Matt's Many Adventures

Bonjour,
This week I bought some materials for making an outfit. The market here didn’t seem too much different then shopping in Juarez. Thankfully we were able to find some materials for a good price, of 5,000 francs. In case you were wondering that comes out to about $10. The material has a design of a tree on top of a mountain. I just need to get fitted by a tailor, and then I will have some African clothes to wear!
Tomorrow I will be heading down with the Cox family to Contonou for a couple of reasons. First we will be picking up a few people from the States who will be doing some filming for TWR. Secondly on Friday there will be a 4th of July celebration for any US citizens in the country. The party takes place at the house of the ambassador. Then on Sun we will have a cookout to celebrate the 4th. We won’t be having tea this Sun. If anything we would have to throw some tea into one of the rivers or lakes here . I will definitely miss being at my parents house lighting off some fireworks, but we are hoping we might be able to find some in town. This weekend is going to be pretty busy, but exciting. I wish all of you back home a happy 4th of July!

Merci,
Au revoir
Matt

Bonjour,

This weekend we took a little holiday down to the city of Grand Popo. Grand Popo is located near the border of Togo, and by the ocean. Now the Ocean here is very rough, so you can’t really swim in the ocean if you want to. It was neat to watch the fisherman haul in there catch by hand from the shore. Their net was close to half a mile long. While we were watching some of the fisherman asked if we would like to help. So we helped haul in the net a few times. It is pretty hard work, but it was fun hearing them sing while hauling the net in. It is quite hard on the hands pulling in on rope. Also during this time, we spent some time in the pool with the kids playing some water polo. It’s been a long time since I’ve last gone swimming, and I must say I’ve forgotten a lot of what I used to know about swimming. The reason for our visit is that one of the families from Germany/Switzerland is leaving Benin. It was fun getting to know that family, and they will definitely be missed.
Thank you all for your prayers,

Au revoir,

Matt

Bonjour,

Since it’s been a while since I last put some pictures, I have a few more to put up. These have all been given to me by Patti.

Here are the ladies smashing up some yams for dinner.

One of the local favorites is a dish called yam pile. It’s made similar to mash potatoes by smashing the yams in the bowl.

My turn to give it a try!

I decided to give it a try. It really is hard work after a while. The ladies here are really strong!

This is a filter that I built to try to keep some of the rf signals off of the power lines going out to the lights on the tower. Unfortunately the filter caught on fire and burned. I was getting pretty good at winding the coils around the pvc piping. I should make more and try to sell them in the market

Yummy fish!

This is some fish that one of the technicians bought in the market for us to eat. As you might notice the heads are still attached. These fish were quite delicious. The technicians make some good lunches!

A poisonous snake! An adder that we saw on the road at the transmitter sight.

On the way to work one day we saw an adder by the side of the road. Some of the technicians killed it with a long stick, and then the guard came by later to cook it.

Selling Mangos by the side of the road

Every day on our way to and from work, we see these ladies selling mangos by the side of the road. Many times the truck drivers will pull over and buy up a bunch of mangos to sell further north. The mangos here are quite tasty.

Well that’s enough pictures for now. I still have more to put up later. This weekend we will be going to the beach, so I will try to get some pictures of the ocean.

Thanks again for all of your prayers and support. I can’t believe I’ve been in Africa now for almost a month.

Merci,

Matt

As many of you know the world cup is taking place now in South Africa. As you might be able to guess football is quite popular in Benin. Quite often you can see people gathered around the tv to watch the games. The family I am staying with is from South Africa, so they are excited about the world cup. I have watched some games with some of the other missionary families. You can always tell when a team from Africa is doing well. Whenever an African team scores a goal the neighborhood cheers.
This weekend was a fairly busy one. We had a foorball watching party, a birthday party, as well as a LAN party. (A LAN party is when you connect computers together to play a game over the network.) Today is another birthday, so tonight we will be going to a place that makes hamburgers!
This week is the last week for Dave and Patty. They will be leaving at the end of this week, so the tasks that have been given to Dave that are still in process will be given to me. I am hopeful that I will be able to understand these tasks after he leaves, so that we can improve the station.
Unfortunately this week there has been some sickness going around as well. There have been several cases of people getting sick with malaria. Please pray for strength and healing in their recovery. Also continue to pray that I can be used for the glory of God.
Merci,
Matt

