Hello Everyone!!!!
I imagine that you all think we are having such a wonderful time that we have forgot all about you. Afterall, we promised to blog everyday. Well the truth is that we have been busy for the Lord every day, every minute, every second. We finally decide .. and the Lord made it possible for us to finally slow down long enough to visit an internet cafe and Brenda (sitting on my left side) and Ray, sitting on my right are going to try and bring you up to date. So here it goes....
August 5:
Landed at the airport in Accra. Pastor Peace and Pastor Appiah met us. Pastor Peace swiftly got us through customs without any complications inspite of our abundance of luggage. After introductions and a welcome meal, we got on the road to Esiama by way of Axim Beach. We spent the night resting and preparing our energy for what is turning out to be an incredible adventure.
August 6:
Money exchange and we drove for what seemed like hours in the black night of Africa to worship with a pastor colleague of Pastor Peace in a small village just before crossing over to Cote de voire. We slept most of the 2 to 3 hours drive back to Axim.
August 7
Had a brief meeting with the Chief Minister of the Methodist Church in Ghana who happens to be a good friend of Pastor Peace. It seems like everyone we meet is beyond excited to have the United Methodist Church worshipping and fellowshiping with them. The love and joy that they share with us melts our hearts. We then headed for Word Alive Missions in Esiama where the Lord has blessed Pastor Peace with a mind blowing testimony and a ministry to hundreds of people. He shared with us about his imprisonment for the Gospel and going to jail because he was preaching and teaching about Jesus Christ in an area where they were worshipping idols and false gods. Can you imagine this in the 21st century. But because he was and is faithful to the call that god has put on his life God is using him to bring many many people to him. we also did the presentation of your gifts to the children at the orphange. Oh My God.... you wouldn't believe how beautiful and sweet the children are. they sang for us and told us their names. They were SO grateful for the small things we gave them. It is very humbling. we spent the rest of the day on the road for a six hour drive to Kumasi, for the pastor leadership and church administration conference.
August 8
As I told you already, Ray and Brenda are dictating this blog and i am the typist ... another duty added to my pastoral responsibilities.... But I must take a minute to tell you that THE SISTERS ARE DOING IT!!!! I dont imgaine that any of us could have seen how the Lord was going to bring our hearts together as one. We have laughed together. Laughed at each other.... cried together. Encouraged each other and so much more. We've even had to practically carry one another.... but more about that later.
The conference began in the morning with a presentation to the pastors on Spiritual Gifts. I actually used the same materials we use as EGUMC for our seminar on Spiritual gifts. You could see the hunger for knowledge and information on the face of each pastor. Many of them will never have the opportunity to attend seminary. They want to learn whatever they can to help them in their ministry. Oh.... I forgot to tell you, that there was a little stir about the pastor from America being a female. But the Holy Spirit took care of all of that, and I was told that a few of the pastors who were troubled about this in the beginning walked away with a totally different perspective. PRAISE BE TO GOD!!!
All the members of the Team participated in the classes as well as worship later that evening. Not only did they speak to the congregation, but they shared their gifts with the pastors and I believe by faith, that the pastors were inspired by their sharings. After a long day of preaching, teaching, singing and fellowship we called it a night to the glory of God!
Aug 9
Today we taught the New Beginnings class to the pastors. The idea is that we train them to go back to their churches and train the leaders in the church to conduct the New Beginnings and Spiritual Gifts workshop. They fully appreciate the importance of empowering the laity to be strong christians working together to do God's will.
Well Beloved, we are going to stop blogging for now. This is just a little something to let you know that you are in our thoughts. We would not be here if it were not for you. And by your generosity and prayers many many are being blessed in Africa. YOU ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE!!!!
Please forgive the typos. I'll correct them when I am able to use a faster and more efficient computer. But for now know that we love you and will write more in a few days.
Blessings and Peace,
Brenda, Ray, Debbie, Lenie, Cheryl and Pastor
I imagine that you all think we are having such a wonderful time that we have forgot all about you. Afterall, we promised to blog everyday. Well the truth is that we have been busy for the Lord every day, every minute, every second. We finally decide .. and the Lord made it possible for us to finally slow down long enough to visit an internet cafe and Brenda (sitting on my left side) and Ray, sitting on my right are going to try and bring you up to date. So here it goes....
