Saying Goodbye
On Sunday we said goodbye to our friends in Wa. In typical Ghanaian style, this required spending about 10 hours and taking about 50 photographs. First, we publicly brought greetings from First Baptist Church of Gainesville and said farewell to the God's Glory Baptist Church. Later in the afternoon we visited the homes of many friends and prayed with each of them. Finally, we visited a pastor to donate our possessions for the orphanage. We also entrusted some funds to the care of the church, for use in missions other kingdom work.

Saying Goodbye to friends at God's Glory Baptist Church

Accra
On Monday we made the 12-hour drive from Wa to Accra, the capitol of Ghana. Tuesday we visited the University of Ghana at Legon and met with a friend to explore downtown Accra. The main mode of transportation in the city is the "trotro", a crowded van-taxi. As you can see, Accra is quite a bustling place.

Accra is a busy place

Home
On Wednesday we caught our plane from Accra and eventually landed in Orlando, Florida, after traveling for more than 24 hours! We are thankful the Lord granted us safety in our travels and are glad to have a few weeks to visit family. We plan to return to Gainesville on Wednesday, August 19th.

Speaking
For the next two weeks we will visit family throughout central Florida. We have already been invited by several churches in the area to speak on missions and share the wonderful news of what God is doing in northern Ghana. Praise the Lord! Please pray that we will be able to effectively communicate what we have witnessed in a way that inspires others to be on mission with the Lord!

Driver’s License
By God’s grace, Phil was able to trade his learner’s permit for a permanent motorbike license last Wednesday. He arrived at the drivers’ license office around 9am (the office is supposed to open at 8am) and waited an hour for the “big man” to arrive so the process could begin. After completing a challenging written exam, Phil waited around for another hour or two until the “big man” could approve him to move on to the practical exam. The practical exam only entailed one thing: driving the motorbike in a circle around the parking lot. After waiting one more hour, Phil met with the “big man” once again to take a road sign test. In the end, it was nearly 3pm before he finally had the license in hand. However, many who came to the office that day left empty-handed, so we thank God for granting Phil favor throughout the process. Thank you all for your prayers.

“Handing over the Stick”
(“Handing over the stick” is a term used in participatory research to describe passing the responsibility and control of research to local participants.)
On Saturday morning Phil had a final meeting with Vincent, the technician taking responsibility for his research. Phil has spent much of the last two weeks preparing a fieldwork plan/calendar with Vincent and clarifying important details about the research. Many graduate students would be nervous about leaving their research entirely in someone else’s hands. However, God has blessed the transition process and we are confident the technicians will carry out the remainder of the work well. Praise God for His faithfulness!

By Prayer
We have had several opportunities to minister to our neighbors through prayer this week. Dani met with a group of street girls at the Rescue Mission and encouraged them through prayer. Phil met with a ‘young’ believer from church, mentored him a little, and prayed with him several times this week. Yesterday a young woman came to help Dani run an errand. The woman was very frightened about some spiritual warfare she was undergoing. Someone told her “witches” had cursed her and were trying to harm her. Although this woman did not know very much about God, she was carrying a rosary for “protection.” Dani shared with this young woman how God is stronger than any force of evil in this world and how we can ask for God’s protection in Jesus’ name. They talked and prayed together. Afterward, the woman seemed at peace. They continued on their errand and, upon arriving safely, the woman asked that they should pray and thank God for their safe journey.

Praying with the street girls at the Rescue Mission

Returning to Florida
It’s hard to believe our stay in Ghana is nearly over. The time has passed so quickly! We look forward to seeing our friends and family, but we will miss the friends we have made here. Our journey back to Florida begins on Monday, when our host drives us to Accra. On Tuesday, we hope to do some sight-seeing. Then we’re off to the airport on Wednesday and on to the US. God has truly blessed us through our experiences this summer. To him be the glory, great things he has done! Please pray for us to have safe travels to Accra and Florida.

Question: What do the following objects have in common?
A laptop, a bench and a ram.
Answer: All are objects which can help you start a spiritual conversation –given the right circumstances.
As the above Q&A suggests, we are thankful that God answered our prayer request for sensitivity and creativity in building relationships and witnessing this week. As an illustration, we share the story of “Saebu’s ram.”

