Well, everyone, it appears we have just about reached the end of our trip. As much as it feels like we've been here a long time, I can't believe that we're coming home on Saturday. But there will be time for reminiscing later; let me tell you about this past week.
On Saturday, we went to Takoradi, a costal city in the Western Region. Matt and I woke up really early, because we had to take a taxi with Rich to a meeting place and then ride a tro-tro (van) with some other people to Takoradi. The place really isn't all that far, but the roads to get there are bad, so everything takes longer. It probably took about three hours to get there. We went to participate in a Navs conference on discipleship. The speaker was a Nigerian man and he did a great job. Some others shared, and then we had two Bible studies and talked about the topic in small groups. It really wasn't that long of a program, just a few hours, but it was good. Then we climbed back in the tro-tro and started the journey back. The thing about Ghana is that traffic is an incredible factor in going places. Somehow the trip back took over six hours. But we made and Matt and I were more than happy to crawl into the comfortable taxi to go the rest of the way home.
Sunday, we went to church with Rich and worked with the youth again. It felt good being in the Bible study, especially, because I knew people a little better this time and felt like I could challenge them with a few things. We had a really good discussion on receiving peace from God.
Monday was a fun day. We went out with our team, Kwesi, and Akwia on a trip to see the largest dam and lake in Ghana. This was another pretty long trip, but it was good just to spend some more time hanging out as a team. And, as usual, some really good challenges and encouragement came out of conversations with people along the way. The dam was pretty impressive and the area around it was beautiful. Definitely a good time.
Tuesday was a recovery day. Matt and I went out and had some fun around the city. Oh PS, if you're in a foreign country, don't assume you can walk anywhere you could in the US. Matt and I stepped on this little patch of grass and were seconds later threatened with our lives by some renigade mall employee. Classic line from that interaction: "Don't you here me calling you?! Don't you know this is my country?! I can harm you!"
Wednesday was the day of our closing team meeting. Tom asked Matt and I to lead the devotional for the morning. We had a really good talk about Luke 17 and Philippians 3 that made us think about what we're taking away from this trip and where we go from here. I'm really thankful for the team we've had here; they've been awesome.
On Wednesday night, Matt and I made an "American meal" for Rich and Gina. The menu: pancakes, bacon, and Jello. Gina had seen pancakes before because she worked with an airline and traveled around, but they were new to Rich. Syrup was new to both of them. And I think the Jello was the biggest hit of the evening. We made it in glasses and Rich thought it was pretty cool that he could turn over his glass and the Jello would stay put. We gave them some small gifts and said thank you. It was a really nice evening.
Tonight, tomorrow, and Saturday morning are all that stand between me and the plane taking me back to America. I've really enjoyed this trip, but I'm ready to come home. See you soon!
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Friday, August 7, 2009
Meet the Freshers
It's been a pretty busy week in Accra. On Monday, the six of us that remain met at the Navs office to have a devotional time, pray, and talk about possibilities for the last two weeks. It was great to be with everybody again after a long weekend apart. Plans were still up in the air, though, after our meeting. So we prayed that we would not get frustrated and that opportunities to serve would come up. That evening, while Matt and I were hanging out at the house, James and Tom called us to let us know that we would be meeting with the University of Ghana Navs on Tuesday morning to make plans to help with the freshmen move-in. It was a good feeling to see plans coming together so quickly.
Tuesday morning, Matt and I took a taxi to the University of Ghana and found everybody else ok. For about two hours, we threw around ideas about what we could do this week on campus. The Navs have a ministry of about 60 people here, a pretty healthy size. But in a country where 70% of the people would call themselves Christians, there is plenty of room for growth. They wanted to reach out to the freshers, as they call them, and invite them to get involved with Navs. The Ghanaians were looking for creative suggestions as to how to do that, so we shared some of the things that we do to reach out to freshmen. We finally decided to make a brief survey that just gauges where people stand in their willingness to get involved with an on-campus ministry and gets their contact info. We don't use that method at UC, but a lot of other schools do it and it's a very helpful tool to get to know people.
