And the Winners Are...

If you've been a consistent reader of our blog over the past 2+ weeks, you have noticed that there have been a number of consistent comment-ers on our blog! We appreciate everyone's faithfulness to reading and keeping us in your prayers (we're not done with the blog yet!!) but before we leave Ghana we wanted to present one final award.

It was a tough decision, but after all the votes were tallied, the winners of the MOST VALUABLE COMMENT-ER AWARDS go to....

Jaclyn's Dad with his amazing words of wisdom!

and

Jake's Aunt Chris, with her consistent ending of 'love you Jake'!!

Again, we're not done with the blog...so keep checking back for more updates as we leave Ghana and enter the U.S. YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS IT!!!

WE LOST OUR PASSPORTS!!!

To preface today's post:
Several off us were really disappointed, yesterday, when we heard that we are only going to spend an hour in the Grace and Faith Elementary Academy.

We were woke up an hour earlier than we had all expected this morning because Mel-shine worked some magic, and found out that we could go hang out with the kids as quick as we could get ready. Woot Woot, I was pumped. We were able to get ready rather quickly, and we were off. Several of us got to teach the students, but it was extremely dificult, because it wasn't exactly what we had expected. It was the childrens first day of school, so it was wild and chaotic anyways. We also got to hand out several gifts that we brought for the kids, so we got to hang out and play with the kids after they ate lunch.

This afternoon, most of us slept, but a several girls got their hair braided and corn-rowed.

This evening we had a dinner "Program" with Pasor Daniel. He expressed his thanks to us many many many times. It was a very special and memorible time spent with "Mamme and Papa" aka Pastor Daniel and his wife. He gave us a few things to rememeber Ghana by, as if any of us will soon forget this trip. Everytime there is a gift given, there is a program that goes with it, only to show appreciation of the gift.

Moms and Dads that flipped out when you read the title; No worries, we still have them. We are all sad that tonight is our last night in Ghana, so if we were to lose our passports for a week, we wouldn't hate it. Its been an amazing trip thus far. Our team has become a family. We have each grown in ways we couldn't even imagine. The people here have blessed us in so many ways. Our prayer now, that a seed has been planted in many hearts, is that they continue to grow in thier faith, and make Jesus Christ thier personal Lord and Savior.

I hope you all have enjoyed the blog, as much as we have enjoyed putting it together.

The Hasselhoff

Cheyney is telling me that 'today was neat'. Not really any explanation there, but it's 1:30 am, so there's not really a need for one.

Today was the last day of street evangelism. We traveled to a location outside the main city that we've never been to before. My impression of the location was that it appeared more impoverished than most of the places we've seen. I think that the attitude of the people was more hopeless as well, probably as a result. We divided into our 5 teams and set out for a couple of hours of reaching out in the community. Our team talked to several guys, two of which were probably around 12 (MAYBE 13!) who decided to give their lives to Christ!! These two boys admitted to being bullies around the community; stealing, lying, even beating up other children for no other reason but to be mean. So please pray that their decision would be sincere and that godly men would be raised up to lead them in that community!

We also enjoyed a 'tour' of Takoradi this evening which was great, because we were able to see more of the city than we've seen on our crazy drives to the churches! We drove down to the harbor, around the town, and attempted to get into a large soccer stadium right outside Takoradi. It was a good diversion from the knowledge that we will be leaving Ghana soon.

Today at lunch we tried Fu-Fu. Interesting. That's the best I can say. It's like a partially cooked loaf of bread which you pour soup over top of it. Then you dig your hand in the steaming hot soup and grab a piece of the dough. The dough is relatively tasteless, but the soup we had on ours provided the spice and kick we've grown to love from Ghanaian food!

I think the feeling among the team is that, while we're excited to come back home, we each will leave a large part of our hearts with the pastors and the people that we've met here in Ghana.

Finally, we wanted to leave you with a video from our beach day...our version of the Baywatch run. Enjoy!

-Marty

Survival Pics...

ghanaian barber shops with Beverly...does that rhyme with Kimberly?!?

*Disclaimer*
Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers who are following the blog!!! Thanks for being great! =)

So today was the day that Nate finally shaved his head...along with Matt, Seth and I. But that was by far the highlight of our Mother's Day Sunday. Our group was assigned to 6 Churches in the area. 6 does not divide equally into 10 so some of us had to go to churches on our own. Christina and Marty were a team, Jac and Nate, Emily and Matt, Kim and Mel...leaving Seth and I to go and preach alone. This was told to us the night before so we were all well prepared. At lunch, we all reflected on how our mornings went. Everyone seemed to have a great morning and we all received gifts from our churches for our service and dedication to them. The gifts received were all different but had the same, amazing intetions of giving from the heart! Tonight we went headquarters, Grace and Faith Church, to meet with some youth and have a fun, free time. We told jokes, played charades, and just simply fellowshipped with one another. It was a very relaxing night for all of us. Only a few more days left here in Ghana then we fly out for home. God has done and is doing an amazing work here in Ghana. Speaking on behalf of the team, we are extremely thankful that He chose us to come and preach the Good News to these people. Our time is not over so keep checking the blog for more updates!

Jake

Ants, Ants Everywhere

So yesterday (Saturday) was our 'free day', so we went to the beach. We've been near the coast line the whole trip, but Ghana doesn't have a whole lot of nice, swimming beaches. So the fact that we're supposedly a 10 minute walk from the beach at the lodge, does not in-fact mean that there is anything worth seeing or doing at the beach. So we've never gone there.

