Ending time in north and checking out more Rotary Deep Wells

March 19, 2011 Saturday

We had a busy morning. I had a knock on the door at daybreak from the Methodist pastor and his assistant from Walewale. They wanted to walk the land in Walewale where they’ve purchased land for a church and a parsonage. The land is on the current edge of town, but they rightly concluded that Walewale will grow up around the new church. They appealed for Bibles, a pair of steel drums, and funds for a new church building. We promised that we’d buy the Bibles and drums right away. We’d pray how to build another church.

We went back to the Moonlight Lodge to pick up Kofi Boakye. We took the motorcycle that we purchased in Bolgatanga to dedicate for use by the Bugiya Church pastor, Paul. It was exciting for the church elders and children to see a new motorcycle in the village. Paul preaches at two churches that are far apart. He will give his bicycle to one of our other pastors.

Our next stop was at the Guakudow new church construction. The masons were working on the “lintel” level of the church. The lintel level is a pour section of concrete above all of the walls. It gives the church walls more strength to hold up the roof. The chief of the village was there watching the construction. A woman who we called the “church mother” was also at the site. She brought food for the workers. She is also “overseeing” the construction so that every block is strong. She is really proud and excited about the new church.

We wiped anointing oil onto the windows and doors of the new church to ask God to make the building strong. We also prayed to God to protect the church and keep evil out of the building. The church mother helped us anoint the church with oil. We asked the church mother if she wanted to be the first person baptized in the new church. She said yes. The chief watched as we baptized her. Her baptism was such as meaningful moment. I asked the chief if he wanted to be next. He said no because he is still a Muslim, but I don’t think it will be long until he starts to come to church there to worship.

We traveled on a new road to get to Diani to give Pastor Elisha a bicycle. He wants to preach in a neighboring village, but needed a mode of transportation to go there to preach. He is seeing the excitement caused because Pastor Ibrihim is starting the Singini Church and Pastor Paul is starting the Guakudow Church. Pastor Elisha wants to be involved in the spiritual growth and renewal, too.

We drove to Gbani to see their damaged church. One-half of the church roof was blown off in a storm. The people have become discouraged and the pastor has left. We saw the damage to the church. We went to visit the chief. I told him that I remembered the day in September 2003 when I helped to baptize seventy-one people with about one hundred and fifty watching from the riverside. We prayed for God to bless his village and for his church to be resurrected. The church was built by World Harvest. Apparently, World Harvest has abandoned their efforts in northern Ghana. All of their churches are closed. I pray to find a way to get the roof back on this church. Gbani was one of the first villages I visited on my first mission trip to Africa. Gbani also is special because it is where I experienced my first mass baptisms under the leadership of Pastor Bill Barker.

We were finally on our way south after visiting many of the local churches. Our goal was to reach the three boreholes paid for by Rotary matching grant 69066 near Karaga. It took us about three hours to get there from Walewale. Most of the trip was on dirt roads that were under construction, of course. We couldn’t have made the trip in the rainy season. Two of the boreholes are in one village with the remaining borehole located at a neighboring village. The boreholes were really needed. The young local assemblyman accompanied us from the center of town to the boreholes. He gave us a speech that the boreholes were really needed and that a few more would also be appreciated.

It took us about two hours to make it to Tamale. We found a really nice Bible Book Store where we bought a case of English New Living Version of the Bible. We went to Gilbert’s Bible Translation Office to buy about 500 Mampruli language Bibles. The next goal was to buy three steel drums for three more churches: the Methodist Church start in Walewale, the resurrected church in Brubia, and the new church start in Guakudow. We sent Kofi Boakye back to Walewale with the Bibles and drums so that our churches could worship with praise music and God’s Word. Finally, we had a chance to eat a meal together in Tamale. We stayed with Dr. Seth Wanye in Tamale. He had stayed with my family in Virginia. It was great to have the chance to join him for dinner and be a guest in his house.

March 20, 2011 Sunday

We went to the Ebenezer Methodist Church in Tamale. We made it for Sunday School where they were discussing repentance. The worship service was a mix from early hymns from Charles Wesley in the 1700’s to rock and roaring local language praise songs. We had a good time. They had a wedding at the end of the service. We toured the Tamale Teaching Hospital and Tamale Eye Clinic with Dr. Wanye. They are building a brand new hospital and refurbishing the old one. The changes are exciting to see.

We drove from Tamale to Sunyani. It took almost the whole afternoon to travel to Sunyani. We stayed at the Eusbett Hotel in Sunyani which is a tourist hotel. It was nice to get some pampering after the “bush guest house” called the Moonlight Hotel in Walewale. We had hot and cold running water, air conditioning, and soft bed with two actual bed sheets. I met President Samuel Obour for dinner to talk about our goals for my visit. It was good to see him and catch up on the matching grant work. We will have an active couple of days reviewing our matching grants.

March 21, 2011 Monday

We were supposed to have a relaxing start for today. We are going to meet the Rotarians at 10 AM to inspect the mechanized boreholes. Instead, Pastor David Donkor knocked on my door at 6:45 AM. He convinces me to travel just outside of Sunyani (about one hour north) to his orphanage and school. Rev. Donkor talks on two cell phones while driving 120-140 kilometers per hour. I make a note to do the conversion to find out later how fast he was going. It is good that we know God because we are praying to get to the orphanage in one piece.

Rev. Donkor introduced us to his wife, Rose. She is full of energy and runs the orphanage. I’m glad that we took a few minutes to travel to the orphanage and school. They are raising chickens for the eggs and income. The orphanage also needs a deep well. He shows me. Jon and Kenny are completely entertained by the children. They latch onto Jon’s arm and do not want to let go. I tell Rev. Donkor that we need to leave at about 9:15 AM to get back in time to meet the Rotarians. Mike tells Rev. Donkor to relax and he’ll drive us back to town. We return at about 9:55 AM.

