i'm so glad gifty is back home! she traveled to see her family last week and i was all by myself :). well me and tiger (that's our dog...who's not too smart......bless his heart...i'm southern i can say that!)
monday gifty found out she is typhoid free! hallelujah!!! and the really cool part is that the doctors were amazed because there was no trace of typhoid at all! she just told them, "well the whole world was praying," so the doctor agreed it was a miracle!
monday night i took gifty out to dinner to celebrate. we had chicken and rice :) the usual around here it was a nice treat since our lights were out. we didn't know if our generator would work because...(kirk and nicole if you're reading this don't freak out because we got it fixed :) when i cranked it the other day it fell off the blocks it was sitting on. sure happened to me. oh well. i called our electrician and now they're pouring a slab and bolting that thing to the ground. ... no more slipping now! haha.
tuesday morning i was invited by the jacksons to the inagural meeting of the Maringa Tree Organization at our Methodist Headquarters. It was interesting this tree packs more nutrients than one could imagine. so the MCG, methodist church ghana, is promoting it because it will help nutrition hopefully, especially in rural areas. tuesday night we had the bible club leaders over and it was fun. lots of laughing and joking some good fellowship last night. but here's what's been going on at my house today...
Batik and Tye and Dye. that's what gifty was trained in as a profession. so felix and leford, two of the bible club leaders, came over today to help out. they have been working non stop and have come up with some pretty creative designs. if you want to purchase some of gifty's stuff...give me a shout! check out flickr for pics!
margaret
1.31.2007
1.21.2007
i have started about five blogs since last week and published none. i have millions of thoughts going through my head yet i can't seem to sit down long enough to thoroughly work them out onto paper or blogger that is. the sims left this past tuesday for america so it's been gifty and me except now she's in kumasi until monday. so even with being quite i still can't seem to find time to get these out :)
on thursday the 11th i talked to my friends joel and robbyn about a short term team coming in june. my home church wants to start a partnership in ghana so i'm helping assist in some avenues to start forming a relationship that will sustain even after i'm gone. it was such a great conversation. i love knowing the hearts of people who have a similar passion and vision for ministry.
i have started to realize most of my culture shock right now is dealing with the fact that the way i see ministry, creative and outside of the box, causes a sort of anxiousness inside me when i'm working with community bible club. coming from the states i've realized i expect ciricculum to meet a standard so we are charting a path for these children to be working towards. i realize and have been trained to realize the way american ministry and ghanaian ministry is done isn't going to be the same, and i know the heart of a learner and try to exhibit it. but i think we've set a less than high expectation in america for children's ministry by 'gaming' them to death instead of using games to reinforce an overall truth that needs to be communicated and taught. i see that here too and that's where i start to get frustrated. i think that when there's downtime it should be constructive and is a great way to teach the children something either by drama, game, story or a lesson. is that american? i just don't like wasting time. i know that's an american culturalism and i'm starting to unpack those feelings of culture shock. for me it's not food, smells or people urinating constantly and anywhere. it's not the live chickens, goats and cows that you meet in the road constantly. it's not driving a standard in traffic that takes an hour anywhere you want to go. it's not buying things in the market or wearing ghanaian clothes. none of these really send me into culture shock. it's the realization that the leaders here don't neccesarily need my thoughts and opinions right now. so my prayer is continuing to be 'stay in'. no one said this will be an easy road to travel down. i don't know the language fluently so i've got a lot to be working on in that arena if i'm going to want my thoughts to be heard. not that the leaders aren't great friendly people. don't hear me wrong. but i've got to gain Jesus's strength to want to continue to learn how to minister to people here because at this point i just want to do it my way.
