June 24th update

Hello from the G2G Team!

 This morning we went to Duase school where we did our usual program, and the children were so attentive we decided to spend some extra time with them. Their enthusiasm was very refreshing! As I was listening to Cisley teach the lesson, and watching the children's' faces, I couldn't help but think about the response we would get if were we ministering at a public school in North America. It is so exciting to share the gospel with those who want to hear it! 

We had only one school program today, so we were able to come home and have the rest of the morning to relax a bit. For team devotions we read Ephesians 3:14-19 - "For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in Heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height- to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." This was a timely challenge as many of us are beginning to feel the affects of the long days, and need to be "strengthened with might through His spirit....." Daniel reminded us of how incredible it is to be loved by the Almighty God! I was thinking of the song - "There's a wonder of sunset at evening, the wonder at sunrise I see, but the wonder of wonders that thrills my soul is the wonder that God loves me. Oh the wonder of it all! The wonder of it all! Just to think that God loves me." We were encouraged to let the love of Christ flow through us to the Ghanaian people. "By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another." - John 13:35

 After lunch we headed out for some more evangelism. This week we will be focusing on the areas near the Believers Bible Assembly. I find that each time the Lord gives me the opportunity to share the gospel with someone, I come away with my own faith strengthened, and my heart encouraged! I have a renewed joy and thankfulness for my salvation! I know I've said it before but I am overwhelmed at the honor and privilege of being used by The Lord to share the good news! There are lots of stories to tell about our experiences, but it's generally the same scenario over and over again, the people are trusting in their good works to get them to Heaven. Today my team witnessed to a Ghanaian Mormon named Eric, who was so blinded to the truth. Pray for him that the seeds we planted will bear fruit. I had the opportunity to talk with several Seventh Day Adventists who believe in Jesus + works, and that you can lose your salvation. It is incredible to see how The Lord gives the right words to say, and brings Scripture to mind when you need it.

 Before saying goodnight, I have to praise Cisley for the delicious Caribbean meal she prepared for dinner. It was amazing! We are enjoying such sweet fellowship together as a team. I have been blessed by each member over the past week and a half! Please continue to pray for us as we near the home stretch. We need physical strength to be energetic to the end! Also, pray for the people who have heard the gospel that their eyes may be opened to the truth. We are thankful for your support! - Joanna for the whole team

Mara sharing the gospel with ropes

Esther and Joanne with their friends

June 23rd outreach

June 23^rd Blog

 After a few hours of rest the team woke this Lord’s Day morning and broke bread with the brethren at Believers Bible Assembly in Daniel’s home. Paul spoke from John 15 in in the Family Bible Hour on Abide in Christ, and bearing fruit for God which was very practical, while the rest of the team members dispersed to their allotted Sunday school classes.  Each child in the Sunday school was given a Ziploc bag containing a deodorant stick, a toothbrush, and a tube of toothpaste at the end of their lesson. By giving the children a gift, our hope is that this will affirm the message of God’s free gift of salvation, especially in a country where works-based salvation is widely believed.

 As soon as the Sunday School sessions concluded, the team had a quick lunch and was whisked away to Sunyani , a three hour bus ride to a rural village north of Kumasi.   The team arrived to find a group of church-goers assembled in an outdoor chapel. There were also about 30 junior high school students, invited by our host, a brother called ‘Ransford’.  Tim made contact with Ransford a couple of weeks prior. Ransford pastors a number of rural churches in his area.  He  expressed keen interest in the Emmaus correspondence courses after his contact with Daniel, and is working diligently to complete his first six courses!  On two occasions Ransford  woke up at 3am to travel to Kumasi, and collect Emmaus materials from Daniel. We were quite impressed by his zeal to learn the scriptures. On his last visit, Ransford was delighted when we suggested our mission team make a visit to the rural church he is working with. He explained how the people in the church were keen to learn more of the bible. We, therefore,  decided to add this visit to an already very busy schedule.   When the team arrived, the congregation had been waiting for more than one hour. They had a charismatic service going on, and one of the brothers who was preaching lapsed into unintelligible ‘tongues’. This is the norm among most of the evangelical churches in Ghana.

After a brief introduction by Daniel with Ransford translating, the team swung into action – starting with a few songs by the choir and a puppet show from Esther and Joanne. Tim then shared the story of Blondin the tightrope walker on the sketch-board, challenging the congregation with the question: what are you putting your trust in? Joseph Frimpong followed up  with a message on eternal security, addressing a point of doctrinal confusion among those assembled – the pastor commented after that both the sketchboard message, and the scriptures expounded by Joseph spoke to him personally, praise God! Daniel concluded the program by promoting the Emmaus bible correspondence courses, and noted there was quite a bit of interest among those assembled. We trust the Lord will bring forth fruit for eternity from the team’s visit this afternoon. We continue to ask for your prayers as we are back on the school circuit tomorrow morning, the team has had much to do with little tim,e and little sleep! Please pray for energy for the team as we begin our last week of labour here in Ghana.     

    

June 22nd outreach and pics of hospital

Hello everyone,

Thank you so so much for praying! I don't think we will know quite how much has been accomplished through your prayers until Heaven, but we are at least seeing things go a lot smoother than they could. 

