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.