Saebu’s Ram
We were on our way to visit a friend, when our neighbor stopped us. We began talking about his household, his work, and his new livestock, which were grazing in the yard. He had a large white ram, imported from Burkina Faso and several new ewes. These animals were amazingly docile compared to the local goats. The sheep would even let strangers come up and pet them. The goats, by comparison, are independent, stubborn, and tend to resist even their own shepherds – let alone the advances of strangers. “Yes,” our neighbor replied, “my goats will not even sleep on the ground because they do not like to get dirty. They will sleep on top of my sheep!” This began an interesting conversation contrasting sheep and goats. We told our neighbor that, as Christians, it is very interesting to live in such close proximity to sheep and goats because Jesus talks about them in the Bible. Now we understand Jesus’ teaching even better because we realize how differently sheep and goats behave! We told him Jesus’ parable from Matthew 25:31-46, which predicts his future glory and the day Jesus will judge all mankind, separating the sheep from the goats. The people who, like sheep, obediently followed Jesus’ teaching of goodness and mercy are invited into the kingdom, but the people who, like goats, stubbornly refused to obey, must depart from Jesus to go to the eternal fire. We went on to have a very good conversation. Isn’t it amazing what can happen with a little creativity, knowledge of the scriptures, and the leading of the Holy Spirit?

Preaching a Sermon
This Sunday Phil preached the sermon at God’s Glory Baptist Church. Here is a brief synopsis of his message:

While here on earth Jesus claimed, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Furthermore, John 1:4 tells us “In [Jesus] was life, and the life was the Light of men.” There is a close relationship between the life and the light. Using Acts 16:16-34, we observe four principles:

1 When you let your light shine, someone will try to snuff it out
2 Light always shines brightest in the darkness
3 Hope in Jesus is the spark the keeps your light shining
4 When you consistently let your light shine, people will be drawn to it

It was a very well-received message which encouraged us all to be agents of hope in this world. Praise God!

Rescue Mission
We spent time with the youth at the Rescue Mission this week. The young women are learning vocational skills in order to support themselves, so we brought them a special project to work on. They are making presents for some of you, dear readers! This employment helped further their training and provided the youth with a small income. However, we are hoping this special project will reap benefits which are spiritual as well as physical. To find out what we mean... you’ll just have to wait until we return to the States!

Prayer Requests
1. Continued good health (especially not to contract malaria)
2. Creativity and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit’s leading in opportunities to witness to neighbors
3. The Lord’s guidance as we begin our goodbyes and make some special donations
4. Favor with drivers license officials, to obtain a permanent driver’s license
5. Praise that Phil’s research is transitioning well so far; continued prayer as there are still loose ends to tie up

Special Update - Prayer Request

Phil has been invited to preach at God's Glory Baptist Church this Sunday. Please pray for him as he prepares to share the message God has laid on his heart: being agents of hope (Acts 16:23-34 and 1 Peter 3:8-16).

Akwaaba Obama
Last weekend President Obama visited southern Ghana. It seems Ghanaians, like most Africans, are fascinated and enamored with the American president. Both of the television channels presented 24-hour coverage of his visit. His speeches and travels were broadcast on the radio air waves. Even when the President was sleeping, it seems there was something Obama-related on TV: be it his A&E biography or one of the many Ghanaian music videos dedicated to the American leader.
The President’s first official address was to the Ghanaian parliament. He emphasized American-African partnership (as opposed to patronization) and four key areas of development: democracy, opportunity, health, and peaceful resolution of conflict. Ghanaian’s received Mr. Obama’s words as warmly as they received the President himself. Below is a picture we captured off the television set.

July 11, 2009, Mr. Obama addresses the Ghanaian parliament

Research “Team” in Piisi

Researcher Phil, farmer Pileka, and translator Ngmene observing crop growth in Piisi

This week Dani accompanied Phil to Piisi, a village where he conducts agricultural research. They visited each of the 15 farmers, evaluating germination, weediness, and crop vigor. Dani and Phil also participated in soil classification training with about 20 of the local farmers.

Piisi farmers discussing how landscape affects soil quality

Catholic Mission and Development Project

On Friday our neighbor took us to Maria Yiri HOLIFE (Mary’s House Hope of Liberation for Empowerment). HOLIFE is a Catholic Mission and women’s development project.