But yesterday we piled all ten of us, 4 pastors, Francis, and 2 kids into our sweet ride (the van) and headed an hour to the 'nicest beach in Ghana'. It was a pretty nice beach, and had it not been for the high waves, there probably would have been other people swimming too. However, apparently only American's visiting Ghana and wanting to say they swam in the Atlantic Ocean off of Africa are crazy enough to go swimming in those waves. (Don't worry, they weren't THAT big...) But they did make for some pretty good wave-riding and we spent several hours there, then returned back to Mercy Lodge.

If you've been keeping up with the 'Shaving Nate's Head Story', you know that we have surpassed 15 affirmative votes. Last count, including 10 from Team Sahara, we had 27. So last night after a dinner of dry chicken (which we've begun to affectionately refer to as 'turkey jerky') and rice we set out to cut hair with the clippers I brought with me. However, in our excitement and joy of the adventure, we failed to look and make sure the clippers would ACTUALLY work on 220-240 V....they didn't. So no shaved heads and burnt up hair clippers saddened the mood.

But today we're headed to a barber to get it done right! We were told they could do all 4 of the guys who are shaving their heads for about $2 a head!!! That's amazingly cheap. I guess it helps when there's a barber (or two) on every corner! (See, I learned something from Economics!)

But I'll let Jake write more about the barber stories later when he writes up today's post!! (remember, this is YESTERDAY'S post!) Until then, enjoy!

God Bless,
Marty

No Lifeguard on Duty

After receiving a ridiculous amount of harassment from my team on the length of my last post (immediately below), I decided to write a summary for those of you who don't have time to read all the details:

1) we sang on tv
2) we slept
3) we told people about Jesus
4) we experienced the 23 minute worship dance line
5) we looked like fools in front of a large group of people
6) people laughed
7) we celebrated the reaching of 15 in favor of nate's shaving his head. it doesn't have to stop there. keep posting! the shaving will happen later today. thanks for making it happen
8) we are leaving for the beach

Love,
Mel

"Shaving your head is like baptism, it signifies a great life change."

Get ready. I always write a lot. I just have so much that I want to say because this is the first time that I have REALLY gotten to share my thoughts with you. I will break it into pieces and you can just read what you are interested in. FIRST, thanks for checking out our blog. It means more than you know.

TODAY'S Adventures:
As you may remember, we were on National tv (SKYY television) two days ago. I guess they liked us a little bit because they invited us back this morning from 5-6 am for the worship and prayer segment. So come 4 am, we all fought the desire to stay asleep and we woke up about 4:00 am to get ready for our worship music debut on tv. It was interesting. We'll leave it at that. We sang for about 20 minutes before they went to some African worship. Our pastors and four other random Ghanaians sang after we did...they put us to shame. Good thing God cares about the HEART of worship and not how we sound.

After our early morning, we all went back to bed and slept until about noon. It was great, not gonna lie. The afternoon was filled with preparation for tonight's long awaited "Youth Variety Night." We wrote a skit, learned a song, and practiced the Jada-line--a very productive afternoon. Our bus was to come at 4:00, but Francis was a little late and so we did not arrive until after 5:00 to the church. The plan was to do more follow-up evangelism for a couple hours before the Variety Night. Plans were altered slightly and five of us went out for about 45 minutes to talk to people we had already met in the area. It went well and both groups ended up sharing the gospel to people who were not believers (both are slightly intersting stories for another time). One thing I found really fascinating was something that happened as we were walking down the street. We were on a mission to find John, a man that Marty and Jac talked to the other day. We walked by a tiny store with several people sitting in front. We waved and kept on our way, but they hollered at us. They ACCUSED us of not stopping and talking to them (in the words of George). They thought we were being rude because we did not stop. They called us out and so we went back and shared the word with them. It was one of those moments that I thought, "We are not in Kansas anymore." The value on relationships and hospitality is so different than at home.

When the five of us returned to the church from our jaunt around the city (side note: I have rarely felt as comfortable and at ease walking around a city. The peace, hospitality, and friendliness of this country is something that I have never experienced.) we just waited until the event began. We thought it was supposed to start at 6:30, but it was about 8:00 before anyone showed up--it happens. About 7:30 the team and the pastors began praying and worshiping for the service. Pastor Daniel at one point leaned over and asked if I would dance. Who could say no to that man? So the dance line formed. It started with part of our team and then grew into a chain of about 50 dancers as people arrived for the variety night. I won't mention any names but Daniel even got two of our boys (whose names both begin with 'M') to join in the dancing line. THAT was quite a feat! It went on for a good 23 minutes...we were nice and sweaty by the time we ended and the service began! It is so freeing to just release any worries about people judging you and to just dance for the Lord. No one cares what you look like.

Come 8:00 the Youth Variety Night started. I thought we would be going last, but Daniel had other plans. We were first on the schedule. I was a little nervous because what we had planned was crazy/fun but I wasn't sure how it would be recieved. I gave an introduction and made sure to say "We enjoy having FUN as believers in Christ and laughing. We want you to join in with us. As wierd, crazy, or awkward as we might be....please laugh with us!" It worked. Within 5 seconds, the entire place was rolling in laughter--more laughter than I have heard since we arrived in Ghana. We performed four different things: 1) 'The Jada-Line' where we each yelled a different phrase and did a corresponding action. It was ridiculous! You go one person at a time until you add everyone--until all ten of us were yelling and doing crazy actions. The people did not know what to think, but they laughed. We made each of our sayings for the jada-line about Ghana and things we love about the country, so I think we built a connection with the people. 2) We sang a song we have learned in Fanti (the native language) and Kennedy rocked the house! 3) We sang "Great is He" which is a three-part song that we learning just hours before. Even though we are not a choir we were able to keep our three parts and it sounded AWESOME. 4) We performed another slightly ridiculous skit about how to pray. It was performed at a Convocation at Sterling last Fall and we did it. To summarize the skit Emily, Seth, and Jake had to scream really loud, repeatedly. People were really getting into it and Pastor Daniel even got up and jumped in a circle because he was laughing so hard. The best part about that skit though was seeing the children mimick Seth, Emily, and Jake after the service. I don't think they will forget the meaning of the skit for a long time. :)
After we finished, different churches performed different things including several songs, a poem, and a couple messages. We were all inspired and felt lifted up afterward. I think that about wraps up our day!

