3.11.2010
10.14.2008
back in the swing
Wow. It's been a long time since I've written anything. To those who might check this blog...here's something new.
I've been in the US for 4 months now after leaving Ghana. I have probably packed on 10 pounds per month that I've been here or maybe it's true that the dryer really does shrink your clothes! Either way, everything seems to be tighter these days.
It's fall. I can't believe how beautiful the weather is! Oh I love Mississippi. I think I said a million times while I was in Ghana how much I love Mississippi and here are a few reasons why:(no particular order!)
birds singing outside my window (now I know a lot of people say they like to hear birds and it's a bit cliche when you first read this sentence, but I'm talking about these birds are AMAZING soft and gentle....it's wonderful)
the coolness of fall especially in the morning when you're cozy in the bed and there's no air conditioning on- it's just natural coolness!(especially if you can lay in bed and read for a while!)
sitting on the couch with my family just hanging out being goofy (or watching dancing with the Stars....which my mom is addicted to)
family game night- beating my 6 year old nephew in cards!! (i'm not one of those who let's kids win!....is that mean?)
cooking in my mom's kitchen that has EVERY appliance known to man-and every ingredient
riding with the windows and sunroof down in my car at night smelling the 'mississippi' smell and singing at the top of my lungs :)
sitting under the big oak at my grandmother and aunts house (ooh cards, napping, talking...staring out into space or daydreaming...all fun to do!)
riding four wheelers in the pasture
chicken salad wraps at Peppers Deli (oh a little taste of heaven)
BARQS ROOTBEER!!!!!! (i don't care what you say...mug, ibc...don't compare!)
sour cream and onion lays potato chips (there's a food theme here, this could take a while!)
interstates
tap water
dryers - dryer dried towels
endless hot water (ok....those are more like america than native to just mississippi....but still...wonderful)
reliable shipping (my camera just broke and it was so easy to ship it off)
i should probably come up with a top ten list...
Well. I'm just dusting off the webs on my fingertips, I hope to get more disciplined so I can actually share some thoughts of what's been going on in my mind. I haven't blogged probably because I've had some really rough days, however there's been some amazing days too. I suppose that's life. But I do want to focus on the beauty and positive aspects today, after all, our will of positivity I think goes a long way on how our day is shaped.
For now
margaret
I've been in the US for 4 months now after leaving Ghana. I have probably packed on 10 pounds per month that I've been here or maybe it's true that the dryer really does shrink your clothes! Either way, everything seems to be tighter these days.
It's fall. I can't believe how beautiful the weather is! Oh I love Mississippi. I think I said a million times while I was in Ghana how much I love Mississippi and here are a few reasons why:(no particular order!)
birds singing outside my window (now I know a lot of people say they like to hear birds and it's a bit cliche when you first read this sentence, but I'm talking about these birds are AMAZING soft and gentle....it's wonderful)
the coolness of fall especially in the morning when you're cozy in the bed and there's no air conditioning on- it's just natural coolness!(especially if you can lay in bed and read for a while!)
sitting on the couch with my family just hanging out being goofy (or watching dancing with the Stars....which my mom is addicted to)
family game night- beating my 6 year old nephew in cards!! (i'm not one of those who let's kids win!....is that mean?)
cooking in my mom's kitchen that has EVERY appliance known to man-and every ingredient
riding with the windows and sunroof down in my car at night smelling the 'mississippi' smell and singing at the top of my lungs :)
sitting under the big oak at my grandmother and aunts house (ooh cards, napping, talking...staring out into space or daydreaming...all fun to do!)
riding four wheelers in the pasture
chicken salad wraps at Peppers Deli (oh a little taste of heaven)
BARQS ROOTBEER!!!!!! (i don't care what you say...mug, ibc...don't compare!)
sour cream and onion lays potato chips (there's a food theme here, this could take a while!)
interstates
tap water
dryers - dryer dried towels
endless hot water (ok....those are more like america than native to just mississippi....but still...wonderful)
reliable shipping (my camera just broke and it was so easy to ship it off)
i should probably come up with a top ten list...
Well. I'm just dusting off the webs on my fingertips, I hope to get more disciplined so I can actually share some thoughts of what's been going on in my mind. I haven't blogged probably because I've had some really rough days, however there's been some amazing days too. I suppose that's life. But I do want to focus on the beauty and positive aspects today, after all, our will of positivity I think goes a long way on how our day is shaped.
For now
margaret
4.20.2008
listen. it's harder than you think.
to listen is really an art i think. you have those people who will indeed ask you a question, but in the end they're not truly interested in what you really have to say. and by that i mean able to come out of their views and concepts to try and learn where you're really coming from and what you're actually trying to say. this would mean they would need to spend some time learning your experiences and trying to 'step into your shoes' as best as possible. which also would require someone who was capable of bringing you into their life in such a manner. but really it takes a lot of work to be a good listener. one who can indeed step out of themselves, pay and care enough to try and understand where you're coming from and then actively participate with their mind to what you're sharing. these people i believe are truly hard to come by.
i think i'm starting to realize the need for this kind of listener the closer i get to going back to america. i haven't really seen anything too hard living in Ghana, but going back to people who don't want to see outside of the world they live in i think will be draining and probably where most of the reverse culture shock will come in. i learned a great application to some scripture the other day. one of the people who came to ghana last week shared a passage out of 2 corinthians. basically when we can die to ourselves we give life to others. if we want to live for ourselves then we give death to others to experience a brief moment of life and in the end our brief moment of life, is death to ourselves in our hearts. i'm thinking of this in the realm of listening. if one asks you 'how was xyz?' and they don't really pay attention, the most basic response is probably hurt feelings. i'll say basic for me. i try and listen to others, so i really think it's proper to try and listen to me! but not everybody is interested. so then the hurt feelings come in. now i have a choice. either get mad someone doesn't want to spend their time listening about places and people they've never met, or i can forgive knowing full well i've probably been less than an active listener a couple times in my life. i should probably then take note that i want to change and try and be a good listener for those who need some ripe ears.
i truly want to be a good listener. the more God grows a passion in my heart for documentaries the more He grows this desire to listen to others.
but o how my patience wanes trying to listen to God. selfishly i want someone who wants to listen to me and herein lies an easy idol to create. looking for someone other than Jesus to listen to me. i know in my head he wants to hear from me. every detail i can stand to share. but yet, i crave that of a human who wants to listen. currently i live with one of the best listeners i've ever seen. i will miss that. she truly has a gift. it will be interesting to see how this plays out in america. and i feel as if i'm toying on the err of selfishness wanting someone who will listen to me. i know we are hardwired for others we are created for community, but there must be a balance. i'm eager to see how to balance the desire to talk with someone who cares and being filled by my Father who always listens.
the balance of life.
i think i'm starting to realize the need for this kind of listener the closer i get to going back to america. i haven't really seen anything too hard living in Ghana, but going back to people who don't want to see outside of the world they live in i think will be draining and probably where most of the reverse culture shock will come in. i learned a great application to some scripture the other day. one of the people who came to ghana last week shared a passage out of 2 corinthians. basically when we can die to ourselves we give life to others. if we want to live for ourselves then we give death to others to experience a brief moment of life and in the end our brief moment of life, is death to ourselves in our hearts. i'm thinking of this in the realm of listening. if one asks you 'how was xyz?' and they don't really pay attention, the most basic response is probably hurt feelings. i'll say basic for me. i try and listen to others, so i really think it's proper to try and listen to me! but not everybody is interested. so then the hurt feelings come in. now i have a choice. either get mad someone doesn't want to spend their time listening about places and people they've never met, or i can forgive knowing full well i've probably been less than an active listener a couple times in my life. i should probably then take note that i want to change and try and be a good listener for those who need some ripe ears.
i truly want to be a good listener. the more God grows a passion in my heart for documentaries the more He grows this desire to listen to others.
but o how my patience wanes trying to listen to God. selfishly i want someone who wants to listen to me and herein lies an easy idol to create. looking for someone other than Jesus to listen to me. i know in my head he wants to hear from me. every detail i can stand to share. but yet, i crave that of a human who wants to listen. currently i live with one of the best listeners i've ever seen. i will miss that. she truly has a gift. it will be interesting to see how this plays out in america. and i feel as if i'm toying on the err of selfishness wanting someone who will listen to me. i know we are hardwired for others we are created for community, but there must be a balance. i'm eager to see how to balance the desire to talk with someone who cares and being filled by my Father who always listens.
the balance of life.
3.24.2008
easter.
well in my hiatus of writing i've actually been quite busy. this past weekend was amazing. three friends of mine (erin, john and suzanne) and i ventured to the volta to enjoy it's amazing scenery and serenity. and it was just that and more. mountain paradise, for those who don't know, is an amazing retreat place. the modest hostel/guesthouse accomodations sit at the foot of Mount Gemi Range. that means nothing to you if you've never been there or don't know ghana so i'll give you a mental image. picture yourself on the top of a mountain (i am from mississippi so i consider this a mountain, not a foothill) with various types of palms, mangos, pepper and probably a couple other types of trees. this is thick foliage too. so you have nice shade in most parts. during the day you'll be suprised by a thunderstorm rolling in over the mountains. as you catch a glimpse of the rain falling at an interesting angle because of the force of the wind you to take in the smell of rain filling your lungs with fresh air and it reminds you you're indeed far away from the two million people causing traffic jams in accra and you relax.
at night it's so cool you actually brought a long sleeve shirt that had to be dusted off when you took it out of the closet. o but to sit outside with no mosquitos buzzing around your ears and enjoy the depth of darkness because there's no electricity is refreshing and peaceful. unfortunetly during this visit the stars were hiding since the clouds accompanied the rain. but i've been there when it's clear at night. wow. romantic. did i mention that the owner, tony, has employed the best ghanaian cook in ghana. i'm serious. and i've eaten all over the country.
so sunday morning was easter sunday and the four of us were able to chill together. talk about God's Word and worship in a setting that so easily reminds you of God's majesty and might. so when i say this weekend was amazing. i'm really not exagerating...for those who really know me!
now this weekend was in an effort to really focus on relaxing as it's about to be really busy around here until may. i'm getting more and more excited about my friends coming in two weeks from my home church. we're going to have a blast hanging out in the north. and i have to add how excited i am that anna, who was one of my close girlfriends in tupelo, is coming. i'm excited to have her come and see life and what it's been like for me for the past two years.
but before the come- i leave tomorrow headed to sandema, chiana in the upper east. if you checked out the video about the upper east flooding last year we're headed up to do a follow up story and see if aid has been distributed and catch some stories of people in the extreme rural areas. usually those who are the hardest to reach because of their distance from a village center. i love chiana. it's a quaint village and last time we were there we met some stellar men and women. it will be nice to see them again and be able to work with them. stephen alampong, appeared in the first flooding video, sherri, from SIM and I will go walking into the bush and try to make it to some of these rural houses to get their stories. we'll see how it goes.
we return on friday then saturday i will help film for a project that's going to the UK. it's the marriage course video being filmed in several countries in hopes to be more international with other worldviews of marriage than just the west. should be a good time.
then tuesday my friends from the states come and we get to spend a week up in bole hanging with our friends in the methodist church ghana and the commumities surrounding bole.
after they leave. actually the day after. i go back up north to continue filming for a documentary with TheoVIsion. I'll have to write a seperate entry for that!!! very interesting....
so there's a little update on the life of me here in ghana...
