2026 Spring Newsletter

We are in Togo West Africa!

Wow, it has been an interesting full 8 weeks (Dec 31, 2025 to Feb 20, 2026).  Highlights are:

• Leaving Sherbrooke, Quebec on Dec 26^th, 2025 on a very cold, crisp morning (-2°F) to head to Grandview MI (780 miles).
• Getting caught in a “solid” snow storm in southern Ontario that turned our 6-hour travel into an 11-hour trip.  Praising God that we did not get stuck or in an accident!
• Spending time with Lydia’s family celebrating Christmas & New Years in Michigan and watching IU football.
• Skiing in northern Michigan where Noll learned to ride the chair lift all by himself and Dad realized all the “babies” are grown up now.
• Spending time with Family N who travelled from Fort Wayne IN to Grandview MI to visit.
• Fred traveling 1,500 miles (to SC from MI and back) with Mr J and getting caught in an ice storm (around Lexington, KY) to drop off “stuff” for a container heading to Togo later this year. Praising God that we did not get into an accident!
• Finalizing 19 totes of “family” luggage and then traveling for 36 hours by plane (Grandview MI to Lomé, Togo). We were very blessed by how well the kids travelled!
• Being welcomed in Lomé by Family G (87°F & no snow or ice storm!).
• Unpacking 179 of 190 containers, setting up furniture, & the exercise equipment that were all packed and shipped to Togo in Dec 2024 (9 totes left to go!).
• Opening up and working on two pieces of the exercise equipment to solve a problem (fan belt and console connection issues -still in process).
• Opening up the stove and working with Mr D, Mr T & Mr L in diagnosing an oven issue (the ignitor switch requires a constant minimum voltage to function) -still working on this!
• Starting school for the kids (a mix of the MK school (English and history for all; science and Bible for the younger three), on-line courses (math, music, and French) and home school (Bible & science for Noah and PE for all the kids))
• Started covering OB and Medicine shifts at the hospital (seeing: malnutrition, stroke, a suspected C7 – T1 lesion after a fall, premature babies born outside of the hospital (28+ weeks), cerebral malaria, malaria, heart failure, cellulitis, cancer, alcoholism, etc.)
• Rearranging the “exercise” room in our screened in porch multiple times secondary to rain. (Rain in Togo likes to fall horizontally!)
• Working through rain water run off around our house. (During a “solid” rain our home becomes water front property!)
• Re-starting Bible study.(Thanks to modern technology, Fred has been able to reconnect and continue his Bible study with a group of men he studied with in Fort Wayne IN.)
• Dealing with insects and small animals (ants, frogs, praying mantis, baby scorpions)

In all this, I would like to tell you that we are all settled and “hitting our stride.”  We are not, but we are working on this.  We are just beginning the “settling” process which will take us some time.  Going forward, we have the following things on our mind:

• Carte de Séjour.  Our current VISAs are only good for 3 months.  For us to stay longer we have to apply for a “Carte de Séjour” that will give us permission to stay for 1 to 3 years.
• Kids’ Education. The 3 younger kids have an education schedule set up for the next 3 years that should not change much.  Noah on the other hand will be starting grade 9 in the fall.  In this, his course selection becomes more critical, not only for what he wishes to study in the future, but in obtaining a high school diploma.
• Evangelism. Though, we have started working at the hospital, we haven’t started evangelizing to patients.  In the midst of “getting back” into medicine, the language barriers, and how sick the patients are, we are working on how to make this a part of our “medicine.”  We are grateful for the opportunities to be involved in employee Bible studies.
• Ministry. We are not yet involved in a specific ministry or church outside of the hospital.  We are working on understanding the “needs” and the “expectations” around us with the hope of becoming more involved.
• Hospital (Medicine / OB). As we get back into medicine and OB and as we understand the needs going forward (knowledge and staffing), we are left with the challenge of developing a competent set of skills that will allow us to function well as doctors.

