I Had No Idea

My last post in Ghana, other than on the way home, and I'm pretty much without words. I can't do the long post.

 I am overwhelmed.

 Today I had the privilege of leading or helping to lead several small grass-hut villages to the Lord. This was the real deal....small, family group villages headed by a chief patriarch. Chickens and goats running around the hard-
packed, bare dirt. A fetish (voodoo) rock god with a face on the path to the next village. I'll just summarize with this story. The first hut village we came to, several accepted our message. A very handsomely dressed older man came up and heard at the last minute and also accepted Christ. He then followed us to every village after that, to make sure we came to tell his family village as well. I had the privilege of doing our witnessing story with the group that was his family. "And he and all his family were saved...." sound familiar?

 My brain was absolute mush after that. I had to not speak for a while, even after getting back to that area's mission church, as we had hiked out quite a ways through narrow paths of tall fronds and pineapple fields. I'll have to finish later. Just know that God is at work here, and living our daily life we really, honestly have no sense of what He could do through us if we would just follow along. Ever see the movie "Contact?" Where she is overwhelmed and can only say, "I had no idea, I had no idea." That was today.

Posted via email from Christie's posterous

High on a Mountaintop

Before I write today, I want to emphasize again that
this is my personal blog, and my stories and
experiences have often been different from everyone
else’s. For example, yesterday when I was mainly
meeting existing Christians, the others were making
huge amounts of progress leading people to new
decisions. Today, we seem to be flip-flopped. I may
forget things, not know things, or whatever. But I
hope you’ve enjoyed my own perspective. Maybe next
time we’ll do a group blog from different people
while we’re here.
 
Today we went to (another village mission church) for
our medical activities. The setup was similar to our
other medical missions, but it was a smaller village
in a more remote, mountainous location. We drove over
an hour waaay up some absolutely beautiful, curvy
roads. Plus a few really bumpy dirt ones where there
was construction on the highway. I loved the village. The scenery was beautiful! It
was a really strange mix still of third world and
modern living, with shacks and dirt floors with cell
phones and electricity.
 
Mark and I paired up during the evangelism
activities, with three or four translators with us. I
watched Mark do a few presentations, which were a lot
different from mine. I was a little nervous that I
was doing it wrong! The first batch were mostly already Christians, and
most were willing to learn the story and help us
disciple others.
 
Honestly I wasn’t so fired up after that, as we
walked back to the church for lunch. I was really
tired. And although people had been receptive, the
looks on their faces were ambivalent, although that
may just be my interpretation based on my own culture.
 
After lunch, we went back out, and Mark said he would
like me to share this time. God really knew what I
needed to experience.
 
One interaction in particular made the day for me.
Here we were walking through dirt alleys, shanty
homes and bare concrete buildings. But they were
often painted and beautiful, like something out of a
National Geographic magazine. As with yesterday’s location, we asked permission to
share. This time it was with an older, beautiful,
colorfully dressed woman standing on her porch steps,
as well as others standing around. I did the
presentation while one of our translators explained
what I was saying in Ewe. I assumed the woman was a
believer because of the spell she and the translator
seemed to be having together. She would anticipate
his words and say them excitedly at the same time,
drawing them out. Then when they were done, our
helper says that the woman is ready to receive Christ! I put a hand on her and prayed with her, and she was
very excited. She thanked us and told us she would be
committed to helping us share the word. (On a side note, I have noticed that everyone in this
village said something like that with absolutely no
prompting… “you can count on me to share the Word” or
“I will be a pillar in the church.” )
 
Immediately, she called out a woman who was watching
sheepishly from a distance. Her face was dirty as if
she had been lying on the ground. (Most women here
are very clean and put together, and dressed very
well.) She had heard the story and also wanted to
receive Christ. I saw that she was hiding a bottle of
alcohol under her shawl. (We have learned alcohol is
a major problem here among both the lost and
believers.) As we prayed together, I added more than
I had before about turning from sin in her life and
being set free from it. Afterward she thanked us and
we went on our way back to the mission.
 