August 5:
Landed at the airport in Accra. Pastor Peace and Pastor Appiah met us. Pastor Peace swiftly got us through customs without any complications inspite of our abundance of luggage. After introductions and a welcome meal, we got on the road to Esiama by way of Axim Beach. We spent the night resting and preparing our energy for what is turning out to be an incredible adventure.
August 6:
Money exchange and we drove for what seemed like hours in the black night of Africa to worship with a pastor colleague of Pastor Peace in a small village just before crossing over to Cote de voire. We slept most of the 2 to 3 hours drive back to Axim.
August 7
Had a brief meeting with the Chief Minister of the Methodist Church in Ghana who happens to be a good friend of Pastor Peace. It seems like everyone we meet is beyond excited to have the United Methodist Church worshipping and fellowshiping with them. The love and joy that they share with us melts our hearts. We then headed for Word Alive Missions in Esiama where the Lord has blessed Pastor Peace with a mind blowing testimony and a ministry to hundreds of people. He shared with us about his imprisonment for the Gospel and going to jail because he was preaching and teaching about Jesus Christ in an area where they were worshipping idols and false gods. Can you imagine this in the 21st century. But because he was and is faithful to the call that god has put on his life God is using him to bring many many people to him. we also did the presentation of your gifts to the children at the orphange. Oh My God.... you wouldn't believe how beautiful and sweet the children are. they sang for us and told us their names. They were SO grateful for the small things we gave them. It is very humbling. we spent the rest of the day on the road for a six hour drive to Kumasi, for the pastor leadership and church administration conference.
August 8
As I told you already, Ray and Brenda are dictating this blog and i am the typist ... another duty added to my pastoral responsibilities.... But I must take a minute to tell you that THE SISTERS ARE DOING IT!!!! I dont imgaine that any of us could have seen how the Lord was going to bring our hearts together as one. We have laughed together. Laughed at each other.... cried together. Encouraged each other and so much more. We've even had to practically carry one another.... but more about that later.
The conference began in the morning with a presentation to the pastors on Spiritual Gifts. I actually used the same materials we use as EGUMC for our seminar on Spiritual gifts. You could see the hunger for knowledge and information on the face of each pastor. Many of them will never have the opportunity to attend seminary. They want to learn whatever they can to help them in their ministry. Oh.... I forgot to tell you, that there was a little stir about the pastor from America being a female. But the Holy Spirit took care of all of that, and I was told that a few of the pastors who were troubled about this in the beginning walked away with a totally different perspective. PRAISE BE TO GOD!!!
All the members of the Team participated in the classes as well as worship later that evening. Not only did they speak to the congregation, but they shared their gifts with the pastors and I believe by faith, that the pastors were inspired by their sharings. After a long day of preaching, teaching, singing and fellowship we called it a night to the glory of God!
Aug 9
Today we taught the New Beginnings class to the pastors. The idea is that we train them to go back to their churches and train the leaders in the church to conduct the New Beginnings and Spiritual Gifts workshop. They fully appreciate the importance of empowering the laity to be strong christians working together to do God's will.
Well Beloved, we are going to stop blogging for now. This is just a little something to let you know that you are in our thoughts. We would not be here if it were not for you. And by your generosity and prayers many many are being blessed in Africa. YOU ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE!!!!
Please forgive the typos. I'll correct them when I am able to use a faster and more efficient computer. But for now know that we love you and will write more in a few days.
Blessings and Peace,
Brenda, Ray, Debbie, Lenie, Cheryl and Pastor
2 comments:
We miss all of you ladies, but understand that God has a higher calling on your lives at this moment. I hope you are taking in every moment, every smell, every sight ... just everything! It is so special to be a part of what you are doing. Love you all! Special hugs to Cheryl and Ray!
Hello Ladies! I've been thinking about u all since your departure. I know the Lord is with u on this journey and I am so happy that u all are so blessed to be doing such great work for the Lord. I appreciate the blogs and look forward to hearing more. Take care, God Bless u all and have a safe journey. Love u and miss u!!!
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