Jeff has been to town to have a “croc hook” made at the local blacksmiths. It’s impressive. Will Ted really try to capture this croc?
*****These men we work with here have brilliant minds. I can’t help but think God has placed them here in Ghana, where secular vocational opportunities are limited, so their brilliance can be expended in the study and preaching of God’s word. What do you think?*****
We arrive in Garinkuka to 200+ people looking for medical help. We meet with the town elder, set the rules, and pray for God’s assistance and blessings. As the nurses begin taking patients and sending them to the pharmacist, Ted travels to “croc pond” with bait and hook to set his trap. Tonight we return to preach and gather our croc catch!?
Ted has given me the job of kid wrangler. I am to take the kids out of the way and keep them entertained. This is right up my alley! We begin with 2 Frisbees and 2 of the braver kids. This leads to 4 then more, and finally I have all the kids (about 40) surrounding me! I teach the game with our driver John’s help. Soon we have some very skilled players. A circle is formed and 30 -40 Garinkuka are entertained and secure from troubling the clinic.
Next – magic, which is timely as today “Harry Potter” is released in theaters everywhere but here! So the next hour I am swarmed by small children as I first amaze them, and then teach them all my tricks.
The rain is coming – we must take a break from the fun and move the clinic under cover. The rain cools things off but will disrupt our doings. The work will continue, however! I find Jeff, Paul, Foster, Troy and Ted Quansah in the pharmacy, out of the rain. They have been counting out pills for hours. Wow.
The Dr. makes an announcement. People think that it is good to take medicine! He announces that if you take medicine when you are not sick, you will meet God before you care to. This should keep the people from faking sickness just to get meds to chew.
*****One may leave his bag unattended in this community. There is a belief that if one touches the property of another, he will die. Works for me…*****
Croc alert! John and I decide to go check the croc trap. When we arrive, the rope is gone! John calls Ted with his cell phone (I know what you’re thinking), and Ted shows up on a moto. As we check the trap, we find the rope stretched away from the lake and no croc – it has struggled free. We turn around and the entire village has shown up to see 2 white guys wrestle a croc! I can’t resist a little fun – I throw the hook back into the water, wait, and act as if I have the croc! Quite a good bit of acting, I might add. The crowd reacted like we do to fire works: “OOOOOwwww”, “Ahaaaaaaa”. Back to work… If you haven’t guessed, I’m having fun.
*****I am reminded of a game my Granddaddy used to tell me from his childhood in the 1920’s. From his rural Indiana town, he and his friends would try to guess the color of the next car that would drive by. They would get a car about every 3 to 4 hours. But during the 500 race week, this would increase to 1 per hour. Now that’s excitement. Here in the North of Ghana we are back to 1 each 5 hours. I call red next…tic, tic, tic…*****
We are working to an end. The nurses have seen over 350 people while the pharmacist has seen 330, 20 people to go. The community is very happy to have seen the physician. Tonight they will learn of the Great Physician! We plan to show a movie about Jesus based on the book of Luke. This will be in their language! Afterwards we will preach. I think I will get the call! Cool!
Ted has purchased more meat for the croc hook. We may have croc croutons after all. He and Nipaak will set the trap when the movie starts.
We begin the evening with singing, praying, and then the movie. Intermission in the Jesus movie! I’m up! We sing and I am invited to speak. This is all from the heart when bush preaching. No light, no notes, only you and the crowd.
The preaching was powerful, I’m told. However, there was no response. Was it too cold to get in the water? It had rained and dropped the temperature quite a bit. Was it too late? Were the people tired? Were they afraid of the croc? Had the brothers in the area done well in this village leaving none unsaved? The church is strong here. I choose to believe the latter. We will most likely hear, later, that there will be a response to the lesson in coming days.
Time to pack up and go! It is about 10 PM, 15 hours from when we enjoyed our breakfast. The moon is full and high. The bugs, well the bugs… I chose not to eat today, save the granola bars I had stashed, due to a grumbly tummy. No place to “go”, you know.
We drive into the night. “The road” snags us again. About an hour out, we miss our turn. Is Nipaak, our guide, napping? We should have turned at the rock next to the goat – the goat had moved! 30 minutes later, “the road” got very bad. Bump, bump, the bottom of the van hits “the road.” We are lost. U-turn and back 30 minutes. The goat has returned and we make our turn. We sing happy birthday to Cobbi, it’s midnight! Three hours after we began our two hour drive, we arrive at base camp – Saboba.
Straight to bed. No bucket bath. That will wait. Tomorrow we put on the leadership lectures. Wake up is 6:30!
“Kitanyan.” (Good night in Konkomba)
No comments:
Post a Comment