:)
mb
at night it's so cool you actually brought a long sleeve shirt that had to be dusted off when you took it out of the closet. o but to sit outside with no mosquitos buzzing around your ears and enjoy the depth of darkness because there's no electricity is refreshing and peaceful. unfortunetly during this visit the stars were hiding since the clouds accompanied the rain. but i've been there when it's clear at night. wow. romantic. did i mention that the owner, tony, has employed the best ghanaian cook in ghana. i'm serious. and i've eaten all over the country.
so sunday morning was easter sunday and the four of us were able to chill together. talk about God's Word and worship in a setting that so easily reminds you of God's majesty and might. so when i say this weekend was amazing. i'm really not exagerating...for those who really know me!
now this weekend was in an effort to really focus on relaxing as it's about to be really busy around here until may. i'm getting more and more excited about my friends coming in two weeks from my home church. we're going to have a blast hanging out in the north. and i have to add how excited i am that anna, who was one of my close girlfriends in tupelo, is coming. i'm excited to have her come and see life and what it's been like for me for the past two years.
but before the come- i leave tomorrow headed to sandema, chiana in the upper east. if you checked out the video about the upper east flooding last year we're headed up to do a follow up story and see if aid has been distributed and catch some stories of people in the extreme rural areas. usually those who are the hardest to reach because of their distance from a village center. i love chiana. it's a quaint village and last time we were there we met some stellar men and women. it will be nice to see them again and be able to work with them. stephen alampong, appeared in the first flooding video, sherri, from SIM and I will go walking into the bush and try to make it to some of these rural houses to get their stories. we'll see how it goes.
we return on friday then saturday i will help film for a project that's going to the UK. it's the marriage course video being filmed in several countries in hopes to be more international with other worldviews of marriage than just the west. should be a good time.
then tuesday my friends from the states come and we get to spend a week up in bole hanging with our friends in the methodist church ghana and the commumities surrounding bole.
after they leave. actually the day after. i go back up north to continue filming for a documentary with TheoVIsion. I'll have to write a seperate entry for that!!! very interesting....
so there's a little update on the life of me here in ghana...
:)
mb
2.24.2008
top 10 random.....hum
so i've been tagged for the 10 most random facts eh! well i don't know if these would count as random, but we'll try none the less
1. i sold books door to door in Wisconsin in the summer of 2000. they said it was an internship. um. not really.
2. i worked with espn in the press box when i was in college. i was a broadcasting major.
3. i've had a five minute conversation with morgan freeman in cleveland, ms. and i didn't have my camera. my friend gary was really mad at me for forgetting it. :)
4. i just counted it up and i've had 18 roommates since my freshman year of college.
5. i've also lived in 19 different houses/apartments (not including that little stint moving to wisconsin for 3 weeks to sell books door to door.) :)
6. i only like to sleep on down pillows. and i ALWAYS travel with my pillow. except once when i backpacked the Volta region in ghana. there was no space. but my pillow has been to russia! i get this from my grandmom, nanaw. she takes hers everywhere too.
7. i've flown a two seater plane for about five minutes before i really freaked out that the pilot wouldn't take that joy stick thing back under control.
8. i've sat in a blackhawk and was amazed at all the buttons. so many buttons. i love buttons.
9. i've dipped skoal. ok. maybe not too random. i am from mississippi :)
10. we used to go cut down our own christmas trees when i lived in madison, ms. we would take my sisters horse and my dad would rig it up so dawny buck, the horse, would carry the 12 foot plus tree back to our house some 2/3 miles away :). also my dad would always cut it down with one of those really hold hand saws with the center cut out. seems like it was hard work :)
i don't know if these are what i would qualify as my most random, but i think they will suffice as of right now. thanks tates for the tag :)
1. i sold books door to door in Wisconsin in the summer of 2000. they said it was an internship. um. not really.
2. i worked with espn in the press box when i was in college. i was a broadcasting major.
3. i've had a five minute conversation with morgan freeman in cleveland, ms. and i didn't have my camera. my friend gary was really mad at me for forgetting it. :)
4. i just counted it up and i've had 18 roommates since my freshman year of college.
5. i've also lived in 19 different houses/apartments (not including that little stint moving to wisconsin for 3 weeks to sell books door to door.) :)
6. i only like to sleep on down pillows. and i ALWAYS travel with my pillow. except once when i backpacked the Volta region in ghana. there was no space. but my pillow has been to russia! i get this from my grandmom, nanaw. she takes hers everywhere too.
7. i've flown a two seater plane for about five minutes before i really freaked out that the pilot wouldn't take that joy stick thing back under control.
8. i've sat in a blackhawk and was amazed at all the buttons. so many buttons. i love buttons.
9. i've dipped skoal. ok. maybe not too random. i am from mississippi :)
10. we used to go cut down our own christmas trees when i lived in madison, ms. we would take my sisters horse and my dad would rig it up so dawny buck, the horse, would carry the 12 foot plus tree back to our house some 2/3 miles away :). also my dad would always cut it down with one of those really hold hand saws with the center cut out. seems like it was hard work :)
i don't know if these are what i would qualify as my most random, but i think they will suffice as of right now. thanks tates for the tag :)
2.22.2008
friends coming to learn.
just wanted to say that my home church is coming back in april and i've linked the people who are coming to my site....check em out and if you want to support their efforts....well you can figure out how to do it :)
check out anna and russ's blog, the teams blog where joel and his family make posts and mark and melissa's blog!!!!
check out anna and russ's blog, the teams blog where joel and his family make posts and mark and melissa's blog!!!!
2.20.2008
a little bit of everything
I love when nouns become verbs. Such as .... I'm going to blog now or hey facebook me. Our ever changing art of communication seems to create a vocab of its own eh?
I'm blogging not out of duty but purely to dedicate this one to a friend here in Ghana who said the other day, "some people don't blog anymore...." :) so here's to you!!!!
I do love a blank page. Wide open space to let the thoughts and expressions inside flow freely....what do I want to say???? hum....
I think one part of communicating that is so hard is the amount that happens to us in any given day. And do we deem that blog worthy? Or is it relatively 'normal' and we feel as if to blog wouldn't be needed? I guess that is the gloryesness of being a blogger...to each his own of considering what is and isn't blog a riffic.
So today I'm at the Mozleys house wrapping up one week of playing 'mom/tatum/rebecca' I have had several people ask me how being 'tatum' has been this week....so Tates if you're reading this....you have indeed made an impression in Ghana :) I won't tell you what else they said ;) wink wink. Just kidding.
This past week has been busy and I've realized the amount of organization it takes to run a household. The first 'day on the job' was getting everybody a list of what needed to be done....but I had to figure out what needed to be done and never having to had figure that out took some time. I think learning the patterns, likes and dislikes of other people is interesting, enjoyable and a tad exhausting.
I would say this past week for me has been great. I've seen the amount of energy the interns pour into helping the Mozleys and the amount of energy Claire and Micheal dole out....and we didn't have the revolving door of people coming through like they usually have!!!
Maggie, Luke and Anna are some of the coolest and most well behaved kids I've ever seen so hanging with them was fun. Well most of the time....sometimes the mornings getting out of the door were a little um....what's the word.....rushed?
Sitting with Smags last night working on Algebra brought back so many memories of my High school days. I was/am a procrastinator and for the most part it works well for me. I thrive on deadlines and actually this year n I've noticed, for me, no deadlines equals being less productive! Of course there's got to be a healthy balance....of procrastination that is.
As I sit at my computer I'm working on several items at one time. At this very moment I'm uploading video to youtube, working on a flyer for Race for Relief (a triathlon some friends and I are creating), researching prices for Final Cut Pro books because I've been asked to teach a course, calling contacts about a DVCAM I found to rent for a shoot for the Marriage Course (they are re filming an international leaders dvd and the contacts here asked me to consult with Ghana/London)and just finished studying material for our small group that started meeting on Thursday nights. We're doing Beth Moore's Jesus the One and Only study. And all of the sudden I'm overwhelmed with these thoughts...
In part of the study we are looking at how after the Angel Gabriel came to Mary to tell her she would indeed be the Lord's mother and how in Luke 1:48 she says humbly maybe out of shock .... not pride...."from now on all generations will call me blessed..." i think she was in such shock to be looked upon by God because she was a peasant girl. Nobody extravegant. An ordinary plain and simple person God decided to use :) I just love that and it made me smile this morning as I'm sitting in Ghana, living out a life that seems at some points too amazing to be living. I'm so thankful today. I hope I continue to be amazed and joyful even during the hard moments.
This is indeed a smorgeshboard (i have no idea how to spell that...but that looks good) of my thoughts. Freely flowing....:)
margaret
I'm blogging not out of duty but purely to dedicate this one to a friend here in Ghana who said the other day, "some people don't blog anymore...." :) so here's to you!!!!
I do love a blank page. Wide open space to let the thoughts and expressions inside flow freely....what do I want to say???? hum....
I think one part of communicating that is so hard is the amount that happens to us in any given day. And do we deem that blog worthy? Or is it relatively 'normal' and we feel as if to blog wouldn't be needed? I guess that is the gloryesness of being a blogger...to each his own of considering what is and isn't blog a riffic.
So today I'm at the Mozleys house wrapping up one week of playing 'mom/tatum/rebecca' I have had several people ask me how being 'tatum' has been this week....so Tates if you're reading this....you have indeed made an impression in Ghana :) I won't tell you what else they said ;) wink wink. Just kidding.
This past week has been busy and I've realized the amount of organization it takes to run a household. The first 'day on the job' was getting everybody a list of what needed to be done....but I had to figure out what needed to be done and never having to had figure that out took some time. I think learning the patterns, likes and dislikes of other people is interesting, enjoyable and a tad exhausting.
I would say this past week for me has been great. I've seen the amount of energy the interns pour into helping the Mozleys and the amount of energy Claire and Micheal dole out....and we didn't have the revolving door of people coming through like they usually have!!!
Maggie, Luke and Anna are some of the coolest and most well behaved kids I've ever seen so hanging with them was fun. Well most of the time....sometimes the mornings getting out of the door were a little um....what's the word.....rushed?
Sitting with Smags last night working on Algebra brought back so many memories of my High school days. I was/am a procrastinator and for the most part it works well for me. I thrive on deadlines and actually this year n I've noticed, for me, no deadlines equals being less productive! Of course there's got to be a healthy balance....of procrastination that is.
