Here in Togo Christmas is a big holiday but it is New Years that is the most celebrated. Often times Christmas is associated with Santa and children here but New Years is a day that adults will have new outfits made for, purchase expensive foods that they might not usually eat and head out to see friends. It's a very social holiday around here.
Adie and decided that we wanted to do something special with our church family on New Years eve. So around 6 p.m. we all met up at the church and used oil lamps and flashlights to produce our lighting. We had a great time of prayer, songs, quoting scripture and playing Bible trivia. We decided to break the church into groups. We had the kids in one section followed by the women and then the men. I think all together we had perhaps 60 folks. Adie and I had gone out a couple days before and purchased little items such as chicken broth cubes, small cans of tomato paste, little bags of pasta and soup bars. So as we would ask trivia questions we would hand out these prizes for correct answers. Now, I understand that it seems trite passing out the prizes that we did but most folks here consider the items we handed out either essentials for living or luxury items. So they were all pretty thrilled that we had prizes to hand out. We even had some carrying bags, Mt. Dew and a few little thermos' to hand out. The folks were so thrilled.
Togo is unique in so many different ways but I love how we can gather together and worship God. Sometimes life can function at it's most basic levels here yet it's awesome to be around folks with so much joy. New years eve was a night that Adie and I won't soon forget!
