From John:
Had a great day with the evangelists and leaders.
We are seriously thinking about asking one of the evangelists - Akorful if the ELCG (us) can pay him. We talked a little and will talk more on Saturday - the idea is he will devote full time to study with the DIT materials and help with Pastor Amounting. Please ask people to pray for this.
Hope to meet about the truck tomorrow - keep praying he will reduce his price.
Will finally do laundry tomorrow.
John
Hello Everyone!
Well we just finished the first week of our honeymoon here in Ghana. What a week it has been.
We arrived on Sunday evening to the deaf school in Bechem (there are 13 deaf schools in Ghana). They didn’t have a place in the dorms for us so they put us up in a “hotel” about ¼ mile away. I guess Ted’s idea of a hotel and Ghana’s idea of a hotel was different. Our room had one bare, green bulb hanging from the ceiling. The bathroom had not lights, the water of course was cold, and the electrical outlets did not work. This was something new for Ted. After the first night he adjusted really well. Ted also thinks it is interesting to see all of the chickens and goats run around free here in Ghana.
The school itself impressed us. It is huge. They have classes from Kindergarten to a technical school. During the school year they house and feed 320 deaf children. Most of the teachers and dorm mothers are not skilled in sign language yet the children get a good education. Naturally they are very poor but they are very resourceful with what they do have. On Monday we met Patrick. He is the librarian, computer person, maintenance man, and Pastor! He is a hearing man skilled in sign and serves as an interpreter at times also.
Monday we started teaching the kids. They were sooooo excited! They all ran into the room to get the best seat. We had brought with us the old film projectors with the old films from the 60’s. Some of you probably remember them. We first taught in the afternoon showing the films. They loved it! It was the first time they had seen the bible in pictures. When it was time to wash up they were disappointed. We decided to come back that evening. Again the kids rushed to see the films. This time unfortunately the bulbs of the machines burned out! Now we were stuck without the films. Ted ended up telling several stories that night; he is good with the kids. At bed time they were disappointed again. For the next two nights Ted told Bible stories and I taught the older kids. Many of them really know the Bible but have been taught only the law. It was sad to see how they were afraid of God because they only knew the law. I taught them the gospel. Showing them the wonderful news that God loves them and they do not need to be afraid.
Some of the younger kids have never seen a white person before. It was interesting how they would just come up and touch us constantly curious if that was our real color. I had a group of small girls become fascinated with a freckle! Usually if a baby sees us it will start to cry because of our skin color. They did want to make me more African. I had my hair done in cornrows. It took a while for Ted to get used to the new Denise.
We made many friends there and were sad to leave. There was one couple that showed us around and bought us some delicious fruit. The food that they served us was really good too. Not sure what it all was but it tasted good! One dish is called Fufu. Hmmmmm…..
Prayer requests-
1. Continued health for Ted and I.
2. For the gospel to take hold of the people’s hearts.
3. For next week as we go to a new school.
Thanksgiving
1. We were able to tell kids how much Jesus loves them.
2. Good health during the first week.
3. Safe travel. There are a lot of chickens (and goats and dogs and…) that cross the road.
Because of Christ, Denise and Ted on our honeymoon!