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Tue - July 6, 2004

We arrived in Ghana at 5:15 pm. The weather was nice and cool and I thought that this was a wonderful beginning to the trip. The flight had went well, the food was good, the plane was comfortable but little did I know that someone had pinched my cell phone and cd player from my carry-on. The airline had forced me to check it in Frankfort even though they had let others with larger carry-ons through. Sometime between Frankfort and when I received it in Ghana the thief had struck. It was nothing major but still an inconvenience. Addo Adela, Christopher Letsa, John Patamia, Albert Amanatey, and Akwako Marfo were at the airport to meet Jim and I. It was great to see old friends once again. Brother and sister Nartey have opened their home to us once again. It has to be a great bother to open up your home to a group of strangers but the Ghanaians are very hospitable people. By the time Jim and I got to bed around 11:00 p.m. we were exhausted.

Wed - July 7, 2004

Today we needed to go to Tema. Money needed to be exchanged and supplies needed to be bought. The current exchange rate is 9200 cedis to one U.S. dollar. I left the Four-Ex with over 9 million cedis. We also needed to go to the airport and report the theft to Lufthansa. It was a day of frustration, traffic grid lock, and lack of cooperation from the airlines. The lady at Lufthansa told me that they do not cover electronics. I asked her if I told her that my shoes were stolen would they have reimbursed me for them. She said they would if I had a receipt. I then asked her if she kept the receipt for the shoes she was wearing and, of course, she said no. “So you are telling me that you do not pay for electronics and that you will not cover anything else unless I have a receipt for it.” She replied that this was true. It is apparent that I was at the mercy of the airline and like the cockroach in the court of the fowls, had no case. Thursday evening I had the privilege of teaching the Bible class at community 8 and 9 church in Tema. They had been studying the book of James so I spent the hour discussing how Romans and James harmonize with each other. We arrived back in Pram Pram around 9:30 and finally got to bed around midnight.

Thu - July 8, 2004

This morning we were heading for the Eastern Region. This is the forest area of Ghana and it is an area of thick green plants and trees. This is also an area rich in farming, especially palm nut farms. Palm nuts are boiled down and then squeezed to get palm nut oil. The oil is used in many of the Ghanaians dishes, although it is extremely high in cholesterol. We left for the Eastern region both happy and sad. Happy and anxious to see old friends but sad because it is in the Eastern region that Isaac and Alice Adjei live. Isaac and Alice’s daughter had died only a two weeks ago. It was obvious when we met Isaac and Alice that their grief was still very sharp. Florence’s funeral is scheduled for Saturday, July 17th. Jim and I will drive back from Ada-Foah to attend the funeral services which will be held in Ashaiman. We are staying in same home we stayed in last year, that of Christina Oparebea and her two daughters Linda and Nanahemaa. Christina’s husband is of the royal family and the daughter Nanahemaa is in the succession line to be the next queen mother of Akwapim tribe. Mr. Oparabea is in South Africa lecturing at a university. After unpacking, we went to services at Kade and Jim preached an excellent lesson on brotherly love. Neither one of us had a fan in our rooms and the night was hot and muggy. It was after midnight that we finally settled for the night.

Fri - July 9, 2004

This morning finds us needing to greet the chief at Subi in order for us to begin doing personal work. Subi is the town which Martin Oppong has started a new work. I got up at 6:30 and was at sister Nimo’s school at 8 a.m.. My last born daughter Sabrina teaches kindergarten in Pinellas Park and she wants to have her class correspond with a kindergarten class in Ghana. We were able to take pictures and get the address of the teacher. From the school we went straight to greet the Subi chief. He was about my age and began to tell us that the chief from Adonkrono had recently visited the U.S. and had told the other chiefs how well he had been accepted. The Subi chief seemed surprised that Jim and I knew the Adonkrono chief and that he had even stayed in our homes. After greeting this chief, Jim and Martin began doing personal work in Subi while I traveled to Pramkese, another nearby village, to meet with Gideon Dabo and to see the school the church has started on their property. Gideon told me that many of the children were street children and would not have attended school if it wasn’t that the church offered schooling at a greatly reduced cost. He asked me to speak to about two hundred three to eleven year olds. Yu’all should be proud of me. I didn’t make any of them cry. I told them the story of David and Goliath with a lot of dramatization. After leaving Pramkese we returned to Subi to gather Jim and Martin and return to the house for dinner and to prepare for the night’s preaching. When we got to Subi, Jim and Martin were with a young lady who desired to be baptized. We had to drive about two miles to a creek with enough water to baptize. When we got back to the house Nana from Adonkrono was there. He continued to thank me and to relay his thanks to all at Orange Street who had made his stay in the U.S. so enjoyable. That night I went to preach to the brethren at Subi while Jim traveled to Pramkese. At Subi, the church meets in an open school classroom which had plenty of mosquitos. When Jim and I finally met up again that evening he had a good story to tell. It seems when we got ready to leave the house he was in a rush and walked off and left the lesson he had been studying and his Bible on the bed. When he got to Pramkese he discovered his mistake and as he said, “had to wing it.” What I don’t understand is that the Ghanaians said it was one of his best lessons. Go figure. I can’t begin to express how great a job that Jim does here in Ghana. He love for the Lord and for the Ghanians is evident to all who move with him. The Ghanians love him and Janie, his wife, dearly.