HOLIFE mission statement

Dawadawa fruit processing

The Mission works with women from Wa and the surrounding villages, providing microfinance loans, access to markets, and training in processing traditional food goods and handicrafts. Not only do such activities benefit the women’s self-confidence and dignity, they also provide income which supports the health, education, and quality of life of the entire family. Their projects include weaving, bead working, packaging potable water, baking bread, and processing dawadawa fruit, bean flour, millet flour, and soybean flour. The director, Evelyn, showed us around their grounds.

Dani and Evelyn at Maria Yiri Mission

Already Saying Goodbye
Even though we have several more weeks in Ghana, we have already begun saying goodbye to our new friends. Last Sunday we had dinner with the International Mission Board summer missionaries and prayed together before seeing them off to Burkina Faso. Our German housemate is also leaving this weekend, so on Friday night we had a going away party for him. Despite many mishaps (having to find a Muslim to properly slaughter the guinea fowl for our Muslim guests, the cooking gas running out, a torrential downpour, the cook leaving in the middle of cooking because his house was flooded...) we still had a very nice time...

Some nice guinea fowl, tomato stew, and rice

And the “dance party” we have been joking about for so long.

Christoph and Sector perform traditional whirling dances in their Dagaaba-style smocks

Prayer Requests
1 Creativity and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit’s leading in opportunities to witness to neighbors this week
2 We will be interacting with some “street girls” from the Rescue Mission. Please pray that we may be an encouragement to them and help them in their vocational skills training.
3 May we continue to have good health – specifically, not contracting malaria
4 As Phil prepares to leave Africa, he is praying for a smooth transfer of research responsibilities to the Ghanaian technicians.

Greetings! We want to thank everyone for their prayers and concern. We are happy to report that God granted both of our prayer requests last week. Not only was Dani able to spend time in the village, but also we both enjoyed good health this week.

A Plug for Urbana
We recently registered for the national missions conference “Urbana.” Every three years tens of thousands of missions-minded Christians convene for 5 days of inspiring worship, motivating speakers, and myriad enlightening seminars. It is also one of the largest gatherings of missions/sending agencies in the US, a great time to talk to many organizations all in one place. We enthusiastically recommend this conference to our friends & readers. The meeting will take place in St. Louis, MO from Dec. 27th, 2009 – Jan 1st. It only occurs once every three years, so don’t miss it! Check out their website at: http://www.urbana09.org/ .

Phil’s Research
Planting corn, pigeon pea, and groundnut is finally complete on all 15 participating farms and the research station! This week Phil and the technicians began growth analysis sampling. Phil has spent the last two days cutting out fabric to make sample bags. He is a jack of all trades, a farmer turned tailor.

Phil measuring the fabric for crop residue decomposition bags

Dani in Kperisi
Thankfully, Dani was able to go to Kperisi with the summer missionaries this week. She stayed with a family in the village. During the day most adults in the village are busy working on the farms. So, daylight is a great time to interact with the children. The team spent lots of time playing with the children, providing medical care, and even teaching them a few songs. Their favorites were “What a Mighty God We Serve” and “Jesus Loves Me.”

Singing with the children and playing a game like “limbo”

Providing some medical care in Kperisi

At dusk the adults come back from the farm. Thus, evenings are a great time to share the Good News, tell Bible stories, and disciple new believers. Although it is dark, several young men come each evening to be taught about the Bible. We asked one young man to read certain books of the Bible: the Gospel of John, Romans, and Daniel. He enthusiastically set about his task, reading the entire book of John that very night. He was so engrossed he stayed up in our room using our flashlight until late in the night. We weren’t able to go to sleep, but it was worth it!

Dani even had some time to do a little work on the farm...

Dani harvesting bean leaves for dinner

We are thankful to God for the opportunity to spend a little time in the village, encouraging the new church and sharing the Good News.


-God bless & Shalom to you all-

July 4th Festivities
We had the summer missionaries from Kperisi over to celebrate Independence Day. Our two housemates (a German and a Ghanaian) also joined in. Using locally available fare, we put together a meal of steakburgers with tomatoes, onions, and alefu (instead of lettuce); yam chips (instead of potato chips); and fried okra. Our guests even stirred up some Sprite and Coke as well as some “ice cream.” In addition, our German roommate found a watermelon! So after lunch all eight of us went outside for an old-fashioned watermelon seed spitting contest. We concluded with prayer, thanking God for our freedom and interceding for our nation.

Research
Phil has now finished planting on 14 of the 15 farms participating in the on-farm experiment. He will plant the remaining farm on Monday. After that, his main responsibility will be monitoring the fields in case any problems arise. He has already heard that one farmer almost pulled up the pigeon pea while weeding because he did not know what the seedlings look like! Monitor. Monitor. Monitor.

