{"id":1405,"date":"2018-10-10T02:06:25","date_gmt":"2018-10-10T02:06:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leopardshark.com\/ghana\/?p=1405"},"modified":"2018-10-10T02:06:25","modified_gmt":"2018-10-10T02:06:25","slug":"the-important-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leopardshark.com\/ghana-trips\/2018\/10\/10\/the-important-things\/","title":{"rendered":"The Important Things"},"content":{"rendered":"

(please note that Kaitlyn’s blog post is at the bottom, so you have to read mine to get there :-)<\/p>\n

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Ray Mensah<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Joshua, is still learning how to ride a motorcycle, but will soon be joining the other Jesus Film riders<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Our primary purpose here in Ghana is to support the efforts of Ray Mensah, Director of OneWay Africa.\u00a0 Over the last several years, we have helped construct the BiblePlus+ program for three local languages: Mampruli, Komba, and Dagbani.\u00a0 On this trip, we are working on two new languages: Bimoba and Fulfulde-Maasina.\u00a0 We have mountains of video to shoot, hours of audio tracks to record, and countless photos to snap as we melt, rehydrate, and melt again in the African heat.\u00a0 I love hard work, even when it begins before breakfast and continues until the starry and quiet hours of the next morning.\u00a0 But upon reflection, I see that such intense focus, even when applied to the most admirable of tasks, can keep me from spending time listening to people and experiencing their stories.<\/p>\n

Monday was our first full day of recording \u2013 we accomplished everything that was important, and we completed some recordings and took some photos as well.\u00a0 The hardships of this remote land are quite real.\u00a0 Yet the jubilant sounds of the choir and the encouraging messages and stories from the local pastors uncover a reality that stands in stark contrast to their surroundings — stories and songs of faith, hope, joy, and peace.<\/p>\n

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The morning started with the pastors.\u00a0 Their Bimoba words, directed at the black foam windscreen covering the microphone made no sense to us, yet we heard kindness and passion.\u00a0 Some of the pastors started their message with a song they had composed.\u00a0 We listened, and tried to soak it all in.\u00a0 Jinjong, a retired pastor with silver hair and a soul-penetrating gaze told us about his life in Ghana and the hardships he faced as an early Christian.\u00a0 When I asked him if he had any more messages we could record to share with his fellow Bimoba, he grinned broadly and explained that a retired pastor has many things to share, and he would be happy to return tomorrow with some more prepared material.<\/p>\n

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Pastor Jinjong<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some of the other pastors:<\/h3>\n

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In the afternoon, we took a break to snap photos and fly the drone and collect some video.\u00a0 I\u2019ll upload the video and post some, it was spectacular.<\/p>\n

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About \u00bd way through the day we had begun to work more like a team.\u00a0 Beth would prep each speaker, record their names and meticulously manage the content.\u00a0Kaitlyn would take photos of the speakers both before, during, and after their turn behind the tripod.\u00a0 Daniel had one of the most unique tasks.\u00a0 He was both responsible for turning on and off the ceiling fans between recordings, as well as chasing goats and chickens out of the church before they started bleating or clucking.\u00a0 Occasionally a stealthy hen would sneak in.\u00a0 Who knew that chickens were so intent on being in church?\u00a0 Once in the church, it was how I imagine comedy routines at Dollywood \u2013 a lot of running, clucking, feathers, and laughing.\u00a0 Chickens are quick.<\/p>\n

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Daniel resting after a crazy confusing chicken chase. Late in the evening, we set up for the combined choirs of Bunkpurugu.\u00a0 Several soloists took their turn, from young girls to adult men, leading the songs.\u00a0 I think we recorded for two hours.\u00a0 It was exhausting and hot, but the singers smiled and swayed to the hand drums.\u00a0 You will enjoy this short sample.<\/p>\n

(click the play button in the black box below, on the left)<\/p>\n

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We wrapped up the evening with a candlelight dinner… almost… it was by the light of a fluorescent flashlight because the power had gone off.<\/p>\n

-Pete<\/p>\n

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Kaitlyn also took the time to write a blog post as well! \u00a0Whoohooo! \u00a0Encourage her and Daniel to keep writing :-)<\/p>\n

Kaitlyn’s post<\/h3>\n

I have loved getting to hear the stories of the pastors and missionaries here. Last night we talked to Eva, the wife of Pastor Nathaniel, who has been hosting us here in Bunkpurugu. Eva is a wonderful hostess, so hospitable and generous. We\u2019ve been served incredibly delicious meals every lunch and dinner while we\u2019ve been here, and there are a lot of us – the 4 of us from America, Pastor Ray, and the two Jesus Film riders who are here with us, plus Eva and Nathaniel. Every time you look at her she has a smile on her face, even the day she felt unwell. But getting to hear her story last night has been my favorite part of being here. She felt called into ministry for a while, but when she married Nathaniel, he thought he wanted to be a businessman. She talked about how churches here choose people to come in for interviews to be missionaries, choosing people who seem to love the Lord\u2019s work and are invested in the church. They were called for an interview, and despite some obstacles in their way, they were chosen. She told us about how Nathaniel had a job offer in South Africa that would have been very lucrative, good pay, easy life. But they followed God up north here to Bunkpurugu, where they have a thriving church that we had the privilege of attending last Sunday. She had two quotes last night that really stayed with me (which I was not able to record word-for-word, but which I will put here as I remember them). \u201cIt is so much better to be poor and within the will of God, than to have a lot of money and be outside of it, because then I could not help [people] at all.\u201d And when Pastor Ray asked her if she was going to go to Togo next, she at first shook her head, but then responded confidently, \u201cI will go wherever God tells me.\u201d What a beautiful faith and trust in God this incredible woman has! I could have sat and listened to she and Ray talk about heaven, and tell stories of those who have burned idols and come to know Jesus, for hours and still not heard enough.<\/p>\n

The other testimony that I have been really blessed by hearing was that of Joshua Bonney, the newest Jesus Film rider who just started at the beginning of this month. We recorded his story yesterday, and his faith and prayers were also challenging and inspiring. He came to know Jesus while he was sick, on his \u201csickbed\u201d, as he said, in senior high school. He went on a bunch of missionary trips while in school, and then attended the Livingstone School of Missions. He wanted to be a missionary, and was eventually connected to Ray Mensah, who told him about the Jesus Film riders. Joshua said that this was what he wanted to do, and even when Ray told him that there was no support for another rider at that moment, he still said that he was willing to start. And the Lord provided support for him, so he is now in training and hopes to have his own motorcycle and to go off by himself by November. At the end of his story, Beth asked him to share prayer requests that he has right now, so people who support him can be praying. And while my first thoughts when I was asked for prayer requests for this trip revolved mainly around health, safety, productive recordings, etc, his were simple and so beautifully heaven-focused: that God would be working through him to reach many people, and that people would come to know Jesus in this area and in the whole world. Amen!<\/p>\n

-Kaitlyn<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(please note that Kaitlyn’s blog post is at the bottom, so you have to read mine to get there :-) Our primary purpose here in Ghana is to support the efforts of Ray Mensah, Director of OneWay Africa.\u00a0 Over the last several years, we have helped construct the BiblePlus+ program for three local languages: Mampruli, … Continue reading The Important Things<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-11"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leopardshark.com\/ghana-trips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leopardshark.com\/ghana-trips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leopardshark.com\/ghana-trips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leopardshark.com\/ghana-trips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leopardshark.com\/ghana-trips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/leopardshark.com\/ghana-trips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1405\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leopardshark.com\/ghana-trips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leopardshark.com\/ghana-trips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leopardshark.com\/ghana-trips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}