Good News Children's Congress

This past weekend the Annual Good News Children's Congress was held at Heritage Baptist Church in Kushibo village, a remote village located in the Northern Region of Ghana, West Africa. 

Many of the children come from far away so the church hired a tractor/trailer to transport them to the church.

Futbol clubs are a way to reach the students for Christ.

Beautiful Children of the North

One of the greatest joys of spending time in the villages of the Northern Region of Ghana is meeting and playing with the children.  They are full of life and joy and love.

The Women of KPatinga

Some say they are witches.  I call them the Women of KPatinga.

In the culture of the Northern Region there are many things that are difficult for a Westerner to understand.  The custom of banishing a woman from a village is one of them.  My understanding is that in order to banish a woman (I've never heard of a man being banished, but maybe that happens, too), there has to be two witnesses that accuse her of being a witch, meaning that the witness either saw, felt or dreamed something strange about the woman.  Her case is then presented to the local village chief and then to the regional chief.  If both men agree to the banishment, then she is labeled as a witch and sent away, never to return.  Other villages also shun her and she may eventually find her way to a Witch Camp.  KPatinga is one such camp.

The women of KPatinga have a landlord who is considered a witchdoctor.  It is said that he has the power to exorcise them of their witchcraft.  He does have power, that is for certain.  He has the power to do whatever he wants and the power to make decisions about food distribution, etc.  The women are held captive by his control over them.

This was our second visit to KPatinga.  Last year we visited there and were received with great enthusiasm and gratitude.  The women there told us that our visit brought value to them.  It was a humbling and life changing experience.

On this year's visit, we brought cooking pots and a few bags of maize and rice (two items we were told they needed).  Our wonderful friends at World Vision helped us purchase, transport, and distribute the grain. 

Once again we found the women to be gracious and welcoming. As we were preparing to leave, a small group of the women approached us and began singing a song of thanksgiving for our visit.  The only thing better than hearing them sing was the joy and happiness in their eyes.

Here are a few pictures of the grain and rice distribution.

It started raining right after we arrived, so we took shelter in a local school that was built by World Vision so that the granddaughters of the Women of KPatinga could be educated.  These women are waiting to receive their portion of the grain and rice.

42 bowls for 42 women

Picking up their bowls of rice

Several of the granddaughters of the KPatinga Women live in the camp.  They have a moral obligation to help their grandmothers survive.  Some of them are shunned also because of the stigma attached to them. 

We want to express our gratitude to the donor from the US who provided the cooking pots, grain and rice for distribution to the KPatinga Women.

World Vision and the Witch Camp

Today we will be partnering with World Vision to serve the women of the KPatinga Witch Camp.  These old women are not witches.  They are just like you and me.  They have been shunned from their villages for various reasons and have made their way to this village to live with other women.  The journey to the camp is long and bumpy, but nothing compared to the journey they have made to just survive. 

Please pray with us for these precious women.   Pray for their health and for their well-being.Pray that we can be an encouragement to them in some small way and that our visit will be more about them and less about  us.

We are all looking forward to our time at KPatinga and hopefully we can write about it when we return.

Monday in the Mud

Well, today was quite interesting!  It rained all.night.long. so we had to delay our departure to the village because some of the roads were impassable.  The roads are very sandy and somewhat rocky, so after some time, we set out for Tarikpaa and made it there just fine.  A few places in the road were washout out, but not impassable or even covered in water.

Today was the day we had planned to go to four different villages to deliver grain to widows and orphans.  This grain is from the maize field that was planted last season with the support and help of donors in the US and in partnership with Shalom Baptist Church.

We made formal presentations to three widows in Tarikpaa and then set out for Yipilegu, a village about 20 minutes away.  After going through parts of the path that seemed impossible to get through, we were driving along at a steady pace when all of a sudden the left side of the van sunk deep in the sand.  Two hours  and many village men later, we were finally pulled out by a tractor.  It was amazing to watch the teamwork that went into trying to get the van unstuck.  Men from all over just started showing up with shovels and machetes.  They cut tree branches and put under the tires, along with rocks that were picked up from the nearby field.  Many of them, including Pastor Mohammed and Pastor Issah, were covered from head to toe in mud before it was over with.

