31 july 2009 4:12 pm winneba, ghana

last day i winneba before we leave...

yesterday we went down to the seashore and got some heavy doses of what child labor looks like and were able to talk to many men women and children it was very eye opening...

after that we rested before the big day that is today... we woke up and had "game day" with the kids from challenging heights...we also invited some of the boys from the seashore and were able to play with them... it was a sweaty and very dirty dusty morning

we (as in the girls) are preparing dinner for some of the teachers and then we are going to celebrate our last night in winneba

short one for today

please continue to pray for our team ... a lot of patience and perserverence... maybe forgiveness and tolerance as well... and openness

thanks
and happy last day of july

29 july 2009 8:17 pm winneba, ghana

long day today... in a good way
i suppose i should start with yesterday...tuesday

fred took us to a school in the afternoon and we were able to interact with the students about 8 mdg's (i.e. millennium development goals)...these 8 goals pave a way for students and adults to interact and partner up to make sure poverty disease death etc are eradicated by 2015... it was amazing to see the eagerness and willingness for the middle school students to have a desire to change their country! this is all through the connections and help of the organization challenging heights through fred...

today we woke up early and headed out to a school outside of winneba (the school our team visited last friday that amanda and i missed)... here we were able to hear the students' ideas for change and what they would do over their vacation to begin the efforts to better ghana's condition along with the mindset of their world countries

after we got back to the city we made our way to the municipal office and met with the municipality chief of winneba...he kind of reminded me of a mayor or someone of equal status and though he was busy he met with us and we talked about his mission and desires for change... a lot was discussed about his efforts concerning waste disposal and the dump by the seaside...near the challenging heights school a large dump exists right in the middle of a community by the sea side... a site i can never fully watch when i walk by...

after this we made our way to lunch...rice and chicken...then we made our way to the oceanside and talked with the local fishermen... this is fred's main focus with challenging heights... the child labor and trafficking among the fishing industry... here we observed and listened to translations of the adult males through fred... talked with many of the children and received an education that i believe no book could ever present...

i am glad to have been connected with this organization and fred... and lucky to still have two more days with them to offer myself and to become exposed to the needs of the ghanaians in order to provide more opportunities for offering help in the future with a voice eager to tell of my experiences

pray with me that the voices of my team be heard among grand valley this fall and that our efforts ultimately bring glory to God

God bless

26 july 2009 5:04 pm winneba, ghana

hello everybody! it's been a while since my last post but internets has been far more scarce in our new home. we arrived in winneba on the 23rd a city west of accra in between that and cape coast.

annie had made contact with affiliates from Free the Slaves who brought us in contact with an organization called Challenging Heights... an organization fighting child labor and trafficking in the coastal area we are living near. They have a school in Winneba where we have been involved with the chldren and the teachers.

A man named Fred who is heavily involved with the intricacies of CHallenging Heights has been bending over backwards for our team... he is such a blessing. Friday we were able to hang out at the school and participate in the classes and afterwards part of our team went to a village 30 minutes away to talk about steps toward fixing the problems of 3rd world countries... kind of a unique opportunity... amanda felt dizzy and slightly feverish so we headed back and rested and i went back with her to make sure she was accompanied if her condition were to worsen. praise God she was fine... we had her later tested for malaria and the test cam back fine.

Fred took annie and i to church today at winneba church for christ... similar to a non denom style and it was 95 percent in Fante (one of the hundreds of languages in ghana) but fred translated the synopsis for us... it was amazing and breath taking and it felt good to be in such a wonderufl community again... i truly felt the presence of God among these people and it was refreshing...

this week we are pursuing local households and communities to talk about trafficking and bringing awareness to modern slavery and the prevention of such atrocious events...

its going to be pretty sweet to work with fred and this organization this week

i plead that you pray for direction wisdom and focus for our team that we remain diligent in our purpose and for those that believe in Jesus that we pursue these acts for his Glory and for those of our team that don't that they find Jesus through these next few days

Praise Him!

ps thanks for all the prayers thus far... i definetly have needed them and they've helped!