The Sunyani Central Rotarians arrive in a large bus from the Sunyani Polytechnic University for us to travel to the borehole (deep well) sites. The first stop is to the Sunyani Municipal Assembly Primary School. The Sunyani Central Rotarians have poured a lot of effort into this school. They partnered with Canadian Rotarians to build a fence to prevent squatters from taking more school land. They have other grants that added a computer lab, installed white boards in each classroom, and made other improvements to the school. Matching grant 69051 made for a mechanized borehole for the school. The school now has two large polytanks that are filled by the electric pump down the borehole. I visited this school in 2008. It is hard to recognize the place. Several of the classrooms have new roofs and the number of students at the school has increased. The school is an excellent showcase for the goals of Rotary to increase literacy and the health of children.

We travel next to the Notre Dame Girls Senior Secondary School in Fiapre near Sunyani. The school has over six hundred students and forty-five teachers. The school is growing and has a strong need for more clean water. We drilled a new borehole. It is also mechanized to pump the water into an overhead polytank. We met with the headmistress of the school, Ms. Lucy Donkor. She is “most grateful” for the assistance of the new borehole. She is very interested in hand washing stations to enable the girls to wash their hands with clean water. We tried to get a US Embassy grant to help with that goal, but we’ll try to find a way to improve the sanitation situation at the school as well. The headmistress and about fifty girls join us for the tour of the new borehole. We took a lot of pictures and one of the girls drank the water to celebrate our work. The school is a beautiful place where the teachers believe in hard work to get a good education. It is a great place for one of the Rotary deep wells!

The next stop is Sacred Heart Senior High School in Nsoatre, Ghana. We added a second mechanized borehole for the school near a girl’s dormitory that is being built. This is another fine school with about eight hundred students. I’m proud of the work being done to provide safe water to the future generation in Ghana.

Baptizing and Preaching Over Ghana

March 16, 2011 10:44 GMT

I am very tired so I will be quick and try to finish up before the day starts on Thursday. We met the Methodist mission team from Missouri for dinner last night. They brought picnic lunches that were packed at their hotel in Bolgatanga. I told them that we didn’t have any “restaurants” in Walewale that had safe food to eat. We set up some picnic tables in the guest house courtyard to eat with the mission team. Mary Kay Jackson is hosting the team as a Ghana missionary. We went to Singini first. It was dark by the time that we went to the village to see our new church building. It was also the first time that I had been in the village, too. I didn’t know the way. It felt a little different relying on mary Kay to show me a village in this part of Ghana.

My pastor, Ibrihim, felt called to preach the gospel to the people two villages away. Mary Kay went to the village and saw that it was good. My mission team leader, Kofi, also liked the spirit in the village. A special donor from Rocky Mount UMC is paying for the key construction for that church. We will get support from other churches to pay for benches, drums, Bibles, doors and windows. It was neat to see the reaction of the Missouri mission team finding a Methodist church in such a remote spot in the African bush.

We preached in Sagadugu for the evening service. Pastor Michael from MO, Kenny Lovelace, and I preached in Sagadugu. I preached about the great commission from Matthew 28:19 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” I edified the pastor in Sagadugu. Ibrihim went to Singini to preach the gospel. Now, a new church is growing. I told them that I was excited that our churches are growing new churches.

We repaired four boreholes in Sagadugu and Sagadugu No. 2. The pump handles were broke or usually a very inexpensive part broke. The children filled the pump with rocks and dirt which made the repair more time consuming. It is great having Michael with us to get this work done. Kenny Lovelace is especially enjoying the pump repairs.

I talked with the chairman of the Water and Sanitation Committee about God blessing his children by keeping the boreholes working. I went to each borehole (deep well) with the chairman to tell him the things that needed to be done around the borehole. Most of them needed the weeds cut down, the concrete pad swept clean, and the soakway cleaned out. I explained that water should not be allowed to stand for a long time in the soakaway because it would give mosquitoes a chance to breed in the stagnant water. I also showed him where dirt needed to be added around the well so that the waste water would flow away from the borehole.

The chairman started talking fast in Mampruli with our pastor, Ibrihim, and another elder from Sagadugu. I finally asked Ibrihim what he was saying. The chairman was wondering why a white Christian would travel so far to tell him how to bless his children. I told the Chairman that with God’s help all things are possible. I also pointed to Michael standing tall pulling pipe out of the borehole. I explained that Michael from Water in Africa was black and that he had the knowledge to repair the boreholes. I told the chairman that it doesn’t require a white man to make a difference in Ghana. The chairman asked for God to richly bless us for our work. The amazing thing is that the chairman is Muslim. We were laughing and talking about how the people of Sagadugu can have a better life with clean water. The Muslims and Christians are working together to bless the village with a working pump! I believe this is the way to reduce conflict in this world. We must be willing to give people hope for the future for their children.

I met an old man who told me that I helped to baptize him “at the beginning of time” at the river baptisms at Gbani. He described the amazing day when people from Gbani and Sagadugu came together to worship and be baptized. He told me that he was the first one to be baptized that day. He also remembered that I came with my uncles: Bill and Johnny Barker. Uncle Bill Barker is a Baptist pastor near Atlanta, Georgia. They remember having people line both sides of the river and baptizing eighty-one (81) people. The “beginning of time” actually was September 2003. It made me feel old to be told that I was baptizing at the beginning of time.

We finally left the pump repairs to Michael. Michael had to purchase or make some of the parts for the borehole pumps. He dropped us off in Singini. Singini is about five miles or so away from Sagadugu away from any major road. In fact, Singini doesn’t have a road to the village. The road is more of a bush trail that is hard to follow unless you know your way. Singini is between two other villages: Nabulugu and Binduri. I haven’t been to either of those villages yet, but our new church will pull people from those villages.

Kenny Lovelace and Jon Morris preached first. They were preaching on the basic beliefs of our faith. I told them that they could pick any topic they wanted to preach on. I covered the rest. I covered faith, grace, prayer, Jesus, salvation, the Armor of God, fighting juju or witchcraft with the parts of the Armor of God (Ephesians 6), and finally baptism. I felt it was important to cover the key points of our faith before baptism so that they would understand what baptism means. We had women haul water in three buckets for us to use for the baptisms. I explained that it is possible to baptize by sprinkling, pouring, or dunking. We explained that it was impossible to find a river at the end of the dry season. It is not the quantity of water required for baptism, but rather what God does during baptism.