we went to the retreat thursday thru satruday (last week) and then sunday morning 7am i flew to kumasi. this was such a blessing. i am doing a documentary for Joe Otsin. he's an evangelist in Methodist Church Ghana and also works with Cecil Williamson ministries (yes cecil from starkville, ms if you know him!...small wolrd) so i'm doing this video to help communicate his vision/passion and how God's been working through him. i stayed with his family one night and another ghanaian family the next night. i went with him to a training he leads and during that time i startd to see ghanaian men interacting in a way that was familiar to friends in the states. the training has three leaders and one of them is from accra, where i live, about six hours away. Emmanuel and Joe are friends and it was neat to see them working together in ministry yet the live hours away. it's just like home when you get to work with someone that you haven't seen in so long, but your hearts are beating with the same passion. it was so encouarging to see them working as a team. i just have to say that time was sweet and a blessing.
one more side note. the women's retreat in the mountains...first off the place was such a gift from God. it was georgous and none of us could believe where we were staying. the house faced south with a pool overlooking the landscape for miles however with harmatan we could only see about 100 yards in front of us, but we all got the picture of how majestic it could have been if the sky was clear. so that just set the tone for the weekend. for me it was full of introspective thoughts and God bringing to light many things. one part about Daddy i love is He never stops redeeming his children. he never stops coming after us to make us more pure. He and i are dealing with issues that i've never dealt with and really never knew i needed to deal with until He made them known. it's great. i've realized what great friends i have in tupelo too. (there's a point to that seemingly random interjecting among a women's retreat in ghana...) God strategically put me there after florida so i could learn and be thankful for the people he put in my life. i have met some great people here too, but there are girls in tupelo that in their presence i'm plain and simple.... comfortable. i've realized what a great comfort it is to be known by people and not have to show people and teach them who you are. that happens when you move somewhere new. you start over and you get to know people. i've done that my whole life since my dad is a preacher and i was relocated with cellular south three times. moving isn't something that scares me for the most part i enjoy it. but i am realizing i think part of why God brought those tupelo girls in my life was to show me how authentic He wants me to be with HIm because in the exhuastiveness of making new friends He is our one true personality and struggles Understander. i've got great friends here, but we're just scratching the surface of who each other really is. i'm learning how to really be in His presence constantly. it's harder to do when you're doing 'good.'
i do have to give a kudos to tonya and deirdra. they're the two ladies who led the retreat. tonya speaker/drumming artista! and deirdra on vocals and acoustic!!! they were great and encouraging. it's neat to see how God uses all of our gifts to lift each other up and that's totally what they did while they were here!
there's some of my million thoughts. not totally unpacked but there's the gist! love to all
on thursday the 11th i talked to my friends joel and robbyn about a short term team coming in june. my home church wants to start a partnership in ghana so i'm helping assist in some avenues to start forming a relationship that will sustain even after i'm gone. it was such a great conversation. i love knowing the hearts of people who have a similar passion and vision for ministry.
i have started to realize most of my culture shock right now is dealing with the fact that the way i see ministry, creative and outside of the box, causes a sort of anxiousness inside me when i'm working with community bible club. coming from the states i've realized i expect ciricculum to meet a standard so we are charting a path for these children to be working towards. i realize and have been trained to realize the way american ministry and ghanaian ministry is done isn't going to be the same, and i know the heart of a learner and try to exhibit it. but i think we've set a less than high expectation in america for children's ministry by 'gaming' them to death instead of using games to reinforce an overall truth that needs to be communicated and taught. i see that here too and that's where i start to get frustrated. i think that when there's downtime it should be constructive and is a great way to teach the children something either by drama, game, story or a lesson. is that american? i just don't like wasting time. i know that's an american culturalism and i'm starting to unpack those feelings of culture shock. for me it's not food, smells or people urinating constantly and anywhere. it's not the live chickens, goats and cows that you meet in the road constantly. it's not driving a standard in traffic that takes an hour anywhere you want to go. it's not buying things in the market or wearing ghanaian clothes. none of these really send me into culture shock. it's the realization that the leaders here don't neccesarily need my thoughts and opinions right now. so my prayer is continuing to be 'stay in'. no one said this will be an easy road to travel down. i don't know the language fluently so i've got a lot to be working on in that arena if i'm going to want my thoughts to be heard. not that the leaders aren't great friendly people. don't hear me wrong. but i've got to gain Jesus's strength to want to continue to learn how to minister to people here because at this point i just want to do it my way.
