Dear Friends,

Family News
It has been too long since we have written you! Some of you haven’t heard from us since we last wrote from Africa. Please accept our apologies. As you may remember, Jayne had returned to the US in March to be with her parents due to her father’s illness. Thank you for your prayers; he is doing better and is enjoying life. Upon returning from Togo, our whole family spent a week in New York with Jayne’s family. From there, Rebekah flew out to Wisconsin to spend the summer talking courses and being a counselor at Wheaton’s Camp Honey Rock.

The day that Jayne, Daniel, Angela and I arrived back in Maryland, my mother fell and broke her hip. For the next two months my family kept a 24/7 watch on Mom. Angela and I each spent two days a week with her during this time. It was a very draining time, physically, emotionally and spiritually, but it was also a very precious time for which I thank God. My Mom was an inspiring testimony to her faith right up until the time of her death. It was amazing how many residents and staff of the Assisted Living Community were affected by the way in which she lived out her faith.

Our travel this year was somewhat limited because of the health of our parents. We have, however, managed to visit many churches in the Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia area. A few weeks before my Mom went to be with the Lord, Jayne and I were really feeling the need to get away together. We decided that it would also help to go somewhere where we could hear good teaching, so we spent a week at Sandy Cove Conference Center. God could not have provided a better place or a better plan; He faithfully met our needs to find refreshment in Him and to reconnect with each other. We are thankful for the care shown by the Sandy Cove staff, for the ministry of the speakers from Winning With Encouragement Ministries, and also for the care from the “Life Coach,” Air Force chaplain, John Groth.

News from Togo
As Daniel and I were leaving Togo last May, the Togolese church, Ministère International de Jesus (MIJ), held their General Assembly. They elected a new Board and worked on changing their by-laws. Nakpergou has replaced Damigou as the President of MIJ and Sena has now been added to their Board. The MIJ Board has been working with The Ministry of Jesus (MoJ) Board (US) to develop their 2008 budget.

Commensurate with their vital roles in leading the Togolese church, Nakpergou, Nakordja and Damigou are taking advantage of many opportunities for training and study. Nakpergou and Nakordja went to a conference this summer in Bamako, Mali, on tentmaker ministries, while Damigou and his wife attended a leadership conference in Lome. Damigou will be equipped to assume the role of director of training over the Togolese church by pursuing advanced theological training at the West African Advanced School of Theology in Lome. Having trained the local Konkombas to lead their own church, Damigou has left the church in Guerin-Kouka in their care. He and his family have moved to Lome so that his children could begin the school year there. In March, his own training at WAAST will begin. Meanwhile, he is busy ministering among the over 15 university students that MIJ has sent to Lome.

Excitement is building for the inauguration of the Moba language New Testament in March, 2008. More and more work is being done to teach illiterates to read in their own language, but training those who are already literate in French to read in their tribal tongue has often been neglected. In September, 23 MOJ students took a class to learn to read and write in Moba. We feel it is important for them to become literate in their own language for several reasons: 1) If the respected people in the community value their native language others will as well. 2) Many of our students teach and preach in their villages. Their ability to read the Scriptures in Moba will eliminate the need for spur of the moment, potentially erroneous translation from the French Bible. 3) The students will have a better understanding of the Bible themselves if they read it in their “heart language.”

This summer much suffering has been caused by erratic weather in Togo. The rains were very inadequate at the beginning of the season and then there was severe flooding. The flooding destroyed over 100 bridges and 5 dams in Togo. As a result, legislative elections were postponed and the beginning of the school year was delayed by a month. It is hard for us to assess just how bad the damage is, but we know that lives were lost, homes were destroyed and crops were washed away.

A Difficult Return
We have booked a flight leaving on Oct. 30, which will put us in Dapaong on Nov. 1. Our tentative plans are to return to the US soon after the inauguration of the Moba New Testament in March. Many of you may remember that last year was very difficult for us. For two years we have been struggling with the leadership of MIJ over the issue of what it means for them to be an independent church. The center of the controversy has been our insistence that the MIJ churches assume responsibility for supporting their own leaders. Although we see the need to give financial assistance to the MIJ churches, we do not want to do so in a way that encourages them to depend more on western funds than on the Lord. It is our firm conviction that to tell Christians that they are too poor to tithe is to rob them of a blessing from God. However, in dealing with these issues, we failed to clearly understand some of the cultural dynamics involved, and we did not always lead people to maturity with the grace, humility and compassion that we should have. Consequently, we have been deeply wounded by actions of the leadership of MIJ and they have been wounded by us. We believe God has shown us and our Board of Directors that the best way for MIJ to achieve the independence that we all desire is for us to supervise the work from the US rather than to continue to live in Togo.

This year will be a year of transition. Our stay will be much shorter than usual. Our main objective this year will be to finalize the procedures that will allow us to supervise the work long distance. Many of these steps have already been put into action. The most important thing that needs to happen this year to achieve a healthy transition is reconciliation and healing in our relationship with the Togolese leaders. It is vital that we be able to return in a humble and forgiving posture. We need your prayers!

Future Plans
After our return from Togo in March, we plan to stay in Maryland through next year so that Daniel can attend one year of public High School before going off to college. We also feel called during this time to invest our time and talents in our local church, South Carroll Full Gospel, which has faithfully invested in us throughout our 13 years with MOJ. We have agreed to continue to supervise the work in Togo, which will require that we continue to visit supporting churches and to visit Togo at least twice per year. I will probably be visiting Togo once in the fall of 2008 and again in January/February of 2009. I will be checking the books, verifying that the work is on course, and teaching. I have been asked to consider teaching opportunities in
other countries as well. We have many options for the future and are waiting on God to reveal His plans.

Finances
We want to be very clear that the need for financial support should not change. We have essentially taken no salary but only expenses for the last couple of years. We have done this because we believe that the work in Togo is vitally important. In the coming months you will hear about some changes in some of the programs we have supported for years. We want to be very careful that none of the support we give encourages dependence on foreign gifts rather than on God. But, we are fully committed to finding ways to help MIJ carry out our joint vision: 1) Preaching the gospel where it has never been heard, 2) Helping the whole person, 3) Training African Leaders, 4) Creating churches that look to God alone and 5) Doing all of this in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Prayer Requests
• Pray against all attacks from the enemy that would seek to separate us from our African brothers and sisters.
• Pray that the leaders of the MIJ churches will learn to trust God to meet all their needs.
• Pray that the members of the MIJ churches will have the faith to give generously to support their leaders.
• Pray that God will give us wisdom and discernment as we seek to generously show God’s love in a way that does not create dependence.
• Pray that our lives will be marked by humility, compassion, graciousness, forgiveness and love, and that we will be fully reconciled with the African leadership.
• Pray for safe travel and good health for Dan and Nancy Jessen as they come to teach a seminar in late November.

In the joyful service of the King,
The Yarians