We baptized 70 people in Singini under the “preaching tree.” Kenny Lovelace, Ibrihim, and I were the ones baptizing. I grabbed three handfuls of water for “I baptize you in the name of the Father, the son Jesus Christ (Jesu), and the Holy Spirit.” Most of the people bent over in a worshipful way. I felt God’s presence in a strong way while we baptized. Jon Morris anointed each one with oil and prayed for each one after we baptized. Gabriel Alinga from Singini recorded their names in our book. He is a teenager. Someone else gave each person a pair of flip flops from Shiloh Baptist Church for the adults or a bracelet made from Glade Hill Baptist Church or New Hope United Methodist Church.

We preached at Diani tonight. At first, the church was empty except for a few children. I was told that many of the members thought that we would stop on our way from Sagadugu. They waited from 4:00 PM until we got there near 7 PM. We had a full church in a few minutes after our arrival. I took Jon Morris outside to tell him the stories of prior victories. We had a wonderful service that asked the people of Diani to follow the work happening in two of our other villages to start a new faith community. Michael also preached from Daniel.

I’m tired and will need to say more later.

March 17^th Thursday

Today was a glorious day for baptisms. Michael dropped us off at Diani so we could preach, teach and baptize. Michael fixed two more boreholes in Sagadugu while we were in Diani. The people lined bowls up in a line for the food distribution. We filled the bowls while people came for the worship service. All of the bowls of food were placed on the altar for us to bless after the service. I saw one of the women who were blind and now can see. She came to be baptized! She lives with her daughter now in Tinguri, a neighboring village.

I preached that it was my hope that Diani would start sharing the gospel with neighboring villages so that the love of Jesus Christ would shine all over Mamprusi land.

We baptized 63 in Diani today. I had expected about twenty or thirty people because 64 people were baptized in November 2010 by another mission team. Now, we have 127 people baptized in Diani. Kenny, Kofi, and I performed the baptisms. Pastor Elisha wrote the names in the book. Jon Morris anointed them with oil and prayed a blessing in their life. We danced and sang after the baptisms in Diani. I noticed that dancers danced the baptismal water around the church in a circle. The day would’ve been a blessing if we stopped after Diani.

Instead, we went to Nabari for baptisms as well. We preached almost the same message as we preached in Singini. We preached about faith, grace, salvation, baptism, prayer, and spiritual warfare. It was important use the preaching to prepare their minds for baptism. We found one of the young teenage boys to write the roll of people being baptized. We were able to videotape a lot of the baptisms. I hope the video captured the joy of baptism. We baptized 59 in the Nabari church.

An amazing thing happened when we went to greet the chief of Nabari. We told the chief that we baptized many in the church. The chief responded that he wanted to be baptized, too. He would become the first chief of the Mamprusi villages that I would baptize. I asked him if he would renounce Satan and the evil forces in his life. I also asked him to confess Jesus Christ as his personal savior. He did. We had him move to the end of his throne. We didn’t want to get his animal skin wet and I didn’t want to sit on his throne. We used some water to baptize him in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Afterwards, we started walking around the village to find Michael and his truck. The children walked around the village with us with every finger holding onto a different child. All of the children would try to hold onto us, but we only had so many fingers and arms to grab. We went around to the hand dug wells that were paid for by our first Rotary matching grant. Michael and his team of volunteers from the village were working on all of the hand pumps. They were able to get the pumps from three hand dug wells working again. Two of the men were from the church who took Michael around to fix the wells. They missed the baptismal service in the church so we decided to baptize them at the well that they just fixed. We pumped water out of the well and baptized both men in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It seemed so right to use the water from the repaired well.

We noticed a Mark II pump on a deep borehole near the school that needs another pipe and rod to reach the water in the dry season. It will take us two hours. We are hoping that we can find time come back to Nabari to help the deep borehole last through the end of the dry season.

It was getting late in the afternoon when we had the well pumps fixed and were able to get on the road to Bolgatanga. We decided that we would buy a motorcycle for Pastor Paul. Pastor Paul has been the faithful pastor of the Bugiya Church and the new church at Guakudow. The motorcycle will belong to the churches. The motorcycle was brand new and we will give it to him on Friday morning. We ended up praying for about seven Muslims who sold us the motorcycle or who put the battery into the motorcycle. They asked for God to bless their businesses. One asked for love. I prayed that the mechanic would be blessed so that he could provide for his family and that the work of his hands would be blessed. One of the men in their twenties asked if he could become a Christian. I recommended that he learn more about Jesus Christ at the Methodist Church or Assembly of God Church in town.

We rushed over to the Ebenezer Methodist Church in town to meet the “district superintendent” of the Bolgatanga District of the Ghana Methodist Church which includes the Walewale area of the West Mamprusi District. It was a short, but productive meeting. Next, we rushed to the Sand Gardens to allow the team to eat and me to meet with the Bolgatanga Goodwill Rotary Club which is being chartered. I encouraged them to continue the effort until they were completely chartered. I answered a lot of questions and told them that many people were wanting them to succeed.

I preached with Pastor Atia in the village of Goo outside of Bolgatanga. I preached with him in that village last year. It is a new church start. I preached on being united in faith, speaking in faith, being snared by the tongue, and much of the usual stuff for a new faith community – John 1, John 3, Romans 8, etc. Kenny and Jon noticed that the adults and kids were not as open as the people in our churches near Walewale. I explained that Pastor Atia is plowing ground so that seeds of faith could be planted at another time. It is tough breaking through in an unreached area. We said goodbye to Mary Kay Jackson and the team from Living Word of St. Louis, Missouri who went out to Goo with us.

March 18, 2011 Friday

We started our day late at 7:30 AM since we didn’t make it back from Bolgatanga until 12:15 AM. Our objective for this morning was to rededicate and sanctify the Bulbia Church. We drove toward the White Volta River from Walewale this morning toward Bulbia. I remembered preaching in Wungu on previous mission trips. I also remembered the road to Bulbia was a difficult one.

I was overcome with tears of joy when I saw the Bulbia Church. God awakened me in December to show me a vision of the damaged church in Bulbia. I was able to see it as if it was a movie. The message from God was that we needed to rebuild this church. I sent Kofi Boakye to the village to find out if anyone still worshipped God in that place. The answer was “Yes!” We went ahead with the plan to rebuild the church walls and roof. The walls were reinforced. The columns for the front and side porches were strong. The roof was well built. I grabbed Kofi and told him that I was so thankful for his work to get the church completed.