we went to the retreat thursday thru satruday (last week) and then sunday morning 7am i flew to kumasi. this was such a blessing. i am doing a documentary for Joe Otsin. he's an evangelist in Methodist Church Ghana and also works with Cecil Williamson ministries (yes cecil from starkville, ms if you know him!...small wolrd) so i'm doing this video to help communicate his vision/passion and how God's been working through him. i stayed with his family one night and another ghanaian family the next night. i went with him to a training he leads and during that time i startd to see ghanaian men interacting in a way that was familiar to friends in the states. the training has three leaders and one of them is from accra, where i live, about six hours away. Emmanuel and Joe are friends and it was neat to see them working together in ministry yet the live hours away. it's just like home when you get to work with someone that you haven't seen in so long, but your hearts are beating with the same passion. it was so encouarging to see them working as a team. i just have to say that time was sweet and a blessing.
one more side note. the women's retreat in the mountains...first off the place was such a gift from God. it was georgous and none of us could believe where we were staying. the house faced south with a pool overlooking the landscape for miles however with harmatan we could only see about 100 yards in front of us, but we all got the picture of how majestic it could have been if the sky was clear. so that just set the tone for the weekend. for me it was full of introspective thoughts and God bringing to light many things. one part about Daddy i love is He never stops redeeming his children. he never stops coming after us to make us more pure. He and i are dealing with issues that i've never dealt with and really never knew i needed to deal with until He made them known. it's great. i've realized what great friends i have in tupelo too. (there's a point to that seemingly random interjecting among a women's retreat in ghana...) God strategically put me there after florida so i could learn and be thankful for the people he put in my life. i have met some great people here too, but there are girls in tupelo that in their presence i'm plain and simple.... comfortable. i've realized what a great comfort it is to be known by people and not have to show people and teach them who you are. that happens when you move somewhere new. you start over and you get to know people. i've done that my whole life since my dad is a preacher and i was relocated with cellular south three times. moving isn't something that scares me for the most part i enjoy it. but i am realizing i think part of why God brought those tupelo girls in my life was to show me how authentic He wants me to be with HIm because in the exhuastiveness of making new friends He is our one true personality and struggles Understander. i've got great friends here, but we're just scratching the surface of who each other really is. i'm learning how to really be in His presence constantly. it's harder to do when you're doing 'good.'
i do have to give a kudos to tonya and deirdra. they're the two ladies who led the retreat. tonya speaker/drumming artista! and deirdra on vocals and acoustic!!! they were great and encouraging. it's neat to see how God uses all of our gifts to lift each other up and that's totally what they did while they were here!
there's some of my million thoughts. not totally unpacked but there's the gist! love to all
1.11.2007
just an update
let's see. it's thursday afternoon and i'm blogging because i won't be here monday. (like i've been really consistent posting every monday for the last month anyway! ha!...maybe that will be my new year's resolution...wait...i hate new year's resolutions...so ....well anyway...)
i'm leaving around six tonight and traveling to the mountains with some other singles and we are having our first annual women's retreat. kind of sounds like a john eldridge man thing now that i write it!
but there's two really neat girls here from virginia. one's the student minister on campus at richmond va and the other is the worship leader. so they've agreed to lead us in some spiritual renewal talks and just some great fellowship time. i'm really excited about the trip. i was actually going to be our driver but the mozley's decided we needed a ghanaian driver. which is probably better considering we have to climb a nice size mountain in the dark!
