Ghana Update, 21 January 2008

Last Wednesday, in class we had one student come up and go over the Ten Commandments with the class. We went over the Lord’s Prayer and talked about what it meant. We also talked about the prophecies and how they became true in the New Testament. We had a lot of students that day. The number of students grew from 13 to 27. In afternoon, four of our students were baptized. We were real happy for them. Richard, a teacher from Tamale who we met at the Deaf school last year came down to visit. We were real happy to see him. We introduced him to Pastor Clatus.(Hearing pastor from Tamale who is interested in working with the Deaf) Richard said that he will meet with him when he can to teach him sign language. Now Richard lives in Wa which is north of Tamale and teaches at the Deaf school there.

Thursday, we had our last class in the morning. Before dinner, my students did three skits in front of the Deaf Vicars, Deaf Evangelists, and Pastor Bud. Linda and I were in some parts of the play. The first skit one was David and Goliath, the second skit was Noah’s Ark and the last one was the Christmas Story. We all had a fun time. Before dinner we handed out books to our students to keep. We had dinner outside. The sad part was WE HAD FISH. Our fish looked gross and came with spaghetti and white rice with red sauce, these I ate. I just gave one of my students my fish and he ate the whole thing. Ewww. After dinner, all of our students left. It was hard to say good bye to them. I am glad I got to know them and share the Good News.

Friday, we left Kumasi and went to Cape Coast to visit the Deaf school there. We were able to see Joseph, the boy that we met last year who leads Sunday worship at the school. He will be done with school this year. We encouraged him to come up to Kumasi next time we come. Before we left, we gave the school some books. Afterwards we went to see a castle where traders kept slaves before they were shipped off to different places of the world long time ago. The men and women were separated. They had their last bath before being put in dark rooms. Each room held 50 slaves, but there were times they put 100 or more slaves in each room. They had to eat and sleep near their filth in the dark. I cannot imagine me surviving down there. It was depressing. We found a place to stay over night by the ocean. We were lucky because we kind of had trouble finding a place.

Saturday, we walked along the beach in the morning and collected sea shells. It was nice to feel the breeze. The Ghanaians who live along the beach collect gravel and bring them to a pile place. They sell gravel to earn money. An old man dogged up sand with his bare hands to find crabs. Some children helped their mothers carried their babies on their backs who carried containers full of gravel on their heads. Wow, looks like hard work! I was told that they work all day. We left the place late morning and got to Accra in the afternoon. We chowed down popcorn… yes popcorn! Annnnddddd pizza at Pastor Fynn’s restaurant. Mmmmm. Ahhhhhh.

Sunday, we drove to Adrobe to the Deaf village for worship. Akorful and Pastor Young joined us for the ride there. As soon as the Deaf people got the news we arrived, they collected chairs and brought them across the village for Sunday worship at a school house. There were about 35 Deaf Ghanaians. Akorful led the service; several young girls took turns signing songs. I was told by Linda that Pastor Bud “sang” very well….NOT! We had a sign interpreter who lives in the village. It was interesting to watch her sign because it is pretty different from our signs. She interpreted for Pastor Bud and also for Pastor Young. We then went to see the corn mill after the service. Guess What?! It is up and running! Yes, we, three saw it with our very own eyes. Pastor Young commissioned the corn mill machine. Every one including us were real happy. Please pray for the Deaf villagers that they now will be able to support themselves. Later in the day we stopped at a place to eat and watch “football” on TV. Not the Green Bay Packers, but the Black Stars. Ghana is hosting the Africa Cup of Nations. In America , we call the game soccer not football. It was fun to watch with Akorful, Amadu, and Enoch. We taught them how to do the “wave”, cheers, and “Who let the Dogs Out.” The Black Stars won!

Today, Monday, we are going to the Culture Center and do some few errands. Tomorrow we are planning on visiting with Pastor Fynn at the ELCG before we leave Ghana . Our plane is supposed to leave at 10:00pm. We will be flying to Amsterdam and stay there for 5 hours before leaving for O’Hare. We will be home on Wednesday.