Malaria?
Although Dani had planned to spend last week in a village with the summer missionaries, she stayed home instead. Monday afternoon she came down with all the classic symptoms of malaria. So, she rested until Friday. Thankfully, she now seems better. Many of our friends here have developed malaria infections which required several visits to the doctor and multiple weeks of treatment. We’re glad that Dani’s illness was cured with rest and doxycycline alone –that and a heaping dose of prayer.

Prayer Requests
- Continued good health
- Opportunities to witness & go to nearby villages (Dani would like to go to Kperisi this week)

Mission Team from West Memphis
Last week was a very busy and exciting time for us as we joined with a mission team from a church in West Memphis, AR. The church has an ongoing partnership with God’s Glory Baptist Church, and has been sending teams to Wa for several years. A few new churches have been started in outlying villages, and the team is always looking for new places to preach Good News and do good. Dani partnered with the team all week, and Phil came along whenever work allowed.

Encouraging new church plants
The Waale are considered an “unreached people group.” Most follow “folk Islam” or worship idols. Nevertheless, many are hearing the Good News and turning to God’s word. We visited a few young churches in small, rural villages. The first stop was Kperisi. Three summer missionaries are living there, encouraging and discipling the young church.

IMB Summer Missionaries in Kperisi

We visited many other churches the team had helped plant on previous trips. We stopped in Toassa, Tiza, and Je Yiri, each time encouraging the believers and praying for them.

With the children from a church plant in Toassa

With the children from a church plant in Toassa

Sharing Good News in Naasa and Polee
Dani joined the team, spending several nights in the small village of Naasa. At night the entire village gathered together. We explained our mission, taught them several songs, shared testimonies, and proclaimed the Good News by telling the story of God: from the creation of the world up through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. We invited the people of Naasa to come to us the next day if they would like to become followers of Jesus. Many were riveted by this Good News, telling us they could not wait until tomorrow but wanted to accept Christ and have eternal life now! That very night! Praise the Lord!

The next day we remained by our tents, and many came to see us to learn more about Jesus. Some, who had believed our message the night before, even began to share the Good News with their friends the very next day! A teacher came to us from the local school. He had not heard us the previous night, but his friends shared our message with him. He left his school room IMMEDIATELY and came to visit us. This teacher was very excited and wanted to follow Jesus. He invited us back to his school, and there we obtained permission to share our testimonies, songs, and Good News with the entire 6th grade!

The school at Naasa, where we shared the Good News.

Back in Naasa, we spent much of the day answering questions for those who doubted, praying with those who wanted to receive Christ, and discipling new believers. They will soon begin meeting together as a church!

The team also visited the nearby village of Polee. Just like Naasa, there were no known followers of Jesus in Polee. As usual, we met with the village elders in order to obtain permission to share our Good News with the village. As we spoke, the elders were enthused, telling us they perceived we had a “treasure” and that it would be wrong for us to have such riches and not share it with them. The elders even invited a nearby village so they too could hear The Word of God.

The elders of Polee said they perceived we had “treasure”
and were very eager to hear our Good News

That night large crowds, hundreds of people, gathered in the dark to hear our stories and Good News. Again we shared songs, testimonies, and the Word of God. On hearing this message, some believed and were convicted to follow Jesus. Even after the American team leaves, the people of God’s Glory Baptist Church will meet with these new believers, discipling them and planting the church.

In Polee, Pastor Dan translates the Good News into Waale

Phil’s Research
Phil’s research continues to progress. Finally enough rain has come to begin planting! After planting on the research station last week, this week Phil and his team have been visiting the farmers who are participating in his research, taking soil samples and showing them how to plant and fertilize the corn, ground nut and pigeon pea.

Finally! The soil is moist enough to plant!

Note: We wrote this entry to post last week (6/12), but the internet was down.

Meeting with Prosper
Last Sunday afternoon, we met with a young Bible study leader from God’s Glory Baptist Church named Prosper. Knowing that we are ‘agronomists’, Prosper wanted to discuss growing Moringa oleifera. (Moringa is a fast-growing tree whose leaves, flowers, and seeds can be used as a nutritional supplement.) Though our conversation began with botany, we soon moved on to spiritual matters. By the time he left, we had spent several hours sharing testimonies of God’s goodness and encouraging one another from scripture. It is such a blessing to see and hear how God is working in his people!