I saw these two ladies again later at the clinic, as
they had come to receive medical treatment. (Our
translators invited each person who heard the
presentation to come for medical assistance.) This
time I was more joking and casual, and I hugged them
some more. I looked at the woman who had the bottle
earlier with a sly smile. She didn’t understand much
English, so I motioned with my hands and said,
“Bottle gone?” She smiled really big and motioned
with her hands, “Gone, no more!”
 
We left the mission with their pastor and workers and
visited their future church site not far away. They
have purchased land on faith that they will be able
to build a new building, which is not a simple task
here. We actually spent quite a little while here,
praying for the work in this area and asking for
blessing on this site and the pastor. A really cool
moment was when the leader from the main church,
leading the discussion, asked us to all sing “To God
Be the Glory” right there, on top of the future site
of the mission. Once again I’m up too late to write, blog, and visit
with the team, but I’m glad I did. What a fun team!
Our trip on the bus was hard but also fun because of
how much we cut up. We will be forever friends and
will have a special bond from now on. Not to mention a secret handshake. ;)

Posted via email from Christie's posterous

Why We're Here....

I have to catch up because we came in so late last
night, I wasn’t able to do my journal or blog. Sunday morning we all split up to experience worship
at different missions of Calvary Baptist. James and I
were at the main campus church. When we arrived,
there was a service going on in a native language,
Akan, I think. Ours was next, the English service at
9 a.m.
 
Dave was with us for a few minutes before his ride
took him to another mission. They started doing an
AMAZING version of “Shine, Jesus, Shine.” African
rhythm, drums, trumpet, and lots of energy,
definitely driven by the Holy Spirit. I looked over
at Dave, both of us with our eyes wide as saucers,
and mouthed, “Woooow!” And he mouthed back, “I knooow!” I have to summarize from here because I have so much
else to write tonight. - We saw part of the next service, which was English
and French. The two-language version of “Lord I Lift
Your Name on High” was AH-MEH-ZING!!!!!
 
- Oh yeah, I have to note that in our worship service
alone, we sang SEVENTEEN songs, and we loved every
minute of it. There were four or five songs during
the Lord’s Supper alone. Pastor George preached, and
it was great. He is really Biblically grounded, and
he’s definitely Baptist…they had an overhead
outlining his five points for this, three points for
that. ;)
 
- We sat in on part of the youth service for a little
while. It was loud, student-led until the preaching,
and great. It was also right up against the main
service, and nobody ever seemed to be distracted by
all the loud music. They seem to have great focus here!
 
- We had the privilege of taking the Lord’s Supper at
our service, which was done pretty much like we do
with the deacons and such. Except for all the singing. ;)
 
- We attended small groups that night all over
different parts of the city. Ivy was our group leader
where I attended. We discussed the story of Mary and
Martha.
 
Now for today, Monday!
 
Today, I have to say, was the most powerful day I’ve
had so far. We drove about an hour north to the village. What
struck me most was the juxtaposition of third-world
living conditions alongside things like televisions
and cell phones. I had full bars on my phone, more
than I get in my house!!!
 
While the medical team set up, the rest of us
prepared to go out and do evangelism with the
bracelets. I teamed up with two local church members,
Justice and Joyce. Justice and I really hit it off –
he’s a very intelligent, evangelistic young man. As
we walked, he would ask permission in Akan for us to
enter a porch or other entrance area, and the person
would offer their greeting for me to come in and
talk. (This almost ceremonial routine is just part of
the culture here.) They would prepare a seat each
time and ask me to sit, which I did. Most we spoke with were already Christians, as this
area is highly evangelized by several churches.
However, I found that these Christians were craving
discipling and were excited to hear about things
going on at the mission church we are associated with. They were also excited about using the bracelets to
share their own faith. As I realized most in this
area were Christians, I started verifying their
faith, then teaching them the bracelet story and
having them repeat it back to me, kind of like the
storying method Mark is teaching some of the church
leaders. This was really entertaining to all involved
when the person didn’t speak much English, and
Justice translated on both ends. We all laughed and
it was a great icebreaker to have participation on
their end.
 
