Celebration and Thanksgiving!

In the end, it's not about wells or pumps, medical clinics or children's ministry.  It's about the relationships we establish with our new brothers and sisters in Christ, and the Lord and His Holy Spirit we leave with them.  May God continue to bless the people we touched this year.

Here Julie, along with the chief of the village, Joseph and Pastor, continue pumping first water.  This marks the opening of the first of six wells in the area financed and built by the Dayton church, given in Christian love and to the Glory of God!

Cool, clean, life giving water!

The first waters from the new borehole and well!  Each team member took a turn at pumping water with villagers gathered for the opening.  This slightly different style pump is reputed to have a long service life and should serve the village and surrounding area for years to come!

First water...

After cutting the ribbon on behalf of the team, and the Dayton United Methodist Church, Glenn proceeded to begin pumping the first water!

Well Dedication

Sue presented a short dedication message to the villagers gathered.  She made the point that we all need the "Good Shepherd", using the analogy of the still water in Psalms 23.  On our own, we tend to take the easy path, or convenient water, even though it is not likely to be good for us.  The Master on the other hand, knows what we need and what will satisfy us.  It was a good and powerful presentation of God’s providence.

Opening of the first well!

Now it was time to cut the ribbon on open the well for use.  We were blessed to have the Superintendent Minister for the Mankranso Circuit, the Very Reverend Quophie Anochie Ababio join the team from Dayton for this great occasion.

The Water Projects

The major new addition to our ministry in Ghana this year was the building of wells in remote villages that were in need of safe drinking water.  The well projects were begun even before we arrived with village selection by Joseph and the Methodist church, and then site surveys by our Ghanaian contractor friends.  Here Joseph is making a few remarks at the dedication of the first well ready for operation.

The first service at Obuasi!

Our new friend Justin delivered the message at the new church at Obusai.  Again, a nice group for their first service.

Presentations for the new caretaker...

Each newly planted church has a local caretaker pastor, trained by Joseph and the Methodist church as part of this ministry.  Each is presented with his own bible in Twi, and NIV study bible and a bicycle with which to do his work.  The church is presented with a pulpit bible, young children’s picture bibles and youth bibles.  The past few years we have also been blessed to distribute New Testaments to everyone in the new church!

The first service at Ayensua!

Austin brought the message to a lively group at the newly planted church at Ayensua.  They are meeting in a classroom for now - until they can get a worship pavilion of their own.

A challenge

Glenn preached a message about the role of Christians in their church and what each and everyone can do to expand the Kingdom of God.  He challenged this church to continue the construction of a floor and to fill it by the time we return in 2013!

The first service under the new pavilion!

Using their pavilion as a place of worship for the first time, a nice group assembled from Nkankom.  We counted twenty one adults and twenty children.  Sue and Glenn presented bibles to the caretaker pastor and the church.  New Testaments were given to all.  The congregation expressed their appreciation for their pavilion and support of the Dayton church.

Powerful witness for the Lord and a message to fathers...

Alex provided a witness this last night of crusades.  Speaking of difficult times and the effects that come with them, the crowd was totally silent and attentive.  They were certainly touched by the boldness of Alex to lay open deep secrets of past behaviors and how they twisted her life.  The special message to fathers we are confident touched many.  Between her witness and Austin's message 22 adults and 21 children stepped forward to receive salvation this night, Halleluiah!

Final crusade night

The second night in Obausi and final night of crusades began as before and certainly swelled to a large crowd.  Our best estimate was that we were drawing over one thousand people in this larger village.  The grounds for the event were also nicely positioned in the middle of town.  Pastor Austin presented the message and the call to those who had not yet come forward.

Celebration

What celebration, what jubilation!  The Ghanian culture provides for a much different response in church that what we usually see in the USA!  Don't forget your handkerchief!

New Christians!

Eight additional adults and over twenty children accepted the call of the Holy Spirit on their lives!  Again, we praise God for his great work in Ghana this year.

The crusades continue in Obuasi

A huge rain storm that blew up Thursday evening, preventing us from having our first night of crusades in Obuasi.  Friday however, a large crowd join us.  Again, as with all crusade nights this year, we begin the message with a segment from "The Passion of Christ".  Glenn provided the Gospel presentation with Isaac translating.

Evening devotions

Each evening, after the crusades, the team assembles to have our time for sharing about the day's activities.  Then, each team member has an evening that they have selected to lead devotions for the rest of the team.  Joe leads us in songs before bedtime.

It's always about the people...

