Last day in Abrewenko

VERY FULL BUS!!

Friday night's celebration dinner with the people of Abrewenko

Our Ghana mission team

Pastor David standing next to the beach
on the "other side" of the Atlantic!

On Friday we had our last  day with our mission partners and it was a true celebration! After a miscue with the lumber folks, the pastor from the Bompata church, Osofo Kofi, helped us out by getting wood from another supplier. We drove through Dampong, like we always did, but this time there were hoards of people waiting to join us on the last day. Our bus has 28 seat belts but we carried 34 IN the bus and 2 on top all the way to Abrewenko. For those that don't know, the road is bumpy, treacherous (many trenches in the road the driver has to avoid) and very narrow. If I (David) would stand in the middle of the road I would be able to touch vegetation on both sides. 

Once we arrived we saw the tremendous progress the folks had made while we were gone on Thursday. The brick had all been laid and mortared and they were waiting for wood. Unfortunately, we could not begin the framing of the roof because the mortar needed to dry in the sun and it would take a few days. We did help move some cement bricks but that was about it for manual labor. Half of the group took the children into the church building and worked with them on drawing pictures and writing notes (as best as possible) to the children of the PCOTW congregation.  This was a rousing success. Following that we ate lunch and then shared in singing, dancing, laughing, playing soccer, and drinking/eating coconuts. It was a beautiful celebration for our last day. 

The progress on the schools was amazing throughout the week. The people thanked us very emotionally, but more important were the relationships that were built during the week. 

In the evening we had a celebration dinner with the elders and pastor of Dampong Trinity Pres Church. Sandra was our awesome cook the whole time and big props to her for the work she did on our final meal. We had roasted chicken, beef stew in red sauce, white rice, red rice, red beans and rice, yams, and to top it off-goat soup. The elders loved it and we did too....okay...well some of us did.  We finished the night in conversation about the differences of our churches as well as the similarities. 

On Saturday we got off earlier than ever, drove to Accra, and dropped off borrowed items at Collins' sister-in-law. We hit the art center for one last chance at souvenirs and capped the trip with a late lunch at a beach restaurant. We all are safely at the airport and checked in. God be with us in our journeys! 

Peace,
Your Ghana missionaries

Progress in Abrewenko

View of completed first school and rebar structure

Construction underway on the second school

At day end Tuesday, we had finished the rebar structures for the new school building's pillars and roof, finished the mudding of the original school building's walls, and nearly finished the mortaring. Due to our progress there was less work for us to complete. We pitched in and carried the homemade mud bricks to the new building for the construction workers. We also had several members including Cora and David finishing the mortaring in the original building. Luke led a few dozen children in chants and cheers for the mortar workers shouting "Mortar Mortar"! 

Due to our lighter workload this gave us the opportunity to deepen our connections with our brothers and sisters from Abrewenko and Dampong. Many of us played with the children and taught them songs and games including: the hookey pokey, who let the dogs out, and duck duck goose. We were also blessed to have time to sit down and have wonderful conversations and discussions about similarities and differences in our country's societies, schools, churches, customs, and more. When we returned to Bompata for the evening, there was a meeting of the Osofus (Pastors) of several of the communities to discuss to future of our partnership. It has been proposed that there will be a continued formalization of the relationship with the Trinity Presbyterian Church of Dampong. We will continue to strengthen our communication with our sister church and search for opportunities to receive blessings from them in the form of edification and support. We feel very strongly that we are building healthy relationships and moving our partnership forward to live our call for global mission!
Your Ghana Missionaries

Building Relationships

Throughout our time here in Ghana we are building relationships with people of the communities of Dampong and Abrewenko. Here are some of the people that we have connected with this week. 

Victoria--18, done w high school, needs to pass final test. Then she wants to go to Police training school.  She remembered the folks from 4 years ago. 

Agnes--14, doesn't go to Abrewenko school yet, but probably will when it starts up again in the fall. She knew enough English that she was translating for the little kids. In this culture many young girls (as early as 5-6) begin taking care of the littlest babies. 

Francis--connected with Ole and Craig. One more year of high school. Clean cut young man who is looking to go to the university to teach. He has an interest in geography and physics.  He is very intelligent and speaks English very well.

Martin--chaplain at the Abrewenko church. He is a catachist, which is an assistant pastor who hasn't yet gone to seminary. In America we call people like this a lay-pastor. He has a passion to reach the community of Abrewenko through the school and the church there. Since there isn't any electricity out there he was suggesting a solar panel would help their church and school which could powers machines needed for both those places. 


