jimtheyouthguy

Togo Update:
Never left Tampa…
Mechanical issues with the plane. First the AC, then an issue with a piece of equipment on the ground needed to start the engines. When they had all of that fixed, we got on the plane a second time and a couple of passengers said they smelled “gas” from the AC vents, so “out of an abundance of caution” the canceled our flight and took the plane out of service a little after midnight.
Leaving Tampa 8pm today. Arriving in Lome 830pm Tuesday.
Tight connections in both London and Paris – both about an hour and a half from arrival to departure.
With the general difficulty (minor annoyances with the Visa, TSA, gate changes and carry-on luggage) we had beforehand, plus the 1/2 hour roasting on a plane that was already late before being deplaned, having to rebook the Paris connection for 20hrs later, getting back on the plane, deplaned again, waiting in line listening to a ticket agent meltdown over the speaker about the hopelessness of the situation, finally getting rebooked after 30 minutes on the phone, getting repeated replies for 20 minutes that there were no hotels available, having an Uber driver cancel on us and finally arriving at a hotel at 2am that we have to vacate at noon sending us back to the airport at 1pm for an 805pm flight, I feel that we have probably filled our quota of mishaps…🤷
Still blessed to have all of our 1st world problems of recovering all our luggage, lugging it to a hotel and up to a room, rummaging through them all to locate changes of clothes, Laura’s Farmacy, toiletry items, etc. And with the expectation of shuttling them all back to the airport and checking them again, going through the visa checking, hanging out for 7 hours for the next flight, looking for food we can eat (Laura’s diet restrictions and my recent intestinal distress) and starting this whole process again we are humbly reminded that we are blessed to have all of these problems on a trip to be a part of what GOD is accomplishing in Togo!
Keep praying!

This year, Ramadan begins on February 18th which is Ash Wednesday and ends March 20th – just before Palm Sunday. My habit over the last 10 years is to pray specifically for the Muslim world during Ramadan at the 5 obligatory prayer times – each prayer time having its own focus (the persecuted church, evangelistic efforts by missionaries and Arab Christians, access to the Bible, encounters with Christ). These times are different based on location and time of sunrise and change every day with the changing time of sunrise. For simplicity I use set prayer times. On a couple of occasions, I did use a Ramadan prayer reminder app to pray the exact times.

• 6:15 am Christians in Muslim countries to grow in faith and knowledge of God and share the love of Jesus with their community
• 1:00 pm Muslim students in western countries to encounter Christians who will introduce them to Jesus
• 4:30 pm The Muslim diaspora and refugees to hear the gospel and take it back to their homeland
• 6:30 pm Muslims to have encounters with Jesus and a desire to know Him through His Word
• 7:45 pm Protection for the Persecuted Church and missions efforts and their continued presence and influence in Muslim communities

Pray for the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth about Jesus and the Bible.
Ask God to give bold testimony to Muslims who have found Christ.
Pray for Increased Spiritual Awareness and Openness to the Gospel
Pray for Muslims to Gain Access to the Gospel
Pray for Muslims Experiencing Crisis
Each Muslim would meet someone who loves Jesus
They would have encounters with Jesus.

Pray for the protection of those who decide to follow Jesus.

Pray for an Islamic faith community near you.

• https://www.zwemercenter.com/ramadan-prayer-guide-for-christians/
• https://radical.net/article/pray-for-muslims-ramadan/
• https://www.pray30days.org/about
• https://prayercast.com/prayer-plan/muslims/