The way God Answers

So, we have been praying at City of Refuge for God to raise up churches to help take care of the food part of our living here...and yesterday, he totally answered our prayers!

We were invited to a church to come and be a part of their Thanksgiving services. I loved being a part of their worship, hearing the testimonies of the people there...it was such a joyful service. And then, they had John get up and speak. It was a powerful time. And near the end, the brought in bags and bags of rice, boxes of indomie, corn dough and cassava dough, yam, water, sugar, soap, milk, milo and more!! It was awesome! It seriously brought tears to my eyes to see the ways that this small church came together to provide for our kids.

When we got a chance to stand up and thank the congregation, our words were so simple. All I could say was that each week we gather together in a worship service, but this...the way they gave so freely of what they had...this is being the hands and feet of Christ, this is what it means to be the Church.

I'm praying we'll continue to see this kind of favor over City of Refuge as God works through churches here to provide for the needs of "the least of these".

A Crazy Friday...make that Thursday

This week was a four-day week as it was midterms. It was quite a busy one as Mr. Francis was gone dealing with some family business all week. Usually, when he is away, I spend much of my time in the office, but this week, I also have some formal observations to get done and it seemed like the kids thought this would be the appropriate time to all act like wrestlers in a boxing ring. Whew!

Yesterday was the craziest day of all! Stacy and John came with me in the morning to meet with some parents about a note that some of the kids had been passing around in their class earlier in the week. Dealing with that issue was going to be difficult enough as it was, so I called in reinforcements. It was kind of funny because Stacy was asking what she could do early in the morning before school started and there really wasn't anything that I could give her to do, but the second school started up in the morning, we were busy until long after school had ended for the day.

First of all, it was the last day of mid-terms, so I had told the students that I would be going through their exams to see who had done well. So, I went through each and every student exam (just so you know, that 80 students with 6 exams each). Yeah, that took me awhile. I also had to finish up testing the KG1 and KG2 classes (that's preschool and kindergarten). I wanted to see how much they had learned so far and the results that came of those tests, well, that is a whole other issue in and of itself. Then, it was time for kind cash store. Stacy had been working all morning on our library books, labeling them and getting them ready to be set up in our store room (our temporary library). When she finished with that, she set up for kind cash store and all of the sudden, we had whole herd of problems come up right at the same time!

First of all, one little boy that we've been working with in our 1st grade class, Simon, hadn't earned enough money to go to the kind cash store, so he decided to run out of his class, lay down on the floor in the middle of the hallway and roll around crying at the top of his lungs. So, I carried him to the office where he proceeded to roll around on the floor, knock things off a table, and then try to bite me for the next 20 minutes. In the middle of that, a knock came to the door of my office stating that the Ghana Health Service was at our school coming to vaccinate the children 5 and under. They needed to know the ages of all of the children, but since I had a child going crazy in my office, I didn't have the time to get out my files to look up children's ages.

Finally, close to 3:00 (the close of our school day), John came up stating that the bus was still broken down (the bus we have hired is a hunk of junk and breaks down usually once or twice a week) and he'd have to take trips of students home. He got Simon in the car and took him home with a whole bunch of other kids.

Then, it began to be time to clean up my mess. I hadn't had the time to do any accounting for the day and I just had to shove it all in my backpack to take it home, but when it came time to lock-up, I couldn't find my keys. Ahhhh! It was so frustrating. I had been so flustered with Simon's knock-down-drag-out fit, that I couldn't even think straight. Finally, Stacy found them, sitting on my desk where I usually put them. Thank goodness for her calm state of mind, because I was more than a little flustered yesterday afternoon.

But, I was thankful that it was only a 4-day week and I came home and was able to just relax a bit. I played with the babies (I seriously LOVE hearing Malvin, Edwin, and Justice giggle). Then, I had Dora and Portia do my hair (Portia said I looked like a chicken...I don't think that is a compliment!). Then, I played a couple games of cards with Grace, DK, Miracle, and Micheal, and then it was off to bed, where I only stayed up about 30 minutes before I was asleep (8:30 pm...I know, I'm lame).

