Update #5 Dec. 6-12

Flower bed......

Dear Family and Friends,

Greetings in Jesus Christ’s precious name! Another week, whew, were did it go? We have been in good health PTL! We are always grateful to God for health another week! We have had very good health since arriving in Ghana over 4 weeks ago now. PTL!

Monday and Tuesday you could have found us just doing the normal things around the house. We have laundry to do, errands to run, market to buy things, and friends to communicate with. We have been trying to get the outside of the house cleaned up and the “yard” in decent order. This means spraying for weeds and using the cutlass to mow down the grass. I [Chad] was “mowing” out in front of our gate on Monday or Tuesday, did I get some stares. When I finished mowing I raked all the cuttings, small shrubs and brush up into a pile along with all the plastic bags that get thrown along the front of the property. Then I tried to burn the pile… I thought all was going well till the neighbor lady came over and kind of scolded me for burning in the heat of the day. She said “it’s too hot to burn! Or you like the sun?” I said “yes I like the sun” but she insisted that I leave it and go inside. I turned around to go inside and realized that another neighbor was also burning his pile of trash/grass just down the road. I guess my neighbor was just worried about me getting overheated or something? Anyway I guess I learned that its better to burn in the morning or evening, if you want to complete your burning project!

Wednesday, after breakfast and devotions, about 8am, we headed to the lorry station to travel to Accra. We arrived in Accra about 10:30 then took a taxi out to Matt and Janelle Wollman’s house. They received us very graciously and had their little guest house all ready for us. We spent the afternoon visiting and talking on the G-talk with Dad and Mom Dunn, then visiting some more in the evening. Matt and I went into Accra the next morning to do some shopping, and paperwork that needed to be done for some of the people with Charity’s mission. We had a very challenging time trying to navigate the busy Accra streets to get where we wanted to go. We did manage somehow, and got most of the stuff on our lists. The Accra market was exceptionally busy, maybe because of Christmas, and we had a very fun time trying to PUSH our way through the crowds to get to the stores we wanted to go to. We got finished about 3:30 and wanted to head home… we’ll just say that we sat in traffic for the next 3 hrs. trying to get back home. Finally we arrived back home about 8pm VERY tired and covered in diesel smoke, lovely. If you ever traveled In a busy city in a developing country you probably know what I’m talking about! While I was in Accra, Liz and Serenity where able to G-talk with my family on Thurs. This is a real treat since we don’t have enough service here in Sogakope to do it!

We left for home about 10am. Friday, stopped at a cold store and bought a box of TYSON chicken legs, and went to the Accra Mall on the way. This mall is very modern and “American”. We didn’t stay long but we did enjoy the air-conditioning for the 30min. we were there. We bought a few things from the grocery store that we are not able to get here in Sogakope. Then our Taxi driver drove us to Tema to join a lorry for the rest of our trip back home. We arrived back in Sogakope about 2pm. After a short nap liz and I went to market to buy some vegetables. Then came back and planted the flowers and decorative plants that Sister Janelle in Accra had given us from her flower beds. What a nice addition to the front of our house!

We have been working on trying to find a language teacher. Bro. Samuel has a retired school teacher friend that is supposed to come by tomorrow and talk with us about teaching us. Please pray that this will go well and that if he is the teacher we need, then the Lord will work out all the details. We have not had much success in picking up much language yet. I think it will help me a lot to be able to see and hear the language instead of just hearing it. Pray for us as we start applying ourselves to learning. We feel a bit overwhelmed at times, thinking of trying to learn a whole new language. God’s grace is sufficient, I know!

Today Bro. Samuel and I went to the Church in Nugbelibi to have a service for them, while the ladies and children all gathered at our house for a time of sharing and singing together. We had a small group, only 4 came out for the service. Pray for them, the one girl was sick and I don’t know what prevented the rest from coming out. There is definitely some spiritual warfare going on in that village. Samuel taught on Redemption, and I had the message on “The Wise and the Foolish man”. The ones that were there, seemed very attentive and sincere in their walk with God. PTL for that!

I don’t know if we can continue to write updates every week… We will try to send out something to everyone at least once or twice a month. I thought I better write this week so that you can get a picture of our lives from a guy’s perspective. My wife enjoys writing and does a wonderful job and I don’t care for it so much… but it’s good for me anyway.

We love ya’ll and we remember you in our prayers. I’m sure you are doing the same for us! Thanks and may the Lord bless you for it! We are very grateful for your support! Chad, Elizabeth and family

A recent update... Nov. 22-28

Loving greeting to all from warm Africa!

"How excelent is thy loving kindness, O God! therfore the chlidren of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings." Ps. 36 v7

Praise the Lord.... another week has gone by! Our weeks seem sooo much longer than they used to be.... packed full of soooo many things!!!

