Hospitals, Landladies, and Translators oh my...

Yes, this has been a week to beat the band. It has been one of those Wizard of Oz type things, a person has a great adventure, but at the end just wants to click their heals together and go home and rest. (But, I will tell you this, the work we got done, and thing that where acomplsihed, made it all worth while).

We to start... Well the best place would seem to be Monday, since thats the first day of the week. Monday we got a call about a young couple that has been attending our Bible studies on a regualr basis. They are from the north and both where raised in Tranditional beleives. The are very new to Christian ideas, and their families are not happy that they have stopped worshipping their gods. When Dora (the couples sister) called me on Monday she told me that they where at the main hospital in town, and that their son was not breathing or moving. Dora told us that he had been sick on Sunday, and after receiving medical help from a local hospital, they returned home. But on MOnday morning the boy's condition had gotten worse, and so they took himto another hospital. At this hospital they told him that the case was to serious for him, and to take the boy to the main hospital in town. By the time that they reached there, the boy was not breathing or moving.

Bismark and his wife whee for concerned that their son would die. Dora told me that she was praying that the boy would recover. She said that she felt it was Satan fighting against the gospel. After saying this she went on to explai. Basically, when she rejected the family gods, the family told here that she would die young and all the family memebers that would follow her. She said, that it Benedict where to die, the fmaily would come to the parents and tell tehm taht he had died because they had turned away from teh gods. She felt that this was a battle for her brotehr-in-law and sisters souls.

Well, to make a long store short, we got the call at 11:00 pm on Monday, the hospital was closed for visitors unitl 5:00 the next morning. So we had to wait. So off we went the next morning. We where able to catch a taxi and arrive before they opened the gates. We praise the Lord that we where able to comfort the family, adn pray with them.

Basically over the next few days, we where able to visit an perpare food for the family. Overall it was a gerat way to dimistrate the love of Christ. The greatest part of all, is that the medicine and prayers worker, and Benedict has recovered. The fmaily was very excited and keep praising the Lord for his healing power. The whole family was in church on Sunday and we where able to tell all the people about how God answers prayer.

Well, that was part of Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Well, splash on top of that three days of all day visitation, salvation Bibles studies, and walking. We where tried, but had a great time. We where able to speak to alot of people. Not only hav ewe been able to start new Bible studies, we have start these Studies with new trainees. Currently we have three young men that are helping us in our visitation efforts. Saturday of this last week, Inusah and I where supposed to visit is Muslim sister that wants to convert to Christianity, but we ran into a little snag. His house got flooded. Yes flooded! Our rainy season has been quite heavy these last two weeks, and some of our people that attend our Bible studies live, near a large river that flows by Anloga. The river is not properly channeled, so it floods anytime it rains heavely. Well, tha tis just what it did on Friday night. Three of my Bible study boy wake up in the middle of the night with three foot of water in their rooms. Needless to say, they where pretty busy cleaning out the house, not to mention that the river was difficult to pass. So, we did not get to go visiting together, but we did have some intersting conversation as tolked that morning.

Then came the landlady... we have been cleaning our house for about three weeks now, after removing everythig and spraying for cockroaches, into all this mess, feel our landlady. She had returned with her brothers and sister from overseas, because here borther had died. Well, after seeing all the caouse, she seemed a little angry, but Friday seemed to be climax of it all. Basically for about two weeks, all the families in our apartment building have been walking on pins and needles. No children playing out side, no making any noise, just lock the doors and stay hiden when the lady is around. But, Friday the storm came. See, I am the tenet incharge of the house, i make sure everything is in proper order, and to put it basically, things where not up to standard around here. So there I was Friday morning, feeling like a person wearing rudy red slippers, and the women talking to me was angry because my house just dropped on her sister. Get the picture! But, the Lord worked it all out. I learned that the best answer at times is not answer. All the tenants went to their family home on Sunday afternnon, and it looks like everything is all better, for now!