22 july 2009 11:51 pm accra, ghana

quickie...

arrived in tamale yesterday...flew out this morning and laundry (real laundry) at the baptist guest house... tomorrow we head to winneba to pursue Free the Slaves... excitement level...high!

love you all

ps i dont know if its for marketing but a lot of cabs in accra say things like:

"in him i trust"
or
"by his grace"
etc

i saw one today that said "psalm 23" riding in a different taxi and whipped out my bible from my backpack to read it... i was encouraged...Praise God

by the way thanks for the thoughts and prayers after leaving Danny today we remained professional and i'm satisfied with the work the Lord has done in my heart...i just pray that the others in my group dont remain hard hearted toward him or his mission

on to winneba!

Monday 5:03 pm Damango, Ghana

Hello friends from the states!

Few updates...good and not so bad...

The past few day have been full of ups and downs and way ups...

On Saturday we woke up and went to Abrahams for breakfast. We were greeted by Muniru...(aka Narrows) the ghanaian man we have been painting with. We made our way to the orphanage and painted our last room for them...the girls room.

After that we went to the weekly market that happens every Saturday in Damango. After the market we made our way to a local high school (annie and some of the girls befriended some local students that easily and quickly became all of our friends) because Issek invited us to a cultural dance competition...it was very interesting around their campus... put a lot into perspective...

Sunday we woke up and went to breakfast and then made our way to the orphanage to have church with the kids via Abrahams mercedes party bus...church was amazing... the kids are so full of energy and love for God...

after church we had a shoe presentation ceremony for the children and gave them their shoes that PeaceFeet donated... shout out to Shaynon and a great job whoop whoop

Sunday afternoon we met our friends Issek, Cosco and Oliver to take a taxi to Larabanga a village 10 km away to visit the oldest mosque in ghana and most of west africa... we road styling in the back of a nissan pick up as some locals pushed us into first gear and we reared on down the bumpy road... when we arrived to their village (they live at school in Damango but are from Larabanga) we were greeted by locals and were introduced to their economy...peanuts and shea nuts (for shea butter)

they also took us down to their water hole and we witnessed a sight that makes your stomach turn... a small pond devoted to all the water needs of a community of 4000 people and any wild animals...only during the wet season does it provide... otherwise they need to retrieve water from Damango or Mole..more to say about these topics in person...

We visited the mosque and there growing out of the side of the mosque was a boa bob tree... 500 years old... my favorite... and yes i touched it

sunday->bfg-happy bday

AND... today we had a normal start...woke up went to breakfast and then casey andrew and zoe and i went and shadowed at the West Gonja Hospital in Damango...it was fantastic... we saw a lot

tomorrow we leave Damango earlier than planned and make way to Tamale where wednesday are flight has been changed to fly back to Accra early so that we can pursue other volunteer opportunities in Winneba...a couple hours outside of accra...with Free the Slaves... an organization seeking to end modern day slavery...annie has a pretty reliable contact which we were going to meet for a day at the end of our african adventure...but we decided we would better be utilized by this organization than by Danny

God is good and i trust the direction He is leading our team... the faith He has for His children is humbling, and Abraham's faith in God is breath taking... i know God led this group here for many reasons and one was to make contact with this man

"God is good...all the time and all the time... God is good" -Abraham of Damango

please pray for the hearts of my team that have no faith in Jesus and that we remain cohesive and set to serve those who are less fortunate... all for the glory of the One High God!


ps fem Heffe-prepare roman for a climb in two weeks?

friday 4:23 pm Damango Ghana

week two... coming at you

basically our work this week has been solely for the orphanage... we've been painting a lot of the rooms and looks like the bright colors may add a little joy to the lives of those who live there

this wednesday bigman took us on a safari because he left for Kumasi (a different city in ghana) where we were in the midst of wild elephants and warthogs and monkeys and baboons...it was awesome...

getting to know the kids has been great... however our relationship with the danny (the missionary) has kind of gone sour to be honest (prayers are definetely needed)... a lot of the things he promised and the projects we would be working on simply exist as dreams and haven't even started...hence our work existing solely in the orphanage...

we may have opportunities to hospital visits and possible volunteering around the local schools...established by ourselves... but we may pursue other options in the accra area a little earlier than intended...God is teaching me a lot about peace and lot about trust these past few days...i just hope the others in my group don't gain a distaste for Jesus because of what the current episodes of deception...

i ask that you pray for cohesion amongst our team and that we may stay together to give back to africa as much as we can despite the trials presented...

love you all and i plead you pray for peace

ps heffe-PLOY

Sunday July 12 Damango, Ghana 5:36pm

lot of updates but i'll try to keep it nice and consice so you don't read a novel...

