You've Got to Love Me to Come This Far

I am thankful for our last trip to Ghana. I was tired and needed rest before I could write this final report. I’ve enjoyed time back with family and eating plenty of food for Thanksgiving. I hope all of you had a wonderful time to give thanks for the blessings in your life.

I am so thankful that I had the chance to see so many wonderful things. The highlights of my last week were:
1. Seeing people with Buruli Ulcer getting better
2. Speaking on the radio about why I came to Ghana and being able to preach on JLife 95.5 FM.
3. Seeing more wells that we’ve completed. One well is in a village called Domeabra was especially memorable.
4. Spending a day of rest with good friend, Jim Niquette and his family
5. Knowing that a new church has a floor in Singini

1. Seeing Improvements with Buruli Ulcer
The highlight for the last week was to see the early results of the work to make a difference against a neglected tropical disease called Buruli Ulcer. It is a flesh eating disease that is similar to leprosy. We had money in Rotary grant 71926 to prototype early detection and early care of people. Early detection is taking a survey or census to find people who are sick with the disease. Early care is trying to find people with the early stages of the disease instead of waiting until it gets really bad.

The quick answer is that we saw amazing results in the lives of people in one district of Ghana called Asunafo South District (A Sue Nah Foo South). The district health director and her staff trained community volunteer health workers to survey their communities for people suffering from Buruli Ulcer. They found about fifty-four people who are now getting treatment. The ulcers are shrinking and the people are encouraged after receiving antibiotic treatment. One man had the disease for over twenty-five years.
It takes seventy days of antibiotic injections to fight the disease. We funded this work with just $15,000. We hope to raise more money to give people hope, help, and better health.


The “before” and “after” of a teenaged girl is shown left. She will still need therapy to prevent disability. The class to help her minimize scarring and disability was prototyped in the Dormaa District mentioned below by ALM.
We also went to the Dormaa District to see the results of a new educational program created by American Leprosy Missions (ALM) to teach people how to care for the Buruli ulcer and prevent the usual disability from the scaring that comes when the skin heals from the ulcer. I was amazed how people were improving with less scarring and more mobility. Our next Rotary grant, 25176, will be working in both of these districts in the Brong Ahafo Region. The miracle is that the training envisioned by our next grant was developed simultaneously by wonderful and smart people at American Leprosy Missions. We will be using that training and material from the World Health Organization to help people have better lives after this disease.

2. Speaking and Preaching on JLife 95.5 FM
It was truly an experience to speak on the radio in Ghana. It was my first time. I was interviewed and asked why I come to Ghana and what I do. I was asked about my church and Rotary. Rev. David Donkor asked me to explain what we do through the church and what we do through Rotary. The signal for the Christian radio station reaches into three different regions of Ghana. We’ve recorded the audio portion of my sermon if anyone is interested.

3. Seeing more wells that we’ve finished
A really special village is Domeabra-krum. The town’s name means “You got to love me to come this far!” The name also means that the village is not near anything. It took us two hours to come and go to Domeabra-krum. It is in the rain forest outside of Sunyani. I kept asking “Are we there yet?” The road to Domeabra was rough and narrow. We stopped at a wooden sign with the village name on it. We didn’t see any houses. The borehole was located slightly off of the “road” in the rain forest. We had to walk downhill to reach any houses and visit with the people. They gave us three big bunches of big bananas called plantains. I told one of the mothers (above) “Me Do” which means that I loved her and her village. I believe that I’ve traveled to many places around Ghana that deserve a name like Domeabra. Most of those wells are funded by Rotary matching grant 69051.

We also visited a well donated because I spoke at a Christmas United Methodist Women’s banquet last December. I preached on the blessing of a church and a well to a village. An anonymous donor who heard that presentation gave us money for one church and one well! The new well is at Domsesere in central Ghana. It is a very poor community and needed more water to drink.

4. Spending time with friends
I have friends all over Ghana. It is a pleasure to spend time with them. This trip, we had time with Jim Niquette and his family. Jim Niquette is the director of Water in Africa and previously worked for the Carter Centre in Ghana. We worked together to eradicate guinea worm and now are focused on Buruli Ulcer. I didn’t preach and I didn’t work when I was at Jim’s home. Jim’s wife, son and daughter are a real joy, too. I look forward to introducing my wife and oldest daughter to many of them in January.

5. Singini Church has a floor
The people of Singini can worship God in a church with a floor now. We started the church in February. The walls went up in March. The roof went on in April. The walls were plastered in September and November. The floor was just finished this month. We still need to get the doors and windows for the church installed in January.

The photos showing the church construction can be seen here. Click on picture.

Building New Church at Singini in Ghana

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.

