Tumor

This man's large tumor is essentially inoperable here.  I met this Muslim man in clinic and had to break the bad news to him.  We sent him to our chaplain so he could be introduced to the Great Physician.  Please pray that he will meet the Savior before he meets his maker.  Also, be in prayer for all the other people we will encounter in clinic who need to hear the good news, as well.  Pray that we can use the opportunity of illness to point them to Jesus.  

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Cindy's Gettin' a New Dress!

Here is Cindy with Salifu, a local tailor.  You can find really inexpensive, yet beautiful, patterned fabric here and have it sewn into personally tailored clothes.  She took him the thread today.  When it’s finished we will upload a picture.  Allie and Natalie have each had something made too.  We will show you theirs too.  Stay tuned!

Our God is OUR marvelous Creator.  Psalm 139:14  reads “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;  your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

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Goats

I just couldn’t resist this picture of our neighbors’ pet goat and her new baby.  This was taken along the trail that leads from our house (House 8) to the hospital.

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Salad Bar

Cindy just bought some vegetables off a ladies’ head.  Not the most bountiful display  you have every seen, huh?  .  .  .  .    Our vegetable selection here is pretty scarce.  We can also find very small onions, very small tomatoes and very LARGE okra in the local market (not the supermarket silly -- the open air market every 3rd day where locals try to sell their goods and make a living).  

As for fruit, there are small bananas, small watermelons, small oranges, even smaller limes and very LARGE, DELICIOUS MANGOES!  I (Keenan) have fallen in LOVE with mangoes.  They are unlike any mango I have ever eaten in the states.  I am told that these are actually hybrid mangoes that grow farther south near the center of Ghana.  I am also told that they are just “in season” now.  Guess we better enjoy them while we can.  

We are hopeful that as we progress through this rainy season that the crops will be bountiful so the people of Nalerigu will have plenty to eat AND plenty to sell.

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Beautiful Feet

Romans 10:15 says “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”  This pile of shoes could make you think of this verse.  Especially if you know that it’s a pile of missionaries’ shoes at their weekly prayer meeting.  But as I look around at the missionaries’ feet, “beautiful” is not the first thing that comes to mind.

A pile of shoes just inside the front door is a typical sight here on our compound in Nalerigu.  Since everywhere we walk is red clay dirt and sand, our shoes get pretty dirty so we don’t want to track the dust onto the tile floors of our homes.   And since we all wear sandals or flip-flops, our FEET stay pretty dirty, too.  In fact, really nasty at times.

So as I look around at a bunch of dirty, bare feet, the scripture that more aptly comes to my mind is John chapter 13 where Jesus washed the feet of His disciples.  Such a simple act, but a very complex display of servitude.  That the Son of God would not only come to earth, but then stoop to wash the dirty, filthy feet of his followers.  Such humility.  Such selflessness.  

Lord, please help us to exhibit the same humility and selflessness in our lives as we take our dirty, dusty feet all over this village.  

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Trip to Zambulugu

Yesterday morning, Cindy and Natalie went with Mona Hewitt, a long-term missionary here, to take a lady home who had just delivered twins three days before.  The mother had asked Mona if she would give here a ride home because she had no transportation and she had not only one new infant, but two.

This is not usually done because there are so many who could use transportation that there's no way to answer all of the requests.  Nonetheless, Cindy and Mona could empathize with the new mother and agreed to take her.

Her village of Zambulugu is about 30 minutes drive from our village of Nalerigu.  The trip took them off the "main" dirt road that leads out of our village onto a smaller dirt road.  This eventually narrowed to a narrow foot path but the truck could still drive down it (after they got the cows out of the way).  They passed a school where all the school kids were smiling, waving and yelling "Sulaminga!" which means "white man."  (We hear this a lot when we are in the market.  I guess since we are just one of 4 families of white people in the village, we really stand out! )  Soon the path narrowed to the point that they had to walk for about 10 minutes to reach the village.

                                                                                                                                              Photo by Mona Hewitt

As they walked through the corn field and approached the village, a lady came out to greet them and see the new twins.  Then, as they entered the mud hut compound, they passed a man weaving thatch for a roof.  

                                                                                                                                               Photo by Mona Hewitt

The central gathering area of the compound was concrete, but the huts that were along the perimeter had dirt floors.  They followed the mother into her hut where she laid the newborns onto a mat on the floor.  Inside the huts were mostly just mats on the floor and some pots stacked in the corner.  

