-Various Humans on October 28th, 2013
I leave for Ghana tomorrow morning.
I can't express how grateful and excited I am about this opportunity. God has really shown His providence in this trip, and I haven't even left yet.
The trip was originally scheduled to take place in September, during my roommate Shane's wedding. I wasn't about to miss his marriage to Alaynna, so I just resigned myself to the fact that I'd be missing the trip to Ghana. God had other plans and ended up changing the dates for the trip. Awesome sauce. The trip dates are now October 27th through November 8th. For those of you too lazy to do the math, I will be gone for two weeks. (For those of you having difficulties knowing when you should use "two", "too", and "to", please use my previous sentence as an example.)
While in Ghana, West Africa, my team and I will be doing ministry outreach in several local villages. We'll do some rudimentary clinic work along with counseling in the day, and in the evening we'll be hosting crusades. (The revival-and-worship type of crusade, not the stabby-torture crusade.) The parent organization that we will be going with is Crusades for Christ, a ministry that has been pouring its heart and soul into Ghana's capitol, Accra. Missionaries live there for three-year terms, and I have the privilege of knowing both families that currently live there. I met Jon & Sara Sauder last year when I visited Ghana. Sara cooked delicious food for me and gave our team of rambunctious youth some valuable relationship advice. Jon coordinated the building project with Ron Bontrager. More recently, Jon saved my proverbial bacon by visiting the local medical clinic and getting me a copy of the Yellow Fever immunization card that I misplaced.
The other missionary family is Leon & Barb Geigley, who left for Ghana shortly after directing Prairie Camp in Indiana this summer. I worked as a counselor under them, and it was a serious quantity of fun. They tolerated my antics and didn't kick me out, so I took that as a sign of a prosperous friendship.
I keep saying "We" when referring to the mission team going over. Here are the others I'll be traveling with:
To Ghana, West Africa
October 27, 2013 to November 8, 2013
From Griner in Indiana From
Milford Chapel in Indiana
Rachel Bauman Leroy Cross
Arline Bontrager
Jared Bontrager From Sunnyside in Iowa
Luetta
Borkholder Shawn
Graber
Marie Borkholder
Dan
Borntreger From New Covenant in Pennsylvania
Maudeen Chupp Mary
Weaver (Sara Sauder’s sister)
Brianna Eggleston Isabel
Weaver (niece)
Janae Horst Jaxon
Weaver (nephew)
Travis & Kayla Jenkins Drake
Weaver (nephew)
Marion & Carolyn Nisley Adrian
Myer (former staff member)
Theresa Yoder
I know a portion of these humans already, but I'm quite certain I'll know all of them by the time I return. You may pray that they aren't overpowered by my Graberish personality.
In all seriousness, please keep our team in your thoughts and prayers as we go! A large-sized thanks goes to my prayer warriors, Floyd Y., Leon S., John K., and Floyd H. Here are some prayer requests that were written up by Arline Bontrager, a wonderful woman doing a stupendous job of organizing our mass exodus.
In all seriousness, please keep our team in your thoughts and prayers as we go! A large-sized thanks goes to my prayer warriors, Floyd Y., Leon S., John K., and Floyd H. Here are some prayer requests that were written up by Arline Bontrager, a wonderful woman doing a stupendous job of organizing our mass exodus.
Prayer Requests
2. Pray that Satan is bound, that he not be able to blind the eyes or close the ears of people that need to hear the good news of Jesus Christ.
3. Pray that God prepares the hearts of the people that we are to minister to, that they will be open and receive Christ as their savior.
4. Pray for the missionaries in Ghana as they prepare for us, as they host us, and as they lead us in our experiences in Ghana: Leon & Barb Geigley and Carissa; and, Jon & Sara Sauder and Max, Rory, Elle, Leila.
Thank you for all the intercessory prayers you have already spoken. I have definitely felt God's hand in this endeavor. I'm nervous. I've never done mission work like this before, and it's a decent jaunt outside of my comfort zone. I'm praying that God would use me how He sees fit, and that I won't get in the way of his awesome plot.
I'm also grateful that my Dad has blessed this trip and clearly expressed his enthusiasm for me going, even though he longs to go to Africa himself. With this recent cold snap, our family business is getting very, very busy. His permission to let me leave for two weeks promises a larger workload for himself. Save the prickly customers for me, Dad. I'll be right back!
Normally, each team member packs one check-in bag and lets the local churches pack the other full of much-needed supplies for the missionaries. The team is letting me use the mission-designated tote to pack a whole mountain of my food to take along. I'm taking some gluten free mixes, loaves of bread, and other assorted snackeries. My master plan is to live off the indescribable fruits over there, so I feel this food-packing is slightly unnecessary. I always pack too much on trips but 100 lbs of check-in is just too colossal for even me. So the tote contains some supplies for the missionaries, packed with care by Floyd and Charlene. I had just enough room left over to smuggle some bottles of delicious Frostop root beer for Jon, in thanks for going to all the hassle of getting my Yellow Fever card. Jon, seriously, I owe you big-time. Way more than just some top-quality suds. I've done quite a bit of research prior to this trip, with the research primarily focusing on the query "Do carbonated beverages explode in check-in bags?"
I'm fairly glad that it's getting cold here in Iowa, so I can enjoy the heat of Ghana. Yes, I possess an evil little grinchy heart.
Well, time to go look at my luggage and worry I've forgotten to pack something.
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