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