Sat - July 10, 2004

The devil knows we are in Kade for he made his presence known today. The morning went well as Jim and I went to Subi again to do personal work. Jim had a belly laugh today. It seems when one of the Ghanaians led a prayer for the group that he prayed for his elderly brother Bob. Jim could hardly stand up he was laughing so hard. As for myself, I didn’t think it was all that funny. For the Ghanians when you are over 40 you are no longer considered a young man and being 53 and having grey hair puts me in the elderly group. By the afternoon things started to go sour. Our van broke down with clutch problems so we were forced to find other transportation. The replacement van we hired cost me the same for three hours that I paid for all day with the other van. In addition to the van problems, the rains started coming. For the Ghanaians, rain brings just about everything to a halt. Most movement is by walking and no one wants to walk in the rain and get wet. We only had one place to preach tonight and that was Toprimang. It is a small village where Godfried Fianko preaches. Jim was going to stay back while Addo Adela, Nana, Solomon Quainoo, and myself went to the village. Adela and I debated whether or not to go because we knew the rain would keep the brethren home. We decided we would go and if no one came at least we had been there. We were pleasantly surprised that the brethren came out in their numbers. We had almost thirty brothers and sisters who had braved the rain to come and hear the preaching. I told Adela that this was a lesson for us. Satan enticed us with doubt that the brothers would come because we allowed him to do so for neither one of us truly wanted to drive the twenty miles to the village in the rain. I have to admit that of all the years I have been in Ghana driving to Toprimang was one of the few times that I have been somewhat apprehensive for our safety. The cars drive very fast on the main road and often do not use their headlights and with the rains it made visibility even more difficult. It was on this road that our brothers in Adonkrono were hit by a taxi a couple of years ago and one was killed. We all thanked God when we arrived home safely.

Sun - July 11, 2004

Today it is the Lord’s day and we will be worshiping with three different churches this morning. Brother Adela will be preaching for the church in Kade while Jim will preach at Subi. I will preach at Adonkrono. Solomon Quainoo, the preacher for Adonkrono, told meet that chief Nana has been doing very well. He has taken some classes and is now teaching Bible classes. I remember the night he was baptized many years ago. Nana has become a great influence among the other chiefs for the cause of Christ. Our van is still broke down so John Patamia had went to Tema on Saturday to hire us another one. He drove back early Sunday morning and was with us to load the van to prepare to return to Pram Pram. After worship, we left immediately for home.

When traveling through Accra we stopped at Nogahill hotel for meat pies. Meat pies are like fry pies but have meat in them. Nogahill has the best I have ever eaten and it is a treat for all of us to stop and buy some. The great thing is that they are only about a $1 a piece. We arrived back in Tema around four in the afternoon and went immediately to a Cyber-café to send and check our email. From their we had a few moments and we went to Ernest Apeadu’s home to see if Daniel and Ted were there. Daniel looks like everything is fine with him and he told me he had received a message from Katrina that little Jackson now had his second tooth. Ted had gone to visit George Amuisi and so I did not get an opportunity to see him but I did get to see Rene Wheeler’s brother Patrick. I have known Patrick since he was fourteen and our youngest daughter Sabrina was a nanny for his son, Matthew. It was good to see him and rekindle an old friendship. Sunday evening Jim preached for the Lebanon congregation in Ashaiman while I preached once again for 8 & 9 church in Tema. After services we went to Southern Fried Chicken for dinner and arrived back at the house around 11 p.m. It had been a long but rewarding day.

