Outdooring Ceremony


God has been answering your prayers. On Saturday morning, we attended Brother Henry's son's Outdooring Ceremony. Apparently, "outdooring" is when you officially bring your child outside and present him publicly for the first time. We really enjoyed being a part of it. They dedicated the child to the Lord and announced the child's name: Blintoh Tuurosong Jilac. "Blintoh" is their family name. "Tuurosong" means something like "follow the good/right way." Jilac is actually an acronym for "Jesus Is Lord And Christ." Creative don't you think?
We sang songs, prayed for the child, prayed for the parents and generally celebrated the new life that God has brought into this family. There were a number of people walking by the building who were looking in through the door and windows curious about what was going on. Brother Henry has already been approached by a few neighbors about it. We hope it will continue to give him the chance to witness to the Muslims in his neighborhood. He arranged for it to be very visible so that it might be a testimony to the love and community that Christians have with one another. God was faithful to bless the occasion and we give Him the praise for it.


He is Risen!


The Easter service at God's Glory Baptist Church (GGBC) was a little crowded. It was a joint service including several of the village churches near Wa. Usually they have an Easter conference for all the Ghana Baptist Convention churches in the Upper West Region. However, due to some logistical issues this year they decided to hold several joint services distributed throughout the region. The churches at Vieri, Jeyiri, Toassa, and Tissa came to GGBC. The service was longer than usual (more than 3 hours!), but no one seemed to notice. The praise and worship portion itself lasted nearly 2 hours. By the time Pastor Dan stood up to preach it was after noon. Even so, he preached for close to an hour. It was well after 1pm before we finished. Nevertheless, it was a joyous occasion to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord together.


By the end of the service, we were both pretty hungry and we had not decided what to do for lunch yet. As we were considering whether to try to find a restaurant, Pastor Dan invited us to stay at the church for lunch. Apparently, the church was providing lunch for all the village churches in attendance since they were unable to prepare their own food due to traveling into town. Since they had prepared plenty of food, we gladly joined our friends Prosper, Matthew, Philemon, and Solomon for the meal. The food was delicious and the fellowship was wonderful. He is Risen! He is Risen indeed!



Ryan's Local Football Club


Ryan has been connecting with some of the local kids through football lately. Mostly they have been having fun together playing football (and getting dirty), but God has gradually enabled him to share with them why he is here and teach them respect for one another. Through these interactions, he has discovered that most of them are Muslim. He wishes he could do more to witness to them, but so far the Lord has not provided the opportunity. Even so, Ryan has enjoyed at least teaching them about sportsmanship and treating one another with courtesy.


Meeting with Farmers


Phil has been working diligently to carry out his research activities. Mostly this has involved meeting with farmers individually and facilitating several farmer meetings. They have been discussing various issues related to crop production and soil fertility. In addition to providing useful information for Phil's research, the discussions seem to be helping the farmers learn some things as well. They were discussing the linkage between legumes and cereals and Phil was able to explain the plant processes that allow legumes to add fertility to the soil. During his explanation there were nodding heads throughout the group. It was very satisfying for him to see the "light" come on for them. Phil is grateful to God for richly blessing his collaboration with these farmers.


The Coming Week

The rest of this week is going to be rather busy for us. Phil has a farmer meeting tomorrow and in the evening he is supposed to go to Vieri for their weekly prayer meeting. He's also leading the prayer meeting at GGBC on Wednesday night, while at the same time Ryan will lead a prayer meeting at Tissa. Thursday evening Phil will go with Pastor Prosper to Jeyiri for their prayer meeting. Needless to say, We'll be experiencing lots of prayer with God's people this week.
On Friday evening we have been invited Pastor Dan's house for dinner and on Saturday we will travel with a group from GGBC to Sombo for a memorial service. On Sunday, we'll have our last worship service at GGBC and Ryan is bringing the sermon. He is a bit apprehensive about it, but is honored that Pastor Dan asked him to speak. On Monday morning, Phil will hold the last farmer meeting and in the evening we plan attend the Youth meeting. On Tuesday morning we'll say "goodbye" to Wa and board the bus for Accra. As you can tell, it's going to be a busy last week in Wa.


Points for Prayer

Pray that:
- God will bless Phil's remaining research activities
- God will give us the energy to keep up with all that we need to do this week
- We can find time for reflection and prayer