I Spy...

My two girls have some small I spy books that they love. When they are in the car with my wife on Mondays, they love to look at them. I hear her calling out things and then I will hear one of the girls say, "I see it". Most of the time the pages are crammed full of everything imaginable. Each page has a theme, but the things in the pictures are colorful mix of the ordinary and the bazaar!

My life the last two weeks seems to have resembled one of these 'I Spy' books. To say the least it has been full. Life lately has been filled with a ton of the ordinary stuff, and a lot the abnormal also. All this activity has made it very difficult to write any updates. But after two weeks, I thought that I should attempt to talk about so of the things that have happened the last few weeks.

In the last two weeks, I spy... Family Time

-Carey has been study countries of the world. For this reason in the last few weeks our family has eaten food from and dressed up as people from the countries China, Mexico with Holland, Japan and other countries coming on the way.

Ella and Carey really enjoyed opening their mini pinatas!

Also Valentine's Day has come and gone. Though the hearts, pink, red, and white decoration are off the walls. The girls still have fun stories to remember.

I spy... Trips to the Capital with Ella

Ella joined my on a trip to the capital to pick up our paper work that the government had finished. While there we visited Ghana one and only Mall. It was great and Ell loved playing on the playground that they have outside near the food court.

I spy... A major accidents

While on our trip to the capital Andrew and I spied this accident. It was roughly around 7:00am in the morning. The accident had accorded about twenty minutes before our arrival. Two large trucks, one a tanker and the other loaded with dry goods, collided and exploded into flames. Our vehicle was in a long line of traffic that was waiting for the Fire Service to arrive and put out the flames. This picture was taken after about 2 hours of waiting while cars where allowed to pass the wreck.

I spy... A change in decade

Yes, it is try. Just last Sunday I passed into a new decade. Though I am far from old, I am no longer young (in the immature sense, at least I hope not!) Patty and the girls did great. The Andrew family was invited over. The meal was great. There where steaks, potatoes, baked beans, stir-fired vegetables, Coke, pumpkin pie! After about 30 minutes of gorging ourselves, the kids went off to play and the adults all played guitars together.

I spy... Two young boy grieving


Last Thursday one of the boys that attends are services on a regular bases on Thursday nights seemed quiet. After church my wife asked him what was trouble him, and he told her that his mother had just died a few days before. His father had divorced his mother many years and ago and was staying at his uncle house. Now that she was dead, he has no parents to help to raise him. The follow day, Andrew and I went to the family house to greet the family and pray with them. The boys seem to be doing well, but they are grieving quietly.

Also on Saturday I attended a funeral for another boy that attends services off and on. His father had died some months before. Here are some pictures from the funeral.

I spy... Asamoah recovering

This last week we visited Asomoah, and he is seeming to be recovering well. I show a x-ray and scan of his skull this week. It looks as if h has a skull fracture, but the doctor says that the operation will need to be delayed for some months to insure that all the swelling has gone down. Currently he is very open to the gospel and is able to listen well.

I spy... People coming back to church and growing

It has been very exciting to see men and women coming to the Bible Studies. Some have returned after missing for some time, some are new, some are very faithful. It has been such a blessing to see people grow and change.

Here is Andrew with a few of our young men that attend on Sunday mornings.

I spy... The City Road Construction People braking our water lines

At the end of every dry season here in Ghana, there is an unofficial holiday. It is called the Braking of the Pipes! Yes, it is the wonderful time of the year when the City Council send out road machine to fix the roads that have corroded in the last rainy season. Generally this workers, with good intentions, come to our community and start to grate the roads. The only problem is that the Water Company and Road Workers have different ideas about how deep pipes should be. Here in Ghana pipes never freeze, so they are not placed very far into the ground. Normal the lines are run about one to two feet deep. This workers great for normal stuff, but when the road here corrode by rain, it leave only about two inches between the road's surface and the pipes. So every year the same thing happens. The tractors come and put down there blades. In about 30 minutes there are about 10 to 15 broken lines, and water cover the whole road. It is all great fun! The road guys finish the job, the local plumbers come and get money for work fixing all the pipes, and the whole community comes out for the sceptical and free water. After about two hours all the buckets are full of the water that would be wasted, the pipes are fixed and recovered, and every goes home. They all 'eagerly' waiting for next years festival.