Mon - July 12, 2004

Today we are heading to Ada-foah for the major campaign of this year. Ada-foah is in the Volta region and is a large city. Ada is an area that is developed with many whites living along the shores of the Volta River. For them, Ada is a resort area -- for the Ghanaians, it is like any other city. There is no church of Christ in the city. I thought there was a church in Ada but not in Ada-foah, which is a suburb of Ada but I was told that there is no church in either of them. The work is greater than I initially thought. It seems some years ago some of the churches in Tema began a work here but the preacher who stayed to help in the work did some things that were not proper and the church failed. We had to go to Tema first thing in the morning to exchange funds for the trip, to but additional supplies, and to send emails. I was able to phone Shirley last night and it was great to hear her voice. Cell service has made the work so much more effective. There are few land lines in Ghana so cell service has given many the opportunity to speak to others without being face to face. It has saved us vast amounts of time. We returned from Tema around two o’clock and began the hour and half journey to Bedeku and Ada-foah. Everything thing seemed to be going great, little did I know that about five miles from Pram Pram we had to stop for construction which was going on and our van stalled and would not start. Jim checked under the hood and found out that the van was nearly out of oil. It barely registered at all on the dip stick. Our driver caught public transport back to town to get some oil. When he returned he had only brought one liter (1.3 quarts). When we put the oil in the van it still did not register to the one quart low mark. He tried driving the car but it still would not run. Jim and I, along with the others, had to push the van off the road. John said he would go back to Tema and hire another van to take us to Ada-faoh. Jim and I had been in Ghana five days and had hired five different vehicles so far. By now my patience was wearing thin, here we were Jim, Addo Adela’s wife Alice, Ayeki, the sister who helps Alice to take care of us, Christopher Letsa, and myself stuck along side of the road in the middle of Ghana and darkness rapidly approaching. The only redeeming thing was that there was a cool breeze. Christopher started to brings some excuses for our being stuck and I suggested that it might be a good time for silent meditation. Needless to say, none of us were happy. John Patamia, the driver, returned just after dark. Fortunately for us, there was a night watchman hired to guard the construction equipment, that agreed, for a fee, to watch the van until someone could return for it. We unloaded and reloaded our goods into the new van and continued our journey. We finally arrived at the home of sister Dinah Foli between 8:30 and 9:00 p.m.. She is an attorney in Accra and has graciously opened her home to us many times. Brother Adela phoned me and told me that he knew a brother in Ashaiman who had a vehicle and that he would check on it for us. Immediately after we arrived, John and Christopher left to return to Tema to secure a mechanic and take him out to see if they could drive the other van back to Tema. At 11:00 brother Adela called and informed us that there would be another van coming to Ada-foah in the morning to convey us where we needed to go and that he would leave school and come out with it to make sure all was fine. It was near midnight before we finally made it to bed.

Tue - July 13, 2004

This morning we are forced to wait around the house until Addo Adela comes with the van. In addition to this, no arrangements had been made for bringing the sound equipment to Ada-foah so John and Chris had to travel to Accra, hire another van to bring the sound equipment to us. By now I am getting fed up with paying to hire vans. Seven vans in seven days. I told the brethren we have diverted from the ministry of the gospel to a van ministry. Needless to say, no one is very happy. In the Ghanaian culture, because we were using the vans when they broke down we have to pay something to fix them even though it is no fault of our own. Fortunately, labor is fairly cheap and most parts are used ones scavenged from other vehicles. I am not sure what it will cost but I am not thrilled about spending money needed in other places on a couple raggity old vans. By the time brother Adela arrived and we headed to Ada-foah it 11:00 a.m. Jim and I were hoping to go to the site where all the brethren were to be to greet about 50 or more brethren but yet another setback, by Tuesday at noon only 8 brothers had come. On top of everything else now this. We had paid $70 to rent foam mattresses for 40 people for a week and by the middle of the second day only 8 had arrived. You cannot begin to imagine my frustration. For two years we have been planning this work it seems as if everything we do has been frustrated. We arrived back at the house in time to prepare for the first evening’s street preaching. We had to set up the projection and p.a. system. We were able to finally begin the program around 7:30 p.m. and yet another setback. By the time the brethren had called the people through songs and had a word of prayer and when we began playing the film about the life of Christ only about 15 children had come. We had planned to show the film for about 15 minutes and then begin preaching but as people had just started to begin to come we showed the film for about 30 minutes. By the time that I started preaching a couple hundred people had assembled. I finished preaching about 9 and by the time that we loaded everything in the van and returned by to sister Foli’s home it was near 11 p.m.. We ate a light dinner and it was after 1 a.m. before I finally got to bed.

Wed - July 14, 2004

Up at 6:30 to prepare to go and do personal work. Jim is getting a little antsy because he loves doing personal work and up to now our efforts have been frustrated by one thing after another. John Patamia has to leave us this morning and travel to Kade to take care of the first van we used. He needs to find the needed part, take it to Kade, wait on the van and return it to Tema. We are not sure when he will be able to rejoin us. We finally got to Ada-foah and begun doing personal work and wouldn’t you know the very first person that I study with turns out to be the argumentative type. It took Albert Amantey and I an hour of hard discussion for him to admit that his life was not pleasing to God even though he claimed to be a follower of Christ but had not been to worship for a long time. Jim faired a little better. He studied with a couple people who were fairly receptive. Both of us did manage to get promises from those we studied with to come to the street preaching tonight. We returned from the personal work around 2 p.m. for lunch and to rest a little before the street preaching. It is amazing how much the heat and long days sap one’s energy. When there is just a little break in our routine both Jim and I find ourselves catching a few furtive winks. It has been close to 1 a.m. each night before we go to bed and although we wake up between 6:30 and 7:00 a.m., there is always someone up between 5 and 5:30 making noise. Our eyes feel heavy all the time. Albert had planned to take the van early and use it with some type of p.a. system to invite the people to the preaching. However, when he talked to the van driver he found out that what was required was for Albert to make a cassette tape which would be played through the van’s stereo system and fed to a speaker which was to be mounted on the roof. Another setback. We got to Ada-foah around 6:30 to begin setting up for the street preaching. Tonight the singing was really good. A few more sisters had arrived and after we arranged them well their voices blended beautifully. I told the Ghanaian brothers on Sunday in Adonkrono, if there is a heavenly choir by all means it will be made up of 50 Ghanaians. I have never heard brethren anywhere lift their voices in song as those in Ghana. With all the frustration of the campaign so far, I called all the brethren together for prayer before we began setting up. I told them that the church is here, it will not leave again for God wants people to be saved and although Satan may have hindered us he will not prevail. I also told them that I had called back to the U.S. and asked the brethren at Orange Street to have a special prayer for us. After that everyone’s spirits seemed to improve. Our crowd was somewhat slimmer tonight most likely due to the face that many had gone to Bible study. Jim preached an excellent lesson on there is no neutral ground with Christ. He did a great job. We closed out the preaching around 9:30 and by the time we loaded and dropped people it was eleven before we arrive home. We have been eating a light dinner of rice every night after we get home so it is late by the time we washed down and get ready for bed.