On Wednesday morning, we all came back to the University, took some surveys, and broke up into groups to go welcome students at the different halls. My group was at Sabaah Hall, in the court yard. By the way, the campus is beautiful and all of the dorms have these great courtyards at the center of their facilities. As students waited in the long lines to get their keys and everything, we would just walk up and start chatting with them. Almost everyone was more than happy to talk with us and willingly filled out a survey. Sometimes, the Ghanaian Navs students would exchange numbers with them and offer to help with any registration issues that came up. It was a really great time to build friendships and just get the word about Navs out there.
When we all met afterwards, we had gotten about 80 surveys back from people after only two hours. Since follow-up with all these students would be a lot of work, we decided to take Thursday off and determine later whether we would come back on Friday to do it again. Despite the fact that not all 80 of those students surveyed will end up being in Navs most likely, even if just 30 of them got involved, that would already be a 50% increase in the number of people involved and we wanted to give them a chance to figure out what they would do about that. In the end, the Navs country leader, Uncle Joseph, asked us to do it again on Friday, because he didn't want resources to be a limiting factor in the number of people involved. He promised to recruit leaders from other branches of Navs in the country, if need be. So we went back today and did it again, and it went equally well. Please be praying for the Navs ministry on campus at the University of Ghana. It's a really great group of students and, with some of the fresh ideas that they've developed even just this week, God can do some pretty awesome stuff through them. We're going to meet with them one more time before we leave to help them brainstorm some more for the first semester.
On a personal level, the last week has been a really great thing for me. I re-read Crazy Love by Francis Chan this week, which was really a good kick in the rear. My time praying and reading the Bible has been rich, the result of being in an environment with a lot less of the typical distractions. And my conversations this week have been really encouraging, definitely some good talks with Matt, other all-stars on our team, and the Ghanaians. It's always cool to see that I go on trips like this expecting to be used to help others, but God always turns it around and works on me dramatically. It just makes me feel even more pumped about getting back to Cincinnati and keeping this going.
Tuesday morning, Matt and I took a taxi to the University of Ghana and found everybody else ok. For about two hours, we threw around ideas about what we could do this week on campus. The Navs have a ministry of about 60 people here, a pretty healthy size. But in a country where 70% of the people would call themselves Christians, there is plenty of room for growth. They wanted to reach out to the freshers, as they call them, and invite them to get involved with Navs. The Ghanaians were looking for creative suggestions as to how to do that, so we shared some of the things that we do to reach out to freshmen. We finally decided to make a brief survey that just gauges where people stand in their willingness to get involved with an on-campus ministry and gets their contact info. We don't use that method at UC, but a lot of other schools do it and it's a very helpful tool to get to know people.
On Wednesday morning, we all came back to the University, took some surveys, and broke up into groups to go welcome students at the different halls. My group was at Sabaah Hall, in the court yard. By the way, the campus is beautiful and all of the dorms have these great courtyards at the center of their facilities. As students waited in the long lines to get their keys and everything, we would just walk up and start chatting with them. Almost everyone was more than happy to talk with us and willingly filled out a survey. Sometimes, the Ghanaian Navs students would exchange numbers with them and offer to help with any registration issues that came up. It was a really great time to build friendships and just get the word about Navs out there.
When we all met afterwards, we had gotten about 80 surveys back from people after only two hours. Since follow-up with all these students would be a lot of work, we decided to take Thursday off and determine later whether we would come back on Friday to do it again. Despite the fact that not all 80 of those students surveyed will end up being in Navs most likely, even if just 30 of them got involved, that would already be a 50% increase in the number of people involved and we wanted to give them a chance to figure out what they would do about that. In the end, the Navs country leader, Uncle Joseph, asked us to do it again on Friday, because he didn't want resources to be a limiting factor in the number of people involved. He promised to recruit leaders from other branches of Navs in the country, if need be. So we went back today and did it again, and it went equally well. Please be praying for the Navs ministry on campus at the University of Ghana. It's a really great group of students and, with some of the fresh ideas that they've developed even just this week, God can do some pretty awesome stuff through them. We're going to meet with them one more time before we leave to help them brainstorm some more for the first semester.