Now there are a couple other things I want to mention while I have control of the Blog. :)


GOD WORKING IN OUR TEAM:
I could not be blessed with a better team. We fit perfect. We love being together (so much that we spent 4.5 hours the other day after devos just hanging out together in one of the rooms). We have grown together. We support one another. I have been absolutely awed by how God has been working through this team. Each person has completely blown me away at different points throughout this trip. People are stepping out of their comfort zones and the holy spirit is working like crazy. Each person has talked at least once in front of a congregation. Each person has shared the gospel message. Each person has carried this team in some way at some point. Each person has prayed for countless Ghanaians. I have specific stories about each person that I would love to share, but that would take a lot of time and blog space. I just look at this group and I am proud...like a mother with nine children (wierd, I know...but it's how I feel). My desire for this team is that each person will fully realize their potential IN CHRIST and how much God has used them/will use them. This team has impacted my life. God is at work.

I want to share just a couple quotes from the team which will show where we are at:
"I don't WANT to take a free day. Well, I guess we can still talk to people on the beach anyway."
"I asked that God would give me a heart of this country and the people. I have fallen in love. I want to stay, I want to come back, I just want to people these people."
"There's no place else in the world that I would rather be."

God is the reason we can do anything we are doing. I was really moved tonight during a prayer when the pastor said, "We CANNOT do anything unless you do it through us. We NEED you to do everything." We need to be reminded of this. I think our team has experienced this. This lesson of being a vessel has really been on my mind a lot. If you realize that you are just a vessel, nothing you do is of you or for you, then you can REALLY give God the glory for what is being done.

Thanks for letting me boast about the team and what the Lord is doing through the team.
I just had to do it.
Much love.

Erin-I'm listening to Times and missing you.

SHAVE NATE'S HEAD

Should Nate shave his head? We all think so, he just needs the approval of 15 more people. We need people to post YES to the blog, and maybe even a couple reasons why if you can think of any. Jake, Matt, and I all agreed to shave ours with him, if he would go through with it. We would greatly appreciate your approval stamp on this wonderful "bonding" opportunity.

-Seth

Tokens, Tokens, Tokens

Before clicking here, read the post below to find how our day was. Then click to watch the video for a more...COLORFUL...version of our day!

Giant Plastic Smurf Spotted Today in Takoradi!

Today started out good for everyone because we got to sleep in until 9:00, so even those of us who have a hard time smiling in the morning were happy at breakfast. Then, our first event on the schedule wasn't until 2:00 so we had a lot of time in the morning to prepare for the youth variety show tomorrow night. Well we got a little distracted from preparing this morning because there was a downpour of rain and we went on a rain walk, where Nate was the only one to wear a poncho and it was bright blue. The rest of us just got soaked and a bunch of Ghanian workers pointed and laughed. It was pretty amazing. Some of us like Jada had deep philosophical thought in the rain, while the rest of us just had a little fun. Not that our trip has been anywhere close to short on fun:)

So our task today was to talk to a group of Christian high school students about 4 topics: purpose, academic excellence, quiet time, and abstinence. When we arrived we walked into a classroom to find 50 students all dressed in their pink uniforms. We were deeply moved by the beautiful voices of a number of the high school girls. It was really inspirational for a lot of us and it set the tone for the afternoon. We spoke for about a little over an hour total, with five of us speaking and then it was open for questions. Kim talked about God's purpose in her own life and how He had opened new doors for her when He closed the first one. She was really encouraging to the students and she answered a number of questions on the topic afterward. Next, Melissa spoke on excellence in school and in life. She brought up some very important points on the subject and if anyone knows about academic excellence its her:) Then, Seth talked about the importance of setting aside quiet time to talk to and listen to God. Next, I spoke on purity and why we should glorify God with our bodies. Last but certainly not least, Marty also talked about abstinence and had every child smiling and laughing about the subject. He made some very powerful illustrations and I'm sure no student will forget about it anytime soon. We were all very excited to have such an opportunity to share wisdom with the students. The thing I noticed most about them was their focus; no matter who was speaking, all eyes were on him/her. We had their undivided attention, so that was really encouraging.

Pastor Daniel liked all of our messages so much that he asked us to do it again at a youth service tonight. So we went back to the lodge and rested for a little while before Francis came to pick us up at 7:00 for round two. Well, it turns out that in Ghana a youth group can be people anywhere between the ages of 15 and 25, so we were a little surprised that the majority of the audience was older than us. Nevertheless, we got up there and spoke what was on our hearts. Melissa and Marty changed there messages to adapt to the crowd, but the other three of us stayed with the same message. I would say we all found tonight to be harder because the sound system was really distracting and the audience was not responsive at all, for good or for bad. Still, it is all for God's glory and we stay strong believing that God's purpose for us was fulfilled there tonight regardless.

So I need to go to sleep now for like four hours, because we have to get up really early tomorrow. We're going to be on the same T.V. show again, only this time doing worship music. It'll be cool, it's just so early. Oh, and by the way, who ever thought I would sing in front of people, or on national T.V. Well, I guess the musically inclined team members make up for those of us who are vocally challenged. Anyway, great day overall. Signing off.