I met two young men in their twenties who are preaching in the resurrection church. They are Sam and Elisha. They told me that about seventy members were baptized last Easter by a missionary from Navrongo. The Bulbia Church has about 35 active members right now. We had a full church this morning, but we had Muslims and witches in attendance, too. They had come because we were going to give out food.

We had to move the bags of corn to the back rooms so that the people would concentrate on the message. I quickly realized that we had to consecrate the ground under the church. We prayed over the church and had the church members sing praises to God. It took a lot of work to get the people to move away from the altar and pulpit area so we could preach. I had to “plow the ground” to start preaching. The preaching was very hard because the church was being brought back alive. It will take time for it to become Holy Ground again. I preached as hard and strong as I could with the Help of the Holy Spirit. It was like riding a bicycle uphill without any gears. It is possible, but it was hard.

Jon Morris told me that I “preached like a Southern Baptist preacher.” I told them about the story of God waking me to get me to find a way to repair the Bulbia Church. God wanted to encourage and strengthen them. I asked the congregation why God did it. An old woman said it was by God’s grace! I told them that they had a choice to make. They needed to choose God or Satan. I couldn’t do it for them. Salvation is a free gift, but it is their decision.

I finally was led to ask how many wanted to confess the sinner’s prayer to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. About seventy or eighty raised their hands. They rejected Satan and accepted Jesus into their hearts. We baptized nineteen in Bubia. One of the baptisms was a witch who took off her talisman bracelet. The witch asked Jesus Christ in her life. We baptized her and anointed her with oil so she could be healed of physical problems caused by Satan.

We prayed for many people. Several people who were blind or in pain were healed. We also prayed for God to bless many children. We rested today from about 12:30 PM to 4:30 PM. The second half of our day is about to start. Talk to you soon.

Baptized at least 151 People in Bugiya Today

Monday, March 14, 2011

We actually woke up in time to get to the airport by 5:10 AM for the 6:00 AM flight. It was a good trip to the airport at that time of day. We didn’t hit any of the usual Accra traffic that early. The clerk at the counter had a hard time finding all three of our names, but finally she allowed me to breathe when she made three checks on the piece of paper. You can’t take anything for granted in Ghana. It is not assured that you can get somewhere until you actually arrive there.

We were in Tamale at 7:15 AM. It was probably 95 degrees F at that time. I told the guys that it was as cold as we’d get today. I told them that it will get hotter the further we go in the African bush toward the Saharan Desert. We had a very productive visit with Jim Niquette, Director of the Carter Center. He had the bittersweet party the night before to celebrate the end of the Guinea Worm Disease in Ghana. It was a happy time, but it also means that a lot of dedicated people are losing their jobs because they made the impossible become possible (with God’s help, of course.) Jim and I are like brothers. We can complete each other’s work. Actually, Jim gets an idea and I get to fundraising to fight one disease or another. I am committing to Jim that our partnership will only get closer as he moves to work full time for Water in Africa after September 2011.

Jim Niquette and I also went to pay our respect to Dr. Andrew Seidu Korkor, the Director of the Ghana Guinea Worm Eradication Programme for Ghana Health Services. I congratulated him for the wonderful achievement of having a chart on his wall with ZEROS for every month since May 2010. That chart used to represent a lot of people in pain with Guinea Worm Disease. Now, it shows what can happen when people come together to achieve a common goal. He thanked Rotary for our partnership in the common goal.

We went to show Kenny and Jon the Tamale Rotary Center. They met Rotarians Adam Salifu and Alex Kpodo. We discussed issues related to Rotary Matching Grant 69066. We need to receive the draft of the progress report before I leave Ghana (hopefully). The Water and Sanitation training needs to be done for three boreholes in two villages near Kariga.

We had lunch with Dr. Seth Wanye, the only Ophthalmologist for about 5 million people. He introduced us to a doctor he is trying to get into Ophthalmology School for four more years so he can have some help. We also had lunch with President Robert Kunab-lem of the Tamale Rotary Club. We discussed the challenges facing that club and the difficulties that they’ve experienced working on our matching grants.

Robert and I spent a lot of time on the very last city to eradicate Guinea Worm Disease called Dipale. The Rotary Foundation has $31,000 that could be spent to fix the problems in Dipale with 3-H grant 57557. We discussed options for this city. I also stopped by World Vision in Savelugu to talk to Sampson who also has a passion to get the people of Dipale water. I explained that the windmill implementation in Dipale by Rotary had problems. I was able to get out my laptop and produce the specs for the installation of the windmill. World Vision explained that they were considering tearing out the windmill to be replaced with a solar powered pump. I explained that a 10,000 liter polytank needed to be placed close to the windmill. Also, the pipe of holding the pump in the borehole needed to be larger. A lot of the specifications needed to be fixed, but the best solution is to use wind power when the sun doesn’t shine and solar power when the wind doesn’t blow. Sampson understood the improper implementation points and was going to test out the potential changes that could get wind power and solar power working successfully together. Sampson and I both agreed that it was best when the people of Dipale had water to drink. I gave him a high five when we agreed that it was good to give people water to drink!

We finally made it to Walewale at 4:45 PM today. We unloaded the car and checked into the Moonlite Lodge in beautiful Walewale. Walewale is just like Palm Springs, California without the palms, springs, or movie stars. Walewale is probably 110 degrees F in the shade now. We rested and prepared our sermons for Bugiya tonight. We had a flat tire within two miles of the hotel in downtown Walewale. Jon, Kenny, and I found a taxi to drive us into the African bush town of Bugiya. What an experience that was!

We preached to a nearly packed church of men, women, and children. The key scripture was John 3 for my sermon. I told them that I preach at my home church about them so now I was going to preach to them about New Hope United Methodist Church. I preached about giving God thirty days to speak with faith and to walk with faith. I preached about baptism, salvation, and the joy of knowing Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. It was moving service where we explained that we would finally baptize the members in the morning. We will probably have between 100 and 200 people to baptize in the morning. Our hands will get stiff writing down all of the names!