As I sit at my computer I'm working on several items at one time. At this very moment I'm uploading video to youtube, working on a flyer for Race for Relief (a triathlon some friends and I are creating), researching prices for Final Cut Pro books because I've been asked to teach a course, calling contacts about a DVCAM I found to rent for a shoot for the Marriage Course (they are re filming an international leaders dvd and the contacts here asked me to consult with Ghana/London)and just finished studying material for our small group that started meeting on Thursday nights. We're doing Beth Moore's Jesus the One and Only study. And all of the sudden I'm overwhelmed with these thoughts...
In part of the study we are looking at how after the Angel Gabriel came to Mary to tell her she would indeed be the Lord's mother and how in Luke 1:48 she says humbly maybe out of shock .... not pride...."from now on all generations will call me blessed..." i think she was in such shock to be looked upon by God because she was a peasant girl. Nobody extravegant. An ordinary plain and simple person God decided to use :) I just love that and it made me smile this morning as I'm sitting in Ghana, living out a life that seems at some points too amazing to be living. I'm so thankful today. I hope I continue to be amazed and joyful even during the hard moments.
This is indeed a smorgeshboard (i have no idea how to spell that...but that looks good) of my thoughts. Freely flowing....:)
margaret
12.03.2007
not just greasy fried things
it's sad really that i haven't posted in so long. i do have a semi good reason...i forgot my password. as you can see....i figured it out. now the reason i'm posting is of very serious nature. i just opened a package my wonderful mom sent me in the mail. actually i've had the package about a week and today my mom asked if i had opened it. i hadn't because i was actually exerting self control and NOT peeking at the christmas presents she's sent me....so as we were video skyping i opened the package...you're asking yourself....I wonder what was underneath that styrofoam ???? well... tucked away in plastic ziplock baggies where.... CHIPS three bags of sour cream and onion Lays potato chips!!!!!!!!!! oh the taste of an american chip is undescribable. so if you're eating chips today enjoy the taste of one of God's greatest creations :)
10.29.2007
a different culture
as i was sitting among three hundred of Ghana's finest i felt as if i was in a movie. at 5pm this past saturday night i strolled into the international conference center here in accra to celebrate the 236th birthday of the marines. as you can see from the picture we were all dolled up in our long flowy gowns, but let me assure you we were still aware of reality. how? well right before we entered into this beautifully prepared room my car died. yes the new car i bought so i wouldn't have quite as many car problems as the white car, that's the one. thankfully though, and i mean seriously...thank the Lord, we didn't die out on the major highway and my sweet friends didn't have to push the spacewagon in heavy traffic on Liberation in their high heels!
once we enetered the 236th Marine Ball we sat down at our assigned table #12 and took in the scenes of Colonels, Majors and Atashays (?sp) for the Marines, Navy, Army and Airforce as they chatted it up together talking about planes and using acronyms that i still don't know what they mean. but all in all these conversations were actually quite fun, they joked about being dressed in uniforms that basically cause you to have good posture and the dinner conversation kept going back to the fact that our friend stacey had brought three dates. or shall we just say .... 'the harem.'
now last year when tates, amy, sherri, jane, lindsey, stacey and I were hanging out we laughingly reffered to ourselves as stacey's harem. never really actually did i feel like a harem as it is defined. oh but saturday night when one of stacey's bosses said, 'introduce us to 'them'" it rang in my ear that yes, we really could be percieved as 'the harem' poor stacey is often ridiculed by his coworkers for hanging out with all of us girls, but apparently he must not hate it too bad!
the music choice of saturday night was interesting. there are six marines that gaurd the US embassy here in Accra and they chose the music selection from what i've been told. let me add they are all around 20 years old, so i got caught up on the newest rap songs from america. i realized that i am in fact out of touch in two areas, the music to which college aged students are now shaking their rear area to and the words to these songs. both of which the 20 year old marine knew all too well. i will say as i looked around the room full of an eclectic mix match of people i wondered what some of the 60 year olds were thinking, but then i noticed a couplde dancing either the mambo or east coast swing in the corner and they in fact were having a splendid time. or so it seemed.
one of the couples at our table were from california and looked asian. they have three kids the youngest 4 months, but that didn't stop either of them from breaking it down on the dance floor. they were definetly my favorite dancers of the night!
my favorite dance was to thriller. we did have a couple of songs interjected into 20 year old marines' favorite rap song choices. two of the 'other' songs that stood out to me were Madonna's Holiday and the electric slide... to which i found myself amazed at how many Ghanaians were doing this timeless dance classic we American southerners play as a 'must have' at our weddings.
i didn't take my camera saturday night because i knew mariah and suzanne would take enough pictures to fill my bedroom wall. but i didn't get any good pictures from suzanne's camera of people dancing so those will have to wait until we see what mariah took, however i am posting some of the four girls i went with ....and well....stacey the harem date. too bad i don't have any pictures from the creepy guy who was going around pointing to areas that shouldn't be focused on and snapping shots. this guy made me really mad, but for some reason i didn't approach him to ask why he was being so creepy. ?
i do have to add that my dress was made by amanda. she has made several ghanaian dresses/clothes for me and does an outstanding job. for the most part my 236th marine ball dress was ok, minus the bulges on the hip area. but thankfully my friend gifty saved the day and came to my house where she re stitched up until the last minute so the dress would fit 'well enough' my lesson i've learned this weekend...if you expect perfection...you will always be disappointed. we had fun, we had laughs, and we got to see just how diverse the people are here in ghana. hob knobbing with the military and the ambassadors seemed to be the theme for me this weekend. it was nice to get a look into that world of fellowship.
sunday at 5pm i went with others to support our friend jane. she sings with a group called accragio and they teamed up with the tema youth choir a group from about an hour away comprised of youth who have a heart for music and are using their amazing voices to glorify God. sitting at the French Ambassadors residence watching and listening to these mixture of ghanaian and expat voices i truly loved the moment. one of my favorite parts of living internationally is the culture eveeryone brings. you never lack for something artistic here. it's nice.
once we enetered the 236th Marine Ball we sat down at our assigned table #12 and took in the scenes of Colonels, Majors and Atashays (?sp) for the Marines, Navy, Army and Airforce as they chatted it up together talking about planes and using acronyms that i still don't know what they mean. but all in all these conversations were actually quite fun, they joked about being dressed in uniforms that basically cause you to have good posture and the dinner conversation kept going back to the fact that our friend stacey had brought three dates. or shall we just say .... 'the harem.'
now last year when tates, amy, sherri, jane, lindsey, stacey and I were hanging out we laughingly reffered to ourselves as stacey's harem. never really actually did i feel like a harem as it is defined. oh but saturday night when one of stacey's bosses said, 'introduce us to 'them'" it rang in my ear that yes, we really could be percieved as 'the harem' poor stacey is often ridiculed by his coworkers for hanging out with all of us girls, but apparently he must not hate it too bad!
the music choice of saturday night was interesting. there are six marines that gaurd the US embassy here in Accra and they chose the music selection from what i've been told. let me add they are all around 20 years old, so i got caught up on the newest rap songs from america. i realized that i am in fact out of touch in two areas, the music to which college aged students are now shaking their rear area to and the words to these songs. both of which the 20 year old marine knew all too well. i will say as i looked around the room full of an eclectic mix match of people i wondered what some of the 60 year olds were thinking, but then i noticed a couplde dancing either the mambo or east coast swing in the corner and they in fact were having a splendid time. or so it seemed.
one of the couples at our table were from california and looked asian. they have three kids the youngest 4 months, but that didn't stop either of them from breaking it down on the dance floor. they were definetly my favorite dancers of the night!
my favorite dance was to thriller. we did have a couple of songs interjected into 20 year old marines' favorite rap song choices. two of the 'other' songs that stood out to me were Madonna's Holiday and the electric slide... to which i found myself amazed at how many Ghanaians were doing this timeless dance classic we American southerners play as a 'must have' at our weddings.
i didn't take my camera saturday night because i knew mariah and suzanne would take enough pictures to fill my bedroom wall. but i didn't get any good pictures from suzanne's camera of people dancing so those will have to wait until we see what mariah took, however i am posting some of the four girls i went with ....and well....stacey the harem date. too bad i don't have any pictures from the creepy guy who was going around pointing to areas that shouldn't be focused on and snapping shots. this guy made me really mad, but for some reason i didn't approach him to ask why he was being so creepy. ?
i do have to add that my dress was made by amanda. she has made several ghanaian dresses/clothes for me and does an outstanding job. for the most part my 236th marine ball dress was ok, minus the bulges on the hip area. but thankfully my friend gifty saved the day and came to my house where she re stitched up until the last minute so the dress would fit 'well enough' my lesson i've learned this weekend...if you expect perfection...you will always be disappointed. we had fun, we had laughs, and we got to see just how diverse the people are here in ghana. hob knobbing with the military and the ambassadors seemed to be the theme for me this weekend. it was nice to get a look into that world of fellowship.
sunday at 5pm i went with others to support our friend jane. she sings with a group called accragio and they teamed up with the tema youth choir a group from about an hour away comprised of youth who have a heart for music and are using their amazing voices to glorify God. sitting at the French Ambassadors residence watching and listening to these mixture of ghanaian and expat voices i truly loved the moment. one of my favorite parts of living internationally is the culture eveeryone brings. you never lack for something artistic here. it's nice.
10.05.2007
new videos
i have posted two new videos over there on the right. the russells and the upper east flooding video. the russells live in north western ghana and God's doing amazing things up there. The upper east region is where I went with SIM missionaries to check out the flooding. also if you want to read the news about the flooding, occasionally there's links on www.ghanaweb.com
margaret
margaret
10.02.2007
catch up
i always enjoy going to the north because it's country land. i am from mississippi. you can take me out of mississippi but i still like a little country backwoods every now and then. being able to see wide open land greener than i've ever seen was a blessing. however it was also compassion awakening visiting families who had lost most everything. Ruby, the SIM director wrote a wonderful sinopsis about our time walking around the Chiana/Sandama area talking to those who have been affected by the flooding. so i'm posting that at the bottom of my post. it's quite amazing to hear people praising the Lord after they've lost everything but praising Him because no one was hurt, or they were able to remove most of their items out before rooms collapsed.
We traveled around the Navrongo/Sandema/Chiana area for those who know Ghana and most of the people we saw were in areas where the Bible Church of Africa is active. BCA was started by SIM, serving in mission, missionaries way back when and now BCA is independent but partners with SIM in various ways. Since the devestation is broad SIM is working with their partner church to distribute aid. We were taken around by several leaders within the BCA. Some not directly affected by the flooding, their home intact, took three days off to walk with us village after village interviewing families. When I asked Frances Kupoe, the Vice President of BCA why he wanted to help raise awareness he said, "because these are my people. i love these people and they shouldn't have to suffer like this." As I watched Ruby interacting with the BCA leaders she's known for years and reveres professionally and loves like family I realized her heart is still among these people. She lived in Chiana for over 25 years and understands the law of harvest and what the flooding means short and long term.