this week has been great. i've started listening to a new podcast from the Village church out of texas. matt chandler is the preacher and he's really great. i started reading ecclesiastes and told my friend pat. he is listening to this matt guy and said that the church just did a 16 week study on ecc. so here i am listening to it cause pat told me about it! i have learned lots these past six months about different seasons of life and how without God as our motivator and reason we 'do' things then it really everything is worthless under the sun. matt, like i'm on first name basis with him!, really walks through each verse and compares what Solomon is allowing himself to experience and relates it to things we do as humans now. it's amazing how cliche this will sound...but it's undescribably amazing being in a study. i'm really praying about some sort of weekly small group bible study time as i've noticed that i am not vigorous and deeping as much as i would like to be therefore i tend to get more self focused easier...does that make sense?
as for this week and this season of my life i'm starting to get busy with projects. it's nice honestly. i have several documentaries i'm working on and i get home saturday from the women's retreat to leave sunday for kumasi to work with a methodist ghanaian pastor up there.
did i mention i've gotten to webcam with pat, sarah and lyle...also with my mom and sister this week...it's been fun! my parents just upgraded their camper and they took me on a tour of it...as well as sarah and pat showed me their whole house with wireless...technology is an amazing gift!
the sims are leaving for furlough next tuesday so i'll get home just in time to see them off around 6:30pm. they have lots of logisitics to work out and will be VERY busy the first 1 and 1/2 when they return back to the states...so lift them up to Daddy to care of them please :)
i guess that sums up this weeks thoughts thus far!
i'm leaving around six tonight and traveling to the mountains with some other singles and we are having our first annual women's retreat. kind of sounds like a john eldridge man thing now that i write it!
but there's two really neat girls here from virginia. one's the student minister on campus at richmond va and the other is the worship leader. so they've agreed to lead us in some spiritual renewal talks and just some great fellowship time. i'm really excited about the trip. i was actually going to be our driver but the mozley's decided we needed a ghanaian driver. which is probably better considering we have to climb a nice size mountain in the dark!
this week has been great. i've started listening to a new podcast from the Village church out of texas. matt chandler is the preacher and he's really great. i started reading ecclesiastes and told my friend pat. he is listening to this matt guy and said that the church just did a 16 week study on ecc. so here i am listening to it cause pat told me about it! i have learned lots these past six months about different seasons of life and how without God as our motivator and reason we 'do' things then it really everything is worthless under the sun. matt, like i'm on first name basis with him!, really walks through each verse and compares what Solomon is allowing himself to experience and relates it to things we do as humans now. it's amazing how cliche this will sound...but it's undescribably amazing being in a study. i'm really praying about some sort of weekly small group bible study time as i've noticed that i am not vigorous and deeping as much as i would like to be therefore i tend to get more self focused easier...does that make sense?
as for this week and this season of my life i'm starting to get busy with projects. it's nice honestly. i have several documentaries i'm working on and i get home saturday from the women's retreat to leave sunday for kumasi to work with a methodist ghanaian pastor up there.
did i mention i've gotten to webcam with pat, sarah and lyle...also with my mom and sister this week...it's been fun! my parents just upgraded their camper and they took me on a tour of it...as well as sarah and pat showed me their whole house with wireless...technology is an amazing gift!
the sims are leaving for furlough next tuesday so i'll get home just in time to see them off around 6:30pm. they have lots of logisitics to work out and will be VERY busy the first 1 and 1/2 when they return back to the states...so lift them up to Daddy to care of them please :)
i guess that sums up this weeks thoughts thus far!
1.07.2007
Christmas and New Years. Ghana style.
Well I have to say Christmas was great. We killed a chicken Christmas morning. Actually Gifty killed it. I simply held it for 5 minutes thinking about how it was about to die. Is that kind of sick sounding? First time for me to hold a live chicken and to watch one get killed.
So we woke up and gave bruni, presents to Ghanaians basically, to our next-door neighbor Mathew. He has chickens so we bought one from him to cook for Christmas dinner that afternoon.