On a personal level, the last week has been a really great thing for me. I re-read Crazy Love by Francis Chan this week, which was really a good kick in the rear. My time praying and reading the Bible has been rich, the result of being in an environment with a lot less of the typical distractions. And my conversations this week have been really encouraging, definitely some good talks with Matt, other all-stars on our team, and the Ghanaians. It's always cool to see that I go on trips like this expecting to be used to help others, but God always turns it around and works on me dramatically. It just makes me feel even more pumped about getting back to Cincinnati and keeping this going.
Lukewarm people are continually concerned with playing it safe; they are slaves to the god of control. This focus on safe living keeps them from sacrificing and risking for God.
-Francis Chan in Crazy Love
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Speaking and Living the Gospel
Things have been pretty relaxed for the past several days here in Accra. We are in the middle of a shift in team dynamics and plans right now, since the first half of our team returned to the US on Friday. Between wrapping things up with them and taking a couple days to reorganize, not too much structured ministry stuff has been happening. Regardless, the rest is a welcomed thing right now, given the business of the last few weeks.
Matt and I had the privilege of a day at the beach yesterday with our family, Rich, Gina, and Rinna. We drove out to the Central Region, parked by the beach, and then took a little row boat over to a small island. I spent the day playing in the ocean, dominating Matt in Oware [a local board game (just kidding, Matt, if you're reading this)], and eating good food. It has been really cool to see how Rich and Gina incorporate their faith into their life so much. While we ate lunch, Rich and Gina invited us to be a part of their Bible study time. So, as we ate, we discussed a psalm and everybody shared their thoughts. Simple times like that are key in encouraging one another in our faith. After a few hours of sunny relaxation, we headed back home.
Today, we got to go to church with Rich. Gina stays home right now, because of the baby. Rich leads the youth service, for anyone in high school or college, which takes place during the main service. It was cool to connect with people our age again and to discuss the Bible with them. They break into Bible study groups for part of the time and some of the students are seasoned leaders and others are just getting started, so I picked one of the smaller groups and joined up with them. The Ghanaian Christians are really good at drawing the principles and truths out of the Bible and even better at retaining what they have learned. The number of verses and passages they have memorized is humbling. I can say for myself that I am weak in the area of memorization and knowing exactly where things are in the Bible. But one thing I have learned, especially through Navs, is application. So, as I participated in the discussion, I tried to add that application step to our conversation as much as possible. People opened up little by little and God did a lot with that. I'm excited to go back next week and see what happens next.
I keep being reminded of this one passage from 1 Thessalonians that I really love. I've been thinking about it ever since we were in Swedru, I spoke about it at the youth camp, and I think I should share it with you now.
Matt and I had the privilege of a day at the beach yesterday with our family, Rich, Gina, and Rinna. We drove out to the Central Region, parked by the beach, and then took a little row boat over to a small island. I spent the day playing in the ocean, dominating Matt in Oware [a local board game (just kidding, Matt, if you're reading this)], and eating good food. It has been really cool to see how Rich and Gina incorporate their faith into their life so much. While we ate lunch, Rich and Gina invited us to be a part of their Bible study time. So, as we ate, we discussed a psalm and everybody shared their thoughts. Simple times like that are key in encouraging one another in our faith. After a few hours of sunny relaxation, we headed back home.
