December Newsletter

This is Africa.-Missionary Motto

Pictures:

Sign on the front of our house welcoming us home.

Front of our house.

Our backyard. $100 if you can spot a snake.

Our living room.

Our kitchen.

Our gas powered stove. We have to light a match every time we use it. I didn't even know they made stoves like this.

Our first Thanksgiving in Africa!

The group of volunteer/career missionaries who celebrated thanksgiving with us.

This is called the Escarpment from the top you are able to see for miles. Julia was hiking to the top with friends when they encountered a forest fire, they had to turn around.

The Mamprulli are 60% Muslim. We hear the call to prayer multiple times throughout the day.

One of the many monkeys in Nalerigu.

We don't have a lot of exotic animals, but we do have monkeys.

Prayer time outside of the hospital.

The hospital.

The road to our house.

The house where our night guard stays. He patrols our house at night to keep us safe. His name is Adam and he only speaks Mamprulli; pray we would be able to learn his language in order to share the Gospel with him.

Story:

Julia and I are slowly beginning to adapt to life in Ghana. We have un-packed all of our bags and our beginning to clear away all of the dust, spiders, lizards and other small creatures from our house. Thank you for your prayers.

The learning curve is steep! We are learning how to drive dodging animals , children, and motorcycles. Yes, we use our horn a lot! We are learning how to operate in a culture which is people oriented rather than time oriented and any meeting which is called will last at least five hours.

A saying which is popular among missionaries in Africa is T.I.A. which means This Is Africa. This saying is used whenever something happens which is different from American culture. For example, this week we had a painter come to our house to paint our kitchen. He said he was going to arrive at 9:00 am but instead came at 7:00 am; T.I.A. When he arrived he did not bring any paint with him; T.I.A. He made me drive him to the store to buy paint; T.I.A. The store wanted to charge me a $100 US dollars for a can of paint; T.I.A. When we finally negotiated the price down to a reasonable amount, bought the paint, and drove home the painter decided to disappear for an hour; T.I.A. At lunch he told me he had no money for lunch and asked to borrow some; T.I.A. Finally, the paint job in our kitchen looks like something I could have done; T.I.A.

At times Julia and I feel like we are in over our heads but through it all God is continuing to show Himself powerful. Besides what did we expect; this is Africa!

Devotion:

Who was Lottie Moon?

Prayer Requests:

1) Julia and I are having trouble sleeping at night. Between the bats, heat and other animal noises we are having trouble sleeping. Please pray that we would begin sleeping through the night. 

2) We have completed one week of Mamprulli language lessons. Pray God would give us ears to hear and tongues to speak Mamprulli.

 3) Saturday, December 8th is Julia’s birthday. Please pray for our hearts as we will be separated from friends and family during this time.  

4)We have numerous opportunities to share the Gospel. We are showing the Jesus film in villages, Julia has begun volunteering at an orphanage in town and I will begin meeting with a group of Muslim men for tea. Please pray that we would be bold in proclaiming the Gospel. Pray that God would open hearts to believe in Him.