Living through Katrina and watching how a country comes together in a time of crisis can make you almost numb. I personally have seen the Lord grow compassion in my heart. Unfortunately it takes me a while to react to devestation. I have tons of anxiety about helping but then somewhere between almost overflowing with a desire to help and actually doing something to help...my anxiety gets lost and I tend not to do anything. Sometimes from a lack of understanding where to begin. As I interviewed people with Ruby and walked around house to house I got more and more overwhlemed with how these people are going to recieve the help they need. I'm working on editing together the video to tell stories about those who were affected and it too is overwhelming because of the amounts of footage. So I think our part, as tiny as it might seem is to really be in prayer for the people who have to organize these relief efforts so that people who are needy actually get the aid. It's a complex problem because it's not just flooding and lost of food, it's housing, crops, cash crops, food, and cost to rebuild...please read Ruby's letter as she succently makes some great points! And be on the look out for the video of the north, it's coming, God willing :)
I do want to say one other tid bit- After gathering footage for the flooding video Ruby and Sherri dropped me off in Wa where I stayed with John and Bess Russell. They have been in ghana a little over two years and live in an area where most Methodist Pastors with the Methodist Church Ghana don't even want to go. The pastors who serve up north have a hard time because the schools aren't good, the pay isn't consistent because people don't make much money and the climate is tougher. Spending a week watching them do what is on their heart was interesting and I learned a good deal. They have really payed attention during misisonary training and are truly trying to live with people and understand them. Both John and Bess have huge hearts for people in their area ...take a look at their video on the youtube link! Oh and if you ever want to rag John through email he's an Auburn fan and while i was staying with them State beat Auburn...yes!
RUBY"S LETTER after our visit to the North
Disaster strikes suddenly and often without warning. Who would have predicted the flooding in northern Ghana, a land that over the last few years has barely received enough rains to maintain a good harvest? When disaster strikes the most common question is why did God allow this to happen to us?
This was the question I expected to hear on my recent trip to the north to see first hand the devastation and destruction brought on by the recent flooding. Instead I was asked a totally different question. What did we do to God? The different questions shows the different perspective people have of God. One says the problem is God’s fault and the other says no it is our own fault. I wonder what your perspective is.
It is hard to write about all we saw and heard. People’s stories are sad with many losing almost everything they own. Yet of all of the people I talked to, not one of them questioned God or what he was doing. Many of them in telling their story of the loss of rooms, possessions, animals and crops said, "we thank God no one was hurt". I talked to one family who said they were sitting in their own rooms next to their son’s room and all of a sudden, they heard a big whoosh and thud. They went to see what had happened and saw that their son’s two rooms that he had just finished a few months ago had fallen down. The zinc roof was intact but it was completely flat on the ground. But their response was, “we thank God because none of their possessions were spoiled, only the rooms”.
Another story was of a young farmer weeding his crops in the bush next to a small stream. While he was bending over to weed, he heard a rushing sound. He stopped, weeding, looked up to investigate but could not see anything and so he bent to continue his farming. This time the noise was even louder and when he raised his head again he saw a rushing wall of water coming towards him. He dropped everything and ran to a nearby tree, climbed it and remained there several hours before the water subsided and he was safe again.
I talked to a pastor’s family who had lost all their rooms and were living in the church close to their house. Another pastor had lost all of his rooms except for one small room where they have put their things and where they sleep at night. If it rains they have to all sit up in order for them to fit into the small room. As we saw building after building that was completely destroyed or made dangerous because they could fall at any time, my thoughts were, how will these people make it? How can they rebuild everything again?
We made this trip to evaluate the situation and to sympathize with people over their tragedy. The disaster is so immense that it is hard to put figures to the number of people affected and the number of houses that have fallen. God worked in a wonderful and marvelous way for this trip to include an experienced video/photographer to accompany us. She is making a video that will show the devastation and the terrible plight of many people in the three northern regions.
The need is great and the extent of the need includes many people, estimates range from 10,000 - 40,000 people, but I suspect that the number is much higher. SIM Ghana had about $4000 left over from the last food relief of 2005. This money was given to buy 130 bags of corn, 70 blankets and 20 plastic covering to cover the few possessions that people have been able to save. As in all societies, the widows and orphans are most affected so the rest of the money was used to buy packets of zinc for widows who have lost everything. It really is only one small drop in the bucket but it does show love and concern for people in their suffering.
In the village of Kologo in the Kasena-Nankana area, about 15 km from the district capital of Navrongo, we were received with surprise and warmth. As of the time of our visit, no one had visited them. When we talked to the chief’s representative and his elders they said, “We have been sitting here not knowing where to pass and not knowing how to explain our plight. You have come to us and we are so grateful for your coming.” The little help we gave and our concern in visiting seemed to encourage and lift their spirits.
Even before the present flooding, people were suffering. The rains started as usual in May. People planted their early millet but for about 6 weeks during June and July there was a drought. Normally around the middle of August they harvest their early millet that gives them food until the main harvest is finished. The drought means that at present people only have little food left over from last year’s harvest. People are homeless and destitute, their homes, and their possessions and in some case even their animals are all gone; to add to that, many of their late crops are still under water. Those who have no rooms go to schools and churches at night to sleep. The future is bleak and as someone said so plainly, “hunger is staring us in the face”. Without food, which is the payment for workers to rebuild their houses, it will be difficult to replace the fallen rooms. And how will they be able to buy any building materials like cement and zinc to make strong houses so that they will not fall when the rain comes again?
We have heard estimates of 75-80% of houses being destroyed in individual communities. One community has 136 houses, 70 of which have lost rooms or are completely destroyed. There have been estimates made that over 4000 houses have collapsed. We will try and work on statistics for the communities that have BCA churches. The leaders of the churches will do an estimate of their area to help us with determining the number of rooms that will need to be built. In addition to private rooms that have fallen, there have been at least 3 churches that have collapsed and probably will be more as people report about their situation. The logistics of trying to help so many people covering a large area will be difficult. Where we do have people and churches we can help and trust that other organizations can assist with the other needy areas.
The food aid alone will come to millions of dollars and there will have to be a united effort of government, religious bodies and NGO’s to help meet the need of so many people. Some aid is coming in; the government has promised 50 billion cedis about $5.4 million. The German government has given to the Catholic Church over 62,350 GH cedis (about $62,000) for food aid in the 3 northern regions I am suggesting that SIM raise money for food aid in addition to a specific amount for rebuilding houses.
The immediate future looks bleak indeed. Is it possible for teams from inside and outside Ghana to come and help build houses? The logistics of this would need planning but it is something to think about. When I asked the BCA leaders about whether people could come and carry water and mold bricks they thought that might work. Sometimes when strangers come into the situation and help out it encourages the rest of the community to pitch in as well.
A tour of government and UN officials are presently visiting the country to assess the damage. Slowly it appears that help is on the way but there is still a lot more that will need to be done. Probably the biggest problem will be the coordination the relief effort coming in so everyone that needs help will get it.
We traveled around the Navrongo/Sandema/Chiana area for those who know Ghana and most of the people we saw were in areas where the Bible Church of Africa is active. BCA was started by SIM, serving in mission, missionaries way back when and now BCA is independent but partners with SIM in various ways. Since the devestation is broad SIM is working with their partner church to distribute aid. We were taken around by several leaders within the BCA. Some not directly affected by the flooding, their home intact, took three days off to walk with us village after village interviewing families. When I asked Frances Kupoe, the Vice President of BCA why he wanted to help raise awareness he said, "because these are my people. i love these people and they shouldn't have to suffer like this." As I watched Ruby interacting with the BCA leaders she's known for years and reveres professionally and loves like family I realized her heart is still among these people. She lived in Chiana for over 25 years and understands the law of harvest and what the flooding means short and long term.
Living through Katrina and watching how a country comes together in a time of crisis can make you almost numb. I personally have seen the Lord grow compassion in my heart. Unfortunately it takes me a while to react to devestation. I have tons of anxiety about helping but then somewhere between almost overflowing with a desire to help and actually doing something to help...my anxiety gets lost and I tend not to do anything. Sometimes from a lack of understanding where to begin. As I interviewed people with Ruby and walked around house to house I got more and more overwhlemed with how these people are going to recieve the help they need. I'm working on editing together the video to tell stories about those who were affected and it too is overwhelming because of the amounts of footage. So I think our part, as tiny as it might seem is to really be in prayer for the people who have to organize these relief efforts so that people who are needy actually get the aid. It's a complex problem because it's not just flooding and lost of food, it's housing, crops, cash crops, food, and cost to rebuild...please read Ruby's letter as she succently makes some great points! And be on the look out for the video of the north, it's coming, God willing :)
I do want to say one other tid bit- After gathering footage for the flooding video Ruby and Sherri dropped me off in Wa where I stayed with John and Bess Russell. They have been in ghana a little over two years and live in an area where most Methodist Pastors with the Methodist Church Ghana don't even want to go. The pastors who serve up north have a hard time because the schools aren't good, the pay isn't consistent because people don't make much money and the climate is tougher. Spending a week watching them do what is on their heart was interesting and I learned a good deal. They have really payed attention during misisonary training and are truly trying to live with people and understand them. Both John and Bess have huge hearts for people in their area ...take a look at their video on the youtube link! Oh and if you ever want to rag John through email he's an Auburn fan and while i was staying with them State beat Auburn...yes!
RUBY"S LETTER after our visit to the North
Disaster strikes suddenly and often without warning. Who would have predicted the flooding in northern Ghana, a land that over the last few years has barely received enough rains to maintain a good harvest? When disaster strikes the most common question is why did God allow this to happen to us?
This was the question I expected to hear on my recent trip to the north to see first hand the devastation and destruction brought on by the recent flooding. Instead I was asked a totally different question. What did we do to God? The different questions shows the different perspective people have of God. One says the problem is God’s fault and the other says no it is our own fault. I wonder what your perspective is.
It is hard to write about all we saw and heard. People’s stories are sad with many losing almost everything they own. Yet of all of the people I talked to, not one of them questioned God or what he was doing. Many of them in telling their story of the loss of rooms, possessions, animals and crops said, "we thank God no one was hurt". I talked to one family who said they were sitting in their own rooms next to their son’s room and all of a sudden, they heard a big whoosh and thud. They went to see what had happened and saw that their son’s two rooms that he had just finished a few months ago had fallen down. The zinc roof was intact but it was completely flat on the ground. But their response was, “we thank God because none of their possessions were spoiled, only the rooms”.
Another story was of a young farmer weeding his crops in the bush next to a small stream. While he was bending over to weed, he heard a rushing sound. He stopped, weeding, looked up to investigate but could not see anything and so he bent to continue his farming. This time the noise was even louder and when he raised his head again he saw a rushing wall of water coming towards him. He dropped everything and ran to a nearby tree, climbed it and remained there several hours before the water subsided and he was safe again.
I talked to a pastor’s family who had lost all their rooms and were living in the church close to their house. Another pastor had lost all of his rooms except for one small room where they have put their things and where they sleep at night. If it rains they have to all sit up in order for them to fit into the small room. As we saw building after building that was completely destroyed or made dangerous because they could fall at any time, my thoughts were, how will these people make it? How can they rebuild everything again?