This weekend we took a three hour drive up to the North Western part of Benin. It was nice to see some mountains. In this area they have set up a place for pastors to come for retreats. The family that started this camp area are from New Zealand. It was interesting to be able to sleep in a mud hut with a straw roof. We got quite a rain storm during the night which really cooled things down.  They also have pet monkey, who most of the time was afraid of the adults because of our size. I was able however to get the monkey to grab on to my hand to see what I was. We went for a short hike with some of the kids to check the water levels for the rivers. Due to the fact that the rainy season has just begun the water levels were quite low. Today we spent some time singing together and praying. It was fun to sing with people from so many different countries. One of the families the husband was from Switzerland and the wife was from Austria. The family that started the retreat center, the husband is from New Zealand, and his wife is from Austria. Their son and his wife work there as well, and they have two young children. One of which was only a few weeks old. It’s been interesting to meet so many people from so many different countries.

While on the drive back I had time to think about some things that God has been laying on my heart. Many times in America we are concerned with making church a place were people can come and be comfortable.  I know that many times I have gone to church with the wrong attitude, especially when it comes to the music. As many of you might know I don’t really like Chris Tomlin music very much, but I know that many people do. God pointed out to me that the song itself is not what matters to Him, but the heart that we have while singing it. He doesn’t really care if we particularly like the song. I have noticed the times when I’m not worried about the song, or who it’s by, but sing to God from the heart I am much better able to glorify Him.

It seems like so many times we worry about how we can bring in the unreached by making things comfortable we fail to realize, do we really want them to be comfortable? If they feel comfortable, does that mean then that we aren’t acting much different then the world? Most people in America today would say that they think they are good enough to get into heaven. Most would say “well I haven’t killed anyone,” or done any of the other big sins. When we really think about it, is the gospel comfortable? If it is so comfortable why did the Jews harass and try to kill the disciples. While I think it is good to create events outside of Church to try and invite our friends to, so that they don’t think Christians are all complete bores. I also think that it is important as well that they hear up front their need for a savior. Will it do our unsaved friends any good if we don’t tell them about Christ’s payment for their sin, and that they cannot receive God’s forgiveness on their own good. I know many times I have been convicted at Church through one of Pastor John’s sermons. I am very thankful that in those times Pastor John wasn’t worried about making us feel comfortable. Now am I saying that we want Church to be a place that everyone dreads? No! I think Church should be like on big family. I know that many times it is refreshing to be able to spend time with fellow believers. But I think that many times the Church as a whole in America is so worried about being a form of entertainment that we lose sight on what it is we are really called to do. So the next time I think about how I don’t particularly like this song, or oh I don’t care for the style of music, I need to remind myself that the purpose is to bring glory to God, not entertain me. I am not claiming to be perfect at this, nor do I believe that all Churches are like this. I feel that it is definitely something that we need to watch out for.

I will now get off of my soapbox. I apologize for such a long post, but it’s been something I’ve been thinking about for a while now. Thank you to everyone for all of your prayers!

Merci Beaucoup,

Matt

Bonjour,

Well it’s been two weeks since I left for Africa. It sure doesn’t seem like it. The start of this week we have been quite busy at work. I have been working a lot with Dave, and have been learning a lot about broadcast engineering. It’s been weird, we haven’t really had many power outages as of late. Whenever the power goes out here, I’m reminded of how grateful I am that we have power at all. In many of the smaller villages they don’t have any power or running water. Today we went to some of the local shops for a little while, I am hoping to sometime soon buy some cloth to take to a tailor for some clothes. It’s surprising at what is actually available in Parakou. You never really now what you will find at the shops, so if you see something that can be rare it’s usually a good idea to buy some now, because you never know when you might see it again.

One of the words that the local children like to say when we drive by is baturie. It means in  their local language ‘white.’ Every time the kids yell out batturie, when we drive by. It always excites them when you wave at them. You would think after seeing us every weekday, they would eventually get tired of it. Garth says I am a local hit, and I told him, it’s because I’m a funny looking white guy with some strange things over my eyes, and I can turn funny colors. There isn’t too much here in the way of animal life. We do see quite a variety of birds and lizards. Last week we saw an adder, and some of the technicians killed it, and later it was  cooked up and eaten. I’ve  been told that there is more wildlife in the northern part of Benin.

The technicians at the station are really friendly and helpful. They always like to greet you, and I  am trying to learn some french so that I can communicate with them a little bit better. The technicians are hard working, and really want to help serve the Lord. It has been a real treat working with them.

One last thing, I have added the ability to subscribe to the blog. This will send an email to whoever is subscribed whenever the website is updated. I also added the ability to contact me through the website.

Thank you again for all of your support. I really appreciate all of your prayers and support.

Merci,

Matt