After a quick stop in the hut next door to meet the grandmother of the twins, they began making their way to leave.  They soon realized that many of the school children had now made their way into the small village.  People in Ghana are generally very friendly and hospitable, but the children especially like to run and greet you.  So after a photo session, they returned home!

                                                                                                                                               Photo by Mona Hewitt

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Malaria

                                                                                                 Photo by Mona Hewitt
Right now we are in the rainy season which is good because it means it's cooler and greener than the rest of the year.  It's still hot since we have no air conditioner, but actually doesn't seem as hot as MS. This is good for our comfort, but not for the health of the people here because it means malaria season for them.  In fact, the majority of the patients we have inpatient have malaria.  The other major diagnoses are snake bite (lots of them!), typhoid fever, pregnancy and wound infections.   I had never seen a single patient with malaria before coming here, but I'm quickly becoming an expert!  The pediatric wards (ages 5 years and under) is overflowing.  One day there were 59 pediatrics patients on that ward alone!

Most of the kids get better quickly (1-3 days) and go home on oral medications, but some can get really sick with seizures,anemia and even die.  The malaria parasites live inside the red blood cells and cause the cells to burst, thus the anemia.  We give lots of transfusions here which is surprising considering the patient's family must supply the blood.  The lab determines the blood type and the family must find a compatible donor.  If they can't find a donor there are people who sell their blood which can sometimes cost as much as the entire hospital stay.  


The whole blood donation process here really makes me think of how we are condemned to die without the blood of Jesus that saves us.  It's a great opportunity for us to share that truth with people.


"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life."  John 3:16


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Love in Any Language

Since this is a christian-run hospital, many workers are christian and there is an excellent pastoral / chaplaincy staff who are always available.  We just write a consult on the chart and they take care of it. Before coming here, I had never seen an order that read "chaplain to pray with patient and share Christ."  I actually had a pretty amazing experience recently when Dr. Hewitt shared Christ with a patient who was found to have cancer.  Essentially all cancer here is fatal because it is usually found in advanced stages and there's not much that can be done.  This particular patient did not speak the local Mampruli language but one of another area tribe.  So the doctor spoke English to the chaplain who spoke Mampruli to another interpreter who spoke to the patient in his heart language.  Then whenever the patient would say something it would go the reverse in the chain of translation.  But neither God nor His message of the gospel of Jesus is hindered by language barriers.  The man prayed to receive Christ that very moment!


Thank you, God, that even though it was YOU who confused the languages of the people at the Tower of Babel and then scattered the people abroad, it is also YOU who works through ALL languages to bring salvation to mankind.


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More About BMC

The hospital has, I think, 128 "beds."  I haven't actually counted them but it really doesn't matter because when they are all full, they just put patients on the floor which means there is no maximum number of patients.  When you go into the wards, any charts that have an "X" after the number means "extra".  So if it says 3 - 8 X, it's in ward 3 and on the floor beside bed 8.  There are separate wards for men, women, pediatrics, isolation (mostly long-term wound care) and TB.  There is an entire separate TB village nearby where TB patients go for long-term treatment, but if they get sick with any other problem, they are put into the TB ward.  Patients' families provide all meal for the patients and do any bathing / cleaning / "toileting" for the patients.  Also, they pay a deposit before they can be admitted and when they are discharged we write the order "DIMP" which means "discharge if money paid".  They actually have to lay in the bed until the family comes up with payment.  The total cost of their stay is probably only about 30 Ghanain Cedis which is about $21 for us but for them is a fortune.  There is actually a national health insurance program and a lot of them have it.  I am told it costs about $12 / year but when they leave the hospital, they pay nothing.  


A little different from our US health system, huh!


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Hometown Folks Come to Visit

 

Last week we had such a treat when some fellow Winonians (is that even a word?) came to visit.  Walker Jackson, Ben McNeer and Cheyenne (sorry, I don't even know your last name but it's soon-to-be McNeer).  They have been working just northwest of us in and around the town of Bolga here in Ghana.  They have been building desks and encouraging teachers with The Desk Project.  They rode several hours on several buses over MANY miles of VERY bumpy roads to get here.  The arrived just in time for our "Station Meeting" where we had supper and a time of worship and prayer.  Then we came to our house and just "chilled" a while hearing about their adventures in the Bolga area as God was using them in such a real way.  It was such a special occasion that we even opened up some Pringles, Oreos and cold Cokes!!