I’m tired and ready to get to bed. It is only 7:47 PM ET, but for me it is almost midnight. Good night. We are dreaming about baptisms, giving out bracelets, flip flops, toothbrushes, food, Bibles, and hope for a life with Jesus Christ at the center.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011 3:34 GMT

We’ve had a wonderful day and it is only one half completed. We went out to Bugiya at 6:30 AM to check on the boreholes in the village. Bugiya has about three hand dug wells that have Nira pumps that do not work. It is our luck that we only bought Afridev and Mark II pump parts. We ask to look at any of the deep boreholes. We find an Afridev pump near our church in Bugiya. The bent metal rod prevented the pump from working, but the kids dumped rocks, stones, limbs, and dirt down the borehole pipe. We had to pull the all of the pipes and rods out of the borehole to fix it. In the meantime, the women were getting the church ready for the baptisms.

Michael with Water in Africa is the expert on the pumps. He bought the pump parts, but the amazing thing is how he used charcoal to heat up the pipe to create couplings from straight pipe. Kenny Lovelace decides to keep working with Michael while Jon Morris and I go to church.

We haven’t baptized anyone in Bugiya since we built the church in Bugiya in 2005. I guess I was waiting for the river to rise or something else to happen. I finally realized that the Mamprusi land will always will have a water shortage. We choose to sprinkle and/or pour to baptize. I used the Baptismal Service in the United Methodist Book of Worship. We had three large buckets of water on the altar in the front of the church. Many of the teenage girls in the church helped us to get organized. One of them kept the list of names of everyone baptized. We have a record of one hundred fifty-one (151) people baptized today. I’m sure we probably missed about twenty-five or thirty people. I baptized until my back ached leaning over to get the water out of the bucket to baptize. It was so wonderful to see the fruit of so much work over so many years come to be celebrated today.

The people of Bugiya worshiped together prior to the baptismal service. They were singing and dancing with joy. We brought maize today to share with the people after the baptism. We also gave them fresh water to drink with the repaired borehole. The borehole is deep and is high yielding. The other shallow wells will go dry soon, but the repaired borehole will give them water to drink until the rains come again.

We finally finished baptizing after a couple of hours. Our next step was Guakudow. Guakudow is a Muslim village where we are building a new church. The walls of the church are going up right now. The workers have the walls up to the bottom of the windows. The masons will need to mold more blocks to finish the walls up to the gables. The “mother of the church” is an energetic woman who is watching over the workers to make sure that every block is laid in the right place. We are providing food for the people of the village who help carry blocks for the masons or bring water for the concrete. We greeted the chief of Bugiya and Guakudow. Actually, Bugiya has a young and old chief. It is a long story, but we decided to see them both today.

I’m trying to rest and prepare my sermon for tonight. We are going to see the new church being built at Sindini. We will preach at Sagadugu. The joy is that Mary Kay Jackson is coming with a mission team from St. Louis, Missouri to join us in the worship service. They are also bringing food from Bolgatanga. It will be a treat to eat a meal after basically fasting in the Walewale area. Walewale doesn’t have any restaurants. The food booths are not safe for us unless I want typhoid fever or something worse again. I’d rather fast and pray than experience the joy of typhoid fever. The St. Louis mission team has about twelve members. They are also the Methodist team who baptized one hundred forty-one people in two of our churches in November 2010. I’m looking forward to meeting their pastor and team. Mary Kay Jackson is also the full-time missionary who is helping to tie our churches into the Ghana Methodist Church.

I’m going to send this update via wireless modem from the African bush. It is a first for me. Get excited! It is also a little scary how the African bush is changing. I’m not able to get any news from outside world right now. We are too busy trying to make news right here in Africa. Talk to you soon.

Arrived Safely in Accra

We are safely in Accra, Ghana in West Africa. My thoughts from yesterday and today are below. Thanks for your prayers and support.

Regards,

Walter

Saturday, March 12^th at 9:30 PM

We are waiting at Dulles International Airport at the gate. We had a great drive from Rocky Mount to Northern Virginia. We had the great fortune to receive a visit from good friends at home who prayed with Susan and me. Pastor Denise and David Bates prayed with us at their home in Herndon before David took us to the airport. The lines at the gate and security were very easy. They tell us that the plane is full, but the airport doesn’t seem hectic like usual.

I’m already getting the urge to tell people “Eta sein?” or “How’s Life?” I slowly remember that I’m still in America and that no one here would have any idea what I am saying. They would probably take me straight to security and off to some holding cell. So… I wait to start talking and greeting people in Twi until we get safely to Ghana.

My thoughts have briefly been on the turmoil and civil wars in Libya and the Ivory Coast. Ivory Coast is right next door to Ghana. My thoughts have also been on the earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan and elsewhere in the Pacific Ocean. I know you are asking why we are going to Ghana. My answer is that God has need of us there. People need hope, faith, and love in bad times as well as good times.

I’m going to really enjoy Kenny Lovelace and Jon Morris. They are going to make a great time. I talked to Kofi Boakye today. I asked if he wanted me to come or if I should just go home. Kofi told me that I am coming home now (to Ghana). It took me a little bit of time that they are starting to think that I am part Ghanaian now.

Our flight is at 10:43 pm tonight on March 12^th. We will arrive in Accra on Sunday at 1:50 PM. I’m looking forward to staying with Dinah Bondzie and her extended family. It is like staying at “grandma’s house” with all kinds of people coming and going all the time. We will fit in so easily! We will leave Accra at 6 AM for Tamale on spacious Antrak Airlines the official airline of Ghana. It is actually the only airline that actually flies reliably in Ghana. So, it is the airline that we will take to fly to the Northern Region of Ghana.

March 13th 6:26 PM ET

We've traveled over 5,000 miles in 10 hours from Virginia to West Africa. I slept fairly well on the plane ride.

I'm getting ready for bed. We are tired, but it was a good day. We went to a Christening celebration with Dinah Bondzie. It was a lot of fun. They christen the baby early on Sunday and party the rest of the day that a new life has blessed the family. We made an appearance for about an hour. We really enjoyed the meal at Dinah's family home. We had an impromptu Bible study after dinner. It was an amazing time of study, prayer, and soul searching. The mission team received a prayer and annointing from the family. Getting ready for bed.