The school buildings in Abrewenko are coming along very well. The first building will be completed today. It has been fun to watch our Cora Lueben playing and singing with the kids. She would teach them English words and phrases and then they would teach her Ghanaian phrases. Rachelle Koopmeiners really connected with the kids on Tuesday when she played a game of "pick up the trash" around the school yard. That led to jumping jacks and push-ups, a rousing game of tag and finally a game of soccer. We've discovered Craig Francis and Luke Koopmeiners both love to play soccer so the kids are having lots of fun with them as well. 


We know that many back home are worried about the Ebola virus and how we are staying safe. The truth is, we haven't heard anything about it and wouldn't know if it is in Ghana or not. We are being safe and so far The Lord has blessed us with good health. We may have one broken toe in the group, but that hasn't stopped building the relationships or the schools. 

Thanks again to all for your prayers for our safety. We feel blessed to be able to serve the Lord and represent PCOTW as missionaries here in Ghana. 

Blessings- Your Ghana missionaries

Working Hard in Dampong

The team arrived safely in Bompata on Saturday afternoon.  We are staying in two houses with close quarters, but gracious hosts.  Bompata is about 20 minutes away from Dampong, where our sister church is located.  We travelled there on Sunday and had a wonderful time with Trinity Presbyterian Church.  The worship service was just over 4 hours long because it was the district-wide Children's service.  There were over 300 kids who had been participating in a weekend VBS-type program.  There were children that recited scripture passages, many wonderful songs and dancing, a band full of trumpets, trombones, drums, electric keyboard, and many young adult singers.  The theme of the day was "Nourishing our Children to Bear Fruit."  Following worship (4 hour long service), we headed to the town center for a celebration time where we danced together and watched them do some cultural dancing.

Monday we began work at the school in Abrewenko.  This smaller village is a bumpy, treacherous 30 min. drive from Dampong.  We were surprised at the progress the folks had made already.  Instead of building with bricks, the school walls were made of clay with bamboo-like wood for framing.  There were so many people that came out to work that we were humbled and excited.  The work was chaotic at first, but once we got into a groove, we had folks making cement mortar for the outside final coating, folks making clay mixed with cement for an undercoating that will hold the walls together better, and lots of people throwing that clay/cement mixture on the outside walls.  Many of us tried our hand at the final mortar coating and smoothing.  Others tied rebar, and we were all doing the most important thing--building relationships.  In the next blog, we'll highlight some of those relationships.

On Tuesday, today, we are meeting with the Executive Presbyter of the Presbytery, hitting the market for food and water in Konongo, and then back to the worksite for the afternoon of working on pouring columns for a second school building!  The goal this week is to get two schools finished!  Please pray for our safety and for the work and relationships to build under God's strength.

Peace- The Ghana missionaries

Safe in Accra

Hi folks,

We have the rare capability of WIFI in our hotel room, so we're taking a moment to post an update. The team has arrived safely in Accra, Ghana. The flight here was uneventful and a little quicker than expected. In some areas the plane was only half full, so there were many open seats. When we got here there was plenty of humidity and people ready to help us. While the temps were only in the lower 80's F, the humidity was about 90%. (this being written by a fat guy who sweats looking at a flight of stairs).
     Once loaded up on the bus that we'll be taking, Ernest, our driver in 2011 and this year, wove us through the city of Accra. We got to see many sights...some of them 3-4 times! After a couple more hours on the bus we found our hotel (tucked in the back of a "subdivision") and were able to dump our things.
    We got back in the bus and traveled over to Joanna Ofori-Amonfo's sister's house in Accra. She fixed a beautiful meal for us of traditional Ghanaian food. We finally got back to the hotel, had devotions together and heade doff to be about 11:00 pm here. For those in the states, we are currently 5 hours ahead of Central Time.
   
Today and tomorrow are a couple days of more travel, and we will update as we can. Thank you for your prayers and your support.
Peace,

Your Ghana Mission Team

Beginnings

This blog is being started for the purpose of letting folks know how and what Presbyterian Church of the Way is doing in missions. Many of our groups take trips and like to report back on what they are doing. This is a place where we can do that.

For our first post, our 2014 Ghana Missionaries have left Minneapolis today and are in NYC for the night. We will all arrive in Accra, Ghana on Aug 7th. Please pray for safe travels, no viruses and lots of God's Spirit being present as we work and build relationships with the Trinity Presbyterian Church in Dampong, Ghana.

Peace,
Dr. David Parker