Sue always gets to know people on-on-one, always learns their name and always leaves a great impression!

The clinic pharmacy

After seeing the nurses in the clinic for vitals and triage, patients move on to the doctors Cam and Curt.  Some move on to the lab testing but everyone pays a visit to our pharmacy as their last stop.  With up to 200 patients a day, the pharmacy is a busy place.  Over 600 scripts were filled each day with a typical clinic.  Sometimes as many as six of us would be required to keep up (it was always busy).

Clinic lab work

An addition to our medical clinics this year, we were blessed to have the means to set up lab testing.  Children and adults suspected of malaria or anemia were able to have their symptoms confirmed and treated appropriately.

Joe's bubble parade!




Bubbles are amazing when working with children.  What fun!

 

Anne preaching the Words for life!

Following Justin, Anne delivered the message of salvation with a very clear analogy of our Lord and Savior as a "doorway".  This resonated well with the culture and understanding of the villagers.  Again people responded to the call and received salvation.  Praise God!

Another evening, another crusade

The third night of crusades in the village of Ayensua Fufuo was highlighted by the witness and preaching of Justin Jones and Anne Gongwer.  Justin is a U.S. seminary student taking 18 months off to work as a Mission Society intern in Kumasi.  Introduced to us by Cam & Anne, he joined our group over here to assist in our local work.

In the Ghanaian bush, only hand tools are available.  The battery powered saws we brought have had an impact on the speed at which we work.  Here trusses are set by hand.  It takes about eight of us to erect them on a building of this size.

Pavilion construction...

While the medical clinics and children's ministry is taking place, a new worship pavilion is taking shape.  Working with Yeboah and his team of carpenters, construction presses forward.  Sunday, the message of Jesus Christ will be proclaimed from this new structure.

Crafts and coloring are a hit!

Brought from America were crayons, color pages that depicted the lessons, stickers and other craft items that reinforced the message.  Thank you Dayton parishioners!  The children loved them.  Here Caylor is assisting a young class with their coloring.

Alex teaching with her group

The team members working with children put together a great plan for this year.  Once arriving in Ghana, they put the final touches on their plans before each new day.  Dividing up into three groups, they were able to reach out to three classrooms/age groups at a time.  Each group worked with the same scriptural message but had a different approach to teaching.

Teaching John 3:16

So, you start with a Frisbee or ring, imprint it with John 3:16 and then the entire verse.  Then gather the children for a lesson on God's love for us as proclaimed in the verse.  A teaching moment that turns into play!  They love it, we love it!

Children's ministry...

We were welcomed into the schools to work with the children.  Unlike the U.S.A., we are allowed to teach about Jesus and the word of God - in all schools, not just the Christian ones.  Here for example, the regular teacher is translating for Anne!

What joy in the Lord!

Just like back at our home church in Dayton - right?!

The second evening commitments at Ayensua

You can see some of the new commitments here, including a number of the children.  Angels are dancing this evening!  Also, in the background you can see the team forming up around them to bless and encourage.

Tom's message

To begin our second night, the middle third of the "Passion of Christ" was presented and explained.  We stopped just after the scene of Jesus’ scourging.  Tom then presented a powerful and extended witness that was to be the precursor to Pastor Austin on this night.  The witness was so powerful and spoke the Truth so clearly that we instead moved on to the call for salvation.  Twelve additional adults came forward that had not stepped out the night before!  Praise God!  Interestingly though, was a great many children also stepped forward this night.  Our best estimate was between 70-75 children were especially touched by Tom's testimony.  One day we will understand the phenomenon.

Joseph at Ayensua

Joseph is doing his usual excellent job of coordinating the Ghanaian side of things for us.  Here he is with the circuit superintendent, greeting the villages to the evening events.

Summoned to see the chief!

The entire team was invited to meet the chief of the entire Offinso region.  Over one hundred villages and their chiefs are under his authority.  It certainly was an honor and an adventure to visit this chief in his palace.  We thanked him for his hospitality and support of our work.  Nana in turn expressed that it was he who must extend thanks for our work in the region, and that he was getting good reports on our activities.  He praised God for their good fortune and exclaimed "to God be the glory".  We learned that he is actually a member of the Methodist church!  Depicted are the chief and the "queen mother" (wife) in the middle, his elders and our team with our drivers and translators.  The Offinso circuit superintendent and our host in the villages this trip is the gentleman third from the left on the front row, next to two elders.