We made this trip to evaluate the situation and to sympathize with people over their tragedy. The disaster is so immense that it is hard to put figures to the number of people affected and the number of houses that have fallen. God worked in a wonderful and marvelous way for this trip to include an experienced video/photographer to accompany us. She is making a video that will show the devastation and the terrible plight of many people in the three northern regions.
The need is great and the extent of the need includes many people, estimates range from 10,000 - 40,000 people, but I suspect that the number is much higher. SIM Ghana had about $4000 left over from the last food relief of 2005. This money was given to buy 130 bags of corn, 70 blankets and 20 plastic covering to cover the few possessions that people have been able to save. As in all societies, the widows and orphans are most affected so the rest of the money was used to buy packets of zinc for widows who have lost everything. It really is only one small drop in the bucket but it does show love and concern for people in their suffering.
In the village of Kologo in the Kasena-Nankana area, about 15 km from the district capital of Navrongo, we were received with surprise and warmth. As of the time of our visit, no one had visited them. When we talked to the chief’s representative and his elders they said, “We have been sitting here not knowing where to pass and not knowing how to explain our plight. You have come to us and we are so grateful for your coming.” The little help we gave and our concern in visiting seemed to encourage and lift their spirits.
Even before the present flooding, people were suffering. The rains started as usual in May. People planted their early millet but for about 6 weeks during June and July there was a drought. Normally around the middle of August they harvest their early millet that gives them food until the main harvest is finished. The drought means that at present people only have little food left over from last year’s harvest. People are homeless and destitute, their homes, and their possessions and in some case even their animals are all gone; to add to that, many of their late crops are still under water. Those who have no rooms go to schools and churches at night to sleep. The future is bleak and as someone said so plainly, “hunger is staring us in the face”. Without food, which is the payment for workers to rebuild their houses, it will be difficult to replace the fallen rooms. And how will they be able to buy any building materials like cement and zinc to make strong houses so that they will not fall when the rain comes again?
We have heard estimates of 75-80% of houses being destroyed in individual communities. One community has 136 houses, 70 of which have lost rooms or are completely destroyed. There have been estimates made that over 4000 houses have collapsed. We will try and work on statistics for the communities that have BCA churches. The leaders of the churches will do an estimate of their area to help us with determining the number of rooms that will need to be built. In addition to private rooms that have fallen, there have been at least 3 churches that have collapsed and probably will be more as people report about their situation. The logistics of trying to help so many people covering a large area will be difficult. Where we do have people and churches we can help and trust that other organizations can assist with the other needy areas.
The food aid alone will come to millions of dollars and there will have to be a united effort of government, religious bodies and NGO’s to help meet the need of so many people. Some aid is coming in; the government has promised 50 billion cedis about $5.4 million. The German government has given to the Catholic Church over 62,350 GH cedis (about $62,000) for food aid in the 3 northern regions I am suggesting that SIM raise money for food aid in addition to a specific amount for rebuilding houses.
The immediate future looks bleak indeed. Is it possible for teams from inside and outside Ghana to come and help build houses? The logistics of this would need planning but it is something to think about. When I asked the BCA leaders about whether people could come and carry water and mold bricks they thought that might work. Sometimes when strangers come into the situation and help out it encourages the rest of the community to pitch in as well.
A tour of government and UN officials are presently visiting the country to assess the damage. Slowly it appears that help is on the way but there is still a lot more that will need to be done. Probably the biggest problem will be the coordination the relief effort coming in so everyone that needs help will get it.
9.08.2007
prayers
Just wanted to summon your prayers...
1. There is major flooding in the upper east and northern regions in Ghana. I'm not sure how bad, but through various sources who have contacts up there the rains have damaged the incoming crop, as it is harvest season right now, so there is a food shortage. Also the flooding has caused people to loose everything in their houses and the houses themselves. It is a praise that we have rain because the damn is rising now and our electricity crisis is getting slightly better. However these people are struggling.
2. I have to share an intereting God story with you all to give Him some cool glory! I was supposed to travel yesterday, Friday Sept.7 up north to Wa in the upper west region to work on a video with the Russells' a mission society missionary family. On my way to the airport I stopped to drop off a video I just completed for The Marriage Course in Ghana (that's another story). The office I dropped the video off at is the SIM, Serving in Mission, mission agency office. I'm friends with a couple of the missionares there including Ruby, the director of SIM. We were talking and she's the one who informed me about the severe flooding in the upper west. She has lived in Ghana over 25 years 20 of those in the North, so she has friends who are like family up there. In our conversation she realized I was going to Wa via Tamale. Picture this in your head...Tamale is north east...Wa is north west.
I was going to take the plane to Tamale and then catch a six hour bus ride over to Wa and I was headed to the airport to buy my ticket to leave Friday morning. (this was thursday morning when I saw ruby). So as we talked she wanted to know if it would work out if we flew together up to Tamale, in the east, and i rode with her and another missionary to collect footage of the damage that's been done by the flooding. They would take the footage and use that to help get out information out about what the needs are. Of course the Russells were expecting me this Saturday, today, and I couldn't get through to them to see if coming next weekend would be ok with their schedules. So my plan was to wait until mid afternoon Thursday and see if Bess Russell was able to get through. She didn't so i headed to the airport to go ahead and buy the ticket for Friday, I got there and all the seats were sold out, the earliest I could leave is Sunday the 9th, tomorrow. So I called Ruby, not having talked to the Russells yet, and told her I was flying tomorrow. Then Bess texted me and their whole family has strep and wanted to know if I could wait and come the following weekend. So I called Ruby and told her and she said, ok, we'll fly together Sunday morning and I'll ride with them across the north to get footage and they'll drop me in Wa. I don't know if this story comes across amazing as it was to experience it, but getting logistics to work that quick here could only be done supernaturally! So all this to say, please pray for Ruby, Sherri and myself this next week as we go around to see about ways in which people can help those who have lost everything. Ruby and Sherri both work for SIM and some of their pastors they work with have lost houses, fortunately right now we don't know about the loss of life...
3. After I travel with Ruby and Sherri to get information about the flooding I will work with the Russells to tell God's stories of what's going on in WA. Please pray for this video as they will be going back in December to use this to show people what Wa looks like and the people God has put in their pathway in the past two years as they've served here in Ghana. Bess is a nurse by proffession and is homeschooling their 8 year old son, Isaac. God has put her in situations where He's used the nursing skills such as helping a little girl who is an amuptee. John, the husband, is a pastor and works with Ghanaian pastors in the Wa circuit. They helped start a church in an area that has never heard the Gospel. That's hard for me to wrap my mind around living in the globalized information superhighway life . But they have tried to work with indeginous people in the city who have a heart for rural ministry. Their team of locals and themselves set out to find areas where no one has shared about a personal relationship with Jesus and all that it means. Join me in praying that what needs to be communicated would. That God would be glorified through what the Russells allow Him to do through them.
4. I don't know how long I'll be gone. Probably at least two-three weeks and then I will take the bus back down to Accra. It's a 15 hour ride so please pray for safety and for traveling mercies as things break down frequently here. I'm excited though riding public transport is fun and exciting!
Ok- that's it. Thanks so much for your continued support through prayer. I wanted to share recently I've been praying Philipians 1:9 over individual people...it's pretty cool :)
love to all of you and yes i'm in my new house and it's great! my roomate's name is suzanne and it's been great getting to know her and a blessing to have another single girl to hang out with!
Margaret
1. There is major flooding in the upper east and northern regions in Ghana. I'm not sure how bad, but through various sources who have contacts up there the rains have damaged the incoming crop, as it is harvest season right now, so there is a food shortage. Also the flooding has caused people to loose everything in their houses and the houses themselves. It is a praise that we have rain because the damn is rising now and our electricity crisis is getting slightly better. However these people are struggling.
2. I have to share an intereting God story with you all to give Him some cool glory! I was supposed to travel yesterday, Friday Sept.7 up north to Wa in the upper west region to work on a video with the Russells' a mission society missionary family. On my way to the airport I stopped to drop off a video I just completed for The Marriage Course in Ghana (that's another story). The office I dropped the video off at is the SIM, Serving in Mission, mission agency office. I'm friends with a couple of the missionares there including Ruby, the director of SIM. We were talking and she's the one who informed me about the severe flooding in the upper west. She has lived in Ghana over 25 years 20 of those in the North, so she has friends who are like family up there. In our conversation she realized I was going to Wa via Tamale. Picture this in your head...Tamale is north east...Wa is north west.
I was going to take the plane to Tamale and then catch a six hour bus ride over to Wa and I was headed to the airport to buy my ticket to leave Friday morning. (this was thursday morning when I saw ruby). So as we talked she wanted to know if it would work out if we flew together up to Tamale, in the east, and i rode with her and another missionary to collect footage of the damage that's been done by the flooding. They would take the footage and use that to help get out information out about what the needs are. Of course the Russells were expecting me this Saturday, today, and I couldn't get through to them to see if coming next weekend would be ok with their schedules. So my plan was to wait until mid afternoon Thursday and see if Bess Russell was able to get through. She didn't so i headed to the airport to go ahead and buy the ticket for Friday, I got there and all the seats were sold out, the earliest I could leave is Sunday the 9th, tomorrow. So I called Ruby, not having talked to the Russells yet, and told her I was flying tomorrow. Then Bess texted me and their whole family has strep and wanted to know if I could wait and come the following weekend. So I called Ruby and told her and she said, ok, we'll fly together Sunday morning and I'll ride with them across the north to get footage and they'll drop me in Wa. I don't know if this story comes across amazing as it was to experience it, but getting logistics to work that quick here could only be done supernaturally! So all this to say, please pray for Ruby, Sherri and myself this next week as we go around to see about ways in which people can help those who have lost everything. Ruby and Sherri both work for SIM and some of their pastors they work with have lost houses, fortunately right now we don't know about the loss of life...
3. After I travel with Ruby and Sherri to get information about the flooding I will work with the Russells to tell God's stories of what's going on in WA. Please pray for this video as they will be going back in December to use this to show people what Wa looks like and the people God has put in their pathway in the past two years as they've served here in Ghana. Bess is a nurse by proffession and is homeschooling their 8 year old son, Isaac. God has put her in situations where He's used the nursing skills such as helping a little girl who is an amuptee. John, the husband, is a pastor and works with Ghanaian pastors in the Wa circuit. They helped start a church in an area that has never heard the Gospel. That's hard for me to wrap my mind around living in the globalized information superhighway life . But they have tried to work with indeginous people in the city who have a heart for rural ministry. Their team of locals and themselves set out to find areas where no one has shared about a personal relationship with Jesus and all that it means. Join me in praying that what needs to be communicated would. That God would be glorified through what the Russells allow Him to do through them.
4. I don't know how long I'll be gone. Probably at least two-three weeks and then I will take the bus back down to Accra. It's a 15 hour ride so please pray for safety and for traveling mercies as things break down frequently here. I'm excited though riding public transport is fun and exciting!