Thur - July 15, 2004

Would you believe more van problems this morning. I heard the driver trying to start it around 6:30 and it wouldn’t crank. He finally got it started around 8 and then took it to town to have it looked at. He arrived back around 9:45 and informed us the battery had been low on water. Today we were going to a public school close to where we are street preaching. Last year we took some video of local children and showed it before we began our program and it really drew the people. We were supposed to be there around 10 but when we got there they asked that we return at 11. The children put on about a half hour program for us. My video camera is acting up. It would not work at street preaching last night but I got it working this morning and hopefully the video will turn out. Brother Albert informed me that our workers are up to 25 -- so things are improving. After we left the school we headed to Sogakope so we could check our email. It is good to hear from home when you are on the other side of the world. While in Sogapoke, Jim and I treated Alice and Ayeki to a lunch at the hotel where the Internet Café was located. Jim ordered ostrich and I had shrimp. The food was not as good as that which Alice has been preparing but it was a change. Seven of us ate meals and had sodas and the bill was about 23 dollars. When we returned from Sogapoke we began preparing for the nights street preaching. Adela was able to leave school early and had traveled from Accra to Ada-Foah to be with us through the weekend. It is good to have him around. He is a good friend and a valued counselor when it comes to dealing with the Ghanaian culture. He is also a good Bible student and we enjoy discussing Bible topics. Tonight Albert has asked me to preach on baptism. We arrived at the site around 6:30 and began setting up. As we were setting up some of the brethren came and were taking a young man to be baptized, the first of the campaign. I remember the first year in Aveyime when there was only one or two baptisms. The work is this area is difficult and many do not come here because it does not yet immediate results, however there are many lost souls in need of salvation and someone needs to bring the good news of Christ to them. We were able to show the film of the children and this drew the people along with the film about the life of Jesus. I began preaching about 8 and finished close to 9 p.m.. It is not only the brethren at Orange Street who receive long lessons. Everything seemed to be going fine. We had gotten new mikes and the p.a. system was working better but half-way through my lesson, the generator quit and the power failed which meant no lights and no p.a. system. So for 30 minutes, I had only lantern light and shouted so that an area the size of a football field could hear my lesson. It seems no one had checked the oil in the generator and the lack of oil caused it to shut down. Jim was able to get it running again and I once again had amplification the last 15 minutes. We closed the program around 9:15 and began packing up. When we finally left for home there were 16 adults plus driver riding in an small van. When we finally stopped to let everyone off it looked like a Chinese fire-drill as all the people climb down from the van. Once again it was after 1 a.m. before we finally got to sleep.

Fri - July 16, 2004

This morning we need to go and greet a sister from Ashaiman Lebanon whose mother passed away. Addo Adela was scheduled to preach the mother’s funeral but because he was with us he was not able to attend. We went and spent a few minutes at her home, even though she was not there, we extended our greetings to her family and had a prayer with them. From there we went into Ada-Foah for personal work. Albert Amanatey and myself studied with two young men and then we also went and studied two men and a woman. We are sowing the seed plenty and hopefully it will fall on good and honest hearts. Tonight Jim is preaching on the one church. Hopefully nothing will go wrong. Preaching went great and there was another baptism.