Divine Protection

What if the outcome had been different? What if a different decision had been made? All the pieces somehow seemed to fall together. It made an amazing whole, that worked out for good, when it could have been so bad. The story ended, the curtain is draw, and the listener is left with the feeling that something greater was at work. It must have been divine intervention and protection.

This is how I felt yesterday when I had a story related to me. Robert, one of the converts and faithful men of our Bible story is a security guard at a hotel in town. As our little group walked down the road together he told about his adventure from the night before. He is the story that he told me...

It all started after dark. Robert was guarding the gate of the hotel that he was standing beside, when two men approached him on a motorcycle. They came to the gate window and began to ask him about the hotel rates. Robert told me that normally he does not stand at the gate, since most evenings people do not arrive at the hotel after dark. The guard house has a television that he is allowed to watch on night duty. Anyway, this night he was manning the gate instead of sitting in the guard house when these men approached. (His presence, keep them from entering the compound, before he knew they where present). When the men began to ask questions, he sensed something wrong and locked the gate. (Hence, the importance of his not being in the guard house, since they might have been able to open before he could lock the door). After locking the door the men continued to ask about room rates, and requested to be let inside so that they could see the rates at the front desk. By this time Robert knew that something was not right, and told them that if they wanted to get a room they could pay him or come back in the morning, but he would not open the gate until otherwise. All during this time Robert was separated from his radio and could not radio is partner at the hotel. But just as the men began to get a little ruff, his partner decided to flip on the flood lights near the gate and turned on the video cameras (remember Robert had not radioed to him, he just did this by 'chance'). When the two men saw the light, they turned around and ran to the motorcycle. As they ran to the motorcycle, the one man dropped his gun that was hidden in his coat! But, the miracle does not stop there... just as the men went to pick-up the gun a police truck, full of officers with guns, drive up! (Now to the Westerner this might not sounds like a big deal, but to someone in Ghana, this is a miracle. 1. Police normally never have guns, 2. Police walk more than ride, to be using a truck is very rare, 3. The police never show up when a criminal is around. Most of the time if a person calls needing the police, they will make sure to come the following morning, just so that they do not get hurt!) But here they where. A whole truck full of Police men and with guns too! When those guy saw them coming, they left the gun and started running. The police saw them, grabbed the motorcycle and gun, and chased after them. They must have been really moving because they lost the police, but they did not come back!

Robert told me the story with a big smile on his face. He keep saying that if he had not been at the gate he would have been killed! I told him that God is good. He knew that they where coming. As we talked, I told him that divine protection is another way God blesses those that follow Him. Most people think of blessings as things that are given to us, but many times God's blessings are the things that He prevents from happening.

Spiritual Battles

Friday afternoon Andrew and I where out on visitation when the time came to visit with a family that attends the Bible Studies. The husband and wife have both been saved and have been growing in the Lord.

Once we arrived at the house, the husband greeted us and spoke with us a little before trying to head off to work. The family stays in a single room. It is a concrete slab floor, with walls made out of strap wood. The husband has worked hard to make this place a home. They use a car battery for electricity. He has placed lights and a radio and television inside. They have a small couch and even a bed. But, back to the story, as we talked with the husband he told us that his wife was sick.

After a few more minutes of talking, as the husband was heading off to work, his wife came outside. Clearly she had been crying. The husband came back over and they both sat with Andrew and I on a bench outside. The wife proceeded to tell us about the problems that they where having.

Basically the family has been under great spiritual warfare of late, and has also been burdened with family members that have asked for a lot of help, but have provided very little help themselves. After some time of encouragement and teaching an appointment was made for the husband and wife, so that they could council with my wife and I another time.

