Hi again!

Sunday was a fun day of worship. We had our Bible studies and worship
in a school room. When we arrived, the room was dirty, but then the
evangelists came and swept the floor with reed brooms and dust the
wooden school desks that are attach to wooden chairs. While we
waited, I saw a Ghanaian woman giving Bible lessons to the children
and they sat quietly on benches and some on rocks. Several of them
smiled at us. Real cute kids.

At first there were a few people coming to the Bible studies, and then
as the time went on, we had a full classroom. The Deaf Evangelist
talked about what you do if someone sins against you using the book of
Matthew 18:15ff. After that we had worship. Linda and I saw several
of our students at the service and noticed one of them looked up the
name of the book to find what page it was on in the Bible. We are
proud of him because we have been teaching the class where to find
something you are looking for in the Bible. We signed songs, Pastor
Bud came up and gave a good sermon, and then we had the Lord's Supper.
The service ended with lots of sign singing. We socialized with the
Deaf. I met a Deaf boy. He told me his parents died. We asked him
what his name was. He said, "A, B, C, D, J., K." He is a happy kid,
but please pray for him that he grows up and gets good education.

Monday, we covered a lot of things in the New Testament. We had a
good day. For dinner, we had fish. The Deaf students challenged us
to eat fish heads. Linda ate hers and then they turned to look at me.
Whimper…. I took a bite and felt bones crunched inside my mouth and
the eye squashed in my mouth. I had to hold my nose otherwise I would
have empty my stomach! One of the Deaf students said "It takes
practice." I told Linda that I do not want to practice doing that!
We have been practicing doing the three skits. Hopefully, we will be
ready by Thursday.

Tuesday, the 15tth, we gave them a quiz to see if they remember the
names of the 12 apostles. They did pretty good! After doing more
lessons, we had the students write down the 10 Commandments and told
them that we will quiz them the next day. Some of them do not seem to
mind! Later on during the day, Linda and I went to review the Index
of subjects, maps, concordance and abbreviations with the Deaf
Evangelists to see if they remember how to do them. A lot of them
remembered and enjoyed looking up verses and looking for town or body
of water in the map page. We were real happy and proud of them. In
the afternoon Pastor Bud had both our students and his students
together to talk about how do pray. It doesn't matter if you stand,
sit etc. He also talked about the difference between what we need and
what we want. God knows what we need and provides our needs not what
we desire for such as money or material things. After dinner, we
continue to practice the 3 skids and before class was dismissed. We
played the elephant game afterwards. I will have to show you how to
play. It is fun!

I am really enjoying myself teaching here. It is sad for me to see
the people outside of our compound. They are poor. They live in
shacks. Not a pretty sign. The open sewer that is located right near
their place and next to the road smells. The kids are dirty. I wish
I could help them. There are just too many of them. We are lucky to
have what we have. So, count your blessings.

Take Care,
Betty Jo

Greetings all,

We have survived our third day of all day teaching! Wow! I didn't
think we had it in us. It hasn't been without some bumps along the
way, but we have a WONDERFUL group of 12-15 "kids." There are
different ages (15 to 20 years old), different levels of learning, but
a well-behaved group of mostly boys. We can still say after 3 days,
we feel blessed to have such a good group. The first day, we
discussed what was expected from them (the "rules") and it has been
clear sailing from there!

Monday, day 1: The kids started arriving after 10:00 am and more
followed throughout the day. We began a study of how to use the
self-study Bible, the Concordance. Ok, it was tough at first, so
after we introduced the Table of Contents, Index, the actual
concordance itself, gave examples how to look up people, places and
verses, we felt we put in a full day already. At this point, we still
had their attention! We promised to review this fun everyday until
they knew exactly how to look for people, places, and verses in the
Bible! Our goal is to give them the tools to use to memorize verses.

That afternoon, we gave the "Christmas Quiz" to see how much they knew
about the birth of Jesus. That was much fun, especially seeing their
reaction when they THOUGHT they knew the answers! We had them look up
the passages so they could see the correct answers themselves. I've
notice already how the kids are helping each other to find information
in the Bible. Patience and repetition is the key! This took us right
up to dinner. Agnes made us all an incredible meal of rice and
(sounds like) ba-room stew. Social time is just as important. After
dinner, we enjoyed several light-"hearted" short DVD movies about sin.
This led to some good discussions afterwards. The kids have a good
understanding on what that means, now if they just accept that they
are forgiven by a merciful God.

Tues, day 2: Class here doesn't start much around here until after 10.
By lunchtime, we have a good group, so in the morning we review the
Concordance. When the others show up, it's the responsibility of the
one's that have reviewed to teach the others. That is our goal, to
teach so that they will teach others and so far, so good. When the
last example verse is used to look up, we then discuss that verse.
Today it was Proverbs 16:3- "Commit to the Lord whatever you do and
your plans will succeed." This verse leads to a great discussion on
having faith. Betty Jo and I share a couple of "faith stories" and
encourage the others. Ok, they are still shy, but it's only the 2nd
day. There is plenty of time to share.

After lunch, we begin the History of the New Testament. We start by
talking about why the Roman Empire built the "good roads" then moved
on to Jesus' Ministry, showing on a map all the places He traveled and
preached. Not an easy feat without the use of a bus or tro-tro but
Jesus got around! This material is tough, so there is a LOT of
repeating and patience. But everyone is helping everyone that
struggles. We don't get very far in the lesson and it's time for
dinner.

Evening class was for the students to tell their favorite Bible story.
When they are given the floor, they really express themselves. When
a question arises, they look up the story in the Bible, going through
the process of what they learned in the morning to find information in
the Concordance. Again, this is a good group!