Sat - July 17, 2004

Up at 4:45 this morning for we must drive to Ashaiman for the funeral of Florence Adjei. We rush around and leave the house at 6 in order to reach the funeral site by 8:30. I did not have proper funeral clothes so last week in Tema I bought a three yards of cloth and had a shirt made. Total cost $6.50. By the time we arrived in Ashaiman we were covered in red road dust and had to dust ourselves off. Ghanaian funerals are a little different than ours. They are usually outside under pavilions. By the time we had gotten about two hundred people had assembled and music was blaring through huge speakers. Loud music is played for about an hour and half before the actual funeral starts. It is so loud that one cannot hold a conversation with someone sitting beside him unless he screams the words. At 10 the official ceremonies began. Prayers were offered and family, the widower, and one of the small children read tributes to Florence. Her oldest child was not must older than 11 or 12 who read the tribute. Tears were flowing from the eyes of all. It was at this point that all preachers filed around the corpse and a prayer was offered. Marfo explained to me that the Ghanians customary belief is that if a osofo (minster) does not pray for the deceased then God will not recognize them. After we left from around the corpse then the family filed around it and then all those who attended the funeral. By this time there was over 800 people gathered. Isaac Adjei is highly respected and over 100 people came from the Kade area itself (no small journey). After everyone had filed by the corpse they put curtains around the canopy and members of the family closed the coffin. The coffin was then carried out of the canopy and placed in from of the lectern from which the preacher would give the lesson. The funeral lesson was more of an exhortation to obey the gospel than a typical funeral lesson. After the lesson the body was transported to the grave site and then all would return to the funeral site for refreshments and more loud music. We had to return to Ada-foah for the night’s street preaching. Our driver had taken the van to have the oil changed and had not returned so Adela, Jim, and I took the lead in order to send an email and we would all meet for lunch before returning to Ada-foah. As we were leaving the Internet Café, Solomon Quainoo came up to us and told us they had taken sister Alice to the hospital. We quickly caught a cab and made our way to the hospital. By the time we got there she had already had an injection and they were starting an I-V drip. We decided to send Jim, Fianko, and the van back to Ada-Foah in case Alice was not released in time. They had no sooner left than the doctor told us that Alice would be asleep for a couple hours so we should go and eat and come back. When we returned from lunch we found a tired looking sister Alice in the waiting room. They were just releasing her and giving her medicine. The total bill for her treatment was about $22 and the Ghanaians could hardly believe that the same treatment in the U.S. would be close to $500. We finally left the hospital in Ashaiman around 5 p.m. and headed straight for Ada-foah. If we didn’t make it in time Jim was going to preach but we arrived at 7:30 and I began preaching at 8:15 and preached until 9:15. By the time that we got home it was close to 11 p.m. A long day and all of us were tired.

Sun - July 18, 2004

Sunday morning. This morning I will be worshiping with Ado-Foah church and Jim will be worshiping with the church in Bedeku. Bedeku is the congregation that Albert Amantey formerly worked with on a full time basis. The congregation has matured to the point that it can do most of the teaching from within so Albert will concentrate his efforts on the church at Ada-foah and assist Bedeku on a part-time basis. We were about 50 at Ada-foah. This included some of the workers and visitors. By this time the workers had grown to about 40 men and women. So even though the work started slow, by Sunday it was going strong. As usual the singing was beautiful. After services, our group drove to Sogakope for dinner and to check emails. Most of us had goat stew which was very good though a little chewy. Sunday night both Bedeku and Ada-foah worshiped together. After worship we bought sodas for everyone and we formed the chairs into a circle and sat and talked. Some of the brethren asked me questions about America and others Bible questions. We finally packed up around nine only because the rented chairs needed to be returned. It was a nice end to a good day.

Mon - July 19, 2004

Would you believe it, more van trouble. One of the seats in the van had broken so it had to be sent for repairs. In addition to that, sister Alice who takes care of our feeding and domestic needs, was diagnosed with typhoid fever. The poor lady looks exhausted . Jim and I are down to one cooked meal a day, for me I have plenty of reserve but for Jim he is looking a little lean. Janie called Jim this morning so he is a happy camper. It is hard to fathom how good it is to hear news from home when you half way around the world. It makes one appreciate what our young men and women in the armed services are enduring. While we were waiting for the van to return, the leaders of the Bedeku church came by for face to face discussions. . . a plea for assistance. They need about 50 bags of cement to bring their building up to lintel height. The total cost is about 2.4 million cedis (about $250). In addition to their plea, the Bedeku brethren presented Jim and I with a gift, each of us a shirt, to thank us for helping them with the work in Ada-foah. Jim’s shirt is a bright orange kente print. I told him that he looks like an African. It was close to 2 p.m. before we were able to arrive in Ada-foah and we immediately began moving the platform to our new venue. Unlike Americans, Ghanaians are not ones to have tools around the house. We could not find the brothers who had the wrenches to disassemble the platform which is made from 2 inch angle iron steel. Fortunately our driver had a pair of linesman pliers and after much expended energy we were able to remove the bolts that held the platform together. After that we had to reassemble it and bring the platform boards, speakers, and light stands. It took us until about 5 to finish and we hurried back to Bedeku to gather the projection system and VCR deck needed for the program. This venue seemed to gather more people than the last and we had a good crowd. We got home around ten after another long day.