Check out their website at The Desk Project to learn more about their ministry.  Also, be in prayer for this ministry as they follow God's leadership and take His message and His glory to the ends of the earth!!

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Wounds and Ways to Get Involved

****  WARNING ****
This blog contains some graphic descriptions and pictures.  For those weak in the stomach, you may want to skip over it.

I haven't really talked much about the hospital yet, so I want to write a bit to give you an idea of how it is here at Baptist Medical Centre, Nalerigu.  I will do this over several blogs, so stay tuned.

One common disease we see is called necrotizing fasciitis.  It is an infection in the skin that likely starts as some small sore, but the infection spreads to the surrounding tissue along the tissue around the muscles (fascia) and the tissue and skin begins to "rot" (or necrose) -- thus necrotizing fasciitis.  So now you've learned a little medical jargon.

Many times when the local people get skin infections they will use local treatment that often involves wrapping the limb that has the sore in a compost of crushed leaves, mud and manure.  Needless to say, this does not help the infection go away.  So the small infection then smolders and spreads underneath the bandage.  Eventually, when the patient's skin begins to slough off down to the muscle, they will come to the hospital with a limb that looks  somewhat like this:

The dark areas are not just her skin -- it's the dried "medicine" that was applied elsewhere in the village.  The red areas are actually muscle!!  The treatment is to remove all the dead and dying tissue as well as all the pus (sorry to be so graphic, but you WERE warned!).  The procedure is pretty gross -- both to the eye AND to the nose.  Just ask Cindy or Allie.  They were both in the "operating room" when this wound was cleaned up.  (The "operating room" here is called the Theatre -- it is the British influence from when Ghana was a British colony.  That also accounts for the "re" in "theatre" and "centre").  Here's a picture of the floor after the debridement was complete.

Then the wound is wrapped with bandages and then cleaned and re-wrapped every day.  Periodically, the wound has to go back for more cleaning and debridement if more skin tissue dies.  Eventually, when the infection is all clear, the patient will receive skin grafts here at BMC.  Surprisingly, they tend to do very well.

How can you get involved with this?  The bandages that we use here at BMC are all recycled bedsheets that are cut and packaged in the States.  Check out how you or your church / small group / Sunday School class can get involved in the "Bandage Project" by clicking  HERE.

Ministering at Koko-Duu

We have encouraged the kids to seek out ministry opportunities that allow them to serve in some way while we are in Ghana.  We want our time here to be more than just Dad working at the hospital.  Today, Evan and Allie sang some songs at Koko Duu, a nutrition center at the hospital that allows mothers to bring their small babies to receive nutritional food and education on how to prepare nutritious food for their child (more about Koko-Duu).  Every day there is a time of singing and devotion where the mothers are told the good news of Jesus Christ.  How wonderful that these desperate women and children can receive both food for the body as well as for the soul!

"My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;  with singing lips my mouth will praise you."  Psalm 63:5

Trip to the Witches' Camp

Today I (Cindy) was able to travel to Gambaga , a few minutes' drive from 

Nalerigu, to visit the outcast or "witches" camp.  I went with Wendy, 

another volunteer (not IMB supported) missionary, like us, who has 

been ministering to these ladies for about a year. When we walked in, 

the ladies clapped and cheered because they so appreciate the visits 

Wendy has made in the past. 

These women are social outcasts, accused of witchcraft, and banished 

from their homes. They have been accused by disgruntled husbands, 

abused by family, or just generally disliked by social rivals. Someone 

who gets mad at them for whatever reason can say they are having 

dreams about them and that they have seen lights in the trees trying to 

steal their souls. Much superstition and ignorance prevail and these 

women are told they are witches and to get lost. Some say they have 

no choice but to believe the lies. They have become widows and 

orphans because many bring their children with them to help with the 

planting and work in the house. 

A local chief in Gambaga has given these women ìprotectionî and 

allows them to stay in the village. They are being ministered to by 

Madam Larubah, a Ghana resident who ministers by the support of the 

local Presbyterian church. She helps these 85+ women by providing 

beads and jewelry making supplies for the ladies to make bracelets and 

such to earn some extra income. More importantly, she helps them 

realize who they are in Christ and not to believe the lies of the enemy. 