So we did. Gifty is really good. You can tell she’s grown up in Northern Ghana where that’s a regular occurrence. Not one sound did that chicken make as it was being slaughtered. Aidan and Eli were engrossed to watch how it was going to unfold. Then Aidan got really sad after it was dead. Me too. I could barely eat any of it. I’m a weenie.
So then the SWEET Mozley’s had brought presents to us that morning and I went over to their house and got on line to skype with my family. It was good to see them via webcam. I got to watch them open presents. Thankful.
That week I spent going around and giving out banana bread muffins I had made. It was fun and next year I think maybe I’ll get more into the giving out before Christmas is so close. You give all the Ghanaians you’re close to bruni and even those that you don’t know will ask “where’s my bruni” so you always have something ready or in your car. Amazing.
Then on December 30 I went to Dansoman. A densely populated area west of central Accra. That’s where Ama, my language teacher lives. I went and spent Saturday night with her at her two-bedroom apartment building she shares with her two cousins. There’s one bed and they always let her have it when she’s home from school. So we “perched” together as she calls it. It made our rooms in the states look like 7 star hotel suites. But we had a BLAST. I met her childhood friends, mostly boys, who look at her like a little sister to protect. We went uninvited to a baby’s birthing party. The parents had seven huge speakers and a dj hosting an outdoor party to celebrate the baby’s birth. Everyone’s invited, even if you don’t know the people. So I show up. The only obruni of course. But it was great. She let me into her life and people she loves it was great. I met her boyfriend that is in from the UK and we went to a bar that was so loud I could barely hear. He was asking me all kinds of questions about being a ‘missionary’ and said, “I’ve never really met one face to face…live before.” It made me laugh. For many reasons. Mostly because I think how far God has brought me and the fact that He redeems people with ‘pasts’ all the time. So I’m definitely nothing to think too special off… so it made me laugh the way he put it. I think he’s kind of been burned by the organized British influenced ‘Christianity’ that still has many remnants so our conversation was interesting. Then Ama and I went to church Sunday morning and it was a non denominational church….I’m glad she goes there… the Spirit among the people there was alive! And not once did we sing a boring British hymn from the 1800’s that no one really understands. (Sorry can you tell it annoys me that the Methodist church I go to does this?)
New Years was great. I didn’t go to watch night, which is where most ALL Ghanaians spend time in prayer welcoming the New Year in with Jesus at church. (then at 12:30am lots of the the young people head straight out to party until wee hours!) interesting.
I decided to stay at the Mozley’s house and celebrate it semi-American. That means we had a ping pong tournament at 80+ degrees in December and shot fireworks at midnight. It was fun with the whole Down’s family there and Ryan! Man was it great to get to know them. It was a blessing because they are southern people that remind me a lot of my fam. They let you just fit right in with them. Ms. Pam, Tates’ mom, reminds me of my sweet momma who feels like a mom to everyone. Then her two sisters Annie and Sally were a blast to hang out with. Annie and I jumped right into a heart to heart and I just felt like I had known her for years. After new years’ they invited me to go to the beach with their family and the Mozley’s, which was a BLAST. It wasn’t sunny at all, but we hung out, watched movies and played an awesome new game (for me) called Mafia! It was great obruni time J Sal, Ryan, Anna and I looked out into the ocean and sang songs for about an hour one night just praising Jesus. It was awesome. And it was a blessing.
The next two months are going to be really busy and I’m thankful. I went through a really tough season when I first got here of not having a structured job and waking up early early because I felt like I wasn’t “doing” enough. So as things start to pick up I’m thankful but at the same time want to make sure and remain in a place that I’m fully aware what I do doesn’t define me. And to always seek praise and validation from God first.
I think right now I’m learning how to listen. I sat in my car about a week ago and for the first time in a long time I said You talk. I’ll listen. That honestly usually doesn’t happen because I’m the first to start talking.
m
So we woke up and gave bruni, presents to Ghanaians basically, to our next-door neighbor Mathew. He has chickens so we bought one from him to cook for Christmas dinner that afternoon.