Today, we got to go to church with Rich. Gina stays home right now, because of the baby. Rich leads the youth service, for anyone in high school or college, which takes place during the main service. It was cool to connect with people our age again and to discuss the Bible with them. They break into Bible study groups for part of the time and some of the students are seasoned leaders and others are just getting started, so I picked one of the smaller groups and joined up with them. The Ghanaian Christians are really good at drawing the principles and truths out of the Bible and even better at retaining what they have learned. The number of verses and passages they have memorized is humbling. I can say for myself that I am weak in the area of memorization and knowing exactly where things are in the Bible. But one thing I have learned, especially through Navs, is application. So, as I participated in the discussion, I tried to add that application step to our conversation as much as possible. People opened up little by little and God did a lot with that. I'm excited to go back next week and see what happens next.
I keep being reminded of this one passage from 1 Thessalonians that I really love. I've been thinking about it ever since we were in Swedru, I spoke about it at the youth camp, and I think I should share it with you now.
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
You know, brothers, that our visit to you was not a failure. We had previously suffered and been insulted in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in spite of strong opposition. For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts. You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover greed - God is our witness. We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else. As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you, but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children. We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our lives as well, because you were so dear to us.
In the US, at least, there seem to be four camps for Christians in the area of sharing your faith with people.
Camp 1: Don't say anything; it's annoying.
Camp 2: Share the gospel, no matter what.
Camp 3: Just be around people and they'll figure it out.
Camp 4: Sharing your faith is both what you say and how you live it.
Camp 1 is right on one thing - if it's not done right, a Christian sharing his or her faith can be very annoying. But take a look at this video from Penn, a well known performer and atheist. He summarizes why sharing your faith is important very well. You should definitely check this out if you haven't seen it before.
Camp 2 is also partially correct. Jesus calls Christians to share their faith all over the world. But we have to be sensitive to the culture we're in. If somebody doesn't want to talk about God, you don't shove Him down their throat. That's disrespectful and they aren't going to listen anyway. It makes people angry. Case in point: Brother Micah. If you know who he is, enough said. If you don't, you can YouTube him with caution if you really want to know. Basically, he's an infamous "evangelist" that spends a lot of time on college campuses doing a lot of judging and relatively little preaching. This doesn't mean that we just quit at the first sign of opposition, either. Rather, we must earn the right to have a personal conversation like this with somebody. That's why the living aspect is so important, especially to Americans, who tend to be much more uncomfortable with religious talk in general.
Camp 3 is another one that has some good thoughts, but misses it. Yeah, Christianity is largely about how you live among others. And yes, what people see you do will dramatically affect their opinions on your faith. But look at the passage above. Verbally sharing the gospel is necessary for people to go from seeing a way of life that seems appealing to accepting a heart-changing God into their life. Christianity, after all, is not a call to morality. It's a rejection of the old way of life and a surrender to Jesus to lead you into a completely new one.
Camp 4 is where it's at. Christians are called to live in the world, put into practice what we know to be true from the Bible, and to share the gospel with others - "but not just the gospel of God, but our lives as well." That last verse is so key.
We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our lives as well, because you were so dear to us.
This means hanging out with your neighbors, talking about stuff that actually matters with co-workers, staying up until 4am to work through life issues with your roommate, dishing out soup and eating with people at the shelters. It looks different for everybody. The point is, if we're in a happy, safe Christian bubble, having little to no contact with the "outside," what are we really doing for God? People around us are not our projects. Nobody likes to be looked at that way, and with good reason! We should share our faith because we care about people, not because every person is part of some master conversion plan. But look at what Penn said in that clip above: How much do you have to hate someone to be unsure about where they will spend eternity and to say nothing? At least give people the chance to reject or accept Christianity!
I've been challenged the last couple weeks to figure out which camp I would really place myself in. In my head, I know which one is right, but is my life really reflecting that knowledge? If you're a Christian, I would urge you to think about that, too.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Canopies, Castles, Commercialization, and Chronicles
Yesterday was our tourist day. Since half of the team will be heading home on Friday, we wanted to have a good bonding session and see a different part of the country. So we headed west along the ocean to Cape Coast. When Obama was here a couple weeks ago, he went there, too. There is an old castle that was used to hold captured Africans before they were taken away to work as slaves. It is also the sight of a major national reserve, Kakum Forest.
