You are Invited...

Not sure if anyone is actually reading this thing, but what the hey… here’s another update.

I am sitting in the Mama Gertrudes house writing a blog post thing. I’ve never actually met Mama Gertrude, but her house is nice, and so is the “land lord” (AKA: Emanuel or Ema). He keeps us in the know about the cultural dos and don’ts, lets us try his African food, and laughs and says “this is Africa” any time we ask a question like “why is the power out?” or “is the water working?”.… On that note, the power has gone out a bunch of times tonight, but it doesn’t phase me much, thanks to the flashlights and laptop mwahaha.

Anyway, this week and last week have been really busy and really fun. We have been teaching at Burden Bearers and Bible Church Academy during the day and then doing Crusades at night. The Crusades are awesome. We basically set up a light, speakers and a microphone at a focal point within a village. Then we play music until people start coming out and sitting around, and then the pastor shares the gospel. Last night a ton people (I don’t have the exact number) prayed to receive Christ! Last week in one night 84 people from a nearby village prayed to receive Christ. It is SO cool to be part of this!

Random, but I’ve been thinking a lot lately about just the total impact of me going here and everything. I wish I could see the big picture and the results now. I think my biggest fear is stepping off the plane at Dulles Airport with that sinking feeling in my stomach of regret because of things I did or didn’t do. I was thinking about like what a life without regret looks like, or like a life that’s surrendered to Christ and what it consists of. And really a life is made up of decades...duh, but hang on a sec… Decades consist of years, years months, months weeks, weeks days, days hours, and hours moments. A surrendered life is made up of many many surrendered moments at the feet of the Lord. So I don’t really need to see the big picture, because if I am surrendered in this moment, there will be no question of whether I have that sinking feeling in the next. And each moment here – each thought, choice, action, word or deed – is the determinant of the eternal impact this trip to Ghana will have.  So it’s walking by faith in God’s promptings to ask people how I can be praying for them even though it’s really awkward sometimes, or choosing not to get ticked and stay positive when I think about the fact that I am probably going to spend a ton of time and get a lot of blisters from washing my clothes by hand, or seeking and giving forgiveness for little things, and planning more creative lessons for the classes I teach in the afternoons instead of chatting on gchat or checking my mail, and waking up ten minutes earlier so I have more time in the Word and praying for the people we witnessed to and looking for scripture to encourage people we come in contact with. That was a long sentence... hopefully readable... definitely not fixable. 

Welp, I have to skedaddle to bed. Ya’ll have a good life now, yu hear? Ghana is making me wild (I’m trying to break the habit of using the work “crazy” because apparently it’s extremely offensive here).  

ALOHA!

Mary and I apologize for the lack of keeping up with the blog, we’ve just been really busy here.

We’ve been staying in the village Mirigu (where the school Burden Bearers is located) for Wednesday night and Thursday night.  One of the big blessings of just having two people on the missions trip is that we are more versatile, and are able to spend extended amounts of time with the people in the villages.

Monday I came down with a cold…apparently it has to do with the weather, because its been raining a good bit here. I woke up this morning with stomach pains and a headache…I’m pretty sure it has to do with the food I was eating yesterday, but prayers would be appreciated! I need to be 100% by tonight so I can go to the Crusades. So it’s really important that I get better.

ANYWAY, being here has really opened my eyes to how many small things I take for granted back home. I was talking to Susie and Phoebe the other night, and I said something about how things were in America, and Susie said “Wow, you don’t even know how blessed you really are”, she is so right!

I’ll be honest, it’s been a struggle for me… I find myself becoming bummed because of the relationship the team last year had with some of the people here, and thinking we would be able to do a lot more if there were more people who came with us. But I’ve learned that you really have to work with whatcha got, and that it’s not really about us because we can’t make a difference, regardless of the number of people without God. And that really changed the attitude I had.  Also, Mary and I wouldn’t have had the privilege of staying in Mirigu if there were more of us.

The Aputaras have been such a blessing! They’ve taken such good care of us in making us feel like family here, which has been awesome. GOD BLESS THEM!

We thank you so much for your prayers and ask that you would continue to keep us on your minds and hearts,

EG

PS, the ice cream here is amazing.

We have a new NOTE!

OK... We haven't posted anything since we got here! I finally got some downtime today to write about what we've been doing and I've scattered some prayer requests throughout if you'd like to take a gander. 