I'll start off with Monday... another beautiful day! Sorta overcast so that was nice for washing laundry! We had Bro. Samuel's family over for supper.... and tried our hand at rice with peanut butter stew! It really taste better than it sounds! Their "Peanut butter" what they call " Groundnut paste" is like natural peanut butter with no sugar. Then u add tomato paste, salt, red palm oil, hot peppers, and fish! Everyone ate well and seemed to like it.... I'm sure it wasn't quite like the way they make it! We all sang a few songs... had prayer... and then Samuel's left!

Wednesday was market again.... and a very hot day! Our water went off about midmorning.... glad I got our barrel filled with water and all the buckets too before it went off! Chad and Samuel had talked earlier about having a midweek service... and Chad said in the States we have it on Wed. evening, but we don't have to do it the same day. We did have it Wed. night at our house.... it was really nice we prayed, sang, Samuel shared from the Bible, then prayed, and sang some more!! All in all I think it was an hour long.... and the atttendance was Bro. Samuel, Sis. Eunice, their little girl Ruth, Chad, Serenity, our children, and myself. Afterward we had popcorn!

Thursday... Thanksgiving Day! Was as hot as ever.... it really didn't "feel" like thankgiving! But it's a good thing that we don't depend on feelings :) :) because we planned to make it a special day anyway! It started off like a normal day... breakfast, devotions, and prayers of thanksgiving! We decided to have our meal at 3pm.... I to be honest, I could hardly wait to start making the food! We couldn't do laundry because our water was still off... and our water supply was getting low... so we all decided that it would be better to wait on laundry so we have enough water to take a bath tonight!!! Next on the list was to make our peanut butter pie..... so it could get cold! The rest of our menu consisted of Stuffing with Turkey in it [I had some turkey canned that I brought], cheesy potato casserole made with their sweet potatoes, gravy, mixed veggies, salad, and pineapple [to take the place of cranberry!] The pie turned out great.... only we had a few troubles getting our whipped topping to whip! We ended up whipping it by hand with a whisk and it worked! Actually, everything else turned out very delicious too! All day the water was off... the longest it had been off since we moved here..... Chad checked the meter and it was turned off... very strange!

Friday..... and still no water! Chad went to the neighbors and they filled up our barrel and hauled it over here for nothing..... they wouldn't let Chad pay them anything! While we girls started laundry.... Chad and Samuel set off to the water district to find out why we don't have water and why the meter is turned off! They found out that our landlady has a 3 month overdue charge of 38 cedis that she hasn't paid... and won't pay because they changed her rate from residential to commercial without her knowing it and is charging her too much! She is very stubborn and argued with the Water company for a while... then told Chad, "Oh the water will come on soon" But she didn't pay them anything when she was there! Of course the company told Chad if you pay the bill your water will be turned on. But Chad didn't think it was right for him to pay her overdue bill and know that he will never get the money from her! Well, all day we waited and no water! Oh yes one more important thing! Our saw horse stand for our hand cranked wringer was finished and we set that up to help with our piles of wash! Was it ever nice to get almost all the water out of the cloths and things dried a lot faster too! We still have to scrub the clothes by hand but the wringer helps a lot!

Saturday dawn with no water! So Chad set out to solve the matter! He had decided to ask if he could pay the reconnect fee and a little towards Julia's bill since we had been using water for about a week, would they turn our water back on! No, the whole bill had to be paid! So in order to have water again.... for who know how long it would take Julia to pay her bill.... Chad payed the bill of about $25 and we had water in about 20 min.!!! I'm sure that's what Julia was waiting on... for us to pay it! But Chad has a plan.... she still has her stuff in our house :) and she said that she would sell us one of the bed frames.... so Chad will try to just subtract the water bill from the bed frame price! :) Our dear little Chace turned 1 today too! We had a little party for him.... Pizza with a cabbage salad... and fan ice [ice cream sold in small plastic bags] with orange fanta poured over it! Very good... almost like a orange creamsicle slush! We got Chace a ball in market... and a few suckers too! He was delighted! We tried to tell Chace that he was 1 and help him hold up one little finger.... but he just takes his finger and sticks it in his ear! So cute! :) Elayna was sooo excited about Chace's birthday! Then she kept saying that on her birthday she will be 3... Then she turns to her Auntie and says when it's your birthday you turn 3!! But Serenity explained that she will turn 23!