Church planting leadership training
This week we participated in a church planting training: teaching and learning how to share the story of the Bible from creation to the church, the “Roman Road,” personal testimonies, and several other things. We spent the week with about ten young leaders from emerging churches in small villages near Wa. In the afternoons we divided into small groups and went out to share God’s word in Wa and the surrounding villages. Sometimes we talked to one person, at other times we were invited into houses where groups as large as 15-20 gathered to hear about Jesus! Many people said they now believed what we told them, others said they understood but are afraid to follow Jesus because they come from Muslim families. However, a few people heard our good news about abundant life as a follower of Jesus, and decided to become followers of Jesus themselves! Please pray especially for Joseph, a young man who joyfully accepted Christ, but is afraid of where he will live and how he will get food once his family finds out he is no longer a Muslim.

Now, the young leaders are going back to their own villages to train other Christians in the methods they learned this week. This training is part of a discipleship process that, by God’s grace, will result in indigenous, village churches which are equipped to plant new churches in other villages.

According to one source, there are over 160,000 Waala people in West Africa. Three years ago, there were only 320 Waala followers of Jesus. Since then that number has grown. However, all the believers we meet here tell us there are still many villages where NO ONE has ever heard the good news about Jesus.


Teams from America
This week we met a team of IMB (International Mission Board) summer missionaries that are coming to work in the Wala village of Kperisi. They helped with the leadership training this week, but will soon go to the village for one month. While there they will use literacy work and relational evangelism to reach people with the gospel. Please pray for them, especially for God’s grace in adjusting to their new environment. Village life is very different from what they are accustomed to and they will need God’s provision to be effective in their ministry.

This weekend, another small group is arriving from a church in West Memphis. They will also be sharing the good news in surrounding villages. We hope to join them. Please pray that God will prepare the hearts of those who will hear that they may be ready to respond to the gospel.


Pastor Seidu
Several days ago, we finally met , the senior pastor of God’s Glory Baptist Church. He left for the Netherlands just before we arrived in May and has been there for the last month. We had the chance to speak with him briefly after the prayer meeting. He was very welcoming and seemed sincerely glad to have us here.


Phil’s research
Phil’s research has been “on-hold” this week because there has not yet been enough rain to plant crops. The plots are marked, and the seed is ready, there is nothing more to do until it rains! We are praying for rain and trusting that God will bring the rain when the time is right. Though this has slowed the research process, Phil is making the most of this delay by serving with the church and learning more Waale and Dagaare.

Baptist Mid-Missions
We ventured out on the road to Tumu last Thursday in search of a Baptist missions compound that we had been told was on the out-skirts of town. We found it without too much trouble and had a nice visit with Jim and Rosie, some missionaries from New York who have been serving here since 2003. They are veteran missionaries, having lived in the Central African Republic and Ivory Coast before coming to Ghana. Currently, their main ministry is teaching at the Bible college for pastors-in-training run by Baptist Mid-Missions. Apparently, Baptist Mid-Missions is a missions organization affiliated with the “Regular Baptists” (check with Dr. Fairless if you want to know what that means) and has operated the Bible school and other ministries here in Wa for more than 50 years. Jim and Rosie seemed pleased to hear some American English and we enjoyed hearing about some of their many experiences here.

Rescue Mission

Last Tuesday Dani accompanied a friend from church, Felicia, to her home/workplace. Although only 22 years old, Felicia is the housemother for a group of teenage girls at the “Rescue Mission.” The girls are from nearby villages; some are orphans. None of them (Felicia included) ever attended school, so they are unable to read or write. For that reason, being part of the “Rescue Mission” is a huge blessing for these girls. During the day they learn vocational skills in sewing, so they will be able to make a living. The mission runs a small sewing shop, which generates enough income for the girls to buy food. When asked what the girls like to eat, the housemother responded, “Well, they really like to eat rice, but that is too expensive, so we usually have Tee Zed [cornmeal porridge].” The mission house has a spare room which was used as a school room, back when the mission had enough funds to hire an evening tutor. Now, we are looking into ways to help the girls get a new teacher. Please keep them in your prayers.