I was moved to tears when I saw the newest member of the group, a 12 

year old girl who was told she had stolen someone's soul and that she was a 

witch. All I could think about was, "that could be Allie or Natalie!"  But 

by God's grace and provision she was led to the group and now she will 

hear the Truth and know that she is special and loved. How so much 

injustice exists is overwhelming to me at times. 

We, too, are tempted to believe the lies of the enemy. I was tempted 

before we left to come to Ghana. "You can't live there 6 months! You 

will never make a difference! Why waste your time and money? It will 

be too hard for you." All these lies I was tempted to believe but I know 

the One who sent me will provide all that I need. I know the Truth is 

that God is using us to show love and acceptance to the least of these. 

Praise to God who gives us truth to share in the journey He has for us. 

James 1:27 says "religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this:  to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

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Sunday

Photo by Mona Hewitt

This past Sunday we worshiped at a Fulani church.  Here we are with the pastor after the service.  

Photo by Mona Hewitt

After church we went to Nakpanduri to an escarpment and hiked up to the ridge.  From there we could see as far as Burkina Faso.

Photo by Mona Hewitt

Photo by Mona Hewitt

After wards we visited at the home of an American lady who has lived in Ghana for many years.  Here is a picture of her pet baboon and monkey.

Photo by Mona Hewitt

Photo by Mona Hewitt

Afterwards we had a refreshing Coke.  Ahhhhhh!! 

Photo by Mona Hewitt

It was great to be in the house of the Lord and then have a restful day enjoying His creation!

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New Critters

Before coming here, Cindy had heard a story about a man who came here on a mission trip and was stung by a scorpion so she had really panicked about the scorpions.  Then, when we were talking with some missionary friends who spent 10-15 years in Ghana, they said we didn’t need to worry about the scorpions it was the SNAKES we should worry about.  Yes -- KING COBRAS --  but the missionaries here say don’t worry, they’ve not even seen any snakes yet since they returned here from furlough 2 weeks ago!!  YET??  That’s not too comforting!!  

Last night we were hearing this constant chirping noise outside.  At first, I thought it was some sort of alarm because it was so consistent and regular.  I went outside and realized it was coming from the trees.  I then assumed it must be frogs chirping because Evan said he had seen some really big frogs.  Later we found out that the noise was not frogs but BATS!  I was hoping Cindy would not find out but it was too late.  She didn’t freak completely out.  In fact, she was pretty calm.  She was equally as calm when we found a gecko in our living room -- and stayed calm even when it went under our couch and we never could find it.  No really -- it’s still loose somewhere in our house and she’s fine.  I guess she’s thinking, “Well, at least it’s not a scorpion or cobra!”

Thank you, God, for your peace that passes all understanding!

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New Chores

Since arriving at our new home, we’ve started racking up a new set of chores we thought we would share with y’all:

• Fill big orange Igloo cooler with filtered water from the one faucet in the house with a filter
• Make up a pitcher of milk from powder
• Burn the trash
• Fill the ice trays with the filtered water
• Wash all fresh vegetables and eggs in bleach water before eating
• Cook EVERYTHING from scratch
• Hang ALL clothes to dry
• Replacing the glass-bottled coke in the refrigerator in order to always have cold ones without using up the precious ice from the newly-filled ice trays
• Returning the glass bottles to the “Coke” store when we are finished

We are SOOOO spoiled!

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Crisis

Today, Cindy and Natalie went with the Hewitt’s back into Tamale (bouncy dirt road, Wale Wale, etc) for a supply run.  We brought some “special” foods from home that we knew we would not be able to get here but we knew we would need to stock up on some staples here.  Tamale (2 hours away) is the closest place to get some things.  We went into the market area here yesterday and pretty much can get fresh bread, fresh in season fruits (now oranges, bananas, mangos, watermelon), tomatoes, onions, red peppers, dried beens, powdered milk, tea, flour, sugar, canned fish, tomato sauce -- and lots of hair extensions and hair products -- I’m thinking about buying me some hair!  There is a “Coke” store where we can get glass bottles of Coke, Sprite, Fanta and Bitter Lemon.  No Diet Coke.  Did you hear me?  No Diet Coke.  

Anyway, Cindy went for a supply run and had a long, hard day.  She was able to get a lot of needed things so we feel much more prepared for meals.  That made us feel better and more “secure”.  After all, we are foodies!

