Blog at the bottom, after the pictures :-)  Thanks again for the encouragement and blog comments and prayers.

 

Each time we enter someone’s home, village, or church, we are greeted with a smile and “You’re Welcome”. At first, it takes you by surprise – why would they say that? What did I do?

In English, we say “you’re welcome” after someone first says “thank you.” We hand someone an ice cream cone, and with a polite nod they quickly say “thank you.” We respond by acknowledging their politeness — “you’re welcome.” It is synonymous with “it’s my pleasure,” “sure thing,” or “no-problemo.” It is an expression that comes from old English, and over the centuries, has been reduced to a robotic response.

But here in Africa, “you’re welcome” is a statement from the heart. It comes from deeply rooted tradition, part of the culture of Africa, a reflection of an ancient ethos of hospitality. When spoken to you, it means you are accepted, warmly welcomed, recognized. Whether from an elderly village chief or a young school teacher, it transforms the interaction. You will be, and are, welcomed. It is remarkable that such a simple greeting can reflect so much.

A broad smile and an openness to receive another can cross any barrier, any ocean, mountain range, or language. Our walls can be dissolved.

Every time I travel, I learn many things about myself and about the rich wonders of this world. For many, it is hard to imagine walking along a dusty road in Africa, being so exposed – a tall foreigner with milky pale and dripping wet skin – everyone staring, everyone wondering why you are here. But walking among the ruddy mud huts, with scrawny goats and dirt-covered pigs scurrying across the path is not something to fear. If we can shed our false pride, the dishonest haughtiness brought by western riches, we can become students, and learn from our new friends.

Thank you Africa for welcoming us. Teach us your smile. Teach us your passion for Christ. Teach us warmth, dancing, hospitality, and new songs. We are your pupils. Africa, when I return home, remind me to be welcoming. Encourage me to accept others as I have been accepted, to cross barriers by adjusting the posture of my heart.

 

Matthew and Michael have been keeping journals of their experiences here in Ghana. This morning, we passed Matthew the iPad and asked him to just share a bit of his experiences here. Today we are driving back to Tamale, leaving the small villages behind. here are some of Matthew’s thoughts…. After the photos of course :-)

 

 

Some words from Matthew:

On this trip, I have learned so much from the daily experiences I have shared with the Ghanaian people.

One of the biggest things that I gathered from this trip was that in Africa, nothing is concrete. On a recording trip like this, you want to be able to control everything in your schedule, however, there are so many factors that are just out of your control. You can’t always plan for when the people will arrive, if the power will go out, or when you will get to eat. Being flexible is essential, which is so different from American ways of processing things. It was a valuable lesson to learn that time is not in our hands, and we had to rely on God that all things would come together so that we could do the work we came to do.

Another amazing thing about Ghana is the joy that the people demonstrate daily. Laughter and smiles define the people as they go about their day, truly loving the life that God has given them. In America, it is so easy to become so focused on our schedules and work that we forget to enjoy life. The Ghanaian people are the friendliest, most welcoming people I have ever met. When walking through a village or city, everyone smiles and greats you, coming out of their way to shake your hand and say hello. Their happiness is so beautiful, and the Christians we have been working with display the joy of the Lord in their lives.

I have learned so much by watching the Ghanaian Christians praise the Lord daily. They are extremely public with their faith, unable to contain the good news that they grasp. I love when Wofa Ray closes his eyes and spreads his hands, shouting, “Praise the Lord!” at the top of his lungs. The Ghanaians praise the Lord in such way that is so God-honoring. I am so inspired by their love for the Lord that they so openly express. I loved going to church in Tamale as well as recording the choirs in Nalerigu. The people sing out songs that praise the name of God with such beautiful voices. As a team, we have prayed quite a bit together, but the times we met with Wofa Ray and the four Jesus Film guys have stood out, because the prayers and songs that they lift up to God are so special. Together in the guest house lobby we have joined hands and sung hymns to the Lord. It is so special to take part in these experiences where we lift our voices to God in praise, our voices drowning out the Muslim call to worship from the nearby mosques.

This type of worship is deeply rooted in a passion for the gospel. Wofa Ray gave his sermon on Sunday about not growing lukewarm, but being filled with a passion for the Lord. It is so refreshing to see this passion in believers, and it is an amazing reminder that the time is now. We cannot grow comfortable, but our love of the Lord should drive us to be going out daily and investing our lives in the great commission. Wofa Ray has shared the gospel with every driver, waiter, and shop owner we have come in contact with. This passion is so inspiring, and as Paster Joseph said to us in Wale Wale, “We are doing the work that outlives us.” We need this passion in our lives, and this has truly been made more of a reality to me through the many faithful believers we met with over the course of our trip.

I have been so blessed by the Ghanaian people and the opportunities I have been given over the course of this trip. It has been such an incredible experience to grow in faith alongside Christians from around the globe and to be reminded of the need for passion in my faith. We must continue to go out into the far villages and spread the word, and I am so happy and blessed to have been a part of exposing Ghanaian people to the Word of God. The work being done here is amazing, and I hope to be back soon among the Ghanaian people!

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

Well… We are furiously packing bags, weighing them, nesting smaller suitcases and rubbermaid tubs into larger ones, and shrinking. We intend to return with 5 checked bags, rather than 8. We arrive in Chicago at 1:15pm (corrected from earlier time) on Halloween.

Last night we celebrated the successful trip by taking the Mensah’s out for dinner, along with the newlyweds, who are honeymooning at the Mensah’s house before they head up to the north, where Selwyn is a pastor and Richess can continue her work with Operation Serve. Dinner was a local favorite… spicy grilled chicken. Ray ordered the “extra hot” and then added the “Super Peri” sauce. Michael and I enjoyed it as well, but with only a dab of Super Peri.

Thankfully, our flight is not until 11:25pm this evening, since Africa seems to interact with gravity waves in a unique way, yielding a localized space-time warp that can make even a 11:25pm flight hard catch.

We are sticky, tired, and ready to come home. The people of Ghana have once again welcomed us as brothers and sisters. We recorded more than 80 audio tracks, and overall, have more than 100G of pictures, video, and audio. Hopefully Matthew and Michael will be able to help sort through and edit…

Hopefully, on the plane to Brussels, in between naps, I’ll have some time for a longer summary and final pictures of Ray and his family.

Pictures below this time :-)

Home! We are all safely home. The brisk Chicago air is both refreshing and quite a surprise. The smells of Fall, of leaves and wilting gardens, replaces the heat, humidity, and livestock of northern Ghana. Our trip has ended, and we look forward to the studio work to improve the audio tracks and prune, edit, and arrange the photos and video. Over the last 5 years we have completed 3 languages: Komba, Mampruli, and Dagbani. There are many more unreached people in Ghana, and Ray would like us to begin preparing to meet and record the Bimoba people of Northeastern Ghana. It will take months of planning and preparation, but we look forward to the opportunity!

I leave you with some pictures of Ray’s family, from our last day in Ghana, and then a surprise video at the end…

A good friend from work loaned me a small DJI Spark drone. We used it to get some fun footage of the northern regions. Here is a few minutes of the edited video. FYI: We are not actually terrorizing the kids :-) They were giggling and laughing, and loved being chased by the drone. Also, you might notice when we flew the drone high, birds would begin to swarm it and come very close to colliding with it, as some form of harassment.