While the men worked on freeing the van, the girls, including Suyuhini and Dorcas (Pastor Steven's daughters) walked the short distance to a nearby village to play with the children.  Most of the older children were in school, so we had about 50 younger children to play with.  Someone (Tayler?) got out bubbles and the fun began!  I don't think I've ever witnessed such joy on the faces of children.  Watching the children run and squeal, trying to pop the bubbles as they floated in the wind, was priceless.  I don't know who it enjoyed it more, the village children or the team members!

After some time, the van was freed and we were able to visit two more widows and present the grain. It was an overwhelming and humbling experience to sit and listen to the widows explain the significance of receiving the grain and how it would help feed their children during the "lean" times.  They have such profound gratitude for something that seems so small to us.  It is not even possible to write much about this and explain it very well.  Things like this take time to process, so hopefully there will be a future blog post that can do it justice.

The day concluded with a revival service at Shalom in the evening.  The team had so much fun dancing with their African friends, especially Elisha and Mishael.  The preacher reminded us that we are witnesses, which was very fitting since today (Tuesday) we are going out to do village evangelism.

Please continue praying for the health of the team and for boldness, without fear, in witnessing.

Arrival and Delays of Team 2

We are so very thankful for the safe arrival of the rest of our 8 team members, including one who flew from Brussels to Accra, via Amsterdam.  They spent a few hours at the guesthouse in Accra, getting acclimated.  Most of them played card games, visited with some members of the Anankra family who came to greet them, and enjoying some popcorn and Coke. Oh, and don't forget th free Wi-Fi!  An added  bonus!

This morning they depart the guesthouse at 4:00am for their 5:30am flight to the Northern Region.  When they arrived at the airport early this morning, there was problem with their tickets and they were not booked on this flight. (TIA)  The plane only flies North once a day, so they will fly early Sunday morning.  Although we are all disappointed that we will not see them today, we know they will have a fun day in Accra.  They will be visiting Boti Falls, which is a short road trip outside of Accra.  This will give them a great introduction to the culture as they will watch Ghana go by as they travel.  They will enjoy meat pies for lunch and chicken and rice for dinner.  We were very thankful that GILLBT Accra could accommodate them for another night.

Team 1 will continue to prepare for their arrival today and also spend some time with Ghanaian friends.  We may even go shopping in the market for some goodies to bring back home.

In Africa, or on any mission, the number one thing a team member can do to be helpful is to be flexible.  That means letting go of control issues, completely trusting your leadership, being thankful for what does go according to plan and also thankful for what does not go according to plan.  God is never surprised by anything and we know He is in control of this mission and everything that goes with it.  We are thankful for His presence no matter where we are or what we are doing.

Please continue to pray for the team (we are one team now) and feel free to post comments.  We see them and read them to the others.

They Knew We Were Coming

I have been doing mission work in Ghana for nine years, and mostly in the Northern Region, so being in a culture that is predominantly Muslim is nothing new to me.  Just like many Christians in the US and other parts of the world, many of them are "cultural" Muslims.  The teams have always had easy access to the government schools in the villages where we go in and engage them in Bible storytelling, songs and games. 

Until now.

They knew we were coming. And they were ready.

How did they know we were coming?  Because they had their eyes and ears open.  Before our arrival, the local pastors approach the village chiefs and school headmasters seeking permission for us to come to the schools.  Most, but not all of them, are Muslim.  The local Imams are very involved with knowing what is going on with the children and they stay in close contact with the teachers at the schools.  It is not unusual to see the local Imam sitting on the school steps during the school day, keeping watch.

How were they ready?  Recently there has been a big push for Islam in the North like never before.  There are two organizations pouring  tons of resources into this area, and one of them is from the USA (shocking or at the very least surprising, isn't it?)  I've been in many rural villages in the past two weeks and every single one of them has a new mosque.  The local Imams are holding Arabic classes for all the children in the afternoons, after school dismisses and on Saturdays.  They have taught the older boys to ask key questions (we've heard the same questions in two village schools) that challenge the Christian faith.  These questions focus primarily on the virgin birth of Jesus and the Trinity.

