A double post today as we catch up. Both Beth and Michael have written some of their thoughts. Also, some narration by Pete on the Photos:

Narrator: As you now know, Ray’s truck suffered a catastrophic engine failure on the drive from Accra to Tamale. At the end of the week, we were able pick it up from Alhassan’s repair shop. They replaced the engine block.

Narrator: While in Tamale, we took the opportunity to explore a new supplier of the water filters that OneWay Africa distributes to families in the north, where there is no well water and they must drink water from the rivers. The old supplier in Accra no longer makes the filter.

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Beth: Behind the Scenes

While the ‘boys’ are busy doing everything tech (pictures, video and recording), I have the pleasure of meeting each person we record to carefully document their name, date of recording, what they are sharing (testimony, exhortation, prayer, Bible Story, community health topic, song title and Scripture reference). Since we don’t understand their language, it’s critical to document the details (just the right job for me :-) .

So why do I enjoy this role? Because I get to engage with these amazingly friendly people and hear the stories of how God is using them to impact their communities.

I heard about their families, their jobs, their challenges, their churches, their desire to share the Gospel and how it has changed them and their people. Inspiring! I’m learning from the Africans the importance of being relationship oriented instead of only focusing on goals and tasks as most Americans, including me, would do. A good lesson!

I was so impressed with the Counsel of Churches in one of the areas where we recorded. Instead of focusing on their differences, they truly worked together to share the love of Christ in their community. You could see how much the leaders enjoyed each other, and how they jointly planned for our arrival, lining up people from all the churches to give their testimony or exhortation, and even decided to have a combined choir of all the churches. What a great example of how God’s people should be working together in love and friendship! And the singing was AWESOME!! Music can be enjoyed even when you can’t understand the words…smiles, dancing, tunes and beats are universal.

You should play this video below! The choir is fantastic!

 

Some of you might be interested to learn that OneWay Africa has found a new water filter manufacturer/distributor. The company we worked with in Accra has decided to focus on tiles, bricks and other ceramics, and has discontinued making the clay pots that we use clean water in the North. We found another manufacturer in Tamale (much closer to the villages we serve) that uses the same MIT-based technology to make their filters. Ray was able to setup a visit to the ‘factory’ where they make the pots, and Karim graciously showed us the step-by-step manufacturing process. We will be making an initial order before the end of the year. Thank you to everyone who has given towards this project! Spending time here in the intense sun reminds us of how important clean water is to these communities.

BTW, despite the initial setbacks with the truck, we were able to complete all the recordings for Mampruli and Dagbani that we came to do, around 75 tracks in 6 days. We aim to do an initial edit of all the recordings, and leave some BiblePlus+ units behind for the pastors and leaders to review before we distribute them widely. They are in HIGH demand!!

Thanks for praying along…

Beth

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Narrator: On our last morning, I woke Joshua up a few minutes before 6:00am, the morning version of Golden Hour, when the low-angle light makes pictures in Ghana so much easier. At a small village across the road, we walked among the traditional homes and then down to the river, where the women were gathering water. It is the end of rainy season, and in a couple weeks, the river will be dry. The women will then walk a mile or more to fetch water.

 

Michael: Reflections

After being in Ghana, Africa for about a week, I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on what has happened so far. A lot of it turned out the way I expected it would, but even more was different than my expectations. Although I had a small idea of what to expect due to viewing pictures and videos of Ghana, nothing compares to actually seeing it with my own eyes. I’ve been able to observe the culture of Ghanaians, and how different it is from America. There are so many things that I have admired in the everyday life in Ghana, but if I were to choose three things in particular, they would be how hospitable everyone is here, everyone’s friendliness towards others, and lastly, how outwardly passionate for God all the Christians are in Ghana.

Hospitality is most likely the highest character quality that Ghanaians possess. It’s so much different than the hospitality in America. People in America get so caught up in their everyday lives and what they need to get done on a daily basis, that they forget to see how they could help others. With Ghanaians on the other hand, they’ll drop everything in their schedule if that means helping someone else in whatever that may be. For example, since Ray Mensah (our OneWay Africa team leader) had truck problems, and wasn’t able to get to the town we were staying in for the first couple days, his friends who we’ve never met before not only picked us up from the airport, but became our tour guides and personal drivers for half of the week! Everyone here is so welcoming, that I feel like I haven’t left home at all!

Just like hospitality, friendliness is another huge trait here in Ghana. The further out into the villages you go, the friendlier the people get. Almost every single random passerby I’ve walked past has waved at me, or stopped to start a conversation. Every Ghanaian I’ve talked to would ask me so many questions about the culture in America, and would genuinely care about everything I was saying. Even the kids here are friendly and outgoing. In the villages random people would walk up to me, and ask if I’d be their friend. It’s really sad how most Americans are so caught up in what they’re doing, that they forget about other people around them. Even the four Jesus film guys dropped everything they had going on to get to know Matthew and I. After spending several days with them and getting to know them, I feel like I’ve known each one of them for years! Overall, I’ve learned that if someone were to be half as friendly as the people in Ghana, it would pay off with anyone back in America.

Lastly, a big, if not the biggest, highlight of the trip is observing how passionate for God some of the people are. When someone would get excited about their faith, they would outwardly express it in ways I’ve never seen before. At breakfast, instead of praying for the meal, the Ghanaians we ate with would sing worship songs first, and then follow it with a prayer right there in the restaurant. Even at the church service we went to last Sunday, many people who attended would get up and dance like they were at a party. Something that’s really unfortunate that I saw were the Muslims practicing their religion. Several times a day on a daily basis, many Muslims would go out and have public prayer sessions in the middle of town. It’s really hard to see people so outwardly practice a religion that’s not Christianity while at the same time many Christians in America are too embarrassed to publicly express their love for God.

Michael