Celebrating New Churches in Ghana

Our Goal

Our goal is to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with as many communities as possible on each of our mission trips. We prioritize villages that have not been reached with the love of Jesus Christ. We tell the stories and parables of Jesus to as many people as possible in each village. The first milestone was the number of people who accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. The second milestone was the number of people baptized. For example, we baptized eighty-one people in 2003. Almost one hundred and fifty people were by the riverside to watch those baptisms! The third milestone was the number of people worshipping together in one faith community. The growing faith community in turn began to ask for a place to worship. It was usually when we had a thriving and growing faith community that we decided to build a church.

Target: Mamprusi Tribe

We targeted the Mamprusi Tribe who are located in the African bush of northern Ghana. Our partnering church in Ghana wanted to reach the Mamprusi. I’ve grown to love the Mamprusi. They have a strong sense of family. They are hard working and are open to the gospel. It also feels like we’ve traveled hundreds of years back in time in some of the villages. The Ghanaian people overall are wonderful people who have endured great hardships and are open to God.

Ghana is a majority Christian nation with most of the Christians in the southern one-half of the country. The Christian denominations place most of their efforts expanding and growing in the south. Kumasi is the heart of the Ghana Methodist Church. We wanted to go where it was fairly rare for Christian mission teams to reach due to the hardships of travel and communication.

Some of the Ghanaians in the south have a fear of and a bias against the people of the north. In addition, a potential pastor from the north is usually taken south for seminary or training and usually stay in the affluent south after receiving their training. Other Tribes: We’ve also worked with the Ashanti tribe near Kumasi, and other tribes near Tamale, Sunyani and Bolgatanga.

Short-Term Mission Teams

I became an international mission team leader in 2005 after God’s call for me to return to Ghana. We’ve had different people and churches represented on each mission trip to Ghana with a few people able to join the team several times. The average size for a team is three to six people. The average length of a mission trip is two weeks. The short-term mission teams work with the churches in Ghana to keep the work going year round. The teams include laity and clergy. The team members have ranged in age from 25 to 73 years old. Previously, I led local and regional mission teams in the USA to Henry Fork Service Center & the Gulf Coast.

Teamwork: United in Christ in the USA

I was a member of an independent mission team in 2003 to Ghana. As a result, all of the mission teams have people of faith from all denominations. We are united in Christ across churches in the United States. Redwood United Methodist Church is my home church near Rocky Mount, Virginia. Redwood UMC is also part of “All Things New.” We have team members throughout the Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church and as far south as Georgia. We’ve had several Baptist team members. The U.S. churches with team members usually contribute to the effort to build the faith communities.

I am the pastor at New Hope United Methodist Church in Callaway, Virginia. They are also supportive of the effort in Ghana. We’ve also had churches contribute for Bibles, food, or church construction that just heard the need and opened their hearts. New Song Community Church, an independent church near Atlanta, Georgia built the foundation and walls for the church in Nabari. We raised money for the roof, benches, stucco, windows, doors and floor to finish the Nabari church. The New Song Community Church pastor joined me on one of the mission trips.

Our Other Partners: We do a lot of humanitarian work with the Rotary Foundation to provide clean water so we have Rotarians also on the mission teams. We’ve also partnered with the Carter Center, Ghana Health Services, and Project C.U.R.E. to dig wells, supply the Tamale Teaching Hospital and Tamale Eye Clinic.

Teamwork: United in Christ in Ghana

We work with an independent church called Come Preach Christ Church in Kumasi, Ghana with a vision to start faith communities in the West Mamprusi District of the Northern Region of Ghana. Come Preach Christ Church targeted a different tribe (Mamprusi) with a different language (Mampruli). The Ashanti tribe speaks the language of Twi in Kumasi.

We’ve also preached with Rev. Emmanuel Atia, an Assembly of God pastor in Bolgatanga, Ghana in the Upper East Region. Pastor Atia believes in connecting a new church plant to the nearest church regardless of denomination. The neighboring pastor will serve as the interpreter for the revival and mentor for the new faith community. We edify that pastor and neighboring church during our revival even for churches of other denominations. Other local pastors have joined us to interpret for revivals or worship with us. We worked with willing partners since the Methodist presence in northern Ghana is small.

Who is Walter Hughes?

In 1999, I read the scripture from Luke 12:48b “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” God blessed me with my wife, Susan, and our four children. I began by praying to God what he asked in return.

God’s first answer to my prayer of what was demanded from me was my first mission trip in September 2003 to West Africa. I am the Pastor of New Hope UMC in Callaway, Virginia since November 2008. New Hope UMC is a thirty-five member church. We just dedicated an activity hall in December 2010. I am a licensed local pastor. I was a member of the Virginia Conference Board of Missions for many years. I am very active in missions locally, regionally, and internationally. I am also a very in the Rocky Mount, VA Rotary Club.

Local Lay Pastors & Leaders

We identified spiritual lay leaders in each village who would lead their people in the study of the Bible and worship of God. Some of these leaders are sons of the chief. One is the son of the Juju Priestess or head witch doctor. All are willing servants of God.

Each village needed to have an organized set of spiritual leaders with a local lay pastor, associate pastor, Sunday school teachers, and a treasurer. We accomplished this goal by providing the written word with a few English Bibles and many Mampruli Bibles and explaining the need to serve God out of thanksgiving. We evangelized using the words of Jesus about sowing seeds and being the good shepherd.

Men and women of faith care for the people of the villages after the short-term mission teams go back home. Also, Kofi Boakye from Come Preach Christ Church is a loyal and faithful leader who oversees a lot of the construction of the churches. Many of these people had to deal with leaving witchcraft or the Muslim faith.

All of the spiritual lay leaders are “tent makers” like the Apostle Paul. They are farmers primarily with one school principal and one chief. We provide some support with a possible purchase of a bicycle or donkey to enable them to get to worship services. We repaired one pastor’s eye glasses so he could read his Bible. The local lay pastors did not have a regular salary from the U.S. churches.

We encourage and edify the local leaders. We preach with faith and boldness. God shares his power, grace and love with the new faith community.

Methodist Connection

I met with the Bishop of the Ghana Methodist Church and the District Superintendent of the Northern regions of Ghana in 2007. Those meetings were not very productive. The district superintendent was very discouraged. His wife had malaria. He said that the mission funds of the Methodist Church did not reach to the far north of Ghana. The Bishop was nice, but not interested in building new faith communities in the north.