Wed. day 3: We were on a roll reviewing the Concordance. Some of
these kids are pros, but now we don't have to ask them to help others,
they just do it! They're getting into looking for verses, and the
last example was Proverbs 22:9. "A generous man will himself be
blessed, for he shares his food with the poor." This was a discussion
of giving of one's self to help another person. We replaced food with
knowledge, his wealth, his talents, etc. and ask nothing in return.
Example: Agnes, our cook prepares food each day, ALL day, for all the
students. She serves it without even a "thank you" from anyone
(except us!). Guess what the kids were during the time dinner was
being served? It took them some time to catch on, but then it each
were reminding the other one. Their gift? A simple thank you for
Agnes's effort of cooking. Agnes, returned the favor with a smile! A
good lesson!

Afternoon, more review of what we went over yesterday. We started by
dividing the class, to go over other parts, but brought everyone
together for the start of the gospels and how they each started their
"story." Again, it's much repetitiveness, but we rather have them
know it. Just like the concordance, they are getting better at it
each day.

After dinner, Pastor Bud and his evangelists joined us and gave quite
of an in-depth study on the Jehovah Witnesses. It is quite "popular"
in these parts and everyone had a story of an encounter, sometimes
even daily. Wow! It's amazing how much they "know," but they all are
concerned. The discussion was a chance for the evangelists to teach
the younger ones, in THEIR language. Betty Jo and I are VERY proud of
what we saw! Very well-behaved, attentive, and when there was a verse
to look-up, they knew exactly what to do to find it! That is a "warm
fuzzy" feeling, knowing they are using the resources that we are
teaching them.

After a futile attempt to go to the Internet Café (closed! Frown!), we
came back just "vegged." We don't have access to the internet at the
house, but found one within walking distance. We don't get there
every night, but will try to get these notes out when we can. I will
write about today (Thursday) in another email. Besides, Amadu, Pastor
Bud and Betty Jo are waiting for me to finish!!

Miss you all! How is the weather???? Smile

Love and blessings to you all,

LindaZ

Hello again from Ghana,

This is the third installment of my reports. My hubby is doing all he
can on the home front to make sure family and friends are getting
these, so if this is your first one, let him know to get the others.

Much has been happening here as well as home. Just got off the phone
with my husband and he has told me the devastating news of a tornado
that has ripped through my step-sister's neighborhood. What
unexpected news for January!! My family is not hurt, but the damage
to her house and the surrounding area where she lives didn't fair so
well. This is the time I feel the need to be home. But I am here for
a reason. I am living the story that I have been teaching all week.

And it has been a busy, full week of teaching! The days are long, but
yet, they fly by fast. We have been here in Ghana now for over a week
and have more than a week before we start our journey home. Again, I
find myself in awe of the children in this country. Each day they
trickle in, and each day they listen and learn, then apply what they
have learned. And we have thrown much at them. Each day is a review
of the day before, and then we move on from there. This week, they
have been taught:
• How to use a concordance (where to find the books of the Bible,
abbreviations, words in the Index, how to look up Bible verses,
passages, maps and the towns on the map, etc),
• The reason for "good roads" in the time of Jesus and gave examples
for how those roads were used.
• Discussed the 5 geographic areas in the area of Palestine. They
each drew their own map of this area.
• Been tested on the Christmas story, and researched the answers
themselves. They all passed the 2nd time the test was reviewed.
• The four Gospel writers and how they began each of their writings.
• The story of Zechariah and Elizabeth (and Abraham and Sarah).
• Jesus as a boy in the temple.
• John the Baptizer and his death.
• The temptation of Jesus.
• The story of Nicodemus and the meaning of being "born again.
• Law and Gospel!!

And if that isn't enough for a group of our size (average 12-15
students, mostly boys of 15-20 years of age), to sit all day/all week
to endure, we also had evening classes of telling of their favorite
Bible stories, a combined class (with Pastor's Bud's class) discussing
the Jehovah Witnesses, sharing stories together about faith and trust
in God, songs, and practiced 3 different drama stories to perform for
the Evangelists on the last day of class. Oh yeah, we also introduced
our students to the famous "Elephant game." They LOVED it!!

The class time has also been a time to allow the Evangelists and our
students to teach each other. I wish we had the discussion about
circumcision on video. At first, it was quite comical! One of our
students was "reading" a part of the Christmas story when he stumbled
on the word (and sign) for circumcision. A few in the class were
unfamiliar with that so they questioned Betty Jo, she looked at me,
and then I asked one of the Evangelists to explain. Soon, we had 3
different Evangelists stories and "demonstrations," before I called
the chief, Pastor Bud. It was a GREAT lesson! Not only was the
procedure explained, but also the ritual and significance of the
practice. It led right into explaining Law and Gospel. There is MUCH
law here and each day when the question is asked "Who is going to
Heaven?" No one raises their hands. Again, we explain, but they feel
they are not worthy. We aren't, but believing and knowing that Jesus
died for OUR sins, make us worthy for entrance into eternal peace.

We also remind them everyday that they each were born for God's
purposes. They all have a job to do and I'm seeing it unfold before
my eyes. They understand that a kind act will promote another kind
act. This group has been AWESOME supporting and encouraging each
other! "Thank you" has become the norm now, and if it's left unsaid,
the others make sure it is signed. It's been fun for all of us! And
the smiles tell their own story.

A Muslim girl had been coming and wanted to know the "Jesus" story!
Our class taught her and explained the colors on the"Salvation"
bracelet (a WONDERFUL tool). Our class is already doing what God has
set us out to do. Plant the seeds so that they will grow and plant
others. God bless them all in their spiritual growth journey!

Blessings! Linda Z