Wednesday, July 13th

Rise and Shine. Today was a day of travel to the north of Ghana. We rise at 4:30 AM and have a “lean” breakfast of coffee and, well, coffee. We are on the road by 5:30 AM.

As we travel, we find ourselves traveling back in time. The trees begin to thin, the homes turn to huts, and we see fewer and fewer signs of western influence. The languages change along the way. Ghana has over 78 different dialects!












Around 10:30, Cobbinah breaks out some hard boiled eggs and bread. This is our breakfast. Lunch will be whatever snacks one has stashed away – enough to share!






After 12 hours of hard driving on “the road”, we arrive in Saboba. Niipaak, the local preacher, meets us at our motel and has prepared some jambalaya like chicken and rice for us which is very much appreciated.

Our new digs boast electricity, plumbing for water and showers, and AC; none of which work, save a small light in our room. Ah…this is mission work now! The mountains of Kukurantumi were a bit tame.





Evening services will be at the Saboba church of Christ where they speak konkomba. None of our brothers from the south understand this lingo and need translation themselves.

Hello George! Wow. George was my translator in 2006. We found out along the campaign that he was not a Christian. He actually translated himself into the Gospel after working with us so much. Lesson after lesson he would speak things from the Word of God. He came to us and said: “I need to be baptized – I am convinced!” I am very happy to see him 5 years later – a strong member and leader of the church here. A nice reunion!





I will teach a class this evening on “how to teach someone the Gospel”. The class went well and, as is custom, questions were brought at lesson’s end. One question concerning idol worship was raised. This is a serious concern to these people as they still have idol worship here. Yes, actual idol worship which they will have to give up to obey the Gospel. This is a reality of this part of the world. Ted and I fielded the question and services were closed.





Back at base camp, we take our bucket bath consisting of a cup to pour water from the bucket over ones person until one smells better.

We fellowship, smile, and go to bed.

Thursday, July 14th

Today we rise and have pancakes and bacon, coffee and fruit juice. Nice! We will teach in a village called Wulipido this fine African morning! I love this stuff.

*****Medase – Thank You. Medase Pa – Thank You very much. Medase Paaaa – Thank You very, very, very… much!*****

“The Road” was epic today. We started out in the usual manner. We stop in the main town to purchase water and phone credits. We were amazed at the huge Baobab tree filled with weaver birds. The tree is massive while the birds are tiny. Weaver birds make hanging nests, like hammocks, and flit in and out as if there is something very important going on. They are bright colored birds of yellow and blue.






The Weaver birds disappear in our rear view mirror as we start off to Wulipido where the lingo is called Konkomba, quite different than Twi spoken in the south. On our way, we scout out Garinkuka where we will put on the free mobile clinic tomorrow. As we leave, I spot a crocodile in a small pond. This is a surprise because they are rarely seen. We make a U-turn to check it out. Cool.





Next we arrive in the mud. Yes, “the road” has captured us. One hour of digging, plant chopping for traction, and pushing gets us free of “the road’s” grasp. We will not travel closer to the village in the bus. We start out on foot. Two “moto’s” or motor bikes go back and forth over the 3 mile trek taking 6 of us to the village. My ride was awesome. I hang on for dear life over a trail through the wilds of Africa. I mean off road, baby! I am dropped and my driver vanishes into the bush.









Once the whole crew is there and we have formally been welcomed by the village elder, Ted preached a lesson on the church. You see, this village and the next have had churches of Christ in them that have dissolved over time. We are here to restart the congregation. This was accomplished in good order as 10 souls were added to the church and a group of about 50 were restored. This congregation is up and running as Nipaak will watch over them and encourage them.






We walk 2 miles to the river and 10 souls are baptized – 2 at a time. Their names are recorded in the congregation’s journal while God adds them to His Book of Life! Amen!









*****A Chicken feather can be used as a Q-tip.*****

Now it’s time to go to the van. Someone had an idea. We can cut through the back country, where not even the Wulipido have gone, to get to the van quicker. Mistake! We journey through a swamp for over an hour! No GPS, no map, no trail, only our guide. At one point I thought we would come upon the Baptist group we were told about. Yes, a drum playing Baptist group had visited this village and they were run off by the Wulipido! “This place is a church of Christ village, we have no room for you,” they were told. My mind wandered as we struggled through the beautiful Ghanaian wild. Had they run us off like the Baptists? Will we find them dead in the wilderness to realize this would be our own fate? Before this idea could fully form, we spotted the van in the distance. We will be tired, wet, and muddy, but we will survive.







“The road” takes us to Mabombori, (translation: “I don’t want problems”), where Jeff will preach. The congregation is waiting when we arrive. This is a scene from National Geographic with a cell phone - civilization interrupting serenity. Jeff spoke about the Ethiopian Eunuch to this disbanded group of wayward Christian soldiers. Again, God has used us successfully as this congregation of about 30 was restored and 18 were baptized into Gods kingdom! They too, will be looked after and begin to assemble and worship in spirit and truth!






Baptisms here are all exciting and unique. We pile 21 Mabombori, our driver John from Ghana, and 3 obrunis – Jeff, Troy, and me, into the 15 passenger van. Hoot! Soon we are at the river. I love these walks down to the river! We witness 18 baptized, 2 at a time, very efficiently! Back at the village, we pile out and are presented with our wages: 2 guinea chickens to add to the rooster and eggs we were presented at our last stop. We will eat well tomorrow, get ready Cobbi. He will cook them up nicely!














*****A pig and a goat will take one to two months tied to a stump before they will stay at home. They are not quite as smart as the chicken, it seems.*****

Now we travel “the road” back to base camp. It is dark now and the brilliant, full African moon is high in the sky. Outstanding! Koby has pasta, rice, chicken, and beef stew ready for us. We are only 4 hours late for dinner. We enjoy mango for desert and then it’s off to my cold bucket bath to wash the swamp from my tired body.





I smell better now. My journal entry for the day is nearly complete. I will say goodnight to my Ghanaian brothers who surround me as I write. They peek at my musings, suggesting ideas, and helping me with names and spellings. They are a fantastic group of Christians.

Good night.

Friday, July 15th

Our wages supplied the eggs for today’s French toast! Excellent! They were as fresh as one can get. Today we travel back to Garinkuka to put on the free medical clinic. Church of Christ nurses and pharmacists will be on hand to deliver treatment and medicine to the area villages. They will walk in from miles away for this. Over 250 people are expected.

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)