Motorbike License

Phil got his motorbike license today. He had been trying to arrange for someone to take him to the licensing office for the last two weeks. The man who went with him was surprised how quickly Phil was able to get the license (only two hours!). Our German housemate waited three or four hours and still had to go back the next day. In addition, Phil didn’t have to pay any extra “fees” or fill out extraneous paper work. (The license had been a prayer request for the last few days, and we think God gave Phil favor with the licensing officials). Phil is quite excited to have the license. He has access to a motorbike, so now he can go to the village on his own instead of relying on someone else to take him. Once we get a helmet for Dani, she’ll be able to come along as well.


Dagaare language (For John and Gary)

Due to the special request from some wonderful friends, we are sharing some Dagaare phrases with you all!

Angsomaa. (Good morning)
Esee. (Response to ‘good morning’)
YE de zimaane? (Was the night good?)
Eee. (Yes)

Fo ngmenaa. (Good afternoon to you)
Ngmenaa tae. (Response to ‘good afternoon’ [literally means ‘the sun has reached’])

Fo zimaane. (Good evening to you)
Zie maane. (Response to good evening)

Fo be song? (Are you well/How are you?)
N be song. (I am well/fine.)
Ka toma? (How’s work?/ And what about work?)

I yuori la bong? (What is your name?)
N yuori la ________ (my name is_________)
N nyE la yuomo lezare ne ata. (I am 23 years old. [Literally: I see 23 years])

N zannEE Dagaare. (I am learning Dagaare)
N gere dio. (I am going home)

N gere la ka n kpaare kpolo. (I am going to collect chicken feed)
OnO la a te bidEngdEngE sobO. (He is the first born)
N taa la donne ane noore. (I have animals and poultry.)
N daara kombie. (I am buying onions)
BadEr da kpi-e la. (Spider died)
Fo ninge. (Your face.)
John taa la ninge boO. (John has goat face)

Kaleo

Last Sunday afternoon, the associate pastor and his nephew came by to take us to the nearby village of Kaleo. We toured the now-defunct Kaleo Baptist Women’s Agricultural Development Project and an orphanage the pastor is trying to start. We also made a stop at the Kaleo Baptist Church, which just happens to be right next to a giant baobab tree that is the center of feasts to honor a local god. The interesting juxtaposition gave us a good opportunity to discuss the local dynamics of faith (mainly between Islam, Christianity, and indigenous religions) with our tour guides. Then we made an impromptu stop at the pastor’s family’s compound where they were brewing pito, a fermented sorghum drink which is widely consumed here.

Where hurricanes come from

Last week there was a big windstorm. Actually, all the storms we’ve seen here are pretty windy. Sometimes it doesn’t even rain, it just blows the dust into the air. You can tell a storm is coming by the clouds of dust. Anyway, during that storm one of our housemates saw part of a metal roof blowing across the yard. We later found the tops of two trees that had broken off and blown into the yard. We ended up using several branches from the tree-tops to hang our mosquito nets over our beds. Dani even made some clothes hangers out of the smaller sticks and some plastic bags.

Phil’s Research

Phil’s research is progressing well. He spent last Wednesday morning meeting with the farmers who will participate in the on-farm experiment he is conducting. Since then he has gone out several times with a crew from the research station to measure out fields and select appropriate sites for the on-farm research plots. He has gradually picked up a few phrases of Dagaare in the field. While Dani has been learning normal phrases like “Hello, my name is...” and “I am ... years old”, Phil has been learning phrases like, “What kind of soil is this?” and “What crops do you grow here?”

Waale New Testament

Last Tuesday we had some free time so we decided to explore in search of the “Regular Baptist Church,” whom we’ve heard have several area missions. We were hoping someone there could direct us to the Christian bookstore so we could buy a Waale New Testament (the whole Bible has not yet been translated into Waale and no scripture has been published in the Dagaare language). We found the church just as a woman was locking up for the day. The woman was very kind and instead of just giving us directions she led us to the Wa Christian Supply Store herself. It is remarkable how God provides us help just when we need it. (On a similar note, we got lost while trying a new way walking home from church a couple of days ago. We had given up and started to backtrack, but as we turned around a lady we had met at church that day “happened” to be walking by and she very graciously led us to our street. God is so good!)

Prayer Requests:
-We made great progress in language learning this week. Thank you for your prayers. Please continue to pray.
-Witnessing to roommates
-The Lord's guidance in an emerging opportunity to work with under-privileged girls at a church development project

Language learning
We have now mastered the basic greetings in both Waale and Dagaare and the housekeeper here has started teaching Dani some new phrases. We have also learned that the word for “white person” is nasara. Nearly everywhere we go the children shout, "Nasara, How are you?" and then grin and wave.