Cape Coast was about a three hour drive from Accra. I'm really not sure if it actually took three hours or if it was significantly more. I slept through most of the trip and time is mattering less and less anyway. So the moral of that story is that it doesn't really matter how long it took. We went to the forest first and it was pretty intense. There was a little museum at the entrance that explained the area a little bit and some of the animals that live there. Apparently there are forest elephants that are a lot more sneaky than regular elephants. You're more likely to see them at night or in the early morning (and when there aren't large groups of screaming schoolchildren there), so we didn't see any. We entered the forest with a tour guide and she took us up a path and eventually to a little hut. The hut was attached to a rope bridge that stretched to another treehouse in the distance. One by one we went out on to the bridge and it would sway back and forth with each step. At first it was fine, but as we went from tree to tree, the bridges got progressively higher from the ground. We were way, WAY up in the canopy of the forest looking at the beautiful thing that God created. Terrifying, yes, but beautiful. Finally, after seven bridges, we reached another hut that took us to the ground and to the path.
From there, we got back on the bus and went to the slave castle. It was getting later, so the castle was no longer open, but we still walked around it and climbed on the rocks along the ocean. It was sad to look at - gorgeous scenery spoiled by a building representing one of the great human cruelties of the world. Things like that are important to see, though. It helps us to remember so that history will not be repeated. The tragic thing is that slavery really does continue to this day; it just looks different and has changed locations.
Climbing along the rocks, we all got some pictures of the water, the beach, and each other. Four of us, Matt, Tom, Briana, and I, were standing on a rock that was at a pretty high point. We were getting shots of the waves crashing into the lower parts of the beach and splashing up onto the rocks. Suddenly we noticed a larger wave coming in. I knew it was going to be a great picture when it hit. Then I think we all had several realizations at once, though some of us more quickly than others.
Cape Coast was about a three hour drive from Accra. I'm really not sure if it actually took three hours or if it was significantly more. I slept through most of the trip and time is mattering less and less anyway. So the moral of that story is that it doesn't really matter how long it took. We went to the forest first and it was pretty intense. There was a little museum at the entrance that explained the area a little bit and some of the animals that live there. Apparently there are forest elephants that are a lot more sneaky than regular elephants. You're more likely to see them at night or in the early morning (and when there aren't large groups of screaming schoolchildren there), so we didn't see any. We entered the forest with a tour guide and she took us up a path and eventually to a little hut. The hut was attached to a rope bridge that stretched to another treehouse in the distance. One by one we went out on to the bridge and it would sway back and forth with each step. At first it was fine, but as we went from tree to tree, the bridges got progressively higher from the ground. We were way, WAY up in the canopy of the forest looking at the beautiful thing that God created. Terrifying, yes, but beautiful. Finally, after seven bridges, we reached another hut that took us to the ground and to the path.
From there, we got back on the bus and went to the slave castle. It was getting later, so the castle was no longer open, but we still walked around it and climbed on the rocks along the ocean. It was sad to look at - gorgeous scenery spoiled by a building representing one of the great human cruelties of the world. Things like that are important to see, though. It helps us to remember so that history will not be repeated. The tragic thing is that slavery really does continue to this day; it just looks different and has changed locations.
Climbing along the rocks, we all got some pictures of the water, the beach, and each other. Four of us, Matt, Tom, Briana, and I, were standing on a rock that was at a pretty high point. We were getting shots of the waves crashing into the lower parts of the beach and splashing up onto the rocks. Suddenly we noticed a larger wave coming in. I knew it was going to be a great picture when it hit. Then I think we all had several realizations at once, though some of us more quickly than others.
- The wave was coming very much in our direction.
- The rocks we were standing on were wet.
- We were about to be very wet.