In August 2010, our pastors and associate pastors met with me. They asked me how their churches could become Methodist as well. I didn’t know how easy it would be for the Methodist Church to reach to the “African bush.”

Fortunately, we made a contact with Mary Kay Jackson, a full-time missionary from Georgia at the same time we met the Bishop in 2007. Our first connection was to promote a Ghana Methodist Water Project as an Advanced Special endorsed by the Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church. Mary Kay Jackson made the connection with the new district superintendent for northern Ghana. She is now helping to get our churches to be “adopted” by the Ghana Methodist Church.

Mary Kay Jackson also made the connection to the St. Louis United Methodist Church who wanted to preach in the African bush. The St. Louis Methodist Church preached in our churches and baptized a few people. The new district superintendent came for the services and baptisms. The names of 143 people baptized were added to Methodist rolls. A district superintendent likes to add names to the rolls! Adding the four to six churches to the Ghana Methodist Church will be a blessing.

God’s Written Word

We were able to buy Mampruli Bibles that had been translated for the first time into the Mampruli language in 2003 by Wycliffe. We learned how precious the Bible was on our mission trips to Ghana. We had the opportunity to give out and see the excitement for a brand new translation of the Bible. We purchased cases of Bibles for each village where we preached.

We purchased as many Bibles as we could afford. The Bibles were usually given to the chief, elders, and the parents of the village. The first thing that the parents did was to give the Bibles to their children. I asked a parent why they gave the Bible away. The parent said “The Bible is the greatest gift that I can give to my child.”

We gave additional Bibles for the active members of the faith community who did not get Bibles during the earlier trips. We also tried to find a way for each household to receive a Bible. We also would ask them to bring Bibles to worship services and Sunday school. We also would refer to John 1 or John 3 during a worship service and give them time to turn in the Bible to the scripture. The faith community did more than we could ever do to explain how precious God’s written word is to his people.

We provided study Bibles for a few key pastors. We also gave English language Bibles to a few of the teenagers who wanted to read the Bible in English. The Good News English and the King James Bibles are the translations that can be purchased within Ghana. We also purchased other local language Bibles when were worked with other tribes.

God’s Spoken Word: Evangelism

We shared the love of Jesus Christ to provide the basics of our faith with the goal of Christian conversion and discipleship. We preached on grace, faith, salvation, Jesus Christ, and prayer. We preached on the basic tenants of our faith.

I used the Faith Sharing New Testament with the Psalms (NRSV) published by Cokesbury and organized by the World Evangelism and World Methodist Council.

The front of the Faith Sharing New Testament has a lot of wonderful sermon topics with corresponding scriptures. I relied on their suggestions when I was evangelizing for the first time in Ghana. This Bible was sent by my daughter after receiving it at a Virginia United Methodist Conference Youth Retreat.

We usually preached in the open air under a large tree in the villages. The chief and elders of the village would usually sit near the trunk of the tree or under a shelter. The people usually stood or sat in the shade of the tree. The average size crowd for an outdoor worship service would be several hundred people. We used a local translator to translate the sermon from English into Mampruli.

Over time, the local lay pastor would interpret for services for their local faith community. We used the amplification from God to be able to preach to the masses for many services. On some occasions, we had a microphone and sound system. We also would use a generator to power fluorescent lights on four poles which would provide light for night services. Many times we would preach in four or five villages in one day. We even had a mosque announce our worship service one time. I’ve even preached using the light of a kerosene lantern or the light from a head lamp.

We preached wherever we were given the chance to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. We planted the seeds of faith and let God do the rest. We were not always sure on the first visit to a new village what kind of reception we would have and whether they would be willing to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Praise Songs and Hymns

Music is an essential part of all worship services in Ghana. A set of steel drums were usually the second contribution to a faith community after Bibles. The drums are essential for singing and dancing in worship. The drums are used to call people together for worship. The children would come running and the parents would follow.

It was easy to find drummers in each village to play the drums and the women would usually lead in the singing. Most of the songs were in the local language. A few praise songs were sung in English, but all of them shared the joy of Jesus Christ. Teenagers are always valuable drummers and singers. It is moving to see teenagers from one villages traveling to a nearby village to sing praises to God.

Crusade or Revival Service

We usually preach in a new village in the evening after the work is done in the fields and the meal has been prepared. We use fluorescent lights on poles to light up the area and music provided by steel drums to start “drumming up a village.” We’d get permission from the chief to preach in his village. Most revival services would have two or three sermons with music before and after each sermon. The alter call is made by the last evangelist. A prayer of salvation would be done with the group of believers. We pray for anyone needing prayer afterwards.

Parts of a Regular Worship Service

The worship service follows Sunday school. We usually had two or three sermons by our mission team members. The worship service contained a lot of singing and dancing which usually would happen before and after a sermon.

We preached about how to worship God and how to learn about the mysteries of the gospel. We told them to “come every time that the “church doors” were opened. Most of the wisdom about Jesus Christ was given by the gift of the Holy Spirit. People danced to give the offering in a bowl sitting on a table. We preached until we felt the Holy Spirit was ready for us to finish the service.

The women usually carried benches on their heads to the worship service. The children would sit in the dirt as close to the evangelist and local pastor as possible. We would eventually buy additional benches to allow more people to worship together. The faith community in a village may worship for several years under a tree or in a school before we thought about building an actual church. We provided study Bibles or used Sunday school material to assist the local lay pastor.

Baptisms

We’ve baptized by dunking and sprinkling in the villages. I preached in August 2010 about the joy of the lost sheep being baptized in my church of New Hope UMC. That joy turned into a desire for more baptisms in Ghana. As a result, more people are asking to be baptized in 2010 and 2011. I also explained that sprinkling is a common method of baptism in the Methodist Church.

“Preach All over Ghana”

We preach all over Ghana, but my “favorite district” is the West Mamprusi District in the Northern Region. I try to spend several days of each mission trip preaching in the villages of this area. The capital in the West Mamprusi District is Walewale. We preach in each village for a couple of times per trip. We preach about faith, Jesus Christ, prayer, grace and salvation. We also preach about spiritual warfare using Ephesians 6 to explain about the Armor of God. We preach in any village where the chief allows us to preach. We preach in many villages that believed in witchcraft or had a strong Muslim presence.