 

Ayensua days

Our days at the village of Ayensua (pronounced ay-EN-su-a) are filled with medical clinics for sure, but there is also the ever present children.  Many in school, many not, but always following us wherever we go.  They are so sweet, curious and gentle.  We pray we are leaving as good of an impression on them as they are on us!

New commitments!

 The Kingdom was blessed with 88 new adult Christian brothers and sisters tonight!  Many more children answered the call to Jesus.  Local neighboring church members assist by meeting with those coming forward to gather names for follow-up and to invite them to the inaugural service of the Ayensua Methodist Church!

The evening crusade at Ayensua

Each evening in the target village is filled with music and preaching the message of salvation.  We are starting each night this year with a third of the movie "The Passion of Christ", instead of showing it in it's entirety on the second night.  Glenn presented the first night's message with Isaac translating.  It is very serious and humbling to present the Gospel on behalf of Jesus in a setting such as this.  The next scene though is so amazing and awesome!  The Holy Spirit is always faithful and always shows up!

The doctors station...

Our doctor brothers Cam & Curt saw over 130 patients and our pharmacy gave out approximately 400 free prescriptions in the first day alone.  Numerous children were tested in our "lab" located just behind the doctors in this picture.  Ghanaian nurses assist with both nursing skills and as translators.

First up Monday - set up the medical clinic

Always the first thing to do at the start of the outreach in each village is to set up the medical clinic.  In the campus picture here, you can see one of the waiting areas (post-triage), the triage area on the right and the doctor's stations/lab/pharmacy.  Mandy works in pharmacy and lab.  This year we added malaria and anemia testing for children under five, along with everything else.  This first day of clinics we also were blessed to have a local eye doctor join us for screening/testing.  The patient waiting area is also used for evangelism.

Bringing the message...

Tom Mellady gave a sermon about earthly treasure. He taught about how holding onto treasure can be like holding a sharp two edged blade. You better not hold on tightly, and really, it would be much better for you if you would just give it into your Father's keeping.

Cam was asked to speak also

The church asked Cam Gongwer if he would speak to them in Twi. So he did before shifting to English and a translator. He gave a message of encouragement to the now two year old Mount Zion Methodist Church.

The return to Nyinawusu

When our team arrived, the church was worshiping with great enthusiasm. It seemed to us that the church has grown, and there were really a lot of children present. We saw the carpenter whose prayers we believe were instrumental in bringing a church into this once pagan village.  Notice how much progress they have made toward finishing their building.

Serebuoso service

Isaac translated for us again as he did last year.  The congregation presented us with a massive bowl of fruit as an expression of thanks for their church and building.

Greeting and preaching

Glenn brought greetings from Dayton UMC and later brought the message "Following Jesus".  There was ample praise and fellowship, and even a busy healing session with witnesses.  Joe and Glenn finished up with a song.  Our church gave additional money for the construction of the floor for their pavilion.

First up - Serebuoso

We split the team into three groups so we could visit more before Sunday services were over.  Glenn, Renee, Curt and Joe went back to Serebuoso, our second village last year and the place we built the worship pavilion.  We found a small but vibrant group, including the chief's second in command and his superintendent.  They shared their joy at our return and asked our continued blessing.

Ready for church!

Here we are, ready to set off for church.  We will visit the churches we planted last year, sharing in their worship, encouraging them and letting them know we are all a part of just one body of believers in Jesus Christ.

Water well site number two...

Here is the second site we visited where the bore hole is complete.  It too will get it's concrete pad and well pump this week.  What a blessing the Dayton United Methodist Church is to these villages.  The health of the people will improve dramatically, not to mention the convenience and safety for the women and children.

Current water source!

Here is the current source of water for the area just mentioned in the last post.  It is a spring bubbling up forming a puddle.  The neighboring villagers had enlarged it to form somewhat of a catch basin from which they scoop the water.  The closest "village" in about a half mile, making all the others much further.  As you can imagine, It is also the lowest spot around so all water must be carried uphill by the women and children... in the mud, on their head.  You get the picture.  And yes, this little spot in the picture is the entire water source for maybe 200 families if they are similar sized "villages" or about 1500 people.

Water well site

After maybe an hour of driving to a remote area of Ghana, we arrived at the site for one of the wells.  Unfortunately, we arrived just after they finished the actual drilling operation so we didn't get to see the machine in action.  However, this village now has a fine looking bore hole.  Monday they will return to begin the concrete work and later in the week set the pump.  I use the term village loosely as there are only four families in the immediate area.  The deal is that this is the central point for over 50 of these "villages", all a part of a new cocoa farming area.  All will be blessed by this new source of water.