Ok- that's it. Thanks so much for your continued support through prayer. I wanted to share recently I've been praying Philipians 1:9 over individual people...it's pretty cool :)
love to all of you and yes i'm in my new house and it's great! my roomate's name is suzanne and it's been great getting to know her and a blessing to have another single girl to hang out with!
Margaret
8.19.2007
there is no typical day in my life.
hum. what to blog. a fresh white blank page. i have so much to say sometimes i can't get my thoughts worked out enough to make a paragraph that stays on topic. so i'll try.
it's getting late and i'm moving tomorrow. i'm excited to see what lies ahead, but sad too because i know people in my neighborhood. just the other day some of the small kids yelled out to me 'auntie margaret' and i thought to myself, oh i'll miss this moving to yet another new place. i have stayed at the sims for a year and two months. for my track record in the past 11 years that's a LONG time to live in one place. is that sad that i move so much? counting this move i think i've moved 18 times in 11 years. am i running from something? suzanne, if you're reading this don't be too scared!
but then i think this is part of how i'm created. i never stay still. i love to go and i think as long as i'm not trying to run away from something it's part of living a single, always changing life. hum. maybe i'll chew on my moving a little more and see if i come up with any deep thoughts :)
today i took a three hour nap, not on purpose. i took some sudafed and usually that stuff wires me so i can't sleep but apparently taken during the day it makes me very sleepy, so i'll never go to sleep tongiht which means tomorrow i might be a little cranky :)
this past week i attended a workshop called sharpening your interpersonal skills and it was great. there were about 25 of us. the main difference from this workshop and others i've been too is that it was multi-cultural. i loved it. what we as americans value as showing love is different than that of the dutch or nigerian or ghanaian. and we talked about how we are to build a biblical kingdom using skills like confrontation, conflict management, relationship builders and killers and problem solving without letting our culture creep in in ways that aren't biblical ...this is very hard to do and i've realized how God's grace allows people from other cultures to build meaningful relationships when there's so many things to learn about each other.
it was a great time of meeting new people and making some great connections with others in ministry. i met one couple who have a documentary production house and i'm going to visit them next week to share ideas! how fabulous is our networking God!
speaking of God it's sunday and i've let busyness get in my way of having some intimate quiet time with my Lord. so i think i'll cut this blog short. i'm moving tomorrow and we don't have internet, so if i can't respond quickly to you....at least you know why :)
oh and keep praying for the marriage video i'm working on right now. we meet tomorrow night to look at footage and continue scripting out the video.
m
it's getting late and i'm moving tomorrow. i'm excited to see what lies ahead, but sad too because i know people in my neighborhood. just the other day some of the small kids yelled out to me 'auntie margaret' and i thought to myself, oh i'll miss this moving to yet another new place. i have stayed at the sims for a year and two months. for my track record in the past 11 years that's a LONG time to live in one place. is that sad that i move so much? counting this move i think i've moved 18 times in 11 years. am i running from something? suzanne, if you're reading this don't be too scared!
but then i think this is part of how i'm created. i never stay still. i love to go and i think as long as i'm not trying to run away from something it's part of living a single, always changing life. hum. maybe i'll chew on my moving a little more and see if i come up with any deep thoughts :)
today i took a three hour nap, not on purpose. i took some sudafed and usually that stuff wires me so i can't sleep but apparently taken during the day it makes me very sleepy, so i'll never go to sleep tongiht which means tomorrow i might be a little cranky :)
this past week i attended a workshop called sharpening your interpersonal skills and it was great. there were about 25 of us. the main difference from this workshop and others i've been too is that it was multi-cultural. i loved it. what we as americans value as showing love is different than that of the dutch or nigerian or ghanaian. and we talked about how we are to build a biblical kingdom using skills like confrontation, conflict management, relationship builders and killers and problem solving without letting our culture creep in in ways that aren't biblical ...this is very hard to do and i've realized how God's grace allows people from other cultures to build meaningful relationships when there's so many things to learn about each other.
it was a great time of meeting new people and making some great connections with others in ministry. i met one couple who have a documentary production house and i'm going to visit them next week to share ideas! how fabulous is our networking God!
speaking of God it's sunday and i've let busyness get in my way of having some intimate quiet time with my Lord. so i think i'll cut this blog short. i'm moving tomorrow and we don't have internet, so if i can't respond quickly to you....at least you know why :)
oh and keep praying for the marriage video i'm working on right now. we meet tomorrow night to look at footage and continue scripting out the video.
m
8.13.2007
quick update on the week to come
this past week was great. i'm recommending Breaking Free by beth moore to anyone who wants to continue a deeper growth in understanding how things hold us captive. i think she's very gifted in using historical scriptural refrences to get your mind thinking and talking to God about the issues she's raised. so that's that.
this next upcoming week i'll be at a confrence entitled, "sharpening your interpersonal skills." i've been to alot of leadership training seminars, conflict management seminars and done a few personality profiling tests. i've always enjoyed those classes as usually something comes up out of discussion/teaching that i definetly could use brushing up on or even tackling for the first time. our field has challenged us with taking at least one ceu course like this a year, so here i go. therefore, i probably won't be online much this next week.
also a huge prayer request. i'm continuing to work on a video for a marriage seminar. this seminar is in september and we've shoot footage several times over the past couple months to get this video's material together. i've got all the shots i need minuse one of a ghanaian wedding but i'm in the editing process. so pray for God's hands to be my hands and what ever is to be communicated to be done. i know marriage in ghana isn't on the top priority for taking time out to work on as we have seen in the interviews we've conducted. this video is going to be played during a confrence hoping to encourage people to take the Marriage Course and then in turn teach it at their church. we wanted to make a video that is purely from a ghanaian perspective, so that's our attempt. i'm working with a ghanaian man named senyo, and we are trying to be culturally relevant to reach people who are in marriage or about to get married.
also you'll notice on the right hand side of the page there is a new element hosting video on my blog. i'm trying to upload as many videos that have been created so you can catch a glimpse into all the different ways God is moving through different people here in ghana.
until next time-
margaret
this next upcoming week i'll be at a confrence entitled, "sharpening your interpersonal skills." i've been to alot of leadership training seminars, conflict management seminars and done a few personality profiling tests. i've always enjoyed those classes as usually something comes up out of discussion/teaching that i definetly could use brushing up on or even tackling for the first time. our field has challenged us with taking at least one ceu course like this a year, so here i go. therefore, i probably won't be online much this next week.
also a huge prayer request. i'm continuing to work on a video for a marriage seminar. this seminar is in september and we've shoot footage several times over the past couple months to get this video's material together. i've got all the shots i need minuse one of a ghanaian wedding but i'm in the editing process. so pray for God's hands to be my hands and what ever is to be communicated to be done. i know marriage in ghana isn't on the top priority for taking time out to work on as we have seen in the interviews we've conducted. this video is going to be played during a confrence hoping to encourage people to take the Marriage Course and then in turn teach it at their church. we wanted to make a video that is purely from a ghanaian perspective, so that's our attempt. i'm working with a ghanaian man named senyo, and we are trying to be culturally relevant to reach people who are in marriage or about to get married.
also you'll notice on the right hand side of the page there is a new element hosting video on my blog. i'm trying to upload as many videos that have been created so you can catch a glimpse into all the different ways God is moving through different people here in ghana.
until next time-
margaret
8.05.2007
not much. just settling back in.
i'm home in ghana. going back to america was fun. that's a really boring adjective, but really it was full of seeing old friends and catching up either over food or spending the night. it was full of seeing and being with family, including a week long camping trip to tombigbee national park. i say camping (having air conditioning, tv and a microwave in a movable box shaped thing called a camper) so --- let me clear up any confusion I WAS NOT ROUGHING IT! :) although i did sleep on an air mattress several nights! it was worth it to get to wake up with my five year old nephew crawling into my 'air matress' bed at 6am on july 27th to sing me happy birthday. he did this all by himself because NO ONE else was awake at that time. i really can't believe he remembered. that definetly makes it into the memories folder.
so what does life look like in ghana right now? at this very moment i'm working on a video for a marriage confrence. actually i could spend my entire life on itunes.you know when you open the home page and it has the 'just for you' section. based on past purchases it lists musicians you might be interested in. one of my favorite genres for the past couple of years is folk. so tonight i found colbie caillat. the thing is how cool is it that someone has written software that keeps up to date with what you like. i mean wow. i don't even know all the names of bands i like, but itunes 'just for you' does. i know this sounds a tetch lame, but if itunes can figure out what we like and would be the best musical choice for us, why is it so hard to believe there's Someone who can help us choose the best in every area. and if we believe that this Being knows everything and has our best interest at heart, why is it hard to put full trust and/or hear his leading? maybe it's because we just want to listen to a 30 second trial before committing to purchase? just a random thought. anyway.
i'm getting ready to move into a new place. i'm moving in with suzanne a missionary with SIM. not sure when the move will take place, hopefully this thursday! we shall see!
my camera broke before i went to the states and i got my new one the last week, so i've only got a few pics from america. Ry- if you read this i'm adding pics of my fam playing canasta!!! For those who aren't in the know about Canasta it's pretty much an old persons card game that i learned at the ripe age of five. I had to have a chair beside me because my hands weren't big enough to hold the wod of cards you accumulate unitl you can "lay down." If you desire more info about canasta... you'll have to google it, or ask me and i'll play with ya!
that's it for my first blog back in Ghana.
m
so what does life look like in ghana right now? at this very moment i'm working on a video for a marriage confrence. actually i could spend my entire life on itunes.you know when you open the home page and it has the 'just for you' section. based on past purchases it lists musicians you might be interested in. one of my favorite genres for the past couple of years is folk. so tonight i found colbie caillat. the thing is how cool is it that someone has written software that keeps up to date with what you like. i mean wow. i don't even know all the names of bands i like, but itunes 'just for you' does. i know this sounds a tetch lame, but if itunes can figure out what we like and would be the best musical choice for us, why is it so hard to believe there's Someone who can help us choose the best in every area. and if we believe that this Being knows everything and has our best interest at heart, why is it hard to put full trust and/or hear his leading? maybe it's because we just want to listen to a 30 second trial before committing to purchase? just a random thought. anyway.
i'm getting ready to move into a new place. i'm moving in with suzanne a missionary with SIM. not sure when the move will take place, hopefully this thursday! we shall see!
my camera broke before i went to the states and i got my new one the last week, so i've only got a few pics from america. Ry- if you read this i'm adding pics of my fam playing canasta!!! For those who aren't in the know about Canasta it's pretty much an old persons card game that i learned at the ripe age of five. I had to have a chair beside me because my hands weren't big enough to hold the wod of cards you accumulate unitl you can "lay down." If you desire more info about canasta... you'll have to google it, or ask me and i'll play with ya!
that's it for my first blog back in Ghana.
m
7.05.2007
happies
i just learned last week that the term 'happies' is a southern thing. i have a friend who said she had never heard a little present given to someone called a 'happy.' I'm sad that my camera is broken because I would take a picture of how many happies I'm packing! I'm leaving TONIGHT for America and I have two suitcases full of happies!!!!