Ho do we respond?  First of all, we don't debate.  Secondly, when this occurs we call in Pastor Mohammed, a former Muslim and the national pastor we work with, to answer the questions.  We actually thank God for these opportunities because it is a way for these children to hear the Truth.  They are free to ask any questions, instead of just the ones they have been trained to ask.  How amazing that the Lord gives us this opportunity to share the love of Christ with them in this way?

Does this worry us?  No, not at all (not because we serve a bigger God, but because we serve the ONE True God), but it has been a sobering reminder to the Ghanaians and Americans that we MUST DO MORE to spread the Gospel.  Not just here, but all over the world.  And we must train our children, not just send them to someone else once a week and hope they "get it".  We need to bind the Word of God on their hearts and hands (and ours as well).

All Christians should be able to defend their faith.  Can you?

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Ishawu's family with colton and cheryl - this is the child who almost died from starvation last year

 \jillian

 Dagomba child - the marks on his cheeks are tribal markings

 Team with Chief of Sankpem - this is the waterless village.  They are so desperate for clean water.

 The Chief was very kind to gift us with guinea fowl eggs as a way of showing his appreciation for our help in trying to get water to his village.  There have been two attempts at bore holes, but there is no water. There is a pipeline that we could tap into, but the local officials are attempting to extort money from us in order to get it.  There are no words to describe the frustration this causes.  Please pray as we meet with the district officials again in a couple of weeks.

 Bunny ears on a Chief?  Really Jackie? oh my.

Wednesday in Zugu

This morning I scrambled the guinea fowl eggs that the Sankpem Chief gifted us with.  We also had oatmeal and fried cinnamon toast.  Preparing food here is not an easy task as we are cooking on a very small gas stove and we also have to figure out what food we can get from the market that we know how to prepare.  We are so thankful for our dear friend Cynthia who has already prepared several meals for us.  Tonight she made us Red Red, which is fried plantain (very sweet) with a red sauce poured over it.  The red sauce consists mainly of tomato paste and black-eyed peas, along with a few spices.  I think it is my favorite Ghanaian food.  We also had fresh watermelon and mango.  While we were having Red Red, Cynthia was having a piece of bread with peanut butter spread on top (at her request).  Seemed kind of funny that we were eating Ghanaian food and she was eating American food.

Today we went to Zugu village to do VBS in the school.  There were over 300 children there, but the team jumped right in and made it work.  We were there for over two hours, telling Bible stories, playing futbol and singing songs.  In one of the classes for the older students, a few of the Muslim boys began challenging what we were saying about Jesus being God's son and born of a virgin.  Pastor Mohammed took over the lesson, mainly because we did not want to cause problems or say something wrong.  The end result was a very good lesson for us that we should know why we believe what we believe.  As Americans, we rarely, if ever, have to defend our faith.  Here, the Christians are greatly outnumbered and many of them are persecuted for their faith, so they know why they know what they know.

Some of you may remember that about 1 1/2 years ago Pastor Mohammed discovered a little boy named Ishawu and his sister Adijah who were near death due to starvation.  He took them to the hospital and got them nutritional supplements, which helped tremendously.  Last year we saw Ishawu walk for the first time.  He had been laying down for almost six years.  Adijah had been laying down for 2 years.  The mother was a widow and near starvation herself.  Through the Widow Care Program, Ishawu's mom received two goats last year and some funds to expand her small business of making a local cookie to sell.  Today we got to see the result of that.  She is now able to make and sell the "cookie" every day, bringing almost 5X as much income as before.  The difference was apparent as there was food in the cooking pot and healthy smiles on their faces.

Perhaps the highlight of the day (for me at least) was seeing Ishawu at school!  He is still so tiny for his age, but his mind is good.  I had wondered about that because he had been sick for so long and his head was large for his body.  I had a conference with his teacher who told me that he knows his letters and is doing quite well.  He also asks questions, which shows that he is thinking things through.  We also went to his house (mud hut) and visited with his mother and sister.  They are doing well, praise God.

After going back to Tarikpaa and having lunch (us - peanut butter/bread, them - rice/beans) and fellowship, we returned to the guesthouse for dinner and few more hands of spades.

