Day 66 Week 10

The last few days have been very very busy and many life experiences have occurred. Thursday was very productive. In the morning I helped the Cincinnati Christian University (CCU), team who came for a short-term mission trip, move solid concrete blocks at the site of the future Faithway Christian Church. I loved getting my hands dirty and finally being able to do some manual labor. Every worked very hard and put up with the scorpions and snakes to achieve a lot. In the afternoon, Pastor Ntim and I went around and did a few visitations to various members of the church. Following this, we went for a prayer meeting in the evening time, where we prayed for the church, government, members, and gave thankfulness for many things.
Friday was a very early morning! We left the house around 5:30 to go and deliver some items to Pastor Ntim’s son Flint. The school was about an hour away and in the mountains, so the drive was beautiful. Upon our return, I spoke to the Faithway Christina Academy. I found out that I have a difficult time teaching younger students. I do not know why, but that is not an area that I am gifted. It is always good to identify your strengths and weaknesses, so that is what I am dong as well while I am over here. In the afternoon, I worked on my sermon for the first time and this was going to be the only it me as well, but God provided guidance and direction, so it came quickly and smoothly. Then in the evening, we went to visit more members who were sick or have not been to church in a little while. The visitations went well and the people were very nice. I had many wonderful conversations with the people and I will be implement these visits into my ministry no matter where I end up, for it creates a more personal connection with the members of the church and the ministers.
Saturday, wow what a day! This begins the weekend of death! I do not mean this figuratively, but literally. I found myself waking up really early in the morning to leave by 5:00 a.m. to attend the funeral of Pastor Ntim’s wife’s brother. Three hours later, we were approaching the village and descending a very steep mountainside when all of a sudden we came across a very recent accident. A pick up truck was going to fast and lost control and ended up rolling several times. In Ghana there are bad roads, no service in remote areas for cell phones, and the hospitals are few and far between. So, anyone and everyone who is around become apart of the emergency response team. They dragged the bodies out in which I saw many very critical situations in which I could tell the person was already dead. With some, I could not even tell if the person was alive or not. Blood was everywhere and some of the victims where already in shock! So, many taxis and trotros (Makeshift shuttle vehicles, a min-van taxi) came and the bodies where carried into these vehicles to be rushed to the nearest hospital, which could be around and hour or more! A majority that are in these types of accidents probably die from the moving of the bodies into the vehicles. They are not knowledgeable of spinal injuries or how to properly transport them! I am not sure how many survived, but I do know that what I saw was not easy and their lives were truly in God’s hands. Following this horrific incident, we arrived safely to Pastor Ntim’s Wife’s home village. This was my second funeral to attend and I discovered that they are not all the same. We drove over three hours to get there and all that was done was the viewing and some dancing. Then all of a sudden they put up a curtain and closed the casket and of they went with no service, no announcement (none to my knowledge), and not very many people followed. Within a matter of an hour of being there it was done. I long day, which will forever be with me. The accident truly showed the underdeveloped nature of this country.
Sunday continued on in the theme of the weekend, death. I delivered the sermon for the service, which God truly spoke through me for I had a lot written and I abandoned my notes, oops. Following the service Pastor Ntim received a phone call from a man who we had visited earlier in the week. He called to inform us that his wife had passed away that morning! When we went to visit them earlier in the week she was very much in pain, but nowhere near death, and we checked up on here when we saw the husband on Thursday and everything he said was ok. This was very shocking and unbelievable with the weekend we had had. The afternoon we visited this man and then continued on to various members homes as well. I truly was enlightened on the shortness of life and as a minster one has to be prepared at all times! This was a very long and challenging weekend, but by God’s grace, I made it!