The interesting thing that I want to point out though is a statement that the wife made when we all where talking together. She told us that she had been suffering from night mares. Lately when she would go to sleep she would start to dream. In her dreams she would see people trying to split up her family by causing division. When she would start to pray in the dream the people would change forms and become mermaids. This might sounds really strange to a non-Africa reader. But here in our traditional beliefs one of the evil gods of the people groups are mermaids. In Akan belief, the head of these demons is called Mama Water. Many people belief that these wicked forces can be used by family members that want to hurt people or family members that they do not like. These dreams have caused times of great fear for these young Christians. Some people would like to just laugh at the whole notion, but weather a person believe it our not, to the young convert this conflict is real. ( Not matter what the reader thinks, we do know that Satan does hate people and does not want Christian families to stay together).

After some time of comfort, Andrew and I gave them some verses to encourage them. Also we explained to them that God does not give a spirit of fear and that they should pray together before they sleep at night and ask God to allow them to have good dreams. After a few more hours of consoling the following day, the family problems seem to be getting better and the dreams have not returned.

On thing that I have learned since arriving on the fields is that spiritual warfare is real. Satan will use our own fears and weakness if he can. But no matter the path he takes, he wants to hinder God’s work. Helping to disciple young Christians has given me a constant reminder of how diligent a person most be in pray.

Asamoah's Accident

Last night one of the young men of our Bible study came to the evening services. He told me after the service that one of his friends had been in a serious car accident. The young man that was in the accident was very seriously injured. Asamoah had been invited to church that morning, but was not interested in coming. He had been drinking the night before and had a very strong hang-over. Just two weeks before he told me that if he died that he would go to hell because he knew that he was wicked. Nat (the young man at the Bible study) was very nervous about his friend, especially since he knew that the man admitted to being unsaved. (Asamoah accident was caused by alcohol. He and his friend had been drinking heavily, when his drunken friend, that did not have a license asked him to accompany him to a bar in his car, he agreed. After the three friend boarded the vehicle, they started off to a bar a few miles away. While traveling down Lake Road, the cars front tire burst and the drunk driver lost control. The driver and one friend had minor injures, but Asamoah had internal bleed and damage to his ear and face. They took him to the emergency room at the main hospital, and where not sure he would live more then a few days).

(Continued- about five days later)
Monday morning at about 5:00 in the morning a small group of men, including Pastor Andrew, myself, Nat and a few of the boy’s friends headed off the to hospital to visit the man in the Emergency room. I was hoping the opportunity would come so I could witness to him. Fortunately for the young man a new state of the art emergency wing has been built in our main hospital and the hospital was able to give him the care that was needed so that he lived through the night. After the security guards allowed us to pass we were allowed in to visit Asamoah in the emergency ward.

There he was, a twenty something year old man, that just hours before was healthy and strong, lying in his own blood wearing nothing but a diaper. He mother was present and his father, they where feeding him and cleaning him off. (The hospitals here do not provide food, and the family is needed if the patient wants to be cared for in a personal way (i.e. changed clothes, baths, and so on). The hospitals do not have the staff to perform these task for each patient). On Monday I was able to pray with the parents and give them some comfort.

After leaving the hospital and scheduling to visit them the rest of the week, our group left. The young men that accompanied us where very shaken up by the presents of their friend, but it was a great opportunity to teach about the lies of Satan. Satan tells us that sin is enjoyable, and that though a person should repent, that he has time to do it later. He tells us to enjoy the sin today, and repent (change) before the punishment comes. But, that is not how it works. A person never knows when his day will come, and life will be over.

After a week, Asamoah is in stable condition. On Friday he was conscience enough that I was able to pray with him. I asked him if he would like to study the Bible with me the following week. He told me that he was very interested and wanted to make some changes.

Please continue to pray for Asamoah and his health. This accident has opened the door to witness to his friends and parents. Pray that they will have open minds and hearts.