The best part of the day was talking with (I think)
Jacob. We started the presentation (translated by
Justice because he only spoke Akan and French), and
he interrupted to tell me that he was a Muslim. I ask
if he would be willing to hear my story and what I
believe, and he said, “I am willing to reason with you.”
 
At this point I’m a little scared, but continue on. I
finish the presentation but add a whole lot about the
“One True God” and such. I ask if he is willing to
receive Jesus as his Lord and Savior “above all other
gods” and – blow me over with a feather – he says
YES. I am floored and exhilarated. We pray together
and I’m as close to preaching as a Baptist woman can
get. LOL He tells me, through Justice, that he would
like to attend church on Sunday at the church we are
helping, and Justice and Joyce give him the information.
 
Because of some other goofy stuff that happened, and
the emotional exhaustion from the above story, I
decided to hide in the church office alone for a
while and rest. Suddenly, several of the local church
members who were helping us came in to eat their
native food they brought.
 
Soon I was eating agushi (YUM!!!) with my hand, as
they do here, joking and learning Akan from the other
ladies. I felt so privileged to share this moment
alone with them.
 
Today I am really starting to understand that God is
using us here, not just to churn out numbers of
instant conversion decisions, but by changing up our
plans, shaking up our ideas of what we thought we
would be doing. As I see it, just from my perspective
(and remember this is my blog, and not necessarily
the perspective of everyone else), today I was there
to help people with the blue and green beads. That
means obedience and growth as a Christian. People
there had already been saved, but they were still
lacking in these areas. We were there to encourage
obedience and to foster their own evangelism.
 
Today has been a challenge to my own walk at the same
time. I still struggle with consistency and growth. I
have told the group that I guarantee I am the
stupidest Christian on the team (forgive the word,
but it’s true!). While it’s comforting to know that
we struggle with the same things, it also makes me
want to take off the gloves and get serious. If my
brothers and sisters here will do the same thing,
there is nothing we cannot accomplish for God’s kingdom.
 
Random stuff:
 
- Ask Dave about the ride today. It was better than a
theme park. - I’m going to come home with this accent. Just get
over it ahead of time. - Munched more babies today.
- Most of us got to participate in a baby dedication
ceremony Sunday at the church. It was so cool!!!!! We
held the babies facing their parents and the
congregation while the pastor did a pledge similar to
what we do at Central. **baby munch**
- Everyone is still healthy and having too much fun.

Posted via email from Christie's posterous

Those drums, those drums! (And other more important stuff)

Before I write today’s blog, I wanted to clarify that
I am purposely leaving out last names, specific
church names, etc. for safety reasons. Thanks, Joe
and Michael, for the suggestions. We feel very safe
here, but it never hurts to make extra efforts to
protect ourselves.
 
This morning we were on our own in the hostel – The
other visitors are gone, and the staff is off for the
weekend. Stan made us a wonderful breakfast! He is so
multitalented! ;) I’ve been cracking up at how he and
Donna are so ga-ga over each other all the time. It’s
really sweet.
 
After breakfast we went to the main Campus of the
church we are helping. Mark, Mark and James met with
all the deacons of the church here and all its
missions. They had about 40 people total and said it
went very well, discussing the role of deacons much
like the class Mark is teaching at Central.
 
Meanwhile, the rest of us went prayer walking in the
area around the church. I wrote a long description of
this experience in my journal that I don’t think this
computer here can handle. ;) (I’m having to type,
wait, type, wait…) I will condense to say, I couldn’t
get the song, “God of This City” out of my head.
“Greater things are yet to be done here.” How
wonderful to just be present, much less have the
privilege of participating in a very small part of that.
 
