Schaefer Family: Home again

We have arrived safely back in India. We were so pleased to be able to stop and see Andrew and Mary and the boys in Togo. They make us feel very proud. The house and the compound where they are living is very nice and well maintained, but overall the town where they live is much more “basic” then we had while we lived in Grenada. The family is adjusting well, maybe the boys are still trying to find something they really like to eat.

We are excited for the work they are doing, and were thrilled to meet many of their colleagues.

Stephen got to share some thoughts from a favorite verse: "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain"

Traveling from Togo to India was an adventure lasting for over 50 hours. Shocked? We wanted to have a little time to visit with some of the pastors in Ghana that are part of International Gospel Mission, our own mission agency. So we left Togo at 6am by taxi to get to the border, then we changed to another taxi to deliver us to the next city. While on that ride, we got stopped on the road so a bunch of baboons could cross the road. Then in the next town, our taxi driver drove into a bus depot and everyone clamored to have us join their bus to the capitol city, about a four hour drive. Our taxi driver was so kind and made all the arrangements and told us what to pay and not a penny more, he said. So now we’re on a 15 passenger bus where we also have to travel on the bus, on a ferry because a bridge is under repair. When we reached the city, our bus driver made sure that he got us into another taxi that would take us exactly where we needed to go. Ok, by now, we are pretty tired and it’s only around 1pm. We are meet by some pastors at a hotel. While there the owner of the hotel, who is a strong Christian and church planted himself, took very special care of us. Also the fellowship with the pastors was very refreshing.

That evening started the three plane rides on South African airways (nice planes by the way), that would bring us back to India. In between the flights we had a 5 hours layover and a 7 hours layover – that was not so nice.

Stephanie, you should remember, stayed back in Togo and will be traveling to the States on August 18 via, Ethiopia, Rome, Wash. DC (for a few days with her sister) and then Greenville, SC to start as a freshman at Bob Jones University.

Our visit to the states was great. Elizabeth gave birth to her fourth child, a son. We got to visit some of our supporting churches, and their kindness and fellowship also encourages us. Stephen was also able to spend some extra time with his father, while I was with Elizabeth. Stephanie and I had lots of time together in Greenville, getting her ready for University. It was a very full three months.