Blessings!

This weekend our family was allowed to see two great blessings.

The first was in regards to a family that we have been trying to reach for months. The husband of the family, Robert, attends services on a regular basis. He has been saved and baptized. My wife has been holding a weekly Bible study with his wife for some months now. It seemed as if her Catholic background was going to completely hinder her from understanding the gospel. Finally last week all the teaching broke through. She had seen the changes in her husbands life, but was convinced that she had something to do with this, and was using this belief as evidence that she was not needy of salvation. Well, after many weeks of prayer and teaching the truth of the Bible made it through this stronghold of being unteachable. After about a two hour Bible study, Alica trusted Christ as her personal Savior. It was very exciting for Patty to see. This marks the second full family that has come to personally know Christ.

The second thing regards our friend, Gifty, that has traveled to the United States on scholarship. She is attending a University in Virginia for two years and then will be returning to Kumasi to teach. Before leaving she asked us to find a good Baptist church for her to attend while in the United States. She told our family that she really wanted to be involved in church and have people that will help her to grow spiritually. Also she wanted a place where she felt that she could minister. Well, after searching my wife and I found two churches that seemed to match our teaching and focus. After arriving in Virginia, Gifty tried the one, but it was very far away. Which would make it hard, since she does not have any car. So she decided to call the other church. They told her that they had no way to get her to church, but gave her another church to contact. They said that that church had an active University ministry, and also shuttled students to church each service. After calling the church, they told her that they would pick her up on Sunday. Low and behold, on Sunday, when the college ministry pastor picked her up, he knew of our ministry here. Also she found out our family knows him. The college ministry pastor was a great assistant pastor at a church that has supported us for years. God is so amazing!

Dealing with Crazy People!

On Sunday in our morning and evening Bible studies I taught about the maniac of Gederra. During our teaching time I had the opportunity to share a few of our family experiences with crazy people. The people found these quite funny. After church when I was talking to Patty about the services, I realized that I have never written these experiences down. So in an event to make sure that these interesting tidbits do not get lost, I want to relate them here today.

First the reader must understand that the government of Ghana tries hard to take care of the people with special needs, but in a place that has barely enough money to maintain the things that are needed for normal citizens, the moneys for other groups is not available. For this reason, one thing a new coming to Ghana will see in the city are crazy people.

These crazy can be quite colorful. Most communities will have one or two. These people each have their own character and personality. There is the guy near Anloga River that caries around children’s toys. There is the crazy guy at Bomso that wears about 15 coats, even though it is about 100 degree out. There are ones that collect plastic bags, or hats, or watches. They all have different reason for going crazy, and if a person asks, many people around know the reason. Some go crazy from using drugs, some have sickness or fevers that have affected their mind, some use ju-ju (black magic) and it drives them crazy, and some are just demon possessed.

One thing that is generally true about crazy people here is that a person can tell how long a person has been crazy by their appearance. They start off pretty normal looking real, they just have a distant look in the eyes, and they start to wonder around. Then the clothes become more dirty, next the clothes are almost black with dirt. Finally the clothes become very ripped, until some of them wear no clothes at all.

Most people here have learned to deal with crazy people, since they have seen them their whole life. (For a stranger to Ghana these people can be quite frightening). Most are harmless, but some at times can be violent, and since all the asylums are full, most people try to stir clear of them. If a crazy person walks near a chop-bar (local restaurant) the worker will prepare a small amount of food in a bag, give it to the person so they will go quickly, and not cause trouble for them. Overall people just try not to get the crazy peoples attention. After some time they normal leave and go on their way.

But being white in a nation where most people are black makes it a little more difficult to not get a crazy person’s attention, since even a crazy man in Ghana finds bronis interesting. Thus, our stories begin...

The Crazy Guy with a Comb-

I think that Patty and I had lived in Ghana for about two months. At that time our apartment was in a local community called Anloga. Patty was about 8 months pregnant, but still liked to go visiting with me, even though there was a lot of walking.