Right now a I type (8:15pm), I am listening to the gentle African rains that often come at night.  The weather is mild and we haven't lost electricity once since we arrived, which means air conditioning at night.  After a long day on a dusty road it feels SO good.

Thank you all so much for your prayers.  We need them, we feel them and we depend on them.

June 27 - Our first day of village ministry

We began our day with breakfast/devotions at 8:30am.  Colton brought the devotion and he reminded us of the importance of doing what we do for the Lord, and not for ourselves.  We had oatmeal, toast (toasted in a frying pan - we have no oven) and boiled eggs for breakfast.  No one ever complains about the food, which always amazes me.  Teenagers in the US are so conditioned to eating what they want, when they want, and how they want but when they come to Africa, they just eat whatever is there.  I love that about student teams.  Of course, if your name is Joseph, you bring an extra suitcase with nothing in it but packages of Oreos, crackers, pop tarts, Starburts, candy, etc.  Seriously!  That boy could open a small market inTamale and make good money.  Hmmmm...

Today was also the day we met our Ghanaian team members at Shalom Baptist Church in Tarikpaa.  Since school is still in session, our team is mostly comprised of university students on summer break and adult team members.  We were so happy to see Elisha, Mishael, Eunice, Suyuhini, and others.  While the American team drove by SUV to the remote village of Kushibo, our Ghanaian counterparts rode their bicycle down a dirt path.  They beat us there, of course.

The students did an outstanding job teaching Bible stories, singing songs and playing futbol (soccer) with the kids at the Kushibo school.  While they were doing that, Eunice and I walked through the village and did Bible storytelling with small groups of women.  One woman that I've known for about five years, listened to the story and told me that she knew that Jesus was King and that everything I said was true, but she was a Muslim and could not change that.  I hear that a lot.  There's no easy answer or quick fix to that way of thinking.  It just takes prayer and more prayer and lots of perseverance in continuing to share Christ with them.

This afternoon we went to Anfaani Children's Home.  I love everything about Anfaani, except the fact that the children there are orphans.  It is well-maintained, meaning that the children are well cared for and the place is immaculate.  Tayler had the opportunity to spend a couple of hours playing with Nathan, her sponsored child.  The rest of us played with all nine babies and I had the special privilege of holding and rocking a two weeks old baby girl.  There is just something so right about visiting orphans.

We once again enjoyed a wonderful dinner (spaghetti) prepared by Cynthia.  Tomorrow is another day of village ministry and we are looking forward to it.

June 26 - Worship at Shalom

Today was a beautiful Africa day.  It is the rainy season here so the weather is fairly mild, which means it was in the 80's.  We enjoyed a breakfast of omelets and yeast rolls before heading out to Tarikpaa village.

Our first trip to the village is always filled with anticipation knowing we will see old faces and make new friends.  African church worship is so unique and different than most American church worship. There seems to be so much more freedom of worship here and we enjoy every minute of it.

Last year, upon returning home, one of our team members, Jackie Castro, wrote and recorded a song about her experience here.  It was called "Rescue the Perishing".  Today Jackie, along with Joseph, Jillian, Tayler and Colton sang that song for the church members.  They loved it.  Jackie commented later that it was very special to her to be able to sing the song she wrote about these people to these people.

After worship and fellowship with our Shalom friends, we headed back to the guesthouse for lunch and rest. 

Later on in the day we went to meet with Rev. Baba Elisha.  He is of the Kasena tribe.  As part of our mission this year, we are going as a team to do some research and make contact with this tribe to see if there is a possibility of doing a church plant there in the future.  The tribe is located further north, almost to Burkina Faso.  We would appreciate your prayers as we seek God's favor in this situation.

Cynthia Napari, Paul's wife, cooked dinner for us.  She made chicken and jolof rice.  The fruit here is amazing, so we always have mango, pineapple, banana,, watermelon and/or oranges with our meals.

We are really excited to see what God has in store for this team and the people in the villages.

June 24-25

We thank God for a smooth flight and safe arrival in Ghana.  We were greeted at the airport by our dear friends, Francis Osei and Pastor Mohammed.