And today, I get to relax. Of course, I have some work to do, but all in all, I get to relax and I think that's just what the Dr. ordered!

Birthdays BIG!

Lydia turned 29 yesterday and we had an amazing party! Lucy, Lydia, Mama Theresia, Aunty Millicent, and Aunty Portia were cooking all morning long. The food looked amazing and by 4:00 pm, everyone was ready to dig in!

Everyone got dressed up, gathered underneath a big canopy and we all listened to music, drank sparkling juices, ate, and danced. It was an amazing day!

So, even though I am too exhausted (probably from all the food and fun!) to write much today, I just wanted to write this post to wish Lydia a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Snakebites and New Babies

So, this week, I experienced a few "African" things that I have yet to experience.

Thursday was our monthly PTO meeting and we had a pretty great turn-out. The meeting was full and the parents were all participating. Near the end of the meeting, one of our guardians of one of our sponsored kids (John Apaw) decided to leave a little early. She has to be nearing 90 years of age and she got a head start on the crowds. Well, she barely got down our road when a snake came out from the bush and bit her. John, the brave boy that he is, took her walking stick and killed the snake. By that time, word had reached us at the meeting and as the meeting closed, everyone rushed to her aid and got her in a vehicle to take her to the military hospital. Once they got to the hospital, they told us that there was no anti-venom there (a very foolish thing since they train their men and women in our bush which is where the woman was walking). So, they took her all the way to Dodowa (another 45 minute drive). By the time she got to the hospital, her blood pressure was too high to give her the anti-venom, so they had to give her a drip and wait for her BP to come down before they finally gave it to her. John has been going every day to check in on her and they still haven't released her. She is the primary care-giver for John and another little boy (probably 2 years old). Stacy and I had even talked about her that very day that we don't know what will happen to him if she was to die. Well, she's getting better and hopefully will be out of the hospital tomorrow. I felt so bad for John who had to stay home from school to care for the little boy. What a life!

Then, last night during our prayer meeting, our neighbor called us. They are a young couple (the wife is only 18 and was pregnant with her THIRD). Around 2:00 am they called and Amelia had gone into labor so John and Stacy raced down to take them to the hospital in Dodowa. Here is the healthcare system in Ghana: When they got to the hospital, they wouldn't admit her because she hadn't been to any prenatal classes there. So, they told us we'd have to take her to Accra. Mind you, this is the emergency room of the local hospital and Accra is an hour and a half away while Amelia is in labor (3-4 minute apart contractions). Stacy and John really spoke up about it and finally they admitted her once they said that they needed to report this hospital for it's lack of care of patients. When John and Stacy went in to see the labor room, the night staff was all ASLEEP in the room. Yeah...crazy! In any case, Amelia had a fine baby girl and she came back home this morning. We went to see her today and the baby is beautiful. They live in a tiny little room (her, her husband, and now the three little children) with just mats on the floor. So, we went through some clothes to bring them over there for them. The new baby will get her name at her naming ceremony after 7 days.

After these two incidents, I realized that this community is beginning to see us as part of their own. Who do they call on to help them? The NGO down the road. So, even when it's difficult here, I can see that we are beginning to look more and more like the hands and feet of Jesus to these people. And, I think that is what it's all about.

PillowCase Dresses

The lovely ladies that partner with us in TN have been making some adorable pillowcase dresses and I had the opportunity to share them with some of our kids at Faith Roots. Hopefully, soon, we can get a few more to make sure that all the girls at Faith Roots gets one, but just wanted to share with you a few delightfully cute pictures of some of our kiddos in these adorable dresses.

Thank you TN ladies!!