HBB (Hôpital Baptiste Biblique) – “More Than Just a Hospital”

Refresh Camp: A teen spiritual-focus camp was held for all the ABWE Togo missionary kids (grade 7 & up) on the HBB compound by a team from a church in Canada. Twenty-six MK teens (including the Togo north team) were ministered to over a 5-day time period.  It was an awesome and amazing experience, and we were so glad Noah was able to participate in this!

Some statistics: the numbers for HBB 2025 are out.

	2025	2024
Patient seen in clinic	14,575	13,936
Patients admitted to hospital	2,733	3,693
Surgeries performed	1,147	1,277
Babies born	169	204
Total professions of faith (inpatient and outpatient)	2,413	2,289
Evangelistic Mobile Medical Clinics	12	10
Patients seen	1,589	1,561
Professions of faith	76	>50

• Immediate population around HBB: 75,000.                •     Surrounding population: 500,000 (estimate)
• HBB is serviced by: full-time missionary medical providers [4 surgeons + 3 PAACS residents, 4 family doctors (two with extra OB training), 2 NP’s]; a large group of Togolese nationals and a rotation of short-term providers.

Suffering Well (a story of a Togolese who is employed by missionary Family P).

I met Akofa in 2018 and hired her to work in the home with me as a house helper.  That statement might stop some of my readers in their tracks. You might be thinking, “Must be nice to have a house helper, wish I had one in Canada!”  I understand. Before living here, I would have shared many of these thoughts.  When I live in Canada, I don’t have this help…but guess what I do have…, Little Caesar’s Pizza and a grocery store, no, 3 grocery stores 5 minutes away.  I can buy salad dressing and spaghetti sauce and bread and so much more.  Here, most everything is made from scratch.  I go through so much flour, butter and oil!  So, food prep and keeping a house here is a lot of work.  Without Akofa, I would hardly have the time or energy to work outside the home or at the hospital…. Akofa works for many missionaries here and has been a huge blessing…. She is also my friend, my language helper and my cultural navigator.  And she is my sister in Christ…. We share meals together and enjoy coffee hour discussions weekly.  It is culturally appropriate here to hire a helper…. To empower a national in this way speaks love.

The estranged father of Akofa’s children, (I can’t call Komi her husband, he never paid the dowry to her parent’s so he is not legally her husband) has physically beat her numerous times over the past 21 years, often in front of their children.  Things came to a head shortly after we left Togo last time.  June 2024, two days after we left Togo, I received a disturbing and desperate call from Akofa. While she was at choir practice at her church, Komi arrived with his machete in hand and rage in his eyes.  He attacked Akofa, causing her to fall to the ground.  As he held his machete over her, their son Elode, just 15 years old at that time, intervened and blocked his father’s blow with a chair, saving Akofa from the machete.  No child should ever have to be put in such a position, to protect your mother from your father.  Elode was a hero, and his father remains bitter towards him to this day.   Following this attack, Akofa fled to her pastor’s home for refuge.  Komi pursued her and attempted to attack Pastor Adoli, (who is also one of our nurses at HBB.). The Police were called and reports were taken.  This brought about major changes for Akofa, she could not return to her home so she moved in with her mother.  We are thankful that she had this place to land. In spite of all this hardship, Akofa has remained a beacon of light. She prays for Komi and chooses not to allow him or her circumstances to steal her joy in the Lord.   She is hopeful that her experiences can help others in similar situations.  Wow, eh?!  Still, as any parent would be, she is concerned for her children, they have had a terrible example of a father and how a husband should love and care for their wife.  Will you pray for her three sons, Daniel, Elode and
Espoire and her daughter Kekeli. Over the past 2 weeks, Komi has been actively stalking Akofa.  She has been warned by local villagers not to go out at night because they have seen Komi lurking around her home.  Komi has also come here to our hospital trying to cause trouble for her with the security guards. She had a meeting with the local chief of the village last week and yesterday had a meeting with the police chief.  Komi was at that meeting.  I would have been so scared if I were her!  But Akofa has shown such strength in her faith.  She knows God is in control. Please pray for continued protection and peace for Akofa. Her story is not unique here, there are more stories of terrible living situations, mostly for women and children, the vulnerable ones.