So one day about 2:00 in the afternoon, Patty and I went out to invite some people to church. After about 30 minutes, visitation had brought us to the area near Anloga’s local market, and allowed us to talk to a lot of people.

This is when Patty and I gained our first experience around crazy people. My wife and I where talking to some ladies in a salon, when a crazy man walked up. At first he just stood a few feet away. I saw him out of the corner of my eye, but figured that he would just keep walking. But no such luck. All of a sudden, the guy pulls out an old comb from his bag, and proceeds to comb my wives hair. She was in total shock. I could she the horror all over her face, as she tried to figure out what was going on, and what was in that comb!

There I was, husband, missionary, and soon to be father. What did I do? I tried to tell the guy to leave, but he was not listening to rational thinking, I mean, he was a crazy guy. My mind keep spinning. Did I grab a stick and hit the guy, did I push him away, ignore him and pray he left? (A the reader might thing he would hall off and hit the guy, but remember that Patty was pregnant and I was not sure if the guy was violent!) As I tried to figure out what do, the smallest lady in the shop grabbed a big stick and started whacking the guy! I mean she went at him, like Hank Aaron with a Louville Slugger. That crazy guy turned tail, and ran as fast as he could. The crowd that had gathered started laughing, and after a few moments, so did Patty. So, that was our first experience around crazy people. (Now I know what do if a crazy guy tries to comb my hair!)

The Follower-
One day our family took a walk together over on the campus of the University. On this day as our family was walking back home a newly crazy man began to follow us. (We could tell that this was true about this guy because his clothes wear fairly clean). At first I thought that he would get board and just stop following, but after taking about 7 turns to loss the guy, he was still about 100 yards behind us.

Needless to say Patty really did not want this guy to know our house and sit outside all day, to which I heartily agreed. So I came up with our plan. Once we reached the road, that divided our community from the campus, the girls and Patty would run to the house and I would walk slowly another way. See, the main road to Accra is raised very high, and since the guy was far behind, once the girls got over the road, they could run to our house without being seen, and the guy would not know where we lived.

So over the road they went, and into the house. The crazy guy did not see them, he soon found me. I had stopped at a local salon to see what he would do. So there I sat. Most salons here in Ghana have chairs outside for people to sit in while they wait, and cokes to drink. So I sat down, told the ladies my story, and bought a Coke, waiting, hoping the guy would get tired of watching me drink, and head on his way, so I could go home.

No luck! The guy just stood there for about 30 minutes staring at me. The girls at the shop thought it was funny at first, but after about 30 minutes, they asked me to leave, because the guy was scaring off customers. Off I went again, walking down the road, with this crazy guy following me.

Most of the people around here know me and keep asking how my ‘friend’ was, with a laugh. After leaving the salon, I decided to walk to our neighborhood Shell station and see if the Security guard there might help. Well, after arriving, I told all the people inside. They just told me to buy an ice cream and wait him out. The manger had the security guard, one of my friends, go try to talk to guy, but that did not help. He (the crazy guy) was loopy. No talking, just staring!

So, finally after another 45 minutes and few ice-creams. The manger got a good idea: He said to just walk to the junction, grab a taxi or tro-tro and get a ride to town. Crazy guys cannot ride tro-tros. Then after a few minutes come back. Once the guy sees me leave, he will get board and go away. So I tried it, and it worked! By the time I got back he was gone, and I had a funny story to tell that cost me about three hours.

These are our two funniest crazy person stories. In the six years that our family has lived here, we have become pretty good at knowing how to handle these kinds of rare circumstance when they do happen, but they do make for good stories.

(Note- by the way, these stories are a collect of events over six years of time. Please do not get the impress that there are tons of crazy dangerous people walking around Ghana. The few crazy people of Ghana are not dangerous generally. These stories are just told for memory sake, and are not intended to be dramatization of the mission filed.)