Since Tamale is also the closest place to use an ATM (yea!  2 hours away from an ATM in an all-cash society)  We did get some cash in Accra before coming here but you can only get so much out of ATM’s at one time on any given day.  Since she was going, we decided to get some extra since we had no idea when we would get a chance to go  back.  (I feel SO like Little House on the Prairie!)  Somehow, in the process, the ATM machine ATE Cindy’s debit card!!  And the bank would not give it back to her.  Apparently the “policy” when this happens is to mail it back to the address on the card.  Now, if we happened to be in Memphis, this would not be so bad.  Considering we are NOT in Memphis (or Kansas for that matter) it creates a bit of a problem.  Yes, I still have a debit card, but I am not in Tamale and we don’t know when anyone will be heading that way again.  Luckily, we have email access (most of the time) so I contacted Kathy Thomas (THANKS KATHY!) to just cancel Cindy’s card.  We would make do with ours until we can get a new one mailed to us (3+ weeks just to transport it -- not counting processing a new one) but since my card has the same number on it, it would cancel mine too leaving us with NO access to cash in a cash-only society!!

Needless to say, we had a momentary breakdown over this but we are all ok now.  After all, we still have SOME money here, we just stocked up on supplies that should last a while, they sell rice and beans here in Nalerigu really cheap (sense of humor, check!), . . .  AND . . . we were sent here by a God who provides for our needs.  We know that and have already experienced that.  Why would He send us here only to drop us without any provision.  God is good and we trust in that truth!

Thank you, Father, for always giving us just what we need . . . just when we need it!

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New Neighbors

When we arrived into Nalerigu, we made the very short pass through “town” to the Baptist Medical Centre compound where we will be living.  It is a 100 acre, fairly wooded guarded compound with the hospital and various missionary and guest houses.  

We were driven right up to our front door and found a “Welcome to Nalerigu Wilsons” sign on the front door.  

AAAWWWWWW!!  Just inside, we found some freshly baked zucchini bread from the Hewitts.  (That won’t last long around us!)  Soon afterwards we were welcomed by other missionary neighbors and helpers from around the compound.  They brought us fresh bread, fresh eggs, butter and ICE CREAM!  

One of the helpers was named Caleb.  First it was Solomon in Accra, now Caleb in Nalerigu.  I like that.  We need the wisdom of Solomon and the faithful optimism of Caleb!

They had made us lunch at the guesthouse so we ate then settled down for a well-needed nap!

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Van Ride From Tamale to Nalerigu

My first reaction outside the Tamale airport was “we’ve just landed on the safari ride at Disney’s Animal Kingdom!  (Kudo’s to Disney for creating such an authentic environment.)  The air was refreshingly, and surprisingly, cool and nothing could be seen in any direction but African plains and small trees.  Although no wild animals yet, the terrain, trees and termite towers certainly do remind us of that.

Our ride to Tamale was fairly uneventful.  We were on a paved road for one hour to Wale Wale (pronounced “wahllie wahllie”) then turned onto a dirt road for another hour to Nalerigu.  When I say dirt -- I mean dirt -- no gravel and apparently no road graders.  We are in the rainy season now so there were lots of areas where the road was washing away.  And I am beginning to think rainy season just means that they get SOME rain as opposed to the dry season when they get virtually no rain.  We once again felt like we were on some amusement park ride bouncing up and down / side to side.  On this road we began to see mainly thatched-roofed mud huts.  When we would pass by people (in various degrees of clothing) they would just smile huge smiles and wave.  These are a very hospitable and welcoming people!  We once again felt like celebrities as we trudged deeper into the African countryside.  

We thank God for his grace and mercy in helping us to safely arrive in our home-away-from-home.

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Firsts and Fraudsters

We have experienced many "firsts" along the way so far:


In Atlanta, we boarded the plane and got all situated -- along with the however-many-hundred other people on the plane.  Just when were about to take pull away from the terminal, there was announcement that there was a “maintenance issue” that needed to be fixed before we left.  A few minutes later, the announcement was “the maintenance department tells us that this plane is going nowhere tonight.”  Then we --along with the however-many-hundred other people on the plane -- were told to gather our belongings and get back OFF the plane and wait in the terminal [FIRST]  They would “see if” they could find another plane and, hopefully, be able to get us out later that night.  Fortunately, the WERE able to do that and we were only delayed by about 2 hours.  We were all relieved at the “quick” turnaround on the new plane until the next morning (it was an 11 hour overnight flight) the announcement was “when we changed planes they forgot to load half of our food so we don’t have enough food to go around.  [FIRST]  But we made it on to Accra  with a smooth landing that received a round of applause from the passengers (I love it when they do that!)