We left VA on Friday June 1st and arrived in Heathrow the next morning… the airport was super confusing, and the coffee was really expensive, but I made a friend on the plane that help us find the way to our terminal. We arrived in Accra really late on Saturday night.

Day 1 in Ghana (June 3rd): I woke up to the sound of roosters crowing, cars honking, dogs barking, and people talking really loudly outside my window… weirdest combination of sounds ever. We left from Accra to Tamale, then Tamale to Navrongo, dodging goats, donkeys, people, carts and motorbikes all along the way. We arrived safely on June 4^th. A lot has happened since we got here, but I’ll just start with more recent stuff….

Yesterday we went to with Pastor Stephen to Naga, which is a village outside of Navrongo. Naga is a really large community of people, but they are really limited in resources (water, food, medicine, finances, transportation etc.). Pastor Stephen was mapping out the building for the new church they are building there (the church is growing and is now too big for the building they have).  While we were there, we went to visit the boy who was healed after the 2011 team came and prayed for him. We talked to the family for a little while. They told us that the boy is able to walk but not well and his bike broke, so he can’t get around very easily anymore. We are praying for complete healing and for encouragement for these people… it is a very hard life.  

We also met the lady with the leprosy that the team prayed and sang for last year. She remembers the whole team (they say she talks about the team a lot!). We prayed for her, and she told us to send the team her greetings. So “hello” to Impact Ghana 2011 Team from the lady in Naga! Please pray that she would stay strong in her faith. It is so humbling to meet and speak to these people who are in these hard situations, and it’s really hard to find words to say to encourage them and help them. So we are praying for God’s power and that He would speak through us and that we wouldn’t get in the way of what He wants to do with this trip in Ghana.

Naga is also having problems with snakebites... they have so many cases, but they don't have a car to get them to Navrongo or the medicine they need to treat the bites. So we went with Pastor Stephen to talk to the chief of Naga to do some “negotiations”, which was really cool.

Today we went witnessing door-to-door in Navrongo. It was really awesome, but definitely out of my comfort zone. Everyone (accept one family) said that they were Christians. If they're Christians, you're supposed to give them some word of encouragement, but I didn't really know what to say. So... it was kind of difficult the first two times, but I think I kind of got it. I know God's grace will cover what I did and didn't say, so that no matter what, they will find some encouragement. If you would, please pray for the family that we shared the gospel with and that they would pray to receive Him. They said they wanted to, but they didn't pray while we were with them. 

Next week we start the Crusades, which go from Monday through Friday, day and night... It will be a really hard week. But as Pastor said (and Jesus heh) "no rest for the son of man". Please pray for wisdom, endurance, protection from the enemy (both physical and spiritual), and that we would be walking in the Spirit, not in the flesh. We will also be staying Naga for one night, which will also be interesting... I'll let you know how it goes. 

Catching up!

So the Last few fundraisers have been a huge success! We raised over $600 selling donuts and over $200 for the parents night out.

With only TWO weeks left to prepare I’ve (EG) been learning a lot. God has been showing me how gracious He is to allow such an unworthy person to serve His kingdom in Ghana, and the mercy He’s bestowed on me when I try to do things in my own power.

Last year’s missions trip to Ghana is a huge testimony to me. It was so evident how much God was working in Ghana, and how big of a need there is. It just seemed right to continue this great ministry.

Not knowing that Mary and I both had a desire to go on this amazing adventure (That communication comes with big family’s) we both felt the Lord leading us there. And look where we are now!

               

                   Our biggest concern in going is safety, and health—prayers would be greatly appreciated! You can also be praying that God will prepare not only our hearts but those we will be ministering to as well; and that His will be done in and through us. 

Visit our blog from last year for some awesome stories of how God worked: http://ghanaimpactone.tumblr.com/

And a huge thank you to everyone who helped out with the Krispy Kreme fundraiser! Hope you enjoy!

what it's all about....

Greetings! For the next two months it is our goal to use this space to document the happenings and lessons learned as we prepare and go to Ghana this June. Each one of us has felt the Lord’s leading to serve in this manner and we are so excited to see this trip come to fruition. Our days there will be spent teaching in primary schools, participating in church conferences, visiting hospitals to lay hands on and pray for the sick, evangelizing on the streets of Tamale, and just helping in any way we can to encourage the native missionaries who we will be working alongside. So please join us in praying that the name of God would be glorified in Ghana this summer and that many lives would be redeemed through the saving blood of Jesus! -Mary and EG “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” –John 17:20-21