So we did. Gifty is really good. You can tell she’s grown up in Northern Ghana where that’s a regular occurrence. Not one sound did that chicken make as it was being slaughtered. Aidan and Eli were engrossed to watch how it was going to unfold. Then Aidan got really sad after it was dead. Me too. I could barely eat any of it. I’m a weenie.
So then the SWEET Mozley’s had brought presents to us that morning and I went over to their house and got on line to skype with my family. It was good to see them via webcam. I got to watch them open presents. Thankful.
That week I spent going around and giving out banana bread muffins I had made. It was fun and next year I think maybe I’ll get more into the giving out before Christmas is so close. You give all the Ghanaians you’re close to bruni and even those that you don’t know will ask “where’s my bruni” so you always have something ready or in your car. Amazing.
Then on December 30 I went to Dansoman. A densely populated area west of central Accra. That’s where Ama, my language teacher lives. I went and spent Saturday night with her at her two-bedroom apartment building she shares with her two cousins. There’s one bed and they always let her have it when she’s home from school. So we “perched” together as she calls it. It made our rooms in the states look like 7 star hotel suites. But we had a BLAST. I met her childhood friends, mostly boys, who look at her like a little sister to protect. We went uninvited to a baby’s birthing party. The parents had seven huge speakers and a dj hosting an outdoor party to celebrate the baby’s birth. Everyone’s invited, even if you don’t know the people. So I show up. The only obruni of course. But it was great. She let me into her life and people she loves it was great. I met her boyfriend that is in from the UK and we went to a bar that was so loud I could barely hear. He was asking me all kinds of questions about being a ‘missionary’ and said, “I’ve never really met one face to face…live before.” It made me laugh. For many reasons. Mostly because I think how far God has brought me and the fact that He redeems people with ‘pasts’ all the time. So I’m definitely nothing to think too special off… so it made me laugh the way he put it. I think he’s kind of been burned by the organized British influenced ‘Christianity’ that still has many remnants so our conversation was interesting. Then Ama and I went to church Sunday morning and it was a non denominational church….I’m glad she goes there… the Spirit among the people there was alive! And not once did we sing a boring British hymn from the 1800’s that no one really understands. (Sorry can you tell it annoys me that the Methodist church I go to does this?)
New Years was great. I didn’t go to watch night, which is where most ALL Ghanaians spend time in prayer welcoming the New Year in with Jesus at church. (then at 12:30am lots of the the young people head straight out to party until wee hours!) interesting.
I decided to stay at the Mozley’s house and celebrate it semi-American. That means we had a ping pong tournament at 80+ degrees in December and shot fireworks at midnight. It was fun with the whole Down’s family there and Ryan! Man was it great to get to know them. It was a blessing because they are southern people that remind me a lot of my fam. They let you just fit right in with them. Ms. Pam, Tates’ mom, reminds me of my sweet momma who feels like a mom to everyone. Then her two sisters Annie and Sally were a blast to hang out with. Annie and I jumped right into a heart to heart and I just felt like I had known her for years. After new years’ they invited me to go to the beach with their family and the Mozley’s, which was a BLAST. It wasn’t sunny at all, but we hung out, watched movies and played an awesome new game (for me) called Mafia! It was great obruni time J Sal, Ryan, Anna and I looked out into the ocean and sang songs for about an hour one night just praising Jesus. It was awesome. And it was a blessing.
The next two months are going to be really busy and I’m thankful. I went through a really tough season when I first got here of not having a structured job and waking up early early because I felt like I wasn’t “doing” enough. So as things start to pick up I’m thankful but at the same time want to make sure and remain in a place that I’m fully aware what I do doesn’t define me. And to always seek praise and validation from God first.
I think right now I’m learning how to listen. I sat in my car about a week ago and for the first time in a long time I said You talk. I’ll listen. That honestly usually doesn’t happen because I’m the first to start talking.
m
trip north. december 18-22.
