My blogging skills don’t hold a candle to those of my
mothers. She so beautifully penned and
photographed her time here with us, that I will not try and re-do what she’s
perfected. Instead, I invite you to
visit her at www.justfollowingjesus.com. Search Ghana to read the several entries
covering the convention and her visit with us.
With that said, here are a few of my own thoughts and
reflections about the past two weeks…
Every year Bishop Frank gathers all of his churches from
around Ghana for an Easter Convention.
Both of our previous visits have missed the convention by just a few
weeks. This year, we were finally able
to attend.
Bishop has long since wanted my Dad to come and be a guest
speaker. It hasn’t worked out, but this year it did! Both my parents were able to come as guest
speakers for the convention.
In the weeks following up to the convention, their fame
preceded them. Their pictures were
plastered all over the city, and all over Bishop’s car. After their arrival, a man standing next to a
poster looked up, and to his surprise looked right at my mom!
The convention was held Thursday evening through Sunday
morning. Oh, how I love to worship with
the Body here. Having all of the
churches together was an added treat!
Like anywhere else, the church has its traditions and routine-like flow
to the service. But oh, the joy! The fun!
The sense of celebration and freedom!
They enjoy being in the house of the Lord. They enjoy His presence. Saturday evening the celebration and dancing
was so intense that a haze was seen across the sanctuary; a cloud of dust
rising from the floor.
During the day on Friday and Saturday, Elizabeth (mom)
taught a workshop for women, and Pastor taught one for the pastors. Elizabeth
spoke about knowing God’s Word. It’s His
love letter to us. It’s life. It’s
nourishment. It cleanses us, renews, and
transforms us. I could tell the group
had been listening intently, and at the end they had questions. Most of the questions were about how to get
the Word in your heart if you don’t have a Bible or if you can’t read. The realization of their questions was
sinking in.
I knew illiteracy and lack of Bibles was an issue in Ghana,
but it’s one of those things that is easy to ignore until its right in front of
you. I can’t even imagine not being able
to read my Bible and meditate on its Words by myself. I have well over 20 Bibles, four in my
possession now. Plus I have a few on my
phone, ipod, and ipad. So easily and
abundantly accessible, yet so often taken for granted.
The women’s hunger for the Truth was evident. Among the suggestions for the illiterate was
to have a friend write down the verse (from a church service) and then have
your child read it to you, over and over until it’s in your heart. Others suggested creating songs for
memorization. For those who could read,
but didn’t have a Bible (either at all or in their language), sharing with a
friend or copying passages from church was the offered solution.
Easter Sunday began at 9am with Sunday School. Church ended at 2:30. That’s right. Five and a half hours. Can you imagine if church went that long in
America?!? We would be fit to be
tied!!! But not here. Every moment was savored. There was no rush. Christ’s resurrection was celebrated with
worship and dance, special offerings of singing and praise. Declarations of His resurrection power
through the preaching of the Word. It
was a very memorable Easter.
The remainder of my parents time here was split between
looking at future humanitarian projects with our friend Gary---a member of
their church who joined us after the convention---and fun tourist
activities. We went up north to the
monkey village and waterfall, then down south to modern Accra.
Our time in Accra was heavenly. (THANK YOU, Truelife Church!) A nice treat to celebrate being in Ghana for
one month; a time to rejuvenate in preparation for the five months ahead. We stayed at the Ramada. Ramada in America is rather dumpy, but the
resort here was very nice and upscale.
Located right on the beach, they had a spa, pool, and best of all HOT
running water. The feeling of clean from
showering with hot water can’t be beat.
It was the highlight of the weekend for me. To get a hot shower in Kumasi, you have to
time it just right, taking full advantage of the afternoon sun heating the
tank. Of course we never do this, because who wants to take a shower in the
middle of the day when you’re not done sweating and getting dirty.
We enjoyed the mall, too, and discovered Game, a partner
store of Walmart!! It was nice to see
many familiar brands. What wasn’t so
nice were the prices. Most definitely
not the “everyday low prices” found at home.
Shoprite was our favorite store. A supermarket with real cheese, ground meat,
peanut butter, Doritos, and Skittles!! I
do believe our friend and driver thought us crazy as we drooled over all our
familiar US foods.
Putting aside all the fun things we did with my parents and
all the spoiling they did of us, the best thing for me was sharing with them our world; the Ghana we love so much. You can describe West Africa (which is nothing like the East and South Africa you see on TV) all you want; show
pictures, share stories. But until
you’ve been here, you don’t really get it.
Experiencing the extreme poverty, lack, and hardships
endured by the people, and then watching as they offer up thanks for all their
blessings and worship with joy over flowing, it does something to you. It changes you. Going into a village of children dressed in
rags, discovering that they have no understanding of a Savior who wants to know
them personally, it does something to you.
It changes you. You are never
the same.
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