We had been warned by our Samaritan’s Purse coordinator that in the luggage terminal there would be people who would try to help you with your luggage, but would then want you to pay them.  There were even warning signs telling people to beware of “fraudsters” and only deal with “official airport personnel”.  So, we were determined to avoid the fraudsters.  When we got to the luggage claim area, there were uniformed men in yellow reflector vests with “official airport personnel” badges on that quickly assisted us in getting all our luggage (more about our luggage later) onto the luggage carts.  Soon afterwards, one of them told me “you have to give me something (ie, money).  OUCH -- a fraudster!  Considering we did have a lot of very heavy bags and they DID indeed help us get them all loaded very quickly, I gave them $20 to split between the 3 or 4 of them.  

Team Meeting

Every Thursday night all the American missionaries and any volunteers that are here have a mid-week prayer meeting.  Since we arrived on Thursday, we were able to have this special time on our first night in Nalerigu.  We all shared a meal, sang songs, had a devotional time and prayed.  Our devotion was about God’s amazing love.  We sang “Amazing Grace” and “Amazing Love”. It was a very special, spirit-filled time of praising the Lord.  I was particularly touched by how the missionary kids (MK’s) participated in singing and praying.  It was so humbling and inspiring to hear these kids, some as young as 6 years old, voice such eloquent, heart-felt prayers.

We finished our time together with a birthday celebration for one of the volunteers then had chocolate cake and ice cream!!  I know we haven’t been here long, but I could already tell that THIS is a very special treat.  I hope we have many more birthdays to celebrate!

Thanks for your faithfulness in reading this.  I can’t imagine how it could be interesting to anyone else.  But I know it will serve as a special reminder to us later as we reflect over how God has provided (and will provide) for all our needs.  We are grateful for his mercies in allowing to us to serve in His kingdom purpose in this unique way.

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Going, Going . . . .

Well, we still can’t believe it but we are at our gate in Atlanta waiting on our flight to Accra.  This past weekend we had a wonderful time of visiting with family and friends.  On Sunday night our church had a special “sending out” service for us.  We were blown away by the display of love and support.  Our church was packed with family and friends.  Some of our close friends shared scripture and songs but the most touching was the time of laying on of hands and praying over us.  We truly feel the power of the prayers being breathed on our behalf.  After church, we had a “finger food fellowship”.  What goes better with family and friends than FOOD.  It was awesome.  Cindy’s sister, Carol, made cupcakes that had Ghanaian flags stuck in them.  (Thanks Carol!)  

Our transition from Winona to the airport could not have gone any more smoothly.  All our “luggage” (mostly cardboard boxes) fit into one pick-up load!  Thomas and June Nolen came and got our luggage then invited us to stay with them last night in Madison.  We had a great meal and rest then they got us to the airport this morning.  I really think the Delta airline workers probably wanted to take their coffee break when they saw us coming!  While surveying the pile of stuff, the clerk asked politely, “Are you moving?  Or are you missionaries?”  Well, . . . .  maybe both.  But she was great and got us all checked in without any hassles.

Thank you all for your encouragement, support (emotionally, spiritually AND financially!) and, most importantly, your PRAYERS!

We plan to update the blog often.  Not sure how our internet connections will be over the next few days.  We leave here (Atlanta) at 7:30 pm for our 12 hour overnight flight.  We land in Accra (the capital of Ghana) Wednesday about mid-day.  There we meet Solomon who will take us to a guest house there until our 6 am flight Thursday to Tamale.  From Tamale we have a 2 hour car ride into the village of Nalerigu.  We should arrive there sometime Thursday afternoon / evening.

I want to share something that God reminded me Sunday night.  During the worship service, there was a song played  -- “God of This City” -- that said “greater things are yet to come, and greater things are still to be done in this city.”  John 14:12 says “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing.  He will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father.”  [emphasis added]  How awesome to think that when Jesus returned to the Father, He left His Holy Spirit not just WITH us, but actually WITHIN us to accomplish these greater things!  Why should we fear . . . .

Feel free to send us comments on this blog or to email us.  We look forward to hearing from you.

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