Setting up research
Phil spent quite a bit of time this week meeting with his local contact and several of the local research technicians to finalize details for his research. He and the technicians spent most of Tuesday morning measuring out field plots. Even though the technicians did most of the work, Phil came back in the afternoon exhausted from the heat.

Prayer service
Wednesday evening we made the one-hour trek to God’s Glory Baptist Church for their weekly prayer service. We sang and prayed together in at least three different languages (Twi, Waale, and English). One of the deacons would announce a topic for prayer (for example, “pray for those you know who are sick”) and then everyone would pray aloud. It was wonderful to join with God’s people to give thanks for what He has done and to raise our requests to Him. (Interestingly, we both prayed for our Muslim housemate who has been suffering from malaria and when we returned we told him about it. He told us he was feeling better and that it must be because we prayed for him.)

Over the next few days
Next week Phil will meet with the group of farmers who will participate in his on-farm research. Since several of the missions opportunities we anticipated have fallen through, we will visit the nearby village of Kaleo with a local pastor to look into some ministries there.

Please pray that:
1) We continue to share our faith with our housemates
2) Dani will find a ministry to be involved in
3) We learn more Waale and Dagaare in order to build relationships with our neighbors

Journey to Wa
After an overnight flight, our plane arrived in humid Accra, Ghana around 8am on Wednesday. A few hours later, Phil’s research contact picked us up at the airport. We proceeded to drive around Accra and north towards Wa, stopping frequently so that our driver could run errands. Early Thursday morning (12:30 am) we arrived in Tamale, a city in north-central Ghana. Because we were delayed, we ended up staying in Tamale two nights. Friday morning we set out for Wa, and after several hours on a very bumpy road(!), we finally arrived at our destination just in time for dinner.

Research Station at Wa
We are staying at the guest house of the research station were Phil will be doing some of his research. It isn’t fancy, but we do have running water and electricity. We have our own room and share a common area with two roommates, a German soil science student and a Muslim accountant from Tamale. We enjoy interacting and have already had the opportunity to discuss matters of faith with them.

Wa
Wa is a multilingual city; the languages spoken here include: Waale, Dagaare, Twi, and (luckily for us) a little bit of English. We are learning Waale and Dagaare, although it’s confusing learning more than one language at once. Saturday morning we practiced our new language skills in Wa’s central market. (Besides that, we needed to buy some food!) We now have a nice store of rice, peppers, onions, plantains, efule greens, and peanut butter.

God’s Glory Baptist Church
Sunday we attended God’s Glory Baptist Church, an affiliate of the Ghana Baptist Convention. We were praying we would find a church. After asking around, we finally found a “friend of a friend” who knew of this church. What an answer to prayer!
Sunday’s service was filled with dancing, singing, shouting, clapping, handkerchief-waving, and other exuberant expressions of worship. At the welcome time, we introduced ourselves and brought greetings from the First Baptist Church, Gainesville, Florida, United States. They received us warmly and were happy to have visitors from so far away.

This week
Phil will begin his research and Dani is looking forward to going to another village to visit a Baptist women’s agricultural development project. Please pray for us to learn the languages quickly and find places to serve in order to meaningfully interact with the people of Wa, Ghana.

We have arrived (finally!)

We have finally arrived in Wa after 4 days of traveling!!! Anyway, we're now starting to get settled and hope to write about some of our experiences on our blog soon.

We're on our way!

Hello everyone and greetings from New York City! We (Phil and Dani) have an eight hour layover between flights, so we thought we'd take this time to write. We are on our way to Wa, Ghana and will be there until August 5th. During this time Phil will begin research for his Ph.D. His studies focus on improving soil fertility via fertilization and crop rotations. Dani will spend her time volunteering with various development agencies and missions, including agricultural projects and orphanages with community gardens. We hope to update this blog weekly, with reports, pictures, and prayer requests. However, we will not send out regular e-mails, so we invite you to bookmark this page or subscribe to our blog (see right side of webpage).
It may take a few days, but we will write once we arrive in Wa. In the mean time, we still have an 8-hour layover, 11-hour flight, and 17-hour road trip before we are "home." Thank you for your prayers for safe travels.
Grace and peace,
Phil and Dani