Glimpses of our Life in Ghana

  Furlough….. the word brings images and fond memories. But it is also bittersweet.   Shortly before we left for furlough a new missionary asked me, What do you do on furlough? How do you do furlough? While we were on furlough people asked, So what do you want to do most while you are in the US? And as we left people asked, Did you get done what you wanted to do? These questions have been swirling in my brain. I don’t know if I have the answers but I will try.    How do you do in one month what you have missed out on for a year and a half? How do you see everyone you want to? Have intentional conversations that catch you up on your family and friends lives? Hear their heart cries from the time you were apart and allow them to see yours? How do you refresh and truly reconnect?   What we want most on furlough is to reconnect with people. We want those intimate conversations that only happen face to face. They can’t be planned or forced. But they happen. Ofte...

                                     Everyday they pass me by, I can see it in their eyes. Empty people filled with care, Headed who knows where? On they go through private pain, Living fear to fear. Laughter hides their silent cries, Only Jesus hears. People need the Lord, people need the Lord. At the end of broken dreams, He's the open door. People need the Lord, people need the Lord. When will we realize, people need the Lord? We are called to take His light To a world where wrong seems right. What could be too great a cost For sharing Life with one who's lost? Through His love our hearts can feel All the grief they bear. They must hear the Words of Life Only we can share. People need the Lord.   This song has long been a favorite of mine. So many times I sing it in my head. When I sit with a friend and hear her story of being trained in traditional spiritual worship as a child. (We pr...

   I meant to do this closer to Christmas but I still wanted to say thank you to each of you who pray for us and support us. We would not be able to do this work on our own strength!

Greetings once again! Just a few quick pictures and update on our lives. We have celebrated several birthdays with family and friends. If I don't feel like cooking all I need to do is plan a coal pot meal and the children fight over who gets to cook! Kenny has kept busy with Salt savings share outs. The children and Amanda keep busy at school. I miss teaching but it also takes a lot of stress out of my life to have a teacher! We enjoyed s'mores and a bonfire with friends. Marvin and Grace Zeiset came to visit for two weeks. In the middle of their stay, Ron and Marissa Hoover flew back to the US suddenly for health reasons and Marvins graciously agreed to stay until Joel Burkholders were back from furlough. They helped Jodi hold down the fort in Assomdree. And as the picture above shows, Grace was a wonderful grandma to any child that came near her. We had a very special day, mid November. We had a New Hope Vo-tech school homecoming (in their words.) Many people shared memories ...

 We visited Volta Region in May. Volta region is in Eastern Ghana, next to Togo. We could see mountain ridges that were in Togo quite a bit. This is where Ghana's highest mountains are and it is so different from the costal area we live in. It was just beautiful and we enjoyed seeing the different sights. This is going to be a lot of pictures but there is too much beauty to not share it. Just on the other side of Accra you start realizing you are entering a different world. Everything is more agriculture/farming. Adomi Bridge, we were hoping to get to this area much earlier in the day but traffic was terrible and it was very late till we got to the place we were spending the night. I stumbled across Tagbo Falls Lodge online, we couldn't have asked for a more perfect spot. There was a creek just beside the lodge, and since it was the middle of the week it was quiet and we were actually the only people there one night. Rainy days are so relaxing! Their food was amazing! And we en...