AUGUST 2008
Togo!
AN INSIGHT INTO THE MINISTRY OF LCMS
LONG-TERM MISSIONARY MEGAN BIRNEY
SERVING CHRIST IN TOGO, WEST AFRICA
Learning from West Africa
I can hardly believe I am writing my
second newsletter, granted my first
one was a little late but it’s surreal
to think that I have been living in
West Africa for almost three weeks
now. Since I was placed in Togo in
March, my time at home in the
states was totally consumed with
juggling work and fundraising and
now that I am here I am so humbled
to where God has brought me, geo-
graphically and emotionally. At
home, I counted all the work I was
doing to prepare come here as time I
was spending WITH God and disre-
garding what real preparation should
look like. Luckily, God knows me
and through the past three weeks has
shown Himself in the good, the
seemingly bad, and more often then
not, the inconvenient. Stereotypi-
cally, when someone says, “Africa,”
you immediately get a furrowed
brow and slightly cringe at the
thought of the severe poverty, dis-
ease, and starving orphaned children
Prayer Requests
• Strength & Guidance as God is help-
ing me learn about West Africa and
His will for the next 9 months.
• Travel! Please pray that the Lord
would keep myself and the children of
all the missionaries traveling to Oua-
gadougou for FES safe in our travels
• The new students at the CLET, that
(8/29-8/30)
• Please be in prayer for my fellow
long-term missionaries serving this
year, some who are getting settled
that live here; I’m not recanting
those thoughts, they are true. In my
ignorance of ‘preparing’ to come
here, I let myself sugarcoat what I
thought things would be like. I
dreaded people asking me if I was
scared or nervous, I felt totally em-
powered that God had enabled me
and given me a place to serve
in...Africa. Which , through the
painful international travel which
left half of the Fluegge family in
New York City for over two weeks,
adapting to cultural and environ-
mental circumstances, and moving
into a home completely incompara-
ble to anywhere else I have lived,
alone, and with guards on watch
24/7, has scared, confused, and
disarmed me in all my
‘preparedness’. How could I have
put West Africa in a box before even
stepping foot on it? Praise God in
all circumstances. God is teaching
me and helping me grow on His
terms, despite my stereotypes. Life
into their ministries and others who are
still preparing to leave.
• Please pray that God would be in the
lives of the Fluegge children and that I
would be effective in their growth and
learning.
God would steady their hearts to pur-
sue their calls to leadership training in
serve the Lutheran Church in West
Africa.
in West Africa is the polar opposite
to anything else I have experienced
in my life and God has placed me
here for His purpose. I am not
discouraged by life here, I am en-
couraged by the work that the Lu-
theran church is doing here , that
the students at the CLET before
long will be enabled to continue to
train and minister to West Africa
without a need for American mis-
sionaries, the love that the Fluegges
have for this community, and the
hearts of the children who will
grow up knowing so much about
God’s heart for the world through
living in...Africa.
“...in the colors of
Your goodness and
the scars that mark
Your skin...in the
currency of grace
is where my song
begins…”
‘The Economy of Mercy’
-Jon Foreman
 AUGUST 2008

LCMS World Mission

800-433-3954
www.lcmsworldmission.com
Mission.info@lcms.org
Learn more about the work of LCMS World
Mission in Africa by visiting:
www.lcmsworldmission.org/africa
Don’t forget to write!
Megan Birney
B.P. 38
Dapaong, Togo
West Africa
megan.birney@lcms.org
Check out my blog:
acrossanoceansizedlove.blogspot.com
Visit my project page:
www.lcms.org?13343
Download my prayer card:
www.lcmsworldmission.org/
prayercards
F ully Fun de d!
Thanks to so many of you the 10 months I will “And we
spend in West Africa are fully funded! God has
truly blessed me and paved a way for my work know that all
in the ministry here through each and everyone things work
of you. I appreciate your thoughts and prayers
together for
throughout my service here!
LCMS World Mission enables churches, ministries, and good to those
leadership training to approximately 85 different countries
worldwide. Over 300 missionaries have heeded the call to who love God,
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be to those who
discouraged, for the Lord your God is will be with you
wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 and share the hope we have are the called
in Jesus Christ all over the world. If you would like to be
involved prayerfully, financially, or feel called to pursue
according to
missionary service visit www.lcmsworldmission.org or call His purpose”
800-433-3954.
To support the work of LCMS World Mission financially, you may send a tax-deductible gift to:
Romans 8:28
LCMS World Mission
1333 South Kirkwood Road,
St. Louis, Missouri 63122-7295.

Megan Birney
B.P. 38 POSTAGE!
Dapaong, Togo
West Africa