Next we went back to one particular street to witness
using our ready-made bracelets. This was very
effective and powerful, and we had quality
conversations with many people. Some were not
believers and prayed to receive Christ. Others were
Christians of several different faiths who were very
excited about the bracelet idea; almost every one of
them reviewed and learned the story so they could
share with others. There were two young men I
remember in particular who were refugees from Sudan.
They were Methodist, I believe, with a very real
relationship with Jesus. It was so encouraging to
meet some of our brothers and sisters in Christ and
see first hand how little race, nation, and even
denomination has to do with anything if we have a
true relationship with Jesus in common. Most of these
believers asked for a few more bracelets, reviewed
once or twice, and promised to help us tell others.
 
We went back to the main church for lunch, and then
left for the market we had visited earlier in the
week. I was so excited to go back for my drum!! I
can’t tell you what all I got, because it’s surprise
gifts for the family. But of course, I was on a
bee-line (after getting the other stuff) for the drum
guys I hung out with earlier.
 
David and “Slow” found me in the market and wanted to
make sure I remembered to come to their shop. Of
course I was! Slow even walked with me a while to
fend off the other vendors (who are VERY
aggressive!), then held my hand – a sign of
friendship here, so don’t freak, Joe – walking me to
the shop.
 
We got to play drums together again, and this time I
got it on video. We really made friends and
connected. As I was leaving I spoke with them about
salvation using the bracelets. They said they were
Christians, Slow being Catholic and seemed to have a
genuine relationship with Jesus. I think Stan took
video of me sharing the bracelet story with him and
the others, and after I left, Slow telling others the
story himself. How wonderful to possibly have a role
in making disciples!
 
Afterwards we went to a very modern mall – I had no
idea such a thing was here! It was very nice,
actually nicer than our mall. And it had a grocery
store! We went there to get supplies for the week’s
lunches that we couldn’t find earlier. While there, I
was tempted by the pasta and asked if they’d like me
to cook dinner tonight, since we were going to have
to go out otherwise. If you know me, you know – I
couldn’t go all week without cooking! We figured out
the ingredients, which are very different here, and
we made spaghetti and meat sauce, garlic bread, and
fried plantains with cane sugar. Today was one of those days that I probably won’t
feel the full impact until much later. We are so
busy, in a good way, that it’s hard to reflect on the
power of what’s going on. Seeing Slow teaching others
about Jesus after I had left was one moment that I
knew would hit me harder later on. How awesome, how
powerful it has been to declare the name of Jesus and
have a hand in His work.
 
Bullets:
 
- We’re all very healthy, happy and having waaaay too
much fun together. - Dave had us all singing “We are the World” while
leaving the mall. Stinker.
- Cookies are expensive, really good ground beef is not. - You will have no problem picking us out the first
Sunday we'll be back. You'll see why.
 
Later!

Posted via email from Christie's posterous

Bracelets, Doctors and Dentists...oh my!

This morning we all felt so much better after a good
night’s sleep. When it was time to go to bed last
night, I had a really weird sensation like I was
going to pass out…Time to go to bed for sure!
 
After breakfast at the hostel, we went to the main
campus of the church we are helping here for a quick
orientation meeting about our day. Pastor Alfred
leads the mission church there. We all left in the bus together, and Alfred took us
on a tour of a beach area nearby. It is a shantytown
of fishermen and their families. Alfred said he would
like to have a separate mission just for this area,
because of their separate culture and somewhat
segregated location that they rarely leave. (We are
told this would be the hardest area to work with
because of this.) We prayer walked the area, greeted
people and – the best part – laying hands and praying
over Alfred, claiming the area for his ministry.
 
Then we walked through a different area of this
section intending to do street evangelism with our
color-coded story bracelets. A few members of the
local mission were with us to translate, because most
only spoke Ga.
 
**Language Nerd Moment!** Some kids were calling out
to us after we said hello and walked on, saying
“Yabba!” We asked one of our translators, and she
said it meant “bye-bye.” I couldn’t help but think of
“Planet Yubba” from the Little Bill cartoon. I also
asked how to say hello to the locals in Ga. Another
translator told me, “teh teeeeeeeh.” Not too short,
draw it out. We Southerers are good at that. Okay,
nerd moment over.
 
We were able to do a few presentations and did pray
with several people, which was an amazing experience.
One young lady was especially receptive and nice
(most were not very emotive). She beamed when I told
her she was now my sister!
 