Return Hate with Love

We are not born with hate in our hearts. We are born with love in our hearts. We are created by the love of Jesus Christ. We experience the love from a mother to her child. We learn about the warmth of a hug and the sweetness of a kiss as we grow. An infant is too busy eating and sleeping to learn about hate. Hate has to wait to get a foothold in a person’s life.

I saw Pastor Jason Bryant’s eight pound baby girl at the New Hope UMC yard sale yesterday. She is almost one month old. The infant knows that she is loved by her mother and father, but she doesn’t know that she is supposed to hate people because they worship in a different way or the color of their skin. She will have to learn about hate from TV, friends and even the internet.

God told Moses in Leviticus 19:17-18 (NIV) “Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt. "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.”

It has been nine years since the planes crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in New York on September 11, 2001. We learned that members of Al Qaeda took over the planes so that they could use them as missiles to inflict fear and terror into the hearts of Americans. They also wanted to hurt and kill as many people as possible. Most of all, they wanted to plant the seeds of hate.

The Sydney Morning Herald in Australia wrote this article today:

“Police sent reinforcements on Saturday to separate angry activists gathered outside the US church where Korans were to be burned, even though the church's controversial pastor called off the event.

Signs in red letters stating that "Islam is of the Devil" are still posted outside the Dove World Outreach Evangelical Church, but a large sign announcing that some 200 Korans would be set ablaze on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks was taken down.

After a back-and-forth lasting several days, the church's firebrand pastor, Terry Jones, said on Saturday his church will not burn the Korans. "We will definitely not burn the Koran, no," Jones, who was in New York, told NBC television. "Not today, not ever."

The mere threat of torching the Muslim holy book triggered riots and protests around the world - and attracted supporters and opponents to his tiny church in north-central Florida.”

The Bible wants us to love one another instead of spreading hate. 1 Peter 3:8-18 (NRSV) explains “8 Finally, all of you, have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse; but, on the contrary, repay with a blessing. It is for this that you were called—that you might inherit a blessing. 10 For "Those who desire life and desire to see good days, let them keep their tongues from evil and their lips from speaking deceit; 11 let them turn away from evil and do good; let them seek peace and pursue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil." 13 Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good?”

“14 But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, 15 but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; 16 yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God's will, than to suffer for doing evil. 18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God.”

How do we have unity of spirit with people that don’t understand that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the World? God created all of us. God loves all of his children. God’s spirit and God’s love is available to all. We need to understand why people hate and have lost hope to the point that they are willing to commit suicide and kill other people at the same time.

I stood on the second story of the school in the slums of Kumasi a few years ago. I looked out over the slums to the houses of the very poor. Those children want an education and to learn. The children will have hope for the future if they are able to get an education. If someone shows that they care, the children will do everything possible to return that love and concern. It is very hard for the seed of hate to take root where faith, hope and love have sprouted. Those children can become terrorists or share the love of Jesus Christ. We have a part to play in that decision.

The seed of fear was planted in my heart after September 11^th. I believed what I read in the newspaper and heard on the network and cable news programs. I was lucky. I didn’t have any Muslim friends and neighbors so I could rest easy, I thought. I still worried about the parts of the world that had Muslims because it must be a terrible place because the people hate so much.

God has a sense of humor. God sent me to work with Muslims in Ghana. God made me go to face my fears. I had to meet Muslims. Now, I have friends that are Muslim. It is hard to hate Muslims when you know their name and you respect their faith and their life.

They know that I am a Christian by my love. I remember going into a village called Kpalbe (paul bee). I realized that the whole village was Muslim. I was the only Christian in that village. They knew that I was a Christian. I knew that they were Muslim. I wondered what they would do. We were installing a mechanized water system to make the water safe for their children to drink. The water would be free of a terrible parasite called the guinea worm.

Guess what happened? The chief and elders welcomed me into the village. The children were laughing and playing in a mud puddle just like kids back home in America would do. The kids smiled and laughed. The parents loved their children just like American parents do. The parents wanted their children to be healthy just like American parents do. I began to realize that we had more in common that I ever knew.

On my last mission trip to Ghana in August 2010, I met with the pastors and assistant pastors of the churches in Bugiya, Sagadugu, Nabari, and Diani. They wanted to know how they could become Methodist pastors because they knew that I am a Methodist pastor here at New Hope UMC. I told them that I would work on finding an answer. I also offered to pray for each of the pastors. We took turns praying for each other and anointing our foreheads with oil.

A Muslim businessman came up while we were praying in the lobby of my guesthouse. He asked if we would pray for him and bless him, too. We smiled and told him that we were praying and anointing in the name of Jesus Christ. He told us that it was okay. He just wanted people to like him and to use him as their general contractor when they built a home or business. I anointed his forehead with oil and prayed that he would be liked and that his business would be blessed in the name of Jesus Christ.

