North to Lawra

I have just arrived back home at the Lake and am so excited to be back. We caught the boat on the other side of the lake this morning because there is a team staying there taking a boat over every day and it saved us about an hour thank God! When I saw Betrum and Isaac on the boat I could not hold back my excitement. And they were so excited too! I loved it. I brought a friend with me for a couple of days and already today we have had so much fun. We got here just in time for church. I decided to go to Amakom Assembly since that is where I feel most at home. We had so much fun! At one point they motioned for my friend Christiana to come forward in the middle of someone singing and she was like ‘they are calling me’ and I said ‘ok go’. They asked her to ask me to sing again and this time I sang a song that I have grown to love and I knew they would know as well. It starts by saying ‘All other gods, they are the works of man…’ and then the drums started and everyone started singing. They motioned for me to get the dancing started and me and Christiana started to dance. I motioned for everyone to come up and we soon had the whole church on their feet at the front doing their traditional dance. It was a sight to see. After lunch Christiana, James and I went on a mad hunt for tomatoes and some yam all over the villages. I was in desperate need of my new favorite food fried yam and pepe, but we were unsuccessful. It was fun adventures though and we got to talk to lots of people. One lady said she had sent me over some bananas last week as a gift and people told her I had gone to Kumasi. I thought that was so sweet. People were calling out Akua and it made me feel at home again. The language up north is so much harder than Twi and even though I have complained about Twi being difficult I told my Twi teacher today that I was so thankful to come back to the land of Twi because it truly is easier than other languages here in Ghana. Which brings me to the main point of this blog, my trip north to Lawra. I have journaled while away this week and just thought I’d share some of those entries with you.

Ok so today I began my big journey up north. We loaded up at about 7:30 and put 10 people in the tro-tro with us, which made it very packed. I was sick almost the whole time due to my wonderful disease of car sickness. The scenery was beautiful. It looked like an African movie. It was so typical of how everyone views how Africa might look. We made a few stops along the way to meet a Methodist Bishop and to buy groceries. The road was much better than I thought but much longer as well. We had really good conversation in the car and I was wishing I wasn’t so sick so that I could enjoy it more. When we got here (Lawra) the orphans were out singing and John was playing the drum. It was the warmest welcome I have ever received. The Esofu Mami actually picked me up off the ground when she greeted me. I was so surprised lol but turned right around and tried to pick her up and to my embarrassment did not succeed. We did all the formal greetings then went over to view the nutrition center where the children usually hang out and they followed us as they continued to sing. They were precious. On our way to eat I strapped a baby to my back for the first time and started walking.

I was a little scared to drop him and I noticed he didn’t have a diaper on so I was a little anxious about how that all worked since the kid was only a few months old. He started crying some and we were about to eat so I moved him to my front and tried to comfort him.

He rewarded my efforts by urinating all over my lap. It was amazing! Lol I just kept right on going like nothing had happened. It was completely hilarious. We ate some white hard pasty substance in some kind of leafy stew with guinea fowl and mango. It was interesting. After dinner we went to a church service where they do a dance that I don’t know if I could ever get. You have to move your bottom and top in different ways and it was a little too complicated for me but of course I tried it and probably looked silly but as I sat down kids followed me and sat on my lap.

I love it! We sang and danced often and children held onto our hands desperate for attention and love and we were more than willing to give it. We came to our guest house which is quite nice and are settling in for the night. I cannot wait to play and minister with the children tomorrow.

Today has started out interesting. This morning after breakfast we went over to the Aids part of the compound where any child or adult that has aids lives. They wanted us to speak to them and some of them had travelled far to come and have us pray for them believing in faith that they would be healed. It was amazing to see their faith. Esofu Nicole, one of the missionaries to Ghana, spoke very well about how Jesus does not hold people’s sins over their heads to punish them but that He loves everyone and is a very forgiving God. When she went around touching the ‘untouchables’ I was shaken to the core at the power of that and the imagery of Jesus she was showing and the Agape love she was representing. After this very special time together the rest of the team left to get passport stuff done across the border and only Courtney and I stayed behind. We hung out with some of the kids at the orphanage and tried to feed a very young child peanut butter and water. It was very difficult with no bottle or baby spoon but we made it work. I met two boys named Sam and Nad who petted my hair and touched my skin.