So the week was a fun, intersting, exciting jubble of work, activity, and stress. But that leds us to Sunday. Sunday morning came and went. W ehad three adult men, and one teenager visit. We had a great service. Then after visiting our landladies family, we headed off to evening service. IT had rained and the weather was very cloud here, about 70 degrees. The serve went well, and the preaching seemed to help everyone. But, I have a funny story to relate. I have a young community college guy that helps with translation for me, while my friend Kofi travels during his summer break. Fred, the young man, does a great job, and speaks enlgish and twi well. But, Sunday we ran into a snag. Many times here people will incorporate English into their Twi vocalbulary, giving the word a new meaing, but not with proper unsdertanding of the English words meaning or usage. One such word that has begun to be used alot in Ghana is an MAerica curse word that starts with the letter f. I have be shocked at times to hear people use this word in ther Twi, but each time they seem not to understand the word in it's English context. Well, this brings us to Sunday night. I was preaching about Satan, and that he is crafty, treaty, and clever. I was trying to diiscribe him as our enemy, and during this time, as Fre dwas translating, he used a local English. Twi expression that people use when talking about people that are crafty or powerful. So right in the middle of my sermon, Fred proceeds to say in Twi that satan is... f****** (saying three times for enfuses)! I WAS SHOCKED! Most people took it for it's local new meaning, but a few welled educated and a few missionary where in shock. I have to admit that it took me a couple of seconds to recover from that. So needless to say, I have discovered a area that Fred and I will talk about this week. I really beleive that he did not sin, but I do beleive he needs to be taught what the words mean, and that they should not be used.

So that story tops off the week. It has been a whirl-wind, it will be intersting to see what this week bring around, I am sure it will be exciting.

Being Spent for Them-

2 Corinthians 12:15 And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.

Early on as a missionary a person is called to serve people. This all seems so glamorous as a missionary is preparing for the field and traveling on deputation. The thought of self-sacrifice and surrender is romantic and in the future. Then the missionary arrives, and the spending begins. And like always the flesh begins to rebel as the cost mounts and the mind begins to take tally. The hardest part of serving is the spending, and the hardest part of spending is the spending of self. The missionary finds out early that it is much easier to pay all the bills, pass around the money, then to spend himself. If he is not careful this is just what he does. But, if he is really going to reach them with the gospel and not his money, then the greatest thing that he needs to do is close the wallet and open the heart. Stop spending money and start spending time. I got a great reminder of this, this past week.

My wife has been witnessing to a young lady named Martha for months now. Martha is very close to accepting the gospel and we have been praying for her for sometime. About a month ago Patty found out that Martha was sick and needed to go to the hospital. After visiting a specialist, Martha was told that she would need an operation. Patty really encouraged her to have the operation, but there was a catch that seemed to be holding her back. She had someone to watch here son for the days that she was in the hospital, but had no family to look after her. See here in Ghana, the hospitals do not prepare food for there patients, and the nurses generally have about 100 patients to care for each shift. So the fact of the matter is if a patient does not have family members then he/she will not eat, have bed sheets changed, or clothes washed, for the time that they are in the hospital. Martha is from the north, and has no family to help her. The father of her child has abandoned her and the child. She really needed the operation but had no one to help. So my wife and Gifty (a good Ghanaian friend of Patty’s) offered to help.

When Patty came home and told me, I was excited that she would be able to help, but I had no idea how much she was going to spend herself over the next five days. Here in Ghana, the hospital has two visiting times. The morning visits are 5:00 am to 7:00 and 4:00- 6:00 pm. The hospitals do not have microwaves or any way to heat up food, so each morning at about 4:00, Patty would get up and cook the food. Ghanaian food and needs to be hot and fresh, no cereal and sandwiches here. Each morning at 5:30 when I would get up, Patty would be heading out the door, basket in hand, so that she could meet Gifty and give Martha here morning food. She would take the 30 minute mini-bus trip across town, and visit Martha. Patty said that is was quite interesting to see all the people staring. They have never seen a foreigner serving an African before. They would wash the dishes from the night before, change the sheets, and get the night clothes form the day before, so that they could be washed. After that, another 30 minutes trip home, time to get the kids ready for school. Teach, and back to cooking again for the evening meal. Jump in the mini-bus again about 3:30, and start the process at the hospital all over again. She would get home in time to start cooking dinner and to get ready for the next day.

Overall, it was a very busy five days. I thank the Lord for my wife. I am glad that the Lord has given me a wife that is willing to be spent for the people that God has called her to.