P.S. Hi Family and Mark:) Love you all!

Quote of the Day: What happens in Ghana stays in Ghana...unless it makes it to the blog.

Jaclyn

Pound it... FLYING SNAIL! Btw don't worry mom. We're safe!

Today started off earlier than most days for our team. We were given the opportunity to appear live on television at a Ghana network building called "Skyy: Television and Radio Station". Its listeners and viewers attract up to 7 million people! What made it even cooler was that we would be talking about evangelism and why we are in Ghana. So the Lord was giving us an opportunity that was too great to pass up! Sadly, we had to be ready by 4:20 am and appear on the t.v. show at 5 am. While some people woke up later than others, we were all able to make it out of the door on time! The host of the t.v. show was really easy to get along with and before we went on, he let us know up front that he wanted all of us to make this a relaxing and fun time. This information helped to erase any doubts that we would have about the show and by the grace of God, we all gave clear and honest answers! After about 45 minutes of talking, we were finally done and the host gave us a tour of the station. We got back to the Mercy Lodge at about 6:15 and from that point on to about 4:30 pm, our day was filled with eating meals and sleeping:) Btw today was a good day in the lunch and dinner department, b/c we got to order food that we hadn't ordered before and judging by how well-received it all was, it won't be the last time we order them! We were supposed to evangelize from 4-6 pm, but our driver was late picking us up, but no worries. By the time he arrived, we hadn't gone too crazy waiting for him!
For our evangelism time, we went to the street that we were all at on Monday to check up on some of the people we witnessed to and evangelize to new people if we had the time. Some of us found people to evangelize to and some of us met up with old friends to encourage them and read the Word with them. By the power of God, our presence had an impact on people's lives! We all especially had fun playing with the neighborhood kids while we were waiting to leave. The kids enjoyed us as well as we introduced them to the different ways to pound your fists with one another, clapped and danced with them, and took pictures of them (it never gets old to see their excited and awestruck faces when the flash goes off:).
Now that we have made it to our halfway point, we are still continually learning about what God wants to do through us on this trip, but we are thankful for what he's taught us so far! The people of Ghana have been a joy to get to know and we hope that all of you back home will continue to shower us with your love and prayers. We are forever grateful and hope that God blesses you all!

- Nathan (Nasty Nate) West

Recap of yesterday's events (Nate's givin' out Rubdowns)

The Jada, Kennedy, and eventually Cheyney story.
We began the morning by splitting off into our street evangelism teams and Kennedy and I (matt) went through a small village outside of Takoradi. We met and prayed with three specific groups. The first group was about 10 males sitting on the side of the road. They were eagar to listen, and we eventually prayed with them to rededicate their lives. The next group was a group of mothers who we eventually found out were all Christians. We prayed blessing and healing upon their lives. Lastly we met up with a man who was wearing a U.S.A. T-shirt and we used that as a lead in to talking with him. He was a hairstylist and and spoke with him for 45 minutes. Then it rained. It rained. And it kept raining. And then it rained somemore. Then Kennedy got wet. Then it rained again. Then it rained some more. Then more rain came. It did not stop raining. Then it rained again. Then it started to downpour. Then the rain came harder. Then it rained. Rain. Later that night, we seperated into 4 groups and everyone spoke at different churches. Cheyn, Ken, and I spoke at a church up in this village. Ken and Cheyn gave their testimonies and I gave a message. It went very well. It was awesome how God took three very different stories, and brought them together to speak one powerful message. We spoke from Romans 5 and talked about persevering through struggle, and Pastor Daniel came up after we finished and asked people to come forward if they needed prayer for their personal struggles. Three people came up and we prayed with them. It was very powerful. Then we got mugged. No really, they gave us mugs. It was great. *Kennedy laughs evil*.

Thanks for reading,

Matt, Christina, Emily




Nasty Nate and Cheyney.
Cheyney and I left with Pastor Ben to evangelize to people in a village outside of Takoradi. Once we arrived, we found some women who took us behind their house so that we could talk to them without so much noise. The place they took us to was filled with flies and kids, but we tried to not let that stop us from witnessing to them. All three of us were able to bounce well off each other. Cheyney kicked butt on her testimony and the questions we asked them about Jesus made them want to know more. Despite a few moments of being uncomfortable, it was great to see God move! Thankfully he delayed the heavy downpour of rain to fall until after we led all fifteen of the listening people to receive Christ! While it was raining hard for the next hour and a half, Cheyney and I entertained the kids through dancing, singing, and nonstop pictures with Cheyney's camera (btw for those of you who want more videos, she made plenty of them with her camera:). After that, Cheyney and I were sadly split apart to go to different churches with the other groups. Read about Cheyney's experience above with Matt and Emily, and mine below with Seth and Mel