Matt and Tom booked it and escaped with only minor splashes. Briana and I did not. Briana managed to turn enough to just get soaked on one side. I was still taking a picture when the wave came up and the camera finally snapped about 13 milliseconds before I got soaked, so I have a pretty sweet shot of a wall of water. We all had a good laugh and I enjoyed the trip back to Accra without a dry spot on me.
Today, some of our team that had not been out exploring quite as much as Matt and I wanted to go out and get some gifts for themselves and for people at home. We met at the Navs Office and from there got into two taxis to go to the Accra Mall. This was a slice of the western world on the African continent. There was still a good amount of Ghanaian paraphernalia, but with the movie theater and Nike store, traces of American life were there. I did peak in the pharmacy while I was there and compare things a little bit. There were some things that I hadn't heard of, but for the most part, there were a lot of the same products, just with different brand names. At the mall, Matt and I did score a couple hot Ghanaian shirts. So be excited for those to make an appearance in the US.
I had a couple more stories from the last two weeks to share, so I thought I would pass those along to you now, too.
Paul the Security Guard
Matt and I walked to the football stadium one day to see if we could find a schedule of games. We were peaking around the building and not really finding any type of schedule. Eventually, we found our way to the main entrance and there was a security guard sitting there, checking cars as they passed through. We walked up to him and asked about a schedule. He said some things and I honestly didn't follow very much of it, but he was very friendly. He introduced himself as Paul and we gave him our names. He did say there would be some kind of game/event/celebration on Sunday, and we thanked him for the information. He then asked if we would be there. We weren't sure so he asked a few more questions to try to pick a day that would work for us. Finally, he decided it would be easiest just to give us his cell phone number and we could call him any time we had questions. We took down his number, thanked him, and left laughing. Can you imagine a security guard doing that at home? Ghana is great.
Empty Coke Bottles
One day, Matt and I were in Central Accra, where the business district is. We had gone just to look for a bookstore and familiarize ourselves a bit. Before we left, we decided to get a couple Cokes. So at the first stand we saw, we stopped to buy two. The lady said, "twelve thousand," which really threw me off. You have to understand the currency in Ghana to follow this. The currency in Ghana had become so high at one point, that it was ridiculous. One dollar would equal about fifteen thousand cedis. So, to make things easier, they changed their currency by making ten thousand old cedis equal to one new cedis. But people still use the numbers interchangeably, so you have to think about it sometimes. And, when I do it in my head, sometimes I forget that it's a ten thousand to one conversion, not a one thousand to one. So, making that mistake, I gave her twelve cedis (about eight dollars) for the two cokes, all the while thinking, "Wow, this seems kind of steep, but she already opened the bottles." Graciously, the woman explained my error and returned my money to me. She gave us our two glass bottles of Coke and we walked off. We got in a taxi. We arrived at home. We went in to talk to Gina. Her eyes were big when she saw the bottles. She asked, "How did you get those bottles?" We told her, somewhat confused, that we bought them in the city. She said, "Yes, but they let you keep the bottles?" That's when I remembered that they usually take your bottles when you're done, because they get a significant return on them. The whole interaction with that woman had been full of grace. Not only did she return what could have been a big profit for her, but she let us take a large chunk, if not all, of her normal profit by letting us keep the bottles. I know it seems small, but that's a pretty big deal here. I'm not really sure why she decided to do that, but it was nice.
Water On, Water Off
Bathing, brushing your teeth, and flushing the toilet are games of chance here. I'm not complaining, I just think it's a funny scene every time and a good bit of perspective for us with constant and abundant access to water in America. The water turns on and off without notice here. And I'm not really just talking about a couple hours here, a couple hours there or on this day, off that day. Often, when I take a shower, the water turns on and off about three times. So, most times, I just use the bucket method that we learned in Swedru, although the accommodations and lighting are significantly better. It's actually a very fun and refreshing way to shower. And to brush your teeth. Flushing the toilet isn't always as much fun or as easy, but hey, it's a mission trip.
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