Ghana Trip for First Week Nov. 7

Wow! What a trip.

Kenny Lovelace joined me for his third trip to Ghana. We don’t know where to start. It has been amazing and inspiring. We are tired. We just haven’t had the energy to write a praise report because we go from daybreak into the night. Just when we thought it couldn’t get any better, it did.

We went straight to a Buruli Ulcer Conference in Accra after we landed on Monday afternoon. Experts from all over West Africa came to discuss the impact of farming, gold mining, pollution, and oil and gas exploration on the soil and water near communities suffering with Buruali Ulcer. Areas with Buruli Ulcer seem to have a lot of disturbed land with similar soil types. We had a dinner meeting Dr. Kingsley Siedu, the director of Buruli Ulcer at the World Health Organization (WHO), Jim Niquette of W.A.T.E.R, Dr. Julien Ake and Idris Buabeng of MAP International . I took a lot of notes and tried to understand how we could make a difference as pastors and Rotarians. I explained how humanitarian grants work through the Rotary Foundation. Dr. Siedu gave me an understanding of the needs for neglected tropical diseases like Buruli Ulcer.

We flew on a jet for the first time to Tamale from Accra on Tuesday, November 8th. We met Michael Anakese from W.A.T.E.R., Frank Kumah, a water contractor, and several Rotarians when we flew into Tamale on Starbow Airlines. Starbow is a brand new airline in Ghana! Michael and Frank joined our team. I was impressed how much the oil business is impacting Accra and the airport. I’ve never seen so many people and so many planes at the domestic terminal.

We had a wonderful breakfast with friends in Tamale. We stopped by to give our regards to Dr. Jim Murphy and Dr. Ken Sagoe at the Tamale Teaching Hospital. We promised that we would bring a surgeon one day. We also were amazed at the improvements being made to the hospital.

We arrived in Walewale by the early afternoon on Tuesday. We checked on a broken hand pump on a hand dug well in Sagadugu. The pump foot valve was jammed with a rope used to fetch water with a bucket after the protective well cover was taken off. Pastor Ibrahim urged us to go straight to the new church at Singini for a service at 5 pm. We checked out the partially finished concrete floor. We had to preach by flashlight because the generator would not work because of a short in the wiring. We gave the church two Mango Trees. The men and women each are responsible for one of the trees. It will be a competition for each church to see whether the men’s or women’s mango tree grows the fastest.

On Wednesday, November 9th, we went on a 4-wheeling trip almost all the way to the east to Togo in the East Mamprusi District where Rotary matching grant 69066 has paid to finish eleven boreholes and complete two new ones. I think I’ve been to the most remote place in Ghana on each trip to dedicate a well, but this trip took the prize. We drove on a dusty, bumpy road for two hours to get to the goat trail through the millet fields that took us to a village of five hundred in Tagbini. It was extremely remote. I don’t know how anyone ever found that village.

The chief explained that he was very eager to get the pump installed. Frank Kumah explained that the concrete had cured for two weeks and needed one more week to be really strong. The chief pleaded and we couldn’t say no. We took the pump and the pipes and the rods out of a grass hut and proceeded to install the water pump with Michael and Frank leading the way. A roar of excitement erupted from the chief and the people of Tagbini at the sound and sight of the first drops of clean water. That borehole is the first well in that village. It is hard to describe the gratitude of the people to receive water to drink. The chief gave us two chickens, two yams, and a sheep to thank us the new well. He also promised that they would wait one more week to use to well…

We finished up the first stop by noon on Wednesday and realized that we had twelve more villages to visit. We wondered if every village to be visited would require so much travel time to reach. The answer was most definitely “Yes!” We climbed mountains where a well was drilled between rocks at Sakogu. We had the crazy idea to install another pump. The farmer who stored all of the pipes and pump equipment was off at the farm when we decided to get started. We took only about one hour to get Sakogu’s water flowing. The treat was eating water melon when we were getting close to having achieved our goal of fresh water. The kids and women cheered when the pump poured forth the water! That cheer makes all of the effort worthwhile.

We drove on a dry river bed to get to Gballa near Gambaga. Gballa has no road to the village. You “can’t get there from here when” it is raining. I don’t know how the drill rig ever made it down the river bed that was full of rocks. One of the boreholes is located at the witch’s camp in Gambaga where I preached in 2006. If you love the outdoors and going places where trucks should not be able to go, then you need to take a ride in the African bush with us!

I was very impressed with our partnership with the Northern Regional Poverty Reduction Program and the Tamale Rotary Club. We turned the money for five new boreholes into thirteen new boreholes because of our partnership. All of the communities that were receiving the gift of new wells (boreholes) really needed water.

We drove quickly back down that bumpy, dirt road to our Sagadugu church for a evening service that started around 6:30 PM. It is so exciting to be preaching in our home churches. Sagadugu welcomed us with open arms. The church was full. I told the women of Sagadugu that my wife, Susan, and daughter, Missy, will be coming in January. The women cheered the prospect of getting meet some of my family.
We prayed for many people that night. A young school teacher fell when she had a stroke. She had not been able to speak or teach at the elementary school since the stroke. We prayed to cast out a deaf and mute spirit. She was able to say a few words so we prayed for her again. She was freely talking and laughing with the children and other women the next day. She was completely transformed.