Tue - July 20, 2004

This morning we headed to Ada-foah and personal work. I had an appointment with a teacher who is a friend of a sister in Christ. She belongs to a church who teaches that angels are giving the preacher messages from God. When I had her read Galatians 1:6-8 we could see that she was visibly upset. She said that they were not doing right. We had to end our study because recess was over but she promised to visit. Jim did not have as good of results as I did. He studied with Moslem lady who was very hard-headed. He said that after studying various passages it was evident that she was contentious so he left. On the way into Ada-foah, we stopped at a radio station which is operated by John Patamia’s uncle. I had met him once before and John said that he wanted to talk with me. He offered us an opportunity for some air time at a good price. His radio station is the only one in Ghana that broadcasts in the Dangbe language. Dange is the language of many of the towns along the coast and many of those in the Volta region, the area we have been working for the last five years, are able to understand it. Radio has been highly effective in Ghana and the church has grown appreciably from its impact. We have been offered a 30 minute spot which will be repeated twice for about $110 per week. In Tema, brethren are paying about $160 per week for only one thirty minute spot. I’m in a dilemma for I am inclined to accept his offer and give him a few hundred to get started and then find the money when I get back to the U.S.. We got home for lunch around 3:00 and had katomery (sp). It is the young tender leaves from the cassava plant. It had been cooked with corn beef and spices. This is usually eaten with boiled yam but we had ours with fried sweet potatoes. After lunch, Jim and I went to the market to find beads. Shirley has recently started making jewelry and told me to bring home beads. I love going to market. It is mass confusion. People are everywhere buying and selling, loading and unloading, it is like the malls at Christmas time. It is fun bargaining for items especially when the seller is affable. Every once in a while you get a person who is out to willfully cheat you or who had a contentious spirit but mostly both buyer and seller enjoy themselves. We arrived at the preaching venue at 6:30 and no one had arrived yet. We began setting up and had things ready to begin by 7:30. I was preaching on the one church. I have been having sinus drainage and my throat and voice are nearly gone, which in most cases is a blessing for many (I heard that amen, Shirley!), but in Ghana the preacher must be forceful or he is not considered serious. By the end of the lesson, my voice was finished. I have one more lesson on Wednesday and then I have a two day break until Saturday. Hopefully it will come back. During the showing of the film one of the brothers arrived with a lady who wanted to be baptized. She needed some more study which Albert and Adela did and after the night’s program she was taken to the river and baptized. She brings the total to four. We arrived home around eleven and by the time some ate it was after midnight before we retired for the night.

LATEST REPORT BEGINS HERE - Received July 25

Wed - July 21, 2004

Sister Alice is not improving so Jim and I are going to drive her to Pram Pram and then return for the night's preaching. We have loaded up most of the kitchen things and taken them with us. By the time we return to Ada-foah it is around 4 in the afternoon. We gathered up our things and headed for Ada-foah for the night's preaching. By the time we got there everything had been set up and songs were being played to invite the people to the street preaching. It was really cold by Ghana standards and even Jim and I wished we had a long sleeve shirt. We decided next year that we were bringing some. There is a strong breeze which blows off the sea. When we arrived we were informed that there had been another baptism which brings the total to five. I found out that the initial church had been planted in the 1980's and it was in the nineties that it folded due in part to the actions of the previous preacher. So it had been at least ten years since any serious effort has been put forth in Ada-foah. It was a hard ground then and it is still hard ground but even so five souls have been added to the Lord's church so far. Tonight I was finishing up our campaign with a lesson on baptism. My voice was still weak and I was taking Pseudoephedrine and eating throat lozenges like they were candy. As I walked up to the table to preach, I stepped down with my right foot and the floor of the platform gave way and the table, the lanterns, my Bible, and myself all went tumbling. One of the floorboards had been weakened by termites and someone had inadvertently placed in the middle of the platform instead of on the ends. The only thing which saved me from serious injury was that linoleum had been spread of the boards and it slowed my fall to the extent that I was able to somewhat catch myself. As it was I wrenched my knee a little and my wrist was sore for a day. Everybody went "Oh" when I went down and "Eh" when I got back up and started preaching. The thing which really gripes me about the whole ordeal is that I have to buy new board to replace the broken one which about finished me. After about 30 minutes my voice was gone and I had to bring my lesson to a close. Afterwards the brethren told me that my lesson the previous night "Except the Lord Build the House," which dealt with the one church instigated many questions during that days personal evangelism. The people were saying, "What does this man mean by saying our churches are not found in the Bible?" By the time we got everything tore down and packed in the van to be transported it was close to 10 p.m.. It was close to eleven by the time we returned by to sister Dinah's for the night. We sat around and ate Ramen noodles and talked about the week's work.

Thur - July 22, 2004

Finally, a change in scenery. Jim and I are heading back to Pram Pram for four days before we head to Aveyime. Today we are going in to Tema and the area around the airport to buy souvenirs and exchange more funds. It was good to be in town once again. Jim started out slow but quickly got into the buying mood and was able to buy some nice things. I pretty much just walk around and look until I find something that I think is exceptional. I bought a few small trinkets and then came upon a really nice elephant carving. It was one of the better ones that I have seen in recent years. The shop owner had left her teenage daughter in charge and she and I began the bargaining ritual. As it was, she and I both knew that it was a quality piece and she would not budge much from her asking price but I bought it anyway. We got back to Tema around 6:30 and decided to wait a few minutes at Ernest Apeadu's to see if Ted and Daniel's group would arrive from the north. They hadn't arrived by 7:30 so we headed for Pram Pram. We saw the results of another accident along the roadside – two cars almost completely demolished. We have seen more fatal accidents this year than any other. There a more cars driven by drivers who are not properly trained and this is resulting in plenty of fatal accidents. When we got back to the house Daniel called and we are spending the day together tomorrow.