Wow it’s been a long time since I’ve blogged. I live in Ghana, where you never know if you’ll have Internet service or not. We haven’t had it for three weeks, but HALLELUJAH we got it back two days ago!
So now I’m catching up.
Week before Christmas. This marks the first year in 27 years I didn’t spend Christmas with my mom, dad and sister. Of course…it’s the first ever not to spend with Brogan my 4-year old nephew.
But I have to say this was a memorable year. So. I went to the North with the Mozley’s to film their “Christmas project” to use on their ministry DVD I am making. This was incredible to get to see the northern pastors faces light up when a. someone came all that way just to visit them and b. when they received a Ghanaian made water filter that will supply them with clean drinking water. It’s amazing too because the water filters through a clay pot and drips into a large plastic container. The clay lasts for three years and can be replaced here in Ghana for a relatively affordable cost of 150,000 cedis or about $15usd.
We blitzed the country from the western most side driving round trip over 800 miles on bumpy dusty roads. Many of which are the “national” highways.
God was amazing during this trip. Traveling with over 30 clay pots on these roads was a little risky. Six broke on the first leg to Kumasi and then Michael came up with a different packing option and only one more broke the rest of the time. We had a flat tire the second day heading to the extreme western side. We had been traveling on this dusty gravel road and hadn’t seen anyone for at least 15 miles when after hearing that sound a flat makes we pulled over. We broke down about 50 feet from a large public transport bus. They had been broken down since 2 a.m. that morning. It was roughly 2ish when we met them.
We have a missionary family serving in Wa, in the upper West, and were headed to stay with them Tuesday night. We had bought around 40-50 bananas as they hadn’t had any for a while and we were taking them a care package.
Once the flat happened many of the men walked the less than 50 ft. over to the car to help change the flat. That’s the amazing thing here. Most everyone in Ghana, with the exception of a few areas, are caring and helpful to strangers. That’s part of the reason I feel so safe.
As they were changing the flat Claire started helping a man whose finger was swollen so big you would have thought it had elephantitis. She cleaned it with the first aid kit while Maggie and Anna helped her. She started telling the people who had gathered around to “help” and watch the obrouni’s that had broken down. There were at least 35-40 people by this time. She mentioned how it wasn’t an accident that we broke down so close to them. Literally there was NOTHING in sight and we hadn’t seen a shop or other people in miles. It was purely God’s timing. Perfect.
There was a young man, a student studying in the South, traveling North to go home and see his family. He spoke the native language as well as impeccable English.
After Michael and the Ghanaians finished changing the flat the walked over to where Claire and the group was standing.
There were probably several different religions represented including Islam and traditional/animistic indigenous worshipers, as that is very prevalent in the North. Michael started sharing about Jesus and Christmas. It was a great message. Just on the hillside talking about God’s love and what that looked like in Jesus.
When we left we gave the bananas to them. It probably was right around the number of people who were there. Remember they hadn’t eaten at least since 2 am. Isn’t it amazing His plan?
Then we traveled some more and dropped off several water filters and “provisions.” Provisions are things like rice, oil and tomato paste. That is the basic to almost every Ghanaian dish….throw in some onion and ginger….and you can make millions of things!
God really let me see how harsh the climate is up there. How much different it is than Accra. It’s good because it reminds me to pray for the missionaries who live and work in those hard areas.
We had one more flat the next day and then by Thursday we were headed on our last leg home. We were in the upper East when the timing belt snapped. It was amazing that we weren’t stranded far out of town, and the Methodist Bishop of that area did everything possible to have people come and help us. Friday morning we woke up and the car wasn’t going to be able to be prepared so Michael checked the airlines and on the Friday before Christmas we were able to get six tickets back to Accra. You would be amazed at how many people actually fly in Ghana. Remember it’s a developing country. There are people here who have money.