Today was a little different than usual in that we were able to sleep in (!) and relax a bit in the morning. It was amazing. We were able to get eat breakfast at our own leisure, do laundry and other important things (like playing soccer), and have an unhurried group devotion.

For today's devotion we read Ephesians 3:1-10, talking about what a gift it is to serve Christ and represent His name. Daniel pointed out that our greatest and loftiest responsibility is to share the Gospel, as it is the most valuable thing we have. Unfortunately, we can get so used to it that sharing it becomes mechanical and common, and we forget how precious it is.

We also talked about different callings. God is not interested in ability, but availability. This is something a lot of us on the team are learning, as many of us felt inadequate ad unworthy to serve Christ here. But God delights in using broken pieces, and somehow He is able to use us anyways. We learned that God often confirms His calling for us through a combination of factors:

- Confirmation by godly authorities in our lives, 

- Open and closed doors

- A God-given desire. 

However, our hearts are deceitful, and just because we have a desire to do something may not mean that we are called to it. Tim commented that if we're doing the will of God and doing His service, we are doing the greatest service we can do for Him.

After lunch we all climbed onto the bus and drove to Adumasa. This village has been the focus of a lot of our evangelistic efforts, both in, and around the village, over the past few days. Joseph and Heather Frimpong have been laboring in this area with the hopes of establishing a new assembly. Today was the finale of our ministry there, as we showed the 'Jesus' movie. Daniel went to a lot of trouble to buy, and set up all of the electrical equipment for tonight so that the crowd could hear the movie, and anyone speaking or singing. We were glad that it was a clear night (no rain), which was an answer to our prayers. Not only that, but the equipment all worked fine, and there were no hiccups. 

The crowd started out small, with some children filling the front rows before we began. More children came in as we started to sing, and the adults lingered around the outskirts. By the end of the movie, almost all of the 300+ seats were filled, and there were many standing watching in the back. There was a short pause towards the end of the movie, and Isaac (one of Daniel's boys, and the champion of memory-work) told his testimony in Twi, and the choir sang 'I Have Decided to Follow Jesus'. It was Isaac's first time speaking in front of such a large audience, but he did well, and apparently it was very down to earth and clear. When the movie was over, Bro Joseph then preached and amazingly, the people stuck around for his whole message, and then they dispersed into the night.  With all the outreaches we have done here, it would be almost impossible to live in Adumasa, and not know about the church, which will be planted soon. Many have expressed interest, and it is our prayer that many will be saved and will grow in Christ as a result.

Please pray for:

- Open hearts toward the Gospel

- Seed planted in good ground

- Endurance for the team

- Hannah, for GtG 2013

The Jesus film in the Twi language

June 21st outreach

June 21

This morning was an early start as the team was on the bus around 6am, to arrive at KSTS high school by 7am. More the 1000 students were already assembled, and lined up in order, to hear the word of God. The choir sang, and Cisley gave her testimony. Josh preached the gospel to them, and each student was given a gospel bracelet. The rest of the team traveled to Nagies Angels school a few miles away, to organize another three concurrent gospel programs for all the students. We had hoped that the choir and others would arrive by 8am to help with the program, but due to delays we had to "improvise" as the headmaster suggested to me. There was some confusion to start, but in the end the choir and puppets also arrived and contributed to the gospel presentations for the students. The gospel message was heard by more then 1500 students today, and they were all presented with gospel bracelets. We have used the bracelets very effective to share the gospel in the schools, and other places. All these bracelets will carry the gospel message for a long time. We trust the Lord will use it help many hear and respond to the gospel.

We decided to go to our evangelism program at the hospital earlier, and skip our lunch. At the hospital, the chaplain led us into a waiting room where the choir sang a few songs. Perhaps our choice of "Nearer my God to Thee" might have sent the wrong message to the patients, but we hope they all appreciated the singing. In another strategic location we were able to preach to a noisy, and even larger crowd, using the paint-board. The choir also contributed with song, and Josh gave his testimony. The team then dispersed to hand out gospel tracts around the hospital grounds. With thousands of people moving about the hospital grounds it was easy to hand out many tracts. Some of us met some school children, who were on an excursion, and we were given opportunity to share the gospel with them through the bracelets; providing each child with one of the bracelets. We again did some preaching near the Emergency building where brother Shadrach works, and it was nice to see Shadrach join in our efforts also while waiting for his work shift to begin. The choir sang again, but by this time voices were wearing out, and voices began cracking. 

After a very busy morning and afternoon of evangelism the team took a nice break and did some souvenir shopping at the culture center. Meanwhile I headed downtown to buy a generator that will help us with our gospel outreach in Adumasa tomorrow evening. We arrived home for an early dinner of leftovers, before our devotional time. Today we learned about being a holy temple, and uniting with all in the body of Christ, rather then making divisions. The teens (and children) came out in good numbers for our Friday teen night activities, even though the rain might have discouraged their interest. God is giving us many opportunities to share, serve, witness, and rejoice in His power, leading, and grace as we serve together. Though tired, everyone is still healthy, rejoicing, and willing to press on for the gospel. Your prayers are carrying us into the battle, and we appreciate your vital partnership with us before the throne of grace.

Daniel for the team