Fri - July 23, 2004

Ted's group and Jim, Daniel, and myself are all heading to Accra. We are going to the Diamond house where they sell jewelry and to the Cultural Center for artifacts, then to the Bible House to but Bibles. Daniel and Jim were like kids in a candy store. Talk about shop-a-holics. We finally got away from the Cultural Center around 3:30 and headed to the Bible House to buy Bibles we were able to get 40 Bibles which will be distributed among the congregations that we worked with. After leaving the Bible House we were all going to meet at a restaurant on the coast road to Tema. The name of it is Nando's and they serve hamburgs and pizza and ice cream sundies at reasonable prices. We tried them all. We dropped Daniel off at Ernest's and headed for Pram Pram for the night. It was a good day of exchanging war stories and we all had a lot of laughs.

Sat - July 24, 2004

Today I am to lecture at Pram Pram on Marriage and the Family for the Pram Pram, Ningo, and Dawienya congregations. It started at nine and ended around 1:30 -2:00. There must have been two hours of questions concerning marriage and the family. Afterwards we all enjoyed sodas and fellowshipped with one another. The church at Pram Pram has finally begun meeting at their new church site. Although the building is not finished they have erected a temporary structure within the unfinished building for the church to meet. It is good that they are finally away from meeting in the chamber of a house. After closing, since our cook is sick, we headed to Tema for something to eat. It was nearly seven when we returned for we went to find Sepprapor where I am going to preach on Sunday. Lord Asante, a brother in Christ, stopped by to see us. He approached us last year about helping him with schooling in London and we promised we would if he was able to complete the first year himself. He did well by doing so and struggled through great difficulties to complete the year but he did and by all means we will help him.

LATEST AND LAST REPORT BEGINS HERE

Sun - July 25, 2004

This morning I am to preach at Sebrapor which is a suburb of Ashaiman. Akwako Marfo, who has been a good friend of mine for years is the preacher there. I first met Marfo in 1990 and have watched him grow into one of the finest preachers in Ghana over the last fifteen years. He is currently alternating with Paul Addo in preaching on Adom FM, a major radio station in Ghana. It was a great honor for me to finally be able to preach where he is the evangelist. After worship, we were to meet up with Ted’s group for dinner. Ted choose a Korean restaurant and by the time we arrived there his group was already eating. When our group started looking at the menu, the Ghanaians said that there was nothing on it which they liked so we went back to the old stand-by, Southern Fried Chicken. Today I broke from my norm and had shrimps in chile sauce. It is shrimp cooked in a very spicy and hot tomato based sauce. It was delicious but I paid for it the next day, Nkrumah’s Revenge. After dinner we returned to Pram Pram to rest and prepare for the evening service. I was to preach and finish my lesson on marriage and the family which I had started on Saturday. After services we returned to the house and prepared for our trip to Aveyime on the next day.

Mon - July 26, 2004

This morning we got up and going to Aveyime. As usual, even though we wanted to leave at nine, it was not until after ten that we left. When we arrived in Aveyime we met up with Christopher Letsa who had preceded us on Sunday. Chris had originally planned on preaching at Aveyime after his graduation from Ghana Bible College, but his plans have changed. He is engaged to a Ghanaian who lives in New York and hopes to get married this year and finish his schooling at one of our brotherhood colleges. After we got settled in at the house we were staying, we headed for Christian Academy, the school ran by one of the brothers in Aveyime. As we walked up the children all started cheering as they had been waiting patiently for us. It seems that the school headmaster, in honor of our visit and also as a fund raiser for the parents, had prepared a program. Jim and I we able to watch a story being depicted through tradition dance of how a tribe searched out a new land and settled in it. It was very interesting and the children did a great job. We also heard some children reciting poetry and Bible verses. It was also interesting to watch the parents. It is always fascinating to me that although we come from different cultures and races how much alike human beings are. I could have been watching proud parents in Auburndale and their actions would not have been much different. After visiting the school, we headed back to the house for lunch and then on to Mepe and Anyakope to visit some widows and elderly. When we returned to the house we had numerous meetings to conduct. Jim and I met with the sisters who through our support had started a batiking business. I am proud to report that they are doing well and I am bringing some fabric back to the U.S. We also met with the headmaster of the school to discuss their needs. Finally before getting ready for the evening services we met with brother Bright and discussed the possibility of him going to preaching school. Tonight I will be preaching for the Aveyime church while Jim travels about 7 miles out to the village to preach for the brethren there. It was after nine when we arrived back at the house for dinner and all of us were whipped.