A Muslim engineer wrote me this past year and said that he wanted to become a Christian because he admired the work that I did. He basically saw me walking the walk instead of talking the talk. We dig wells and drill for boreholes in the poorest places and where the most people are sick. The poorest places many times are the Muslim villages. We go to help their children have a healthier life.

I preach in many Muslim villages. I don’t tell them that they are wrong. I preach about the love of Jesus Christ. I preach from John 1 and John 3. I tell the gospel stories of Jesus. I tell about God’s grace that saved even me. I share the stories of grace, faith, hope and love. I tell them the stories because God loved me first and now I want to share those stories with as many people as possible.

Our driver on the trip was a devote Muslim. We were in Ghana during Ramadan. I asked him about praying fives a day. We talked about fasting. We talked about the ritual needed before someone can enter the mosque to pray. We shared a room for several nights on the trip. He had to get up at 5 AM to pray and to eat breakfast before the sun came up. He was quiet, but I still woke up some morning to hear him praying. His faithfulness inspired me to pray to God as well. He inspired me because he was faithful and he worked very hard to drive us to visit all of our wells and to drive us to our Christian church services on time. He knew that I was a Christian by my love of his people and my desire that they have a better life. God touched my heart years ago and I will not be the same.

I went up to Washington, DC and Baltimore this week for two reasons. First, I went up to visit Walter Reed Army Medical Center on Tuesday and Wednesday to visit David Smith’s son, Dave and his buddy, Mark Holden. I felt a need to visit with both men and their families as well as offer a time to pray. Both men are seriously injured and they are still in the intensive care unit. I explained that I was the pastor here at New Hope UMC where Dave’s dad plays the piano. I had a great visit with Dave on Wednesday. I was nervous about going. I didn’t know if I’d have the right words to say or be brave enough to offer to pray with them. God took care of the details after I made it there.

I also went to Baltimore between visits at Walter Reed Army Medical Center to meet with people to ask them to help give people water to drink in Africa and to help get rid of a flesh eating disease called Buruli Ulcer. The people thought that it was a big risk to say that we could make a difference with the flesh eating disease because we don’t know how people get sick. I explained that I’ve looked people in the eye in a village where they were sick and promised that I would bring back bandages and medical supplies and find ways for them to recover from this terrible disease. These people need hope and faith in the future. We can be part of the answer to give them that hope and faith.

I am officially paid to be your pastor 25% of my time. I spend the other 75% of my time trying to raise money for wells and medical awareness, education, and supplies in Ghana. This week, it was hard because I felt that I needed to travel to pray for a son of our church family who I had never met. I also felt that I needed to try to get people to want to do the impossible. I wanted them to believe that we could impact a neglected tropical disease in a remote part of Africa. I also spend time encouraging the four churches that we started in Ghana. I’m also a husband and father. I need to find a way to accomplish more and still take a day off for a Sabbath each week.

My heart is torn. I want to serve you the best that I can as your pastor, but I also feel that I need to tell the story that people are thirsty and sick in Africa. I need help on my faith journey. It would be easier to hate people that I do not know and to only look where it is easy to see. It is hard to be comfortable when people need hope and faith in the future.

The way that we seek peace is to share the love and peace of Jesus Christ. Not with hate, but with hope. I believe God has given me the task of sharing hope with a cup of water, a place to worship, and a promise that children may grow up healthier than their parents.

I don’t have all of the answers. I just know that hating others doesn’t work. Jesus taught us in Matthew 5:38-45 by saying “Here's another old saying that deserves a second look: 'Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.' 39 Is that going to get us anywhere? Here's what I propose: 'Don't hit back at all.' If someone strikes you, stand there and take it. 40 If someone drags you into court and sues for the shirt off your back, gift wrap your best coat and make a present of it. 41 And if someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life.42 No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously. 43 "You're familiar with the old written law, 'Love your friend,' and its unwritten companion, 'Hate your enemy.' 44 I'm challenging that. I'm telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, 45 for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves.”

We are responding to God’s call in my life to make a difference. We need to love our enemies with all of our heart, our soul, our mind, and our strength. We need our enemies to bring out the best in us, not the worst. Muslims are not the enemy. People are trying to plant seeds of hate that will grow and expand, but it is up to use whether we repay hate with love. We must love the Lord and love our neighbor as our self. Our neighbor is anyone who is in need here at home and around the world. It is hard to hate our neighbor when they have a face and a name and children that laugh and play in a mud puddle. Go out and find someone who is different than you and turn them into your neighbor. Amen.