This may be the last time I get to talk to you... Short I know. BUT! I thank all of you for allowing me to have this experience.
Bible verse is first today and it comes from Psalm 18
Psalm 18: 2
"The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold."
God has been good and has provided me with many things this week including: Guidance, Wisdom, Healing, and Love.
STORY:
Yesterday we visited the house of Chris. Chris is one of our Ghanaian teaching partners. while we were there he served us with lunch. Lunch of course was a doughy ball of banku and a half a fish staring at me. It was the best I've ever had. We had it with a bean soup that tasted like lasagna.
Later, Christ handed out gifts and we relaxed for a while. Here's what makes the story valid. I snuck out back and sat on a plastic lawn chair and thought a while. The scene was beautiful! There was a breeze, the area we were at had minimal litter, and there were amazing clouds guilded with palm leaves. That's when God opened my mind and said... "Travis, this isn't for you. You are called to be a revolutionary, and that is in Utah. You are called to have revolutionary love! That can happen in Utah." I realized that, Sure, This place is beautiful but it doesn't suit me. I thought, "Where can I help most?" and it's right where God had me.
Utah is my Ireland.
If you know the story of Saint Patrick, He was taken to Ireland as a child and raised among a Multi-diety culture and eventually ran away. After studying for quite some time he went back to the people of ireland and you probably know most of the three leaf clover story.
I feel that I've been captive in my mission field the whole time but God has used this mission to teach me and then retourn me to that place.
Many people here have thier African name and their Christian name. My english name is Travis and my new christian name is Patrick (Seeing as Patrick is not in the bible it's not legitimate but it's good enough for me)
God has given me a gift today and it is the gift of being tounge tied. I want to say many deep and profound things to show off how much I'm learning and doing in Africa but I'm befuddled. I know that I've learned these things, and I know that I'm falling deeper in love with God every day, so I'll just let you see the difference in my life when I get back.
I want to say one last thing before I go.
Teaching these children has been one of the most difficult and testing things that I've ever done mentally and nearly as much physically (heat, dehydration, sickness). Many of our classes ages range from 14-21 and I'm supposed keep their attention and keep them involved in the lesson.
I ask God "Lord, how am I making a difference in these kids lives? Am I really helping them to build good character? Have any of them truly given their lives to Jesus and to You?" and he answered me through Cheryll (our american team leader). I tossed some of these questions her way and she pretty much told me... "Well Travis, you never know, but you have to do what your called to do!" Cheryll has been a teacher/bus driver for nearly 30 years, and she told me that you can never truly know if you've made a difference but you leave that to God and just DO what he asks you to DO.
Frustrating, but an area that I'm giving to The Lord.
Ok, Thanks for following me and my journey to Africa. I will try to post again before I come home and maybe once when I'm there for the hind sight aspect but till then, only God knows.
May God grant you a vision for the future, and may you be wise enough to follow it.
Amen
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Sickness and Speedy Healing
Hello everyone!
I have much more too say and once again: little time to say it.
This last weekend we headed back to the orphanage for our Rest and Relaxation. Many of our group held off thier sickness till we got into the orphanage then they were bed ridden... luckily God healed them within the next day! Yay God moment.
I began to talk to the friendly local Solomon. I found out that he's my age and is finishing Junior Secondary School. He's a really nice guy. He invited me to go to Kotoko with him for lunch so I agreed and we headed out around 1:30. Little did I know, Kotoko was about 15 minutes away on bike. *chuckles* I borrowed the local childrens pastor's bike and Solomon took the local seamstress' bike. Aparently he's on good terms with her.
We rode into town on the dirt road full of potholes and sandy areas and all the kids that saw me once again yelled "Yevu Yevu Bon Sua!" which means "White Man White Man...the rest is in french" and so I asked Solomon what Black man is in his language and he said "Amebo" with an "EH" sound on the E. The next kids we saw I called out "Amebo Amebo Bon Sua!" and they laughed really hard. I also score points with locals by counting to five.
Back to the story. We rode into town and Solomons friend the cloth maker made us some FuFu soup and we bought goat meat from the market along with some Tea bread. We went to her house to eat it and Solomon taught me that you are not supposed to chew it, but swallow it whole. I had a rough time to say little. The mixture is like tapioca with sand in it. It is a dough mixture containing either: Corn flower, Corn flower and kasava root, or made purely of kasava root. Ours was the pure Kasava root.
After eating, solomon and I rode back to the orphanage. We got there just in time to join the kids annual dance time. Childrens Pastor, Sammi, had a boom box and the kids were dancing the traditional african dances to christian praise music. It was a blast, and regina taught me some sweet moves.
The next day we departed to Aflao but I wasn't feeling good. The goat didn't sit well in my stomach. By the time we got the hotel I was better but Lo' and behold, 2 o'clock in the morning the goat wanted to be let out of the pen. I'll cut that part of the story short and just tell you that I wasn't feeling up to teaching that morning.
The sick feeling I had was soo familiar, then it clicked! I have E Coli. ARGH! As I lay in bed I finished reading the book I 'd brought (The Hobbit). I then thought about the conversation I had with Stacy this weekend. We talked about how we were still kind of in the dark as far as the old testament goes, because it seems just like a list of rules and names for Jewish laws and genealogy. I looked at the list of books and was surprised to find that this was quite the opposite. From Joshua to Job it's all a story.
I'm gonna read it!