Tue - August 27, 2004

What a night! A rooster crowed outside Jim's and my window from three in the morning on. And to make it even worse, the caretaker of the house got up around four and began sweeping the compound. Now we are really tired. Today Jim will be going to the village for personal work and I will be going to Anyakope and in addition we be meeting with the leaders of the church in Aveyime to see how we can be of assistance. I had to opportunity to see once again two people that Shirley and I had met last year. One was a young woman who had just had a baby last year. We studied with her and she was baptized. I was pleased to hear that she has been very faithful in her service to God. Another person I had a chance to talk with was the idolater that we studied with last year. We spent about an hour talking with him again. I really enjoy talking with him, although he is not educated and cannot read he is very intelligent. He asked me, if the God that I worship is the one true God, then why are there so many different churches. Pretty astute reasoning on his part wouldn’t you say. One of his children is able to read so we left him a Bible with the assurance that they would read it in the upcoming year. As we were leaving I was able to photograph the huge shrine that we saw last year. It is baffling to me how one could worship an idol. It was time to return to the house for our series of meeting. I was able to look at the attendance records at Aveyime and see that the church was not doing as well as it had been in the past. Chris had not been there since the first of the year and the lack of a preacher was hurting them. We encouraged them to do their part and we would help them to get a preacher as soon as possible. Tonight, I would be going out to the village and Jim would preach for Aveyime. Out at the village there is no electricity so we used lantern light. It was really neat. There was about 50 villages and brethren gathered in the courtyard of a compound. It seems to me that this must have been very similar to what the first century evangelists experienced. We made it back home around ten again and prepared for our evening meal. I was hoping that we would be having rooster. I had offered to buy all the roosters in the compound but no one took me up on the offer.

Wed - August 28, 2004

It was a better night. The rooster had moved to another area of the compound and I didn’t hear him all night and the caretaker did not sweep the compound until we got up. We are packing up this morning and heading back to Pram Pram and Tema. Today is our final full day in Ghana. We need to go to Tema and exchange the remainder of our funds and to pick up a few things before we leave. We also had to go to Accra to get a baby gift for brother Nartey’s daughter, Rachel. It is a Ghanaian custom to bring a gift for the children when you visit and stay in a person’s home. We met brother Adela coming from school and had the last meat pies for this year for lunch. After we get back Jim and I begin sorting and packing our things for the trip home. Later that evening we all headed back into Tema for dinner. It was a nice but somewhat sad evening.

Thu - August 29, 2004

Today we leave for home. As much as Jim and I want to see the good ol’ U.S. of A, neither one of us look forward to 29 hours of travel time. The morning was spent packing and sorting. We left for the airport at 2 p.m. and were able to check in with very little wait and trouble. We all then left for our final meal together for this year. There were eleven of us and Nanaheema from Kade joined us later. Her mother had sent a gift for sisters Shirley and Janey. It was a fun but somber dinner. It is difficult to leave dear friends. We got back to the airport around 5:30, said our tearful good-byes, and made our way through immigration to our boarding gate. We were scheduled to leave at seven but when our plane had not landed by 6:30 I knew we would be leaving late once more. Finally, a representative from Lufthansa came out and said that there was a problem with the plane and she did not know when it would it arrive for it was still in Lagos, Nigeria. About 20 minutes later it landed, so much for her information. About 30 minutes later another representative came out and said that there was a problem with the plane and that it could take passengers but not luggage. It seems that a fire extinguisher in the baggage hold had gone off between Frankfort and Lagos due to an electrical malfunction. Lufthansa officials believed the plane to be safe to fly but as a safety measure decided not to put anything flammable in the cargo hold. This was a comforting thought. It is not safe for my luggage but it is safe for me??? Anyway like two sheep being led to the slaughter Jim and I boarded the plane, prayed fervently, and settled back for the flight to Frankfort. There is something to the cliché that the Lord watches over idiots for we made it safely. We now had a six hour layover in an airport with no seats. Jim and I sat on the tile floor as did many others. The brethren had given Jim and bright orange kente print shirt and I had talked him into wearing it home. The poor guy, he looked like a five foot orange popsicle in his shirt. The only thing that saved me from him getting upset with me was that a couple people told him that they really like his shirt. (They are being psychologically evaluated as you read this.) We finally boarded the plane for America and Jim and I had aisle seats across from each other. He sat beside a woman smaller than him and me beside a girl bigger than I am. Not only did she take up half of my seat, but she talked continually through the whole flight. I do not sleep much on planes but on this flight I kept my eyes shut a good portion of the time.

Fri - August 30, 2004

We arrived in Washington D.C. at 2 p.m.. It was good to touch down on American soil. We were scheduled for a three hour layover so Jim and I had decided that we would try to get an earlier flight. It was a good thing that we did for yet one more thing was to go wrong on this trip. We flew through customs . . . we didn’t have any luggage. We headed straight for the United Airlines desk to find out that the flight we were scheduled to be on was canceled. We had no way to reach home. The United man offered to route us through Chicago and we would get home around midnight. We suggested Tampa but the earliest flight would set us down around 11:30. We asked about smaller area airports. He could tell that we were not happy campers. He them pipes up. “I can get you on a 5 pm flight to Tampa which arrives at 8:15.” We said we would take it. We found out why he had not offered it initially. He had put us in business class. We finally arrived in Tampa around 8 and were met at the airport by Shirley and Janey. What a welcome sight. The end of a long month and long campaign had finally arrived.

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