Seriously....I might have to pay customs because I look like a container of african goods!
I would like to share my proudest gifts though that I'm bringing for my family to enjoy!
I am taking some maggie cubes (ghana's version of bullion) for my mother since she's a FABULOUS cook, some Shito (no that's not a bad word here...it's hot sauce), Milo (like hot chocolate...made in Ghana of course) and some Laughing Cow cheese (our version of cream cheese....that's right no refrigeration required :)
I am very excited to see family and friends tomorrow in Memphis!!!!!!!! Sad news...I'm leaving Ghana in the COOLEST month of the whole year to go to Mississippi where it's in the upper 90's and humid! Ugh.
Alright so hopefully next blog will be posted state side!!!!! wooooohoooooo
love to all
m
Seriously....I might have to pay customs because I look like a container of african goods!
I would like to share my proudest gifts though that I'm bringing for my family to enjoy!
I am taking some maggie cubes (ghana's version of bullion) for my mother since she's a FABULOUS cook, some Shito (no that's not a bad word here...it's hot sauce), Milo (like hot chocolate...made in Ghana of course) and some Laughing Cow cheese (our version of cream cheese....that's right no refrigeration required :)
I am very excited to see family and friends tomorrow in Memphis!!!!!!!! Sad news...I'm leaving Ghana in the COOLEST month of the whole year to go to Mississippi where it's in the upper 90's and humid! Ugh.
Alright so hopefully next blog will be posted state side!!!!! wooooohoooooo
love to all
m
7.02.2007
girl talk. men i think you'll agree.
Ok I have a friend named Sherri from Chicago (you have to accent Chic aaaaa go) because she's midwestern. Her brother has coined what might be the 'best' termi have ever heard explaining the way women communicate.
Now folks this 'way of life' is bred into Southern girls from the time they are born. Let me give you an example of what I'm talking about.
Let's say you're married. You're husband comes in the kitchen where you're feverishly cooking dinner. You're sweating because your spagehtti noodles are boiling over and the garlic cheese bread is burning in the oven. So as you put your dirty pan in the sink, with your back to your husband, you say "wow the garbage sure is full."
Now this my friends is what we call 'girl talk.' Sherri's brother has coined this phrase so I can't claim it as orginal, but I sure do agree with everything it implies. We as girls, master manipulators that we are trained to be, say one thing while implying a whole structured sentence. For example, "wow the garbage is full" isn't just an expression of the realization that you turned around and low and behold there is some trash overflowing. That is a full on hidden meaning saying, "Hello! husband don't you see that the garbage is overflowing and I need some help here in the kitchen since I'm busy. So you should really take that out right now..... please :)" We just know how to put things .... nicely.... or should we say manipulate our way into getting what we want, thinking we're doing it nicely!
Here is another example of how young we learn our 'girl talk' technique. Sherri's 6 year old niece was in the kitchen with her mom as mommie was baking cookies. Six year old niece goes over to the cookies and says to her mother, "these sure do smell nice." Mom replys, "well thank you honey, that sure was nice." Then six year old girl says again, "mom- these sure do smell nice, you're a GREAT cook." Mom turns around to see the look on her daughters face and realizes, she's girl talking for, i sure do want one of these cookies and i'm going to flatter you until you give me one!
So, know if you come to Accra, you will be busted for using girl talk as we now know what to term it!
Now folks this 'way of life' is bred into Southern girls from the time they are born. Let me give you an example of what I'm talking about.
Let's say you're married. You're husband comes in the kitchen where you're feverishly cooking dinner. You're sweating because your spagehtti noodles are boiling over and the garlic cheese bread is burning in the oven. So as you put your dirty pan in the sink, with your back to your husband, you say "wow the garbage sure is full."
Now this my friends is what we call 'girl talk.' Sherri's brother has coined this phrase so I can't claim it as orginal, but I sure do agree with everything it implies. We as girls, master manipulators that we are trained to be, say one thing while implying a whole structured sentence. For example, "wow the garbage is full" isn't just an expression of the realization that you turned around and low and behold there is some trash overflowing. That is a full on hidden meaning saying, "Hello! husband don't you see that the garbage is overflowing and I need some help here in the kitchen since I'm busy. So you should really take that out right now..... please :)" We just know how to put things .... nicely.... or should we say manipulate our way into getting what we want, thinking we're doing it nicely!
Here is another example of how young we learn our 'girl talk' technique. Sherri's 6 year old niece was in the kitchen with her mom as mommie was baking cookies. Six year old niece goes over to the cookies and says to her mother, "these sure do smell nice." Mom replys, "well thank you honey, that sure was nice." Then six year old girl says again, "mom- these sure do smell nice, you're a GREAT cook." Mom turns around to see the look on her daughters face and realizes, she's girl talking for, i sure do want one of these cookies and i'm going to flatter you until you give me one!
So, know if you come to Accra, you will be busted for using girl talk as we now know what to term it!
6.30.2007
what-june is gone?
Is it really eight days until I am physically hugging my mother and father’s neck at Memphis international airport gate while jumping up and down in a frenzy of emotional bliss? Not to mention my sweet friends who are driving up to memph town…however I think that’s just strictly for them to have fun in the car…on the way up singing into drum stick!
I new June was going to go by fast. After Joel, Jackie and Jackson left on June 11 I had six days in Accra and then Amy Rambo, Ryan Kennedy, Davis Webb, Chip Jackson and our driver Stephen headed back up north to return June 26!
So now I’m in the process of making a five minute dvd to play at The Orchard when I’m home in Mississippi, while packing and buying some good ole African artifacts for family and friends…I’ve only got seven days! YIKES
Saturday Amy, Ryan and I are going to lead youth group and then Sunday we’re going to prampram orphanage to teach and hang out with kids…so this weekend is busy!!!!
Our trip was WONDERFUL. Only one minor bump…I lost my cell phone with every number for people in Ghana. Stink. But- we got to receive blessings and hopefully be blessings by going around to love on our coworkers! Check out the Jernigan’s blog, Ry’s blog and www.daviswebb.blogspot.com.
Ryan and Davis had brought several goodies for each family…and I have to say Ryan’s mom did an OUTSTANDING job picking out princess dresses for two of the little girls on our team Rachel and Louisa.
Now I’m going to get a little serious with what God’s doing up in my disgustingly selfish heart! Read on if you want to analyze my thoughts and really see how messed up my brain is! You’ve been warned.
Each morning someone led devotion. One thing I love about the ‘trip bubble’ during the ‘trip length of time’ is the amount of intentional Word time when traveling with others who LOVE the Lord.
God has impressed a couple things on my heart that I’ve been chewing on this week. One-being how we are to love others especially fellow Christians. I keep going back to 1 Corinthians 13:4. I know we hear about this verse during weddings a lot, but I totally am trying to figure out the balance of speaking truth in love to our fellow believers and how much we pray and forgive without bringing differences up. Is there an easy answer here??? Please give me a how to do it and I will follow.
Second- Davis read 1 Peter 4:11. “If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God.” This is where I meditated for a couple of days and Saturday I’m leading a discussion at our local international youth group.
When we do what we do - do we do it for God or for ourselves? The scripture was written by Peter to Jewish Christians persecuted and ridiculed for believing in Jesus. He tells them speak as if you were speaking the words of God…speak to those who make fun of you with love…to those who persecute you. Serve with the strength of the Lord so that they may know God through Jesus. So many times I think about me how I’m feeling about doing ministry, but my gosh if I could just get outside of myself and my feelings there is a world who doesn’t know the love, joy, peace that comes from knowing Jesus.
Why do I do what I do?
Oh how my heart yearns for ME to be ‘great’ at something. I have this unquenchable desire for when people think Margaret they think ________ insert being the best at ‘something.’ Lately, I have felt so beaten up (my mind conjuring up insults against myself) by the fact that I’m not creative enough, or not smart enough or wise biblically enough or … I mean the list could seriously go on and on. Besides the fact that thinking I’m not good at anything is completely being self focused… I have been reflecting on the words I speak when I get so consumed in me. Are these words as if one speaking the very words of God? And if I’m doing “it” for God should I get so sidetracked in what others think?
Agh the growing pains of this journey with our Lord. I know we are refined by trials so I’m trying to walk through and stay committed to what the Lord has shown me he’s called me to, even when I don’t ‘feel’ like I am enough. Is He trying to teach me that it’s ALL about him? I thought I had that one learned...
One week from today I’ll be fellowshipping with family and friends at my mother’s house in Starkville. It's going to be lots of fun...I'm starting to get excited to see everyone....more posting later :)
m
I new June was going to go by fast. After Joel, Jackie and Jackson left on June 11 I had six days in Accra and then Amy Rambo, Ryan Kennedy, Davis Webb, Chip Jackson and our driver Stephen headed back up north to return June 26!
So now I’m in the process of making a five minute dvd to play at The Orchard when I’m home in Mississippi, while packing and buying some good ole African artifacts for family and friends…I’ve only got seven days! YIKES
Saturday Amy, Ryan and I are going to lead youth group and then Sunday we’re going to prampram orphanage to teach and hang out with kids…so this weekend is busy!!!!
Our trip was WONDERFUL. Only one minor bump…I lost my cell phone with every number for people in Ghana. Stink. But- we got to receive blessings and hopefully be blessings by going around to love on our coworkers! Check out the Jernigan’s blog, Ry’s blog and www.daviswebb.blogspot.com.
Ryan and Davis had brought several goodies for each family…and I have to say Ryan’s mom did an OUTSTANDING job picking out princess dresses for two of the little girls on our team Rachel and Louisa.
Now I’m going to get a little serious with what God’s doing up in my disgustingly selfish heart! Read on if you want to analyze my thoughts and really see how messed up my brain is! You’ve been warned.
Each morning someone led devotion. One thing I love about the ‘trip bubble’ during the ‘trip length of time’ is the amount of intentional Word time when traveling with others who LOVE the Lord.
God has impressed a couple things on my heart that I’ve been chewing on this week. One-being how we are to love others especially fellow Christians. I keep going back to 1 Corinthians 13:4. I know we hear about this verse during weddings a lot, but I totally am trying to figure out the balance of speaking truth in love to our fellow believers and how much we pray and forgive without bringing differences up. Is there an easy answer here??? Please give me a how to do it and I will follow.
Second- Davis read 1 Peter 4:11. “If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God.” This is where I meditated for a couple of days and Saturday I’m leading a discussion at our local international youth group.
When we do what we do - do we do it for God or for ourselves? The scripture was written by Peter to Jewish Christians persecuted and ridiculed for believing in Jesus. He tells them speak as if you were speaking the words of God…speak to those who make fun of you with love…to those who persecute you. Serve with the strength of the Lord so that they may know God through Jesus. So many times I think about me how I’m feeling about doing ministry, but my gosh if I could just get outside of myself and my feelings there is a world who doesn’t know the love, joy, peace that comes from knowing Jesus.