Sunday another very warm day! Bro. Samuel decided that we should go to Nugblebi in the morning this time.... So we all went! We left the house at 8am.... got on a lorry and headed off for Torve! Picking up Samuel & Eunice at the end of town! Oh yes, before we left Serenity was explaining to Elayna that we are going to get in a van and drive for a while before we get to church... and Elayan says with Grandpa and Joyelle? Yeah! and she squeals! No, remember Grandpa is far, far away! Anyway it seemed like no time at all and we were in Torve, it was maybe 25 min.... now for the long walk back to the village of Nugblebi about a 2 mile walk! Dusty trails.... a couple of motos passed us and a car.... and eeew, a foot long earth worm! I kept my eyes open for snakes!! But didn't see any, thankfully! We arrive at Church a cute little shelter with a thatched roof and several poles holding it all up! It provided a nice cool breezy service... on backless benches with a dirt floor! The children couldn't understand why they couldn't play in the sand/dirt.... it was just like their sand box back home except all over the place not just in a box! We sat an waited for awhile till people started to gather.... and then started to sing... a few more trickled in... then service began! Samuel asked Chad, while we were sitting there waiting, if he would have the Sunday school.... so he agreed and shared about blind Bartemaus again since he didn't have anything else prepared! I enjoyed it because I wasn't there for service last week! We prayed and sang some more.... gave testimonies... then Samuel preached about "The Kingdom of Heaven is for YOU!" We repeated the title together several times... then he said, "The Kingdom of Heaven is for ME! So we all repeated that several times before he started preaching! He preached in Ewe.... and then at the end gave us a little overview in English. More singing.... and then we had special prayer for one of the girls that had shared during testimony time about a dream that she had. Her dream was about someone chasing her... and then she sees that she is running but her feet aren't touching the ground... and then she sees that she is dead... then wakes up! Bro. Samuel is pretty certain that someone has cast a spell on her to be a witch or something.... and says that we should earnestly pray that this girl could be delivered! The girl's name is El-Li-prim and she seems like she could be about 12 years old... but could be 14 years old since they look so much younger than what they really are! Then we headed back down that dusty path.... back to the road... back on the lorry.... and back home again! We got home at 1pm..... it had been 5 hours since we had left the house..... doesn't seem long to most of you.... but with all that had transpired for us it seemed long! We were all ready for a nap! Later in the evening..... about 7pm Bro. Samuel's family came over to our house for another service.... Elayna was delighted to have the children here! We sang and prayed... Samuel read some out of Psalms 91... and then prayed and sang some more! :) We had special prayer for El-Li-prim and for the person that has put the curse on her and for the whole church in Nugblebi! It was a very sweet time!

Thank you all for praying for us this past week! I often look at who is praying for us that day and think of you all!

A praise report! None of us has gotten malaria yet! Everyone has been very healthy this past week for which we are very grateful!

Please pray specifically for young El-Li-prim that she would remain strong in her faith in the Lord Jesus.... and that the Devil and his powers would be defeated!

Rejoicing in the Goodness of our God! Chad & Elizabeth, Elayna, and Chace

Home Improvements!

Serenity painting to bring in some color! We painted the hallway a cheery green.... and the living room/dining room a medium blue! All the walls in the house are a off white sorta color which shows dirt like crazy.... especially little brown hand prints! :-)

Clearing the "bush". The whole place inside the compound walls was quite a jungle of overgrown weeds and brush. It took several days and some hired help to get it all cut down and burnt.

Our House!

Bro. Samuel replacing the screens on our house windows, to keep out the mosquitoes!! Bro. Nelson [to the far right] and Bro. Seth [in the middle] are supervising!

Our new house! We moved in on Tuesday Nov. 16th.... and it is a really cute 2 bedroom house with plenty of space! We are very grateful for what the Lord has provided!

Sending Forth....

After years of praying & preparation, we have reached the point of sending forth. We are excited at what God is going to do in the future in Ghana!

Following is the charge & blessing given with the laying on of hands for Bro. Chads Martins and Sis. Serenity Martin.

The Charge.....

"All power in Heaven and over the Earth has been given to me. Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations; baptize them into the name of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; and teach them to obey every command which I have given you."

The Blessing....

"....remember, I am with you always, day by day, until the Close of the Age. And signs shall attend those who believe, even such as these. By making use of my name they shall expel demons. They shall speak new languages. They shall take up venemous snakes, and if they drink any deadly poison it shall do them no harm whatsoever. They shall lay their hands on the sick, and the sick shall recover."
Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15-18

How did the work begin in Ghana?

"How did the work in Ghana Africa begin?" is a question we often get asked. This is the short version of how that happened!

A magazine from the USA somehow made its way to Ghana West Africa that had an offer for free Smokey The Bear stickers in it. Some school students got this magazine and started to write and ask for numerous things among which were approximately 30 some requests for bibles.

These letters ended up at the Bureau of Land Management office in Farmington NM USA where Bro David Wassan worked. A lady on the way to trash the letters passed by Bro David's desk and knowing he was a Christian said, "You may be interested in these" and handed him the letters.

Bro David started corresponding to those who requested bibles and out of that made contact with Bro Anthony Hamadzi who he discipled in Christ through the mail. Bro Anthony later started and pastored the church in Sogakope until his death