The Seth and Mel Pair.
Seth and I have been paired for three days now and we have made a pretty good team. Our gifts compliment one another and we are able to communicate and converse with people well as a pair. So, you can imagine our initial fear when we were split apart as soon as we left the bus. We set out in our village with our translator Salume and a member of the local church who knew english (Maxwell). We immediately approached a group of men who were working on a truck. We asked them to stop and listen for a while and they did even though it was a little reluctant. Within five minutes of initiating the conversation, Maxwell stole Seth from our conversation to go talk to another man. We both shared a wave of fear of being separating, and we both immediately began praying. We both shared our testimonies to the different groups. After talking for a while with the men, one of them decided to accept Christ! It was interesting because I was curious about the sincerity of the men. I kept stealing glances of Seth and noticed that he was praying for a teenage boy. Apparently the man that Seth went to talk to had a similar testimony to Seth and he wanted Seth to share the story with a boy who was working for him. The man made the boy stop pouring cement (a big deal) to listen to Seth. After that prayer, Seth went over and talked to another teenage boy. While there, a young girl listened in on the conversation and gave her life to the Lord. Seth led her in prayer as well! Seth and I reunited after this, took pictures, and then moved on right as the rain came. We were talking to a local pastor at the time and took shelter on a porch alongside the highway. We were stuck under the porch for about 45 minutes where I had the opportunity to talk to a 17 year old girl. She couldn't go anywhere, and I know that God wanted it that way. Seth played with Salume's 10 year old son (yay! he finally got to play with a kid) and I shared the gospel with this girl. Her family is Muslim and she decided to give her life to the Lord as well. This is a big deal. Once I prayed with her, she told me that she would be kicked out of her house if she told her family that she wanted to go to church. She has been on my mind and heart ever since. Please pray for her to have courage and ask that the Lord bring her family to know Christ! It broke my heart. We don't have to struggle with these types of persecution very often at home. After the rain let up, she ran home and Seth and I headed to the bus!
Nate joined us for our evening service. We walked deeper into our village and we followed the sound of the loud music coming from the church. Here is the story through Nate's eyes: I went with Seth and Mel to a church that had about forty people in attendance including lots of kids. Seth and I both gave messages and while we didn't plan on this, both of them were very similar b/c they both talked about living the life God wants us to live. Having God speak through you is an experience like no other! To top it all off, at the end of the service the kids in the audience entertained the church with a choreographed sign language dance!


The Littlest Church That Could... (Marty & Jaclyn)
We did evangelism in Shama Junction, the most remote of all the places our team evangelized that day. We had to drive further than the rest of the team up into the hills, but we could see the ocean from the village, which was super cool! When we arrived we met Elijah, the local pastor for the less-than-a-year old church. This church was nothing more than 6 wooden poles and a tin roof. (And five wooden benches!) With the help of our translator, Pastor George, we spoke to and encouraged many men and women in the town, and encourage them to attend our service that night. Most of those we met with had some connection with the church, whether family of current attenders, or friends. So in this way it was different than the first two days when we had talked to random people we came across in the town. We had the chance to talk to one gentleman whose wife was an attendee of the church, but he had not yet attended, and was 'waiting' to give his life to Christ. I (Marty) challenged him to be the spiritual leader of the family; that God had designed the man to lead and to guide his wife and children into their relationship with Christ.
Returning that night, we were uncertain what to expect. We expected possibly 8 people, but were surprised to find barely 10 adults and over 30 children! Praise the Lord for His unexpected blessings! We sang two worship songs and were asked to sing a third, and then we each spoke for a short period. For Jaclyn this was the first time she had spoken in front of a large audience of any type, especially a church setting. Our plan for our sermons for the night had been to focus on being obedient to the word of God. We each used portions of our testimonies, including times when God had called us to be obedient to His leading, even though it made no sense at the time, or was difficult. One of the highlights was praying for the children in attendance for God to protect them and set them apart from the spiritual warfare the encounter in the schools on a daily basis. Also, 3 adults gave their lives to Christ that night (one of which was the husband I had spoken to earlier)!! PRAISE THE LORD!! It was evident the Holy Spirit was in that small 'shelter', as His presence was clearly felt!! Our biggest dissapointment was that we couldn't stay longer and had to leave so soon. But we left with a bag of avocados, a parade of children ushering us goodbye, and trusting that God would provide for them as they continue to grow in their faith.

Thanks for your prayers! (Marty & Jaclyn)

Rain couldn't stop us...
Jake and I, though Jake will deny it with every part of him, make an amazing team! We work really well together. He is such a good speaker and...well I'm good at smiling. Which is is big deal when there is a language barrier to overcome! We were the first group to get dropped off at a village with our translator Frank (who is basically the bomb). We went straight for the first place we could find where the people were willing to stop and listen. This happened to be a hairdressing salon. The women listened to me and Jake speak so intently even though they couldn't understand us! It was amazing. The group of women said they were all Christians, so Jake and I just encouraged them with a testimony and a short word from the Bible. I gave my testimony. The women all listened and understood and were touched by it. Jake then told the parable of the Lost Son, which produced many questions. Not so much biblical questions though. They were moral questions. Like is it wrong for me to fight someone that wants to fight me. There was one girl who told us her story about her previous relationship with the church. She became pregnant outside of marriage and the Christian church she has recently attended had suspended her from coming. She asked Jake and I who was in the wrong. This was such a tough question, that I had to stop and think for a second. I told her it was sad that the church had suspended her in her great time of need for support and the Lord. But, I told her it was more about her relationship with God, not just about going to church. So, these sort of questions definitely kept Jake and I on our toes for a while. Then, it started to rain. And, immediately I thought that Satan was trying to prevent us from spreading the good news. But, there are other ways to share God's love and grace with people. Jake and I along with Frank went under some shelter where there were boys kicking around a soccer ball and we joined in with them. They had fun and enjoyed our time with them. So, even though it rained, the devil still didn't stop us from showing our love toward these people!
(Jake talking now)
Just to clear the air, I don't mind working with Kim...she just gets on my nerves sometimes!!! haha...j/k. That same night, Kim and I traveled to the same village where we would be sharing in a Chruch service there. Upon arrival, we met with the pastor of the Chruch and he lead us to the building. Not your typical Church from our previous experiences here in Ghana. There were only two lights and six bench pews, but the Lord was still in that place. Kim, with the help of Frank as our interpereter, gave an amazing testimony and I shared a word of encouragement with the people. There were eight adult women, two men, and about 10 children who attended. When we arrived, they had already started their time of worship and we just joined along. Kim and I recognized some of the worship songs from previous services along with a few new ones. We didn't notice any of the people that we had talked to early that day at the Church service with the exception of one young boy about the age of nine. As Kim and I shared, there were time when Frank would elaborate for an extended period of time. Kim informed me later, from what the pastor of the Church had told her, that he was restating what we had said in a different dialect. Overall, Kim and I had an awesome experience in the village!


