Destinations:

• Pastor Abraham’s Church

Purpose: Teach and connect to the needs of this church

Tomorrow: Heading to a Black Slaves Museum of Tolerance

Highlights from today:

• Color
• Latter Rain Church
• Light

Quote of the Day: “The beauty of Ghana is in its people.”

Color

Ghanaians, as with most of Africans, love color.  It is in their clothing, on their cars and in the brightness of their personalities.  The countryside is filled with unfished buildings, dirt roads, and depravity. Yet on Sunday, you see people dressed to the nines. They walk through the dirt roads, pass forgotten construction, and around the filth, with hope gleam in their eyes dressed in the brightest of colors that are only dim compared to the smiles on their faces.  They are friendly people with joy in their hearts and friendship in their embrace. The canvas of their lives against the dirt and often forgotten roads is one of beauty and colorful art. In the US, we have so much and often feel as if we don’t have enough. Here they have much less but act as if they have much to be thankful. It begs to wonder, if we didn’t have the backdrop of Hollywood flash to compare our lives with, would we be more thankful?

Latter Rain Church (Not associated with Latter-Day Saints)

One of the main purposes of this trip was to partner with a center of influence in this area of Accra. To find an organization or a church who already loves this community and then support them to help their community.  To come in to an area and act like the US is here to help is arrogant. Our goal was to find a local person who wants to help flourish the economical and spiritual lives of others and let them be the heroes. Yesterday we met Pastor Abraham and his family. I gave his sons a beach football and Abraham’s family joined us for dinner last night.  He and his wife serve a very large community where there are slums, witch camps, and many widows.  He started caring for this community in 2003 and since then has been effective in closing witch camps (more on this in a future blog post), providing food and resources to widows, providing hope in the slums and helping the community at large with teaching & practical life assistance. He and his wife Joanna are truly amazing people.

Light

We were guests in Pastor Abraham’s church today. I wish you could have been there to hear them sing!  We were all dancing in the isles! To say that the worship team brought the roof down would have been an understatement. At one moment, I swear there was a conga line!  I was offered the opportunity to speak. I spoke on being light to others. That light gives warmth, takes away fear, brings peace and is attractive. Even the smallest light can push darkness away. And that light lives in each of us. And is the perfect answer to a cold, scared, and lost world. I then had everyone point to their neighbor and say, “You are light.” Then I had everyone stand up and say boldly, “I am Light” as I repeated “Yes, yes you are.”  I referenced Matthew 5:14. It was a charismatic moment in this African church of 200+ people. Abraham has been teaching his congregation that they are all called to help others. The night before at dinner he asked if I could speak on a topic that would continue and align with what he has been teaching. If more people helped others in the community, the community would be changed that much faster. After the service, he gave me a huge compliment and with a huge boisterous hug told me it was the perfect message.   I am feeling humbled and thankful.

Thought for the Day

So many thoughts are running through my mind today; I feel as if I am on an emotional roller coaster. At one hand, I see the depravity; on the other hand, I see bright colors and joy. The light and the dark. Poor and the rich. The haves and the have nots. At one point today (mind you it is like 100 degrees here and the humidity is around 85%) we drove past a golf course. I first said, who in their right mind would be playing golf right now (I saw at least 5 people playing). Then, like a 2×4 to the head, I thought …a golf course? To the right were slums and to my left an 18 hole course.  The dichotomies in Ghana are many. There are wealthy here and there are those who are extremely poor. The middle class is small. The highs and low of emotions are beginning to be a bit much and tomorrow I head to a museum of tolerance to see and be impacted of what it was like to be a black slave. Yet I end today with a thankful heart, visualizing over and over again the joy in Pastor Abraham’s eyes. He is the light on a hill for those in this community. Helping him help others will be our goal. For light, when fed with the right fuel can become a beckon of hope, healing and love for miles and miles and miles.