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In reading Akofa’s story, I am taken by the fact that despite the differences –weather, continent, skin-color, etc. –the challenges: our separation from God and, thus sin is the same.  In this, Akofa is a great example of how one “suffers well as we walk with Christ.”  This is not to say that all is well, but that she is able, through a belief in Christ and fellowship with the body of Christ, to live a different life than the reality of her struggles. We are grateful to know her! Please join us in praying for her and her family.

Family Update

Fred and Lydia, are happy to be settling into a home and a daily routine (exercise, family Bible study & Friday pizza/movie night). It has been a busy couple of months to say the least, but has been manageable thanks to extended family who hosted and supported us; to our kids who have travelled well and have been actively participating in the changes we are going through (doing homework after MK school, reading French daily, practicing their instruments); to Mr J who travelled with Fred to SC and back; and to family G who have welcomed us to Togo. We are also grateful to be “job-sharing” here at HBB which is allowing us both to participate in the education and raising of our kids. We can honestly say that despite the chaos and uncertainty of a new environment, we have a peace about where we are and what we are doing.

Noah / Nathanael / Noémi / Noll have gone through a lot of change in the last 8 weeks: saying good-bye to friends in Quebec; saying hi and then bye to cousins in MI; meeting new kids at HBB and starting a new school (a hybrid of one-room school house, home learning, & on-line learning). Despite some challenges and tough days, they have, so far, adapted well to the change and are each growing in many ways. Noah and Nathanael are participating regularly in the semi-organized pick-up games on the campus (soccer, pickle ball, volleyball, etc.). Noémi hangs out with a few girls her age, is learning knitting with a group led by her teacher, and cooking eggs with mom. Noll continues to participate in the MK school, for which we are happy.  We aren’t sure yet if he is at the required reading level, but he is going. While skiing this year (in MI) he kept telling dad to let him go, that he can ski and ride the chair on his own.  Well, he sure can! Yet dad does not think he knows how to turn. His independence on the ski hill allowed dad and mom some alone-time, as all the other kids are also independent skiers. This time alone brought back memories of a life once had and a realization that the kids are “a growing” and do not need us as much.

Thanks again so much for your prayers and personal notes! God bless!

Prayers and Praises for:

Kids

• Prayers: 
• For their schooling, friendships and many adjustments in Togo
• Praises
• For the friendships that they have started locally & the ones they have been able to maintain in Indiana, Michigan, and Quebec

Fred and Lydia

• Prayers: 
• Togo carte de Sejour -all that needs to be filed, turned in and done before our visa expires on April 16^th  
• Transitioning back into medical and OB work; wisdom in the decisions that are being made for the care of patients at HBB; and making evangelism a “normal” part of our medicine care.
• Balancing family and ministry life 
• wisdom needed in relationships (spousal, parenting & team -knowing & understanding what role God would have us to play)
• Praises:
• Safe travels from Sherbrooke, Quebec to Grandville, MI & then to Togo
• For a wonderful family skiing trip,
• Getting settled into our new house and safe arrival of our “stuff”

Togo, Hôpital Baptiste Biblique

• Prayers:
• For the team, the vision/expansion project (wisdom & construction),
• The growth of the OB service –wisdom in evaluating the if and how
• For the hospital staff as we work to serve well in medicine and love well to the patients and to one another
• Praises: 
• For the response to the Gospel through the multiple ministries
• For the solution to the “unexpected government tax bill” that allows HBB to move forward

Other

• Prayers: 
• Our friends and colleagues who are going through very challenging situations (especially most recently for Dr. B & his wife who have been yearly OB short-term visitors serving at HBB)
• Praises: 
• Overall, our financial needs are being met