Jake and Kim.

Can YOU get up, shower, and be ready for tv in 9 minutes?

Here is our picture from the Television Show this morning! It was crazy awesome and we will write about it later--I just wanted to put the picture up while I was doing it!

A Short Night

Hello All,
We have a short night ahead of us. We just finished debriefing today's AMAZING services and street evangelism, and we're excited to tell you more. We'll give you a taste: The Holy Spirit was present in Ghana tonight! But we also have to be up in a matter of less than 4 hours for our television interviews (which should be crazy awesome!!), so we've elected to sleep a bit, and update the blog with the INCREDIBLE stories of today...tomorrow. So before it's even the end of Tuesday for most of you (if you're in Kansas), we'll be up and on our way to the Television Station! Please pray that God would give us clarity of thought, wisdom, and clear speech as we take advantage of this WONDERFUL outreach tool!

Talk to you all tomorrow!

-Marty

Your face looks a lot better than it did last Wednesday

There are so many things I could be writing about. I am not sure where to begin.

Today was a heavy day. I mean that physically, but even more so spiritually. We began by heading out into the city of Takoradi to do more street evangelism. The common thought of the team is that it is getting easier the more we do it. We are learning more about the people and how to communicate specifically to their needs. I could tell of all the incredible stories of the day, but I do not want to be up too late. It is currently 12:16 here and we will be getting up early to do more ministry. I will share of Emily and I's experience.

We split of into groups and Emily, myself, Salume (translator), and Pastor Daniel went together. We did not waste any time. Within seconds we began talking with some ladies in their 30's. While we were talking a man came and kept interupting us while we were preaching the gospel. He seemed to know why we were here, and he asked us to come to his house to present the gospel. The man was obviously intoxicated, and seemed a bit mentally unstable. Pastor Daniel continued to ask him to leave so we could finish sharing with the women, and that we would visit him as soon as we finished. We eventually prayed with the women to rededicate their lives to Jesus, and to make Jesus not only their Savior, but LORD of their lives. It was awesome. When we finished we met with the tipsy man in the green shirt (cannot remember his name). It took us a while to get to the point because he continued to argue that the church wronged him and that is why he turned to alcohol (he admitted to alcoholism). We tried to explain that Jesus was not responisble for the churches actions and that alcohol is the result of his own actions and not the church. Once he calmed down we explained more about the gospel. After a series of testimonies and serious intense conversation, Emily prayed with him to receive Christ. He also claims he will be attending our host church this Sunday. We hope we see him there. The man followed us the rest of our time while we evangelized and helped us explain the gospel to other Ghanians. It was great. The next man we met also accepted Christ. He was in his sixties and said, "I believe this is the change I have been waiting for. I know my life is not right." We prayed with him and it was very powerful and very sincere. Praise God.

I don't know exactly what it is, but it seems that it was not until this trip that I truly understood the urgency of what we are doing. We have been sent by God to preach the news of Jesus Christ. There is NO greater calling in this world. I think in America evangelism is sometimes looked down upon. I think there are a lot of factors that play into that attitude, but I believe I have truly regained focus. This being said we discussed in our team devos tonight that we cannot measure our success by numbers. Whether 300 or simply 1 person gets saved, our mission is succesful simply because we are in God's will and he has called every single one of us to be in Ghana. Our success is measure not by numbers, but by our willingness to submit to our God.

One more thought...

The spirit of God has been heavy upon us. We have been so blessed by being a part of the Ghana worship services. I believe every single Christian must experience an African worship service before they die. It is indescribable. It can only be experienced. Trust me, my words would not do it any justice. Tonight we were able to be a part of all woman's service. During the service Kim shared her tesmimony and Mel preached. Kim's testimony was very powerful and truly moved some of the women. After Mel preached Pastor Daniel came up to preach with fire. The next few moments are hard to describe. Let's put it this way. There was healing. Spiritual and emotional healing. The Holy Spirit was so thick, Emily Kennedy put it best when she said "You can just feel it, and you know. You know it's God."


Ok, just one more thought.

One of the most profound things I have learned from the Ghanian people is humility. Whenever we drive anywhere Pastor Daniel always stops, and thanks God for his grace, his mercy, and for our safety. They thank God for everything they have, in every situation. It is pretty incredible. We have a lot to learn from the people of Ghana.

There is so much more, but I will stop here.

Pray for us. Tomorrow is going to be a difficult day. We will be seperating into 5 groups and preaching and 5 different churches. God is truly stretching us out of our comfort zones.


Praise God.

-Matt

Francis Gives Us Senior Pictures

This video was made very fast,
but portrays memories that will last,
we all are safe and having fun
but something else before this is done.
our video is extremely dramatic
and my vocab is not grammatic.
everything is nice and safe and good
so please keep it real back in the hood.