Thursday and Friday, were busy days of baptisms for me while Kenny and Michael went around repairing wells and boreholes in the area. We baptized ninety-seven (97) people in three villages over two days:
• 22 in Singini
• 30 in Sagadugu
• 45 in Takora Yilli (Friday)

Kenny and Michael repaired seven wells or boreholes in Sagadugu (3), Bugiya (1), and Guakudow (2). I helped when I wasn’t baptizing, talking, or preaching! We left for Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region on Thursday afternoon. Kenny and Michael went shopping for a used motorcycle for Pastor Ibrahim, our dedicated pastor who started the new Singini church. It was inspiring to see the roof on the Singini Church and the concrete floor being finished. It still needs doors and windows. A family from Rocky Mount UMC helped to build the church. We also had contributions from Boones Mill Christian Church and Epworth UMC. They had success while I actually tried to nap for an hour at the luxurious Sand Garden’s Hotel!

Our goal was to meet the new Rotarians in the Bolgatanga Goodwill Rotary Club to present them with a new club banner donated by Rotarians in Watertown, NY. We also decided that we would present the goat given by the chief of Tagbini. We thought it was probably the first Rotary meeting where a goat was given to the club president! Kenny and I were later informed that our goat was actually a sheep. We have learned that goats and sheep in Ghana look a lot alike. I hope we will be able to tell an old goat from a sheep in the future! We encouraged the new Rotary club to serve the people of northeastern Ghana well.

We drove back to Walewale on Friday morning to get to preach some more. We checked into my favorite hotel in Walewale where we came on my very first mission trip to Ghana. We loaded the pickup truck with the motorcycle, three 100 kilo bags of maize, four mango trees, three large bags of used clothing, four soccer balls, and partridge in a pear tree. The partridge didn’t fit, because had two local pastors and a chicken in the truck with us. We also gave two mango trees to each church for a total of fourteen trees.

The loaded pickup truck headed out to a new village, Takora Yilli, where Pastor Paul traveled to preach. Pastor Paul Kaba was given a motorcycle last March by Jon Morris’s Baptist Church in Roanoke. Pastor Paul’s new motorcycle enables him to reach new villages with the gospel of Jesus Christ. I was thankful for a fairly straight and smooth goat trail to Takora Yilli. We met the chief and prayed for his blind eldest brother. I preached on Jesus Christ, grace, faith, power of prayer, salvation, baptism, and the core tenets of our faith. We baptized under a tree and gave out food after the baptisms. The amazing fact is that the village has two mosques and yet we received a warm welcome. The chief was also baptized. We presented the chief a soccer ball paid for by Peter Coats with his Facebook group called Matchbox Cars for Ghana! The chief gave us land for a church and suggested that we build it quickly on solid ground.



We drove back to Walewale to give the motorcycle to Pastor Ibrahim. We had to get a mechanic to fix a few things and change the oil. Pastor Ibrahim almost busted a gut wanting to show his family the new means of transportation for their church and village. We now have two pastors with motorcycles. I think we will have more new church starts soon. The rest of the pastors are telling us that they could preach more often with a motorcycle as well. With God’s help it will be possible to reach more villages.

We preached in Diani on Friday night. We used light provided by the generator to preach. We had forty people accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior at the end of the service. The two women who received their sight and hearing in 2005 were really energized at the service. They came up to me and the one told me that she could still see and the other told me that she could still hear (all in the name of Jesus Christ.) One of the young men asked if we could paint the church and another asked for the Diani Church roof to be strengthened with more rafters. I took some time with Kenny to tell him the stories of preaching under tree in 2006 with a kerosene lantern. The sermon was about declaring the victories in the future and serving God.

On Saturday, November 12th, we drove to Bugiya where we saw a broken pump on a hand dug well located by the school and our church. We stopped to make a repair. It took a few minutes to get that well working again. We also made a stop in Guakudow where we repaired two wells and gave the chief two mango trees for the new church. One of the pipes was dropped by an elderly man helping us. We lowered a teenager down sitting on a stick to grab the lost piece of pipe. We got the teenager in and out of well safely. We had a good visit with the chief and took pictures. The chief dressed up in his finest and now wants a picture on our return trip. We took the short cut through the African bush toward Tamale to head south. We soon regretted our short cut, because he had a lot of diversions and big holes. We survived that road as well.

We had lunch in Tamale around 1 PM with the Tamale Rotarians: Joe Mumuni, President Anas Sulemana, and Alex Kpodo. I told them about our trip to the East Mamprusi villages and how proud I was of them for selecting villages with such as need for clean water. They are eager for more humanitarian grants. I told them that we would probably work with them again in 2013. We traveled to Sunyani on Saturday afternoon after spending some time in the Tamale market.

We preached in two churches on Sunday morning in Sunyani. One was a church comprised mainly of university students. I preached on serving God using your spiritual gifts. The youth church held their services in English. They had great drums and keyboard. I dreamed about having my January mission team singing in that church. The second church was a pole building with wooden boards for walls and a dirt floor. The pastor told me that it was harvest Sunday and that I needed to do a good job preaching about giving back to God. I preached about Hannah promises Samuel to God before she knew she would have a son. I also preached on John 15 and Luke 10. Kenny also preached at both churches with a lot of power. The second service lasted until 1:30 PM. They basically kept going until they raised 1,200 Ghana Cedis and fifteen bags of cement. The church probably had 35 adults. Kenny and I were impressed with the amount of money that a poor church raised in one day for a new church.


We took time to have lunch before we went to J.Life at 95.5 FM. We were interviewed on the radio for about one hour. Bishop David Donkor asked about New Hope United Methodist Church in Franklin County, Virginia. He also asked how I came to be a missionary in Ghana. He asked Kenny why he had come three times to Ghana. I had a chance to preach on Joshua 1 and Jeremiah 1 about being strong and courageous and that God will be with us forever.

Our next week will focus on Buruli Ulcer disease by checking on the communities that need our help to fight the disease that is similar to leprosy. We will be going to the two districts that will be the focus on Rotary matching grant 25176.