So, back to the sick travis in the Makavo Hotel. I began to read the Old testament and I'm now through Joshua, Judges, Ruth, and am finishing 1st samuel. it's really neat to see all of the stories (like samson and delilah) in context, and to read about the history of God's people.
Also, while I was laying in bed my teaching partner Julious kept teaching and at many of the schools, the kids asked about me and julious told them that my body had broken down and that they should pray for me, so I have about 600-700 kids prayers on me. Those are only half of those we're teaching. Still, 600 prayers will do a lot to a person.
Today is my second day of E.Coli and I'm feeling much better than I thought I would. I ate bread today, and for dinner had some veggie soup. I can't believe how fast I'm healing and how interesting the Old Testament is.
God is good. I also finished reading an amazing book called "How Good is Good Enough" It really legitimatelyi shows that the "Good people go to heaven" theology is bogus, and tells the world that there is no way other than Jesus. It made me want to make a shirt that says "Good People Don't go to Heaven" and on the back it'd say "Ask Me Why" with a little John 3:16 quoted below it. It's so amazing how much God has given us through the death and ressurection of Christ! How unfair God is to give us what we don't deserve. Life. Thank you lord for your love.
I think that shirt (or something like it) could be a great help with witnessing. Many of my friends back home think that good works and improving the world will earn them a spot in heaven. What I want to ask them is "How good is good enough?" and many questions similar to that because nobody can tell you.
Ok, I've only got like 10 minutes left, but I love you all and thank you soo much for your prayers. they've been helping soo much.
God bless.
I have much more too say and once again: little time to say it.
This last weekend we headed back to the orphanage for our Rest and Relaxation. Many of our group held off thier sickness till we got into the orphanage then they were bed ridden... luckily God healed them within the next day! Yay God moment.
I began to talk to the friendly local Solomon. I found out that he's my age and is finishing Junior Secondary School. He's a really nice guy. He invited me to go to Kotoko with him for lunch so I agreed and we headed out around 1:30. Little did I know, Kotoko was about 15 minutes away on bike. *chuckles* I borrowed the local childrens pastor's bike and Solomon took the local seamstress' bike. Aparently he's on good terms with her.
We rode into town on the dirt road full of potholes and sandy areas and all the kids that saw me once again yelled "Yevu Yevu Bon Sua!" which means "White Man White Man...the rest is in french" and so I asked Solomon what Black man is in his language and he said "Amebo" with an "EH" sound on the E. The next kids we saw I called out "Amebo Amebo Bon Sua!" and they laughed really hard. I also score points with locals by counting to five.
Back to the story. We rode into town and Solomons friend the cloth maker made us some FuFu soup and we bought goat meat from the market along with some Tea bread. We went to her house to eat it and Solomon taught me that you are not supposed to chew it, but swallow it whole. I had a rough time to say little. The mixture is like tapioca with sand in it. It is a dough mixture containing either: Corn flower, Corn flower and kasava root, or made purely of kasava root. Ours was the pure Kasava root.
After eating, solomon and I rode back to the orphanage. We got there just in time to join the kids annual dance time. Childrens Pastor, Sammi, had a boom box and the kids were dancing the traditional african dances to christian praise music. It was a blast, and regina taught me some sweet moves.
The next day we departed to Aflao but I wasn't feeling good. The goat didn't sit well in my stomach. By the time we got the hotel I was better but Lo' and behold, 2 o'clock in the morning the goat wanted to be let out of the pen. I'll cut that part of the story short and just tell you that I wasn't feeling up to teaching that morning.
The sick feeling I had was soo familiar, then it clicked! I have E Coli. ARGH! As I lay in bed I finished reading the book I 'd brought (The Hobbit). I then thought about the conversation I had with Stacy this weekend. We talked about how we were still kind of in the dark as far as the old testament goes, because it seems just like a list of rules and names for Jewish laws and genealogy. I looked at the list of books and was surprised to find that this was quite the opposite. From Joshua to Job it's all a story.
I'm gonna read it!
So, back to the sick travis in the Makavo Hotel. I began to read the Old testament and I'm now through Joshua, Judges, Ruth, and am finishing 1st samuel. it's really neat to see all of the stories (like samson and delilah) in context, and to read about the history of God's people.
Also, while I was laying in bed my teaching partner Julious kept teaching and at many of the schools, the kids asked about me and julious told them that my body had broken down and that they should pray for me, so I have about 600-700 kids prayers on me. Those are only half of those we're teaching. Still, 600 prayers will do a lot to a person.
Today is my second day of E.Coli and I'm feeling much better than I thought I would. I ate bread today, and for dinner had some veggie soup. I can't believe how fast I'm healing and how interesting the Old Testament is.
God is good. I also finished reading an amazing book called "How Good is Good Enough" It really legitimatelyi shows that the "Good people go to heaven" theology is bogus, and tells the world that there is no way other than Jesus. It made me want to make a shirt that says "Good People Don't go to Heaven" and on the back it'd say "Ask Me Why" with a little John 3:16 quoted below it. It's so amazing how much God has given us through the death and ressurection of Christ! How unfair God is to give us what we don't deserve. Life. Thank you lord for your love.
I think that shirt (or something like it) could be a great help with witnessing. Many of my friends back home think that good works and improving the world will earn them a spot in heaven. What I want to ask them is "How good is good enough?" and many questions similar to that because nobody can tell you.
Ok, I've only got like 10 minutes left, but I love you all and thank you soo much for your prayers. they've been helping soo much.
God bless.
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