- Cheyney

Castle of Rain, Thoughts by Emily Kennedy typed by Matt

Emily - Today we drove two hours to sea the rainforest. It was everything you could imagine. There were trees, lizards, frogs, rocks, insects...However, there was something missing; RAIN. There was no rain in the rainforest. What you learn about in school is false. The textbooks lied. We climbed rope bridges (seven of them), we swung from tree to tree, ok not really, but we walked until we reached our final destination which was the other side, somewhere, ummm, on the other side of the forest which had an end. After we um, stumbled down to get some grub (that's food), Club and Chicken Sandwiches. Then we headed off to our next umm, our next...uhhh...location. *giggles* I'm bad with vocab. Cape Coast Castle. The triple C. This was more of a serious emotion event. We were able to hear and see the origins of the African slave trade and the exact places where they held the slaves. It was a very moving experience and was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Overall, it was a great and fascinating day that went real well. *giggles*. Tomorrow we will go to our first, well our second, kinda, African church service. And get to do what we came here to do. Evangelize. I'll see ya later. I hate goodbyes. I'll see you in a few weeks to all those followers on this site. You good?

"Dancing Church, Fish Eyes and Takoradi" thoughts of Seth

This morning was an early start after not getting much sleep the past two days. We got up, had breakfast then headed to church. We stopped by a local church in Accra before we started on another journey. "Pastor" Marty Boeschling lead us in a sermon on Power and Auhority found in Mark 1, while being translated by Pastor Daniel Yaw Akuoko. Matt "Jada-flav" Jaderston played his guitar as we sang choir style in front of the church. It was a little differnt for them to sing "How Great is Our God", campared to there traditional, completely upbeat music full moving around, dancing, and loud singing.
After the service we loaded up in our charming little van, and headed towards Takoradi. On our trip we had encounters with many new things. I tried fish eyes. I'm not going to go into great detail, but i would discribe them as chewy peas with a bit of a crunch. They tasted salty and yumptious. We got our first glimpse of the coast today, shortly after we drove through the University Campus in Cape Coast Ghana.
We finally arrived safe and sound in Takoradi at the Mercy Lodge. Its different then we had all expected. We have been provided with motels rooms that do in fact have air-conditioning, what a blessing! I hope your enjoying the blog!

Day 1/2

Today was the ultimate traveling day! I've never been on a plane for so long, or switched planes as many times as I did today. We flew out from Kansas City, after a very wet downpour drenched us as a goodbye from kansas. This flight took us to Minneapolis, and then from there, we flew over the vast atlantic to Amsterdam, which is in Holland (for those of you who don't know). Then, we got on a packed flight to Ghana! Overall, we did around 22 hours of traveling/waiting, and when arriving in Ghana, we throuoghly smelled like airplane and B.O. The temperature coming into Ghana was amazingly warm! It was like Florida weather, and on the decent, Seth and I took bets as to what the temperature would be. I said 80 and Seth said 85. Well, it turned out to be a whopping 84 plus humidity, and this is just the temperature at night! I can't even imagine how hot it is going to be tomorrow in the sun! Ghana, from what we could gather in the darkness we arrived in, is a very interesting country. It has it's own unique smell and the people are very friendly! The streets of Accra (the capitol city and the city we flew into) were filled with street vendors, people who were just trying to make a living. It was interesting to pass by in our van packed full of people and have them be wiling to just come up to the van to try and sell us something. As we were driving, I sat next to the window and got to get a good view of what Ghana looks like at night, and what its people are like. As I was sitting there, I got a sudden longing to just be with these people and share my love of Christ with them, be it through preaching or just hanging out with them. I can't wait until tomorrow to go out and be with these amazing people God has created! We'll see what these next two weeks have to offer...
<3 Kim <3

April 29, 2009 - departure

We will be taking off on our journey in about an hour. It doesn't even seem like it could possibly be here for real. We just prayed over the India team as they set out on their journey and we will do the same shortly. We will post as soon as we can once we get in to Accra, Ghana! We spent the last couple days getting REALLY close as a team. And by really close, I mean played the human knot for two hours straight. We have no fear of invading one another's personal space or smelling each other's sweat.
Love and prayers.

Jake (wow he's good looking)

*As a side note to start off, my blog must ALWAYS be read with an English accent because that is how I am speaking during the trip.

For those who don't know me, I'm Jake Bowser from New Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. I am lactose intolerant. I am a Junior/eligibility and Sophmore/academically and I play golf at SC. I love my family and God is pretty cool. I am very excited about the trip to Ghana. I hear there are golf courses in Ghana and I know, for a fact, that there are going to be people there that need Jesus! I also like to organize my shirts and underwear in color starting with blue and ascending in alphabetical order in my drawers. Not really but that would be great and I am going to start when I return to the Commonwealth. I am going to try and not get swine flu because I hear it can kill you. But I am go out looking for typhoid fever! That was a joke...haha. I am very excited to meet the people and introduce Christ to those who do not know Him as their Lord and Savior.

Marty's Life

Hi! I'm Marty! We're headed to AFRICA!!! How crazy is that?
This has been my first year at Sterling (after attending K-State for 3 years) and I've loved being a part of this team as we've prepared for Ghana.
In March I proposed to the most amazing woman in the world (JAEL!!)!!, so if you think of it, pray that we both would find complete satisfaction and fulfillment in Him over the next 2+ weeks as we can't talk like we're used to. (We're used to long distance, just not THIS long of distance!!)
I love S'mores Pop-Tarts and Dr Pepper, although not usually at the same time... Oh, and Nutty Bars. And Tacos. Oh man, I LOVE TACOS!
I don't know if there's much else to say. I guess we'll keep you updated as we go along!! IT'S GOING TO BE AN INCREDIBLE RIDE!!!

cheyn on a plane

HELLLLLO friends! It is now officially April 29, which basically means that I'm going to Africa TODAY! holla. Oh goodness, I am so incredibly excited! I just finished up my Sophomore year here at Sterling and I am a Christian Ministries (youth) major! I'm not really sure what I want to do with that, but basically I just want to share Jesus with the beautiful people that the Lord created. I love Africa, I've never been there but I love it already. I don't think I can say it enough, I am pumped! The Lord has truly blessed me with this opportunity and I cannot wait to see what He has in store for me and my fabulous team! I love Jesus, my family, laughing, the sky, people, quotes from children, tie-dye, rapping, cat jokes, cheesy potatoes, being ridiculous, swedish fish, westmister woods, bracelets, flip-flop tan lines, and my team. Basically, I could write a whole novel but seeing as though we leave in a couple of hours and I'm not completely done packing, I should go work on that! Thank you soooooo much for your love and support!

keep the states real for me!
-christina (also known as cheyney, cheyn, cheynsaw, soulcheyn, cheyncheyn)

ps. i love you mom and papa

Going, Going, Ghana!