This street evangelism effort was not as effective,
however, as we had imagined. We were soon completely
swamped with children and adults wanting bracelets,
so many that we could not put them together and tell
the story. (Talking tonight we decided that this
method may not be how God will do His work in this
area, but our time spent was definitely not wasted.) Then we went back to the mission church to set up for
the day’s medical mission. If you didn’t know, we are
doing this in a few areas and brought a doctor (Dr.
Stan) and dentist (Dr. Greg) to assist in the effort.
I didn’t catch this today while we were there, but
apparently some government officials informed us at
the last moment that their permits to practice
medicine here had not been completed, and they were
not permitted to touch any patients. But the mission
church already had another doctor and dentist in
place as well, so ours acted as support. It was a
little disappointing to them but in the end we knew
everything worked out to God’s plan, and they were
still able to accomplish a lot. Dave spent most of
the day in a hot room assisting Greg and the other
dentist (who knew he could moonlight as a dental
assistant???) and got a little weak afterwards.
Preexisting head cold + hot + standing over patients
with a flashlight for hours equals not so great. But
he took a good nap after dinner and is much better
now, Carla! ;)
 
While setting up we made a TON of bracelets, since we
were finding the make-as-you-go process not very
effective. As people came out from seeing the doctor,
we sat with them individually and did the
presentation. This was effective in the sense that
everyone was receptive to making a decision, but very
slow – only 4 or so at our table total – and a bit of
a distraction from the medical setup that they were
so eager to get through. So the pastor there decided we should do a single
presentation over the loudspeaker (the room had about
150 people waiting for medical service). We handed
out prepared bracelets to the whole group first. I
think I loved and munched on every baby in there,
many tied to the bodies and backs of their mothers.
They loved to hear about our own babies (the
stay-at-home momma trio we are). James did the
presentation and did a great job. It was very
effective, with lots of decisions made. Many went
away to get family and friends so we could give them
the bracelet and tell them the story, too. Many of
the kids I talked with afterward had learned the
story in ONE TELLING well enough to share it
themselves. We had to scramble to make more bracelets!
 
Central friends, we may need help next time
assembling a zillion of these things ahead of time! ;)
 
My favorite interaction was with one young man who
was very excited to learn the story, but not as a new
believer. He wants to be a preacher (“Na Na” or
prophet) because he feels a strong call of God to
share the Word. I got a great video of him (I didn’t
understand his name, sorry!) telling his vision for
his life. He then introduced his brother, who sang
for me!
 
We came back to the hostel in time to catch dinner –
we were 15 minutes late – chicken spaghetti! The food
at the hostel has been WONDERFUL. It is an American
(even better, Texan) couple working here, so they
know our food. It is a local person doing the actual
cooking, but it works out fine! We have even had some
of the local food here (not street food, don’t worry)
and it was great. We had some really good chicken and
salad at lunch. I figured if Dr. Stan was eating it,
it was OK!!
 
After dinner some of us talked for a long time in the
computer room, which has a college vibe (ASU friends,
think Honors Lounge!). We discussed the trip so far,
what worked and what didn’t, and how God is using
this seemingly haphazard voyage. We are the pioneers
at Central for this area, so as good as it is so far,
it will get even better, just as others have done in
Central’s work in Ecuador. What a great trip, and what a great group of people!
Everyone is ready and willing to work, but also likes
to have fun. I believe God will use our willingness
greatly. I don’t say that to brag but to encourage
others who felt a call when this trip was announced.
We’ll be back!
 
Much love to all of you, and see you soon.

Posted via email from Christie's posterous

On the way

Made it with minimal freakout on the first leg of flying. Layover in Atlanta for a while. Hope the next flights are as smooth!
 
Having a great chat with some of our girls.
 
Sent from my iPhone

Posted via email from Christie's posterous

Errr.... We gotta fly HOW long?

Stephanie gettin ready to leave for NYC.

Sent from my iPhone

Posted via email from Christie's posterous