We read books to them and they loved the pictures. We even got someone to interpret them into Degardi, the Northern language (which is extremely difficult by the way) and that was very cute to see. We saw a boy who has TB of the bones. He was 8 years old and looked like a 3-4 year old. He was very small and his face was a sad one. I wondered if he was in a lot of pain.

Courtney and I walked off to the market at Lawra to check it out since most of the kids were in school. There was a ton of campaigning going on since the Ghana election is upcoming and I got a picture with some of the campaigners for proof that I can’t get away from those kind of crazy people.

I got distracted by a daycare with many kids out front and went over to greet and hang out with the children who were out playing.

Courtney got held up with a mental person who ended up on her knees a couple of times to pray and every time Courtney would tell her that she had a friend named Hollie that she needed to catch up with the lady would either break out into a ‘Hallelujah’ or a ‘Holy’ song most of which seemed to be written on the spot.I could not stop laughing at the situation at the time but felt a little disturbed and a little bit like the disciples that were being followed around by someone claiming to serve Christ and be doing a good thing but really being possessed and causing a great distraction. We headed back to the orphanage as the kids were being let out of school and we played with the children, read more books and made all the girls necklaces and the boys bracelets.

I thought it was so cute how all the girls ears were pierced. It was very helpful though because everyone, boy and girl, had short hair cuts and wore a variety of clothing that was not necessarily gender matching. It was a very special time together and I was shocked just by the way they slept and what they called a kitchen and play area. It was so completely and utterly heart wrenching. I am blessed by these children however because their joy is so much in the middle of so little and they are intensely happy at just standing or sitting close to us. The ones that made me the saddest were the ones I didn’t see smile once the whole time I was there. What have they gone through in their short little lives? What have they already faced? What does their future look like? Will they ever have a reason to smile again? These questions flow through my head and I am begging God to take care of them. Give them a comfort only He can give and send someone to love and care for them in a tangible way.

I preached tonight. We had a little acting involved and it went very well. I talked about David and Goliath and how all of us have Goliaths in our lives. Be it sickness, disease, lack of food, financial difficulties… I talked about David’s faith and the power of our testimony. I talked about relying on God’s strength to overcome our giants and we prayed over many people. It was very good to hear testimonies at the end of how God had worked in people’s lives and I think it made everyone’s faith grow. After the service we went out the back of the church to pray over an area that sees a lot of demon activity in this village. The story was that a fetish priest or witch had sent a curse to this place and the demon would manifest himself in many different ways tormenting the people of this village and late at night a demonic crying would occur. We prayed against this and it was a very powerful time of casting this demon away and shutting up whoever sent the curse. I have been involved in much spiritual warfare since arriving in Ghana. Ghanaians are very open and aware of the spiritual realm and what is going on it. Many times I have felt the services were over the top and there was a lot of showing out and drama. This night however was very different. They were very serious about it and knew the power they had in the name of Jesus. There was no playing around and many prayed very powerful prayers and they sang very anointed and powerful songs. My faith was increased and I believe that this village is free of whatever curse has been placed on it and this spirit of Python has been cast out.

Once again today we have visited with the Aids patients and gone to speak at the house that many of them live.

A few of us bought strips of woven cloth from them, which they weave to make money for their livelihood and I even tried to use the machine they use to make the cloth.

I wasn’t very good at it. Again it was a very special time and we prayed for healing and protection for these people. As we were leaving they draped a piece of their cloth over us and it was a very special gift that we all loved.

We left part of the group behind which was hard and got on the road today. The children were there to see us off and I noticed the 5 year old little boy who danced at church in just a t shirt and underwear in a way of worship to God that would put most people to shame. I looked at the little boy with TB of the bones and wondered how long he would live and once again thought about his pain. I saw the little girl who never smiles and wondered what would happen with her and I looked at Sam…so full of life and energy and I hope that he stays like that forever and that nothing takes that away from him.

I am being touched and changed…seeing things I never imagined I’d see and going places I never thought I would ever be able to experience. Boy is it a bumpy ride!

P.S. I didn’t get sick on the way back! God is so good!