Our first night was spent at the GILLBT Guesthouse. We were so surprised when they served us chocolate cake, meat pies and popcorn upon arrival.  I've never had popcorn in Ghana! After 17 hours in planes and airports, we were happy just to have our feet planted on African soil.

We were all jet-lagged so we retired early.  The weather was so mild that we slept with our windows open, enjoying the quiet rains and cool breeze that came in the night.

We were up at 3:30am to catch a 5:30am flight to Tamale, in the Northern Region.  We had another smooth flight and again we were greeted by a special friend, Paul Napari who transported us to the GILLBT Guesthouse.  I've been bringing teams to here for so long that it feels like home.  We spent the remainder of the day resting, getting acclimated and participating in team orientation.

Going Scared

A few years ago I was sitting in a large group of Believers on a Sunday morning when suddenly the leader stopped and said to me, "You have been going to Africa for several years, so you go with complete confidence and no fear, right?"  My head knew the answer he was seeking, but my heart jumped into my mouth and said, "I go scared every time."  The class erupted in laughter and the point he was trying to make dissolved into oblivion.

I've thought about that moment many times since then, realizing that it is not really fear (lack of trust in God) that most team members experience as much as it is a humbleness of heart and a sincere desire to follow after the things of God and not after the things of man. It's a feeling of not wanting to fail Him and wanting with every fiber of our beings to glorify God in all we do. You see, it is easy to become enthralled with the "coolness" of going to Africa.  After all, we're treated like rock stars there, mainly just because of the color of our skin.

I really like what Chuck Swindoll has to say on the subject of having a humble servant's heart.  He writes, "When you have a servant's heart, you're humble. You do as you're told. You don't rebel. You respect those in charge. You serve faithfully and quietly without concern over who gets the credit." He continues with, "A servant has one great goal, and that is to make the person he serves look better, to make that person even more successful. A servant does not want the person he serves to fail. A servant doesn't care who thinks what, just so the job gets done." (Click here to read the entire article)

Our goal with this mission is to serve God in such a way that only He gets the credit.  We want to exalt and glorify the name of Jesus for it is only by His great grace that we are able to go at all.

O Lord, you have heard the desire of the humble; you will strengthen their heart, you will incline your ear.

Ps. 10:17

 

Shalom 2011 Easter Celebration

Dear Brethren in the Lord,

I am more than the word happy to share with you the beautiful pictures of our 2011 Easter convention.Today was a great day for me in the ministry of God.  I can't imagine leading over 500 people to enter into His gate with praises and worship.Shalom Baptist Church new building was full up with a sitting capacity over 500 people,today affirmed that our new Church building sitting capacity is more the 400 capacity as we proposed,we are very excited that the Lord has used this ordinary and poor members to do this great work.I thank all our partners for their support to put up such a big auditorium in a village like Tarikpaa,we are proud of you all.I also want to thank you all for supporting me in prayers when i was preparing to lead the Association today in our worship service,the Lord used me in an unexpected way to bless His people.Glory be to His name.

Not that alone,for the past three days we have been examining the Second Advent(coming) of our Lord Jesus Christ and it was a moment of discovery, insight and life touching.

I hope you all experience the same way as we did here in Tarikpaa Village.May the Lord show you His favor and smile on you as you celebrate the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
 
Your fellow servant in Christ,
Pastor Mohammed.

Shalom Baptist Church - Tarikpaa Village

For the past two years, the members of Shalom Baptist Church in Tarikpaa Village have been meeting in the local elementary school.  When the crowd is large, they meet under the trees on the school playground.  Almost all of the church members have given sacrificially to help make building the church a reality.

After much prayer and sacrificial giving by most of the church members, this past week, they began placing the roof on the church.  It is so exciting to be part of this incredible mission and we thank God for his provision.

Ghana 2011 Mission

The Ghana 2011 Mission will once again take us to the Northern Region of Ghana to work alongside Pastor Ziblim Mohammed and members of Shalom Baptist Church in sharing the Gospel with the Dagomba Tribe, a least reached people group. 

Click here to read more about the Dagomba.

If you are interested in joining us, click here to complete an interest form.