesse’s surgery. Also, that God will give Jesse a speedy recovery that will result in the full mobility of his elbow.

Strength & Guidance as God is helping me learn about West Africa and His will for the next 8 months.

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Please pray that the Lord would keep myself and all of the FES families safe traveling from Ouagadougou to our home mission fields (9/21-9/22). Pray that God would use these past three weeks to uplift these families with great fellowship for their children and their ministries. Please be in prayer for my fellow long-term missionaries serving this year, for the opportunity to live out Christ’s love in our lives on the mission field. That God would be in the lives of the Fluegge children and that I would be effective in their growth and learning.

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The students at the CLET, that God would steady their hearts to pursue their calls to leadership training in serving the Lutheran Church in West Africa.

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Health. Please pray that God would keep us from sickness and strengthen our bodies in the heat.

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The ministries of all our FES families, including linguistics training and/or translation, medical missions, church planting, and theological studies, throughout West Africa.

SEPTEMBER 2008

LCMS World Mission 800-433-3954 www.lcmsworldmission.com [email protected] Learn more about the work of LCMS World Mission in Africa by visiting: www.lcmsworldmission.org/africa

Contact Info

D ig Dee pe r

Megan Birney B.P. 38 Dapaong, Togo West Africa [email protected]

I can only pack so many experiences and pictures into a monthly newsletter, and I’m sure some of you are curious about WHAT ELSE is going on here in West Africa… If so...

Check out my blog:

I encourage you to visit my blog, which I attempt to update biweekly and therefore has more detail accounts of my ministry,

acrossanoceansizedlove.blogspot.com

acrossanoceansizedlove.blogspot.com

Visit my project page: www.lcms.org?13343 Download my prayer card: www.lcmsworldmission.org/ prayercards Access my photo albums: picasaweb.google.com/megaroonski

Also, my new Picasa web albums account that I upload pictures of life in West Africa to can be visited at

picasaweb.google.com/megaroonski If you would like to be involved prayerfully, financially, or feel called to pursue missionary service please visit www.lcmsworldmission.org or call 800-433-3954. Though I am fully funded, there are many missionaries and projects in need of financial support. Please prayerfully consider supporting LCMS World Mission set hearts ablaze across the world. To support the work of LCMS World Mission financially, you may send a tax-deductible gift to:

“For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.” 2 Timothy 1:7

LCMS World Mission 1333 South Kirkwood Road, St. Louis, Missouri 63122-7295.

Megan Birney B.P. 38 Dapaong, Togo West Africa

POSTAGE!