Initially, the people worship under a tree or at a nearby school when it was raining. We try to encourage worship services to be at the same location each week so that they would worship on Holy Ground. I lovingly call those trees our “preaching trees.” We prayed, preached, and sang in the same place in each village so that we could preach on Holy Ground. Later, we would dedicate and consecrate a church building so that we could preach all the time on Holy Ground. Once, I preached under a tree in Bugiya after the church was built and learned that it is a mistake not preach on Holy Ground. The community of faith always grew on Holy Ground.

The Christian presence was so small in Northern Ghana that all Christians encourage and edify each other. Other denominations build churches in some of our strongest villages, but we were thankful that the village was able to worship in a church. We weren’t as much focused on building “our kingdom” as building the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

My clean water ministry in Ghana takes me from the northeast corner to the southwest corner of Ghana. We are blessed to be welcomed by pastors all over the country to join them on revivals.

Offers of Land

We’ve had many chiefs offer land for a church when he saw the faith community growing in his village or a neighboring village. In one village named Sagadugu, the chief would ask me every year if I would walk the boundaries of the land for a church. Every year, I would say no. Finally in 2008, I agreed to walk the boundaries of the land. He showed me the few trees in the bush that would be next to the future church. He had the villagers clear the land for the church. He sent word to me in America that the land was prepared and they were ready to start construction.

In 2007, we distributed 100 kilo bags of maize and rice to villages after a flood. Every chief on that trip offered land for a new church. I told them that our church was there only to bless their village with food to help with the loss of crops in the flood. We just don’t have the financial strength to build churches in every village where a church could grow.

How We Physically Built a Church

We used standard modern Ghanaian building practices to build the new churches. We dug a trench and mixed concrete on the ground to form the foundation. Sometimes, the foundation was poured as a promise that a church would be built in that village in the future. In many cases, we poured the foundation on faith that we would have funds to continue construction next year.

Next, we would make concrete blocks on site which would cure in the West African sun for several days. Most of the lumber for the roof, windows, and doors was transported from Kumasi in the south to the northern village so that we could save money and have stronger rafters.

The concrete, sand, and gravel were usually available locally in Walewale. Our goal was to build the walls and to get the church under roof. At this point, the faith community would have a place to worship out of the rain. It took many years to raise the money to pay for windows and doors for the church.

The local pastor would make the appeal for windows and doors to keep the goats, sheep, and soccer players out of the church. Most of the churches waited another year or two for the funds for the concrete walls to have stucco. The dirt floors were wet down so that the dirt would not be kicked up in worship service. The final piece of construction would be to pour a concrete floor for a church. We built practical churches. They are not fancy. We focused on a reasonably priced building. We tried to size the church building to the potential members from a village.

We also hired tradesmen for the concrete work or to put on the roof. The women would bring water to mix with the bags of concrete. The men would clear the land. The children would gather stones to make the concrete floor stronger. The women would bring the water to mix the concrete. Everyone finds a way to contribute to build the new church. It helped if the church was built in the dry season to get more help from the community. We usually provided food for the workers. Some of the work was done by the mission teams, but most of it was done by the local church members and laborers.

Our Churches

We have built churches in Bugiya, Sagadugu, Diani, and Nabari. We are also repairing a church roof in Bulbia. We are building a sixth church in Sandini paid for by a member of Rocky Mount United Methodist Church this year. I spoke at a UMW Christmas luncheon for that church to tell them how a church can bless a village. We received a donation for a church and a well one week later.

Bugiya is named as a place for Satan. This village had the strongest presence of witchcraft in the entire country. It was a very scary place when we first preached there in 2003. We had an evening service that first year after barely getting permission from the chief of Bugiya. Bugiya has seen the greatest transformation. The youth joined us to sing God’s praises in neighboring villages in 2006. All of the chiefs of the Mamprusi tribe had a group meeting in the church to marvel how a church could be built in such an evil place.

Nabari was probably the most desperate place for us to build a church. New Song Community Church in Atlanta, Georgia started the church construction and gave up after the walls were built. We finished the church. It has blessed that village ever since. The chief of Nabari attended worship in August 2010 for the first time.

Sagadugu is a sentimental village for me because that is the village where I first preached God’s word in Ghana. I’ve seen the pastor and the people grow in their faith. I’ve seen the number of people continue to grow year after year. Sagadugu is sponsoring the new church in Sandini.

Diani is probably the village where the witch doctors gave us the biggest fight. Diani has been a joy as well as a place to be feared before the church was built. The witch doctors told the people that a Christian prayer would kill the people after a woman who regained her sight died of old age about nine months later. Now, the next generation of believers is growing up in that village.

We’ve also preached in many villages that have churches now that are supported by other Ghanaian churches and denominations. We’ve felt very good about edifying strong pastors and churches near a future church plant.

Blessing of a Church in a Village

The blessings are shown in pictures taken over the last eight years. It is amazing the difference God can make in a village. It is obvious to see the words from Deuteronomy 28 come to life. I’ve observed over time the blessings that a church provides for a village. The children would not be starving with extended bellies from hunger. Instead, they would grow taller and stronger. The livestock would be blessed. For example, the hens would have five or six chicks instead of two. The goats would start to have twins. The fields would be blessed. The ears of corn would be bigger and full of more grain. The crops would produce more food. The babies were stronger than babies born before the faith community was formed. These blessings are real, not just words from a prayer.

What is Next?

We will continue to preach and evangelize on mission trips to Ghana. My next mission trip is March 12^th. I will continue to tell people about the need to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ in West Africa.

We are repairing the roof of the church in Bulbia. The roof was blown off several years ago. The church was built by New Life Church near Atlanta. I had a vision about the church a month ago. I sent Pastor Kofi Boakye to go check on the church and the people worshiping there. He told me that they had over one hundred people still worshiping without a roof. We hope to dedicate the churches in Bulbia and Sandini in March 2011. I am thankful that God has used us to prepare a place for people to worship God. It is my prayer that God will continue to use me. We will continue to go to share the love of Jesus Christ.

Video showing church construction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI46fe21lHw