Arrived in Damango yesterday a village 40 or so miles outside of Tamale (though only 40 miles we drove for probably 3 hours to get to our destination)... we will spend out next 21 days here working in the area

internet has been far and inbetween and slow when we have it but since my last update...
we went to the kakun national forest and walked the canopy (which is one of i think 5 in the world) which is suspended 40 meters above the rain forest floor... it was rainy so no completely extravagent wildlife citings after this big man took us to get lunch at some crocodile hotel place, we ended up not eating anytihng but i did touch a crocodile...afterward we visited the school for the deaf and the blind in Cape Coast and received a hefty crash course in sign language it was awesome... i was stunned at their excitement

i also got to play a type of air hockey (using a rattle ball) with some of the blind boys and i got my butt spanked

after this day we checked out of Anomabo beach resort and packed up to travel back to accra to stay at a baptist mission house before waking up the next morning at 4am to prepare for a flight to Tamale (400ish miles north of accra)

we arrived after a short flight and were very tired. danny and sue jaynes (the missionaries we have been in contact with) picked us up and we headed to our new place of residence...damango

we are staying at a catholic guest house and rested most of last night

this morning however we awoke and made our way over to Abrahams house (this is a local ghanaian who runs an orphanage that we will be working in and he will feed us and drive us around...from the past two days i can tell he is a great man) and had breakfast before church at the orphanage

also from the many foreigners we have run across there are a lot of dutch volunteers that stay with abraham... a lot, sorry about the haphazard-ness to my post so many things rush to my mind... i hope it is not too difficult to follow...

back to church... we went to church and the kids sand and danced and played drums and it was amazing... amazing... and abraham told a story about the hunter and the leapord and about sin

after church casey and i played soccer (aptly called futbol) with some of the boys and learned a new level of humility...it was good

hmm what else... ate lunch met with abraham walked through town a little and now posting

thanks for reading and i ask if you have any spare prayers one of our team members (andrew) is sick and danny's wife sue has malaria i also that you pray for patience as some of our preconceived plans have been changing i pray that you calm the hearts of my team... most of my team has had moments of breakdown due to the site of poverty and sickness

someone dear to me pointed this out to me...i waited patiently for the Lord;
he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.

I will praise him plans or no plans and he will lift me up... praise Jesus

wednesday 5:14 Cape Coast, Ghana

arrived in accra yesterday safe and sound enjoying every bit of my first day of flight

we were warmly welcomed by our driver (Alfonso) who insisted we call him "big man" which was quiter appropriate

we traveled to a resteratunt for my first African meal (rice chicken and a guinness) at a place called Papaye

afterward, big man took us to Anomabo Beach Resort 2 hours south of accra for us to stay until we fly out on friday for tamale and damango... where we are meeting danny and sue jaynes

for now we exist as tourists and hopefully begin the work in a few days

today we went to the slave trade castle and were delayed by the intense amounts of rain that set in after breakfast and then made our way to cape coast university to meet with janaan's friend samuel where he took us around some of the village in which he lives and we met his family and friends and we tried to learn the language... being laughed at... a lot

now we are internet cafe-ing it and then go for dinner

Africa is wonderful thus far and i could still use all the prayers you can muster... for patience and wisdom, most definetly patience because everything here is slowed way down

thanks to all who made this happen


ps bfg-i yiss mou mo such

1 pm

went to crossroads bible church today and listened to some great praise from will charla michael and danMike
rod spoke some good words on trials and relayed the thoughts of James... definetely good to hear before going into a situation full of potential trials

on my way to detroit

staying at annie's house before we fly out tomorrow morning
pizza and preparation

if you think about it we fly out at 10am give some prayers toward the Majestic One

pre packing post

1:22 pm
rockford, mi

sitting in the kitchen making a blog

4 days to go