Being Reminded of Sweet Times

Last night, we had an all-night prayer meeting at our house to pray about our electricity getting put into our Children's Village site. We have already seen some advances coming out way...the Director of Ghana Electric feeling called to help us on our project and asking us to bring a letter to see if we can get the government to bring in the electricity with only a small part of it being provided by us. We'll see...

But, last night, it reminded me of sweet times of worship and prayer that I experienced with Mark Weber and his family when I was living in Northern California.

My first year living in the Bay area, I lived with the Lee family. They are a sweet, older couple who have intensely beautiful hearts for the moving of the Spirit. They opened their home to Christina and I and we both lived there for a year. During that time, we started meeting for prayer meetings with Mark about once or twice a month. At first, I was a little nervous about the prayer meetings. I hadn't ever been to meetings like that before and there was a lot going on that made me uncomfortable or simply made me wonder...

But, as time went on, I was able to discern the difference between praying in the flesh and praying in the Spirit and began to really hear God speak more and more. It was a powerful season. Eventually, I began to lead worship at the gatherings and that brought about an amazing season of worship for me. I was in my first year of teaching and I was completely overwhelmed with the work that I was doing, but when I began to lead worship, God showed me a new way to connect with him and brought me to a deeper place in relationship with him. At first, I was always nervous about my guitar skills, but over time, I became more comfortable and was able to lead more and more as the Spirit led me.

Those prayer nights were incredibly sweet. The house would be full of worshippers and then we'd break into groups and pray for each other. I felt God's presence so deep and heavy in those times, so rich and sweet. And then, when people began to disperse, there was always a small group left that would stick around and pray deeply together. We would hold hands, swaying in the movement of the Spirit and pray healing, wholeness, and the love of the Father to be poured down on each of us. Sweet, sweet, sweet time!

Then, Christina and I, who each had our own room during that time, would both crawl into her bed in the early, early morning (usually around 2 or 3 am) and talk about what we saw and experienced and we'd get excited about how God was moving in and around us.

That season was certainly a precious time.

And last night reminded me a bit of that. I mean, it was done in the African way, but we were all up, praying and singing and shaking things in the heavenlies. It was a sweet time. It was an honor to stand alongside my kids and see them rocking things in the supernatural with their prayers.

Little Mary Osei, her heart is growing for the Lord and the way that she was praying and worshipping last night was powerful.

And our 16 year old Pastor Robert knows how to pray and preach and he just desires to see God's kingdom here on earth.

And Uncle Nosa, even though he hasn't been feeling well this week, he was calling out prayer with a voice so much more powerful than his normal speaking voice.

God was present. He is real. And He's moving. So, we are trusting that this sweet time of prayer will bring about so many things for us in our physical world.

At the advice of a friend...

So, every month, I send out a newsletter highlighting the things that have been happening in my life. Along with it, I usually send out some prayer requests about things that have been going on in City of Refuge and in my own life. The month of October was no different. My normal email was sent out, but I got a response that really moved me this month.

I was commenting in my prayer requests that my life has been extremely busy and I've found it difficult to have regular times with God. It's been frustrating and probably part of the reason I'm overwhelmed much of the time. I also commented on our need for electricity to get out to the children's village so that we can move! Our houses are almost completely ready. Windows are in...they're painted...all we need is electricity and we are there!

One of my friends, Eric Roberts, emailed me saying that maybe our lack of electricty and our lack of spiritual connection is somehow related. And I took that to heart. I brought it up with John and we are praying it out this week. Today, we fasted and prayed for our electricity to be brought out to the land. And we're going to be doing the same on Friday.

And already, we're seeing some possibilities. We found a guy at the electric company in Tema that told us that our electricity going in is actually a project for the Ghana Electric Company and that they should take care of the primary cost of putting in electricity. So, we're praying that this will happen before we leave for Christmas. Our goal is to move in by Thanksgiving, but we'll see what happens. We're hoping that this prayer will move some things in the heavenlies and get these electricity poles in the ground!