Anyway so we came home early, but what a great trip it was. I got to know the Mozley’s even better especially Mags and luke. I am amazed at how He uses us in so many ways and thankful for the opportunity to break down and see Him in action.
So now I’m catching up.
Week before Christmas. This marks the first year in 27 years I didn’t spend Christmas with my mom, dad and sister. Of course…it’s the first ever not to spend with Brogan my 4-year old nephew.
But I have to say this was a memorable year. So. I went to the North with the Mozley’s to film their “Christmas project” to use on their ministry DVD I am making. This was incredible to get to see the northern pastors faces light up when a. someone came all that way just to visit them and b. when they received a Ghanaian made water filter that will supply them with clean drinking water. It’s amazing too because the water filters through a clay pot and drips into a large plastic container. The clay lasts for three years and can be replaced here in Ghana for a relatively affordable cost of 150,000 cedis or about $15usd.
We blitzed the country from the western most side driving round trip over 800 miles on bumpy dusty roads. Many of which are the “national” highways.
God was amazing during this trip. Traveling with over 30 clay pots on these roads was a little risky. Six broke on the first leg to Kumasi and then Michael came up with a different packing option and only one more broke the rest of the time. We had a flat tire the second day heading to the extreme western side. We had been traveling on this dusty gravel road and hadn’t seen anyone for at least 15 miles when after hearing that sound a flat makes we pulled over. We broke down about 50 feet from a large public transport bus. They had been broken down since 2 a.m. that morning. It was roughly 2ish when we met them.
We have a missionary family serving in Wa, in the upper West, and were headed to stay with them Tuesday night. We had bought around 40-50 bananas as they hadn’t had any for a while and we were taking them a care package.
Once the flat happened many of the men walked the less than 50 ft. over to the car to help change the flat. That’s the amazing thing here. Most everyone in Ghana, with the exception of a few areas, are caring and helpful to strangers. That’s part of the reason I feel so safe.
As they were changing the flat Claire started helping a man whose finger was swollen so big you would have thought it had elephantitis. She cleaned it with the first aid kit while Maggie and Anna helped her. She started telling the people who had gathered around to “help” and watch the obrouni’s that had broken down. There were at least 35-40 people by this time. She mentioned how it wasn’t an accident that we broke down so close to them. Literally there was NOTHING in sight and we hadn’t seen a shop or other people in miles. It was purely God’s timing. Perfect.
There was a young man, a student studying in the South, traveling North to go home and see his family. He spoke the native language as well as impeccable English.
After Michael and the Ghanaians finished changing the flat the walked over to where Claire and the group was standing.
There were probably several different religions represented including Islam and traditional/animistic indigenous worshipers, as that is very prevalent in the North. Michael started sharing about Jesus and Christmas. It was a great message. Just on the hillside talking about God’s love and what that looked like in Jesus.
When we left we gave the bananas to them. It probably was right around the number of people who were there. Remember they hadn’t eaten at least since 2 am. Isn’t it amazing His plan?
Then we traveled some more and dropped off several water filters and “provisions.” Provisions are things like rice, oil and tomato paste. That is the basic to almost every Ghanaian dish….throw in some onion and ginger….and you can make millions of things!
God really let me see how harsh the climate is up there. How much different it is than Accra. It’s good because it reminds me to pray for the missionaries who live and work in those hard areas.
We had one more flat the next day and then by Thursday we were headed on our last leg home. We were in the upper East when the timing belt snapped. It was amazing that we weren’t stranded far out of town, and the Methodist Bishop of that area did everything possible to have people come and help us. Friday morning we woke up and the car wasn’t going to be able to be prepared so Michael checked the airlines and on the Friday before Christmas we were able to get six tickets back to Accra. You would be amazed at how many people actually fly in Ghana. Remember it’s a developing country. There are people here who have money.
Anyway so we came home early, but what a great trip it was. I got to know the Mozley’s even better especially Mags and luke. I am amazed at how He uses us in so many ways and thankful for the opportunity to break down and see Him in action.
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