Why do I do what I do?
Oh how my heart yearns for ME to be ‘great’ at something. I have this unquenchable desire for when people think Margaret they think ________ insert being the best at ‘something.’ Lately, I have felt so beaten up (my mind conjuring up insults against myself) by the fact that I’m not creative enough, or not smart enough or wise biblically enough or … I mean the list could seriously go on and on. Besides the fact that thinking I’m not good at anything is completely being self focused… I have been reflecting on the words I speak when I get so consumed in me. Are these words as if one speaking the very words of God? And if I’m doing “it” for God should I get so sidetracked in what others think?
Agh the growing pains of this journey with our Lord. I know we are refined by trials so I’m trying to walk through and stay committed to what the Lord has shown me he’s called me to, even when I don’t ‘feel’ like I am enough. Is He trying to teach me that it’s ALL about him? I thought I had that one learned...
One week from today I’ll be fellowshipping with family and friends at my mother’s house in Starkville. It's going to be lots of fun...I'm starting to get excited to see everyone....more posting later :)
m
6.12.2007
The Orchard Vision Trip
As I write this the Hawkins are sitting in Germany enduring a four hour layover from 5:45am- 9:45am. It’s not fun, I’ve done that one before. So continue your prayers for their safe journey to America.
The past 13 days have been exciting, challenging, exhausting, stressful but full of joy! Overall I think Jackie, Joel, Jackson and I would agree the first vision trip for The Orchard was wonderful.
I want to first thank everyone who has prayerfully and financially supported the Hawkins coming to Ghana. Their time here I believe was fruitful for their hearts as well as those they started a relationship with. If you ask them about the trip they will probably tell you the first couple of days were very stressful! You face emotional stress. You arrive in a new culture after traveling for over 20 hours and you are exhausted when you get off the plane in the host culture, in this case Ghana. Then you ride in a car where you are bombarded by all your senses as you hear, smell and see everything new for the first time. You ride in a car, not knowing at all where you’re going but trusting that the person leading you is taking good care of you. You have thoughts that you didn’t even know existed and wonder where those thoughts came from. Sometimes these aren’t nice thoughts so the stress that you could possibly conjure those up is a little scary, after all you are Christian J You remove all of your comforts of how you know culturally to do things and then become worried that what you might say or do could possibly offend the very people you want to learn about. You virtually start as a baby in this new culture dealing with the stress of wanting to know everything, know the cultural ques and how they differ from your home culture, know the language and be able to speak proficiently, know how to ‘be’ exactly as those you’ve come to learn about. All of this creates an uncomfortable amount of stress. I believe it’s how you deal with these stresses that determines what you learn from the experience. This past week Jackie, Joel and Jackson dealt with uncomfortable situations and from my perspective God has and will use every moment of their trip here to glorify Himself.
Missions short term and long term can easily be about people coming from outside to bring in what you know to be ‘right’ and the ‘best’ way to do something whatever area that person is working. I believe it’s much harder to be a learner and be ok with the fact you don’t know everything. I love the saying, “people don’t care about how much you know until they know how much you care.” As Jesus loving and believing people, and I like how Rob Bell puts it, we help people see God and how he’s already working here. We don’t save people. That is what Jesus does. And I am going to add we ‘strategically’ help people see how God is working. Here in Ghana that strategy looks different than a strategy in America. So we have to learn this culture before we are strategic.
This past week and a half Jackie, Joel and Jackson learned an incredible amount about Ghanaian culture. They asked great questions, (some I didn’t know which encourages me to continue to be a learner!) they tried a little food outside their comfort zone without eating things that would make them too sick, but most of all I saw them really trying to build relationships with people. I saw them desiring to know about family life of those we met, know how they work in the jobs they do, know how they worship God in this culture and how they show love to each other. We visited and greeted, the Ghanaian cultural way, many people. As the week continued, I saw them praying about beginning this partnership here and what would God have it look like for years to come. We were blessed to have Bishop Atto Brown of the northern diocese of the Methodist church with us…what does that mean for those who don’t know Ghana Methodist church lingo? That means there was an older respected Ghanaian man in the leadership of the church who spoke truth to places we went, encouraging them to reach out and think outside of themselves. He was able to relate the vision of the twining program, the relationship building partnership The Orchard is doing here with Bole, the area we went. He was able to speak to us Americans in a way we were able to understand Ghanaian thought processes and culture according to different situations. He was able to cast a vision that this partnership isn’t about coming and check marking a project list off and leaving so white people can feel good about themselves and the churches here get ‘stuff.’ The vision is to grow deeper together in a relationship, sharing the love of Christ with each other and to those in the surrounding communities.
I feel like I can say this living here a year, watching and learning the culture, talking with Ghanaians in church leadership and attending church here. We all have to be intentional about loving those outside our walls of the church. We are called to love those who are lonely, hurt and marginalized in society no matter if that’s MS- Tupelo, Benton, Ackerman or in Ghana like Bole, Guniyiri, Tinga… wherever. In some places here, as it is in America, we become focused on the people inside our church instead of remembering those who aren’t.
One of the blessings this week was watching Joel and Jackie talk about why they are here. And how they are branching out to show Christ’s love just building relationships with people. After I interviewed the Bishop for the video I’m making for The Orchard, I realized that them sharing that reason of coming all this way just to love on people really encourages others’ here to do that. I know I’ve thought many times, oh if I come here for a short time and say
‘love others,’ people could say, well look at all the money you have that’s why you can come here and tell us that. But the reality is, people here consider it a great honor that someone would come all that way. Jackie said this this past week and it’s true. Ghanaians bring their best when they meet you. They wear their finest clothes, the cook the best food they have, and truly want to serve you the best way they can. So do we bring our best to them? Do we bring our best clean pure heart of Jesus love to offer? Or do we bring our own motives whatever those might be? We’re not perfect and no one here on earth is, but do we bring the best we can?
I have to say how much it pleased me to see the Hawkins look at this trip in a relationship building way and not something to just check off the list to say “ check…gone to another country to tell people the way to do ‘it’.” I’m excited to see what’s next for The Orchard in this partnership.
For more about the trip visit Joel and Jackie’s blog at www.tingabolemission.blogspot.com.
The past 13 days have been exciting, challenging, exhausting, stressful but full of joy! Overall I think Jackie, Joel, Jackson and I would agree the first vision trip for The Orchard was wonderful.
I want to first thank everyone who has prayerfully and financially supported the Hawkins coming to Ghana. Their time here I believe was fruitful for their hearts as well as those they started a relationship with. If you ask them about the trip they will probably tell you the first couple of days were very stressful! You face emotional stress. You arrive in a new culture after traveling for over 20 hours and you are exhausted when you get off the plane in the host culture, in this case Ghana. Then you ride in a car where you are bombarded by all your senses as you hear, smell and see everything new for the first time. You ride in a car, not knowing at all where you’re going but trusting that the person leading you is taking good care of you. You have thoughts that you didn’t even know existed and wonder where those thoughts came from. Sometimes these aren’t nice thoughts so the stress that you could possibly conjure those up is a little scary, after all you are Christian J You remove all of your comforts of how you know culturally to do things and then become worried that what you might say or do could possibly offend the very people you want to learn about. You virtually start as a baby in this new culture dealing with the stress of wanting to know everything, know the cultural ques and how they differ from your home culture, know the language and be able to speak proficiently, know how to ‘be’ exactly as those you’ve come to learn about. All of this creates an uncomfortable amount of stress. I believe it’s how you deal with these stresses that determines what you learn from the experience. This past week Jackie, Joel and Jackson dealt with uncomfortable situations and from my perspective God has and will use every moment of their trip here to glorify Himself.
Missions short term and long term can easily be about people coming from outside to bring in what you know to be ‘right’ and the ‘best’ way to do something whatever area that person is working. I believe it’s much harder to be a learner and be ok with the fact you don’t know everything. I love the saying, “people don’t care about how much you know until they know how much you care.” As Jesus loving and believing people, and I like how Rob Bell puts it, we help people see God and how he’s already working here. We don’t save people. That is what Jesus does. And I am going to add we ‘strategically’ help people see how God is working. Here in Ghana that strategy looks different than a strategy in America. So we have to learn this culture before we are strategic.
This past week and a half Jackie, Joel and Jackson learned an incredible amount about Ghanaian culture. They asked great questions, (some I didn’t know which encourages me to continue to be a learner!) they tried a little food outside their comfort zone without eating things that would make them too sick, but most of all I saw them really trying to build relationships with people. I saw them desiring to know about family life of those we met, know how they work in the jobs they do, know how they worship God in this culture and how they show love to each other. We visited and greeted, the Ghanaian cultural way, many people. As the week continued, I saw them praying about beginning this partnership here and what would God have it look like for years to come. We were blessed to have Bishop Atto Brown of the northern diocese of the Methodist church with us…what does that mean for those who don’t know Ghana Methodist church lingo? That means there was an older respected Ghanaian man in the leadership of the church who spoke truth to places we went, encouraging them to reach out and think outside of themselves. He was able to relate the vision of the twining program, the relationship building partnership The Orchard is doing here with Bole, the area we went. He was able to speak to us Americans in a way we were able to understand Ghanaian thought processes and culture according to different situations. He was able to cast a vision that this partnership isn’t about coming and check marking a project list off and leaving so white people can feel good about themselves and the churches here get ‘stuff.’ The vision is to grow deeper together in a relationship, sharing the love of Christ with each other and to those in the surrounding communities.
I feel like I can say this living here a year, watching and learning the culture, talking with Ghanaians in church leadership and attending church here. We all have to be intentional about loving those outside our walls of the church. We are called to love those who are lonely, hurt and marginalized in society no matter if that’s MS- Tupelo, Benton, Ackerman or in Ghana like Bole, Guniyiri, Tinga… wherever. In some places here, as it is in America, we become focused on the people inside our church instead of remembering those who aren’t.
One of the blessings this week was watching Joel and Jackie talk about why they are here. And how they are branching out to show Christ’s love just building relationships with people. After I interviewed the Bishop for the video I’m making for The Orchard, I realized that them sharing that reason of coming all this way just to love on people really encourages others’ here to do that. I know I’ve thought many times, oh if I come here for a short time and say
‘love others,’ people could say, well look at all the money you have that’s why you can come here and tell us that. But the reality is, people here consider it a great honor that someone would come all that way. Jackie said this this past week and it’s true. Ghanaians bring their best when they meet you. They wear their finest clothes, the cook the best food they have, and truly want to serve you the best way they can. So do we bring our best to them? Do we bring our best clean pure heart of Jesus love to offer? Or do we bring our own motives whatever those might be? We’re not perfect and no one here on earth is, but do we bring the best we can?
I have to say how much it pleased me to see the Hawkins look at this trip in a relationship building way and not something to just check off the list to say “ check…gone to another country to tell people the way to do ‘it’.” I’m excited to see what’s next for The Orchard in this partnership.
For more about the trip visit Joel and Jackie’s blog at www.tingabolemission.blogspot.com.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