Hi! My name is Jaclyn Coxwell and I'm from Orange Park, Florida. In the fall I will start my senior year at Sterling College, where I am an Applied Mathematics major and Art minor. This will be my first mission trip and I am so excited to go to Ghana. Just a few years ago I never could have even imagined this day, but in the past 2 years God has transformed my life in ways I cannot even begin to describe. I love the Lord with all my heart, and I can't wait to see lives changed in Ghana. I really have a heart for Africa and I know our team will do amazing things there. Thanks to everyone who has supported my trip both with donations and with prayer:)

Seth in Ghana-read it!

I'm Seth Swihart and I love people. I'm a senior football player here at Sterling College. I'm an Elementary Education major because God has given me a passion to work with kids. I am super excited to works with the youngsters in Ghana. My prayer is that we as a team have a profound impact on the children there. I can't wait to see the windows God opens for us, and to watch His love be spread to the villages.
I love hunting and fishing and being with friends. I enjoy building friendships and meeting new people. I hope to teach upper elementary and coach football and wrestling. I'm super excited and anxious about the trip.
Our thanks will never be enough to those of you who have supported us on our journey, whether that be financial or prayer. We ask that you continue to pray for us as we are over seas working in the villages!

Matt's Bio

It is difficult to describe my excitement for this trip. I have yet to travel to Africa, and from what we have heard, Africa is an experience like no other. I am an english & secondary education major who will hopefully be graduating in two years. I really do not want to get Typhoid fever.

Emily's Background

What up yo, my name is Emily Kennedy and I'm from Cushing, Oklahoma. I am a Sterling College student earning a degree in elementary education. I hate animals. I like music. I have been to Mexico on a missions trip with my church last year. This is great. Ummm. What else should I put? I love Whitney Houston! I like to sing. Well, I love to sing I guess. I like having other people type for me. Ummm. I like sports. *Smacks lips* I hate snakes. Uhhhmmm. I have a huge family and we hug.

Kim Kenton

I like to be called Kim, and I have just finished my third year here at Sterling College. Born and raised in San Diego, California, Kansas was an interesting and unique choice for me in going to college. And I don't regret the choice for a second! It has been an awesome experience, filled with fun and growth in my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Each day, I find myself growing and walking more and more in Him. This mission trip to Ghana is the first one I have ever been on. Going to Kansas for college is the farthest East I have ever traveled, so this will be a completely new experience. I don't even know what to expect! But I am so thankful to be going, and am equally as thankful for all of those who have supported me financially and with prayer! Because of you guys, I am able to go to Ghana! I am so excited and don't even know what to expect! There will be lots of stories, both hilarious and spiritually amazing, to share when I get back.
Anyway, a little more random stuff about me is that I like the color pink, love sushi, and going to the beach with the sun, though my whiteness would never have given that away. Can't wait to go to Ghana! See you when I get back!! <3

Melshine's Life

My nickname: Melshine. My role: team leader. My excitement level for going to Ghana: RIDICULOUS! I have never been so excited to travel somewhere in my entire life. I love going new places and meeting new people, but my anticipation for heading to Africa is unlike anything I have experienced. My heart belongs to Nicaragua, and it will probably stay there, but I am stoked about visiting a new continent.
I just graduated from Sterling College with a degree in Communications and Christian Ministries with an emphasis in missions. I love being with people, especially the Ghana mission team! I also love photography, grapefruit juice, and playing the human knot game (kind of). I hate apathy, injustice, and boredom.
I will be at Westminster Woods after Ghana and then will be headed back to Sterling to work as a Resident Director!
Thanks for your love and prayers,
Mel

The Nathan West Story

Hello! My name is Nathan West just like the title says. I currently hail from the great Sterling College in Sterling, KS, but for the next two weeks I will reside in Ghana, Africa! It will sure be a far stretch from what I've grown up with in Oklahoma City, OK, but I am excited and grateful for the team that I am going with. Besides the fact that I've just completed my first year of college, I can't wait to be a blessing to God and others, and hopefully be blessed in return. I look forward to being used by God to do great things and gain a better understanding of his love for all people. While I will miss my family, friends, and the comfortable life back home, I know for a fact that this will be one mission trip that I won't soon forget and will look back on it as growing closer to God!

The Excitement Builds

We just received the 'Itinerary Briefing' from Global Infusions of more specifics concerning our trip to Ghana. WOW! When the Lord opens doors and works, He does so powerfully and mightily. This looks to be a crazy, exciting, AWESOME 2 weeks!

That's just a brief tasting. The whole team hasn't seen the itinerary briefing yet, so after they do we'll share more of our joy with you! So check back soon for the WHOLE story!

-Marty

Hello!

We're so glad you've joined our journey!

This summer we're excited to pursue Christ as He leads us in ways we can only imagine. This summer, we will be sharing Christ's grace and love with all we come in contact with in Ghana! So please check back from time to time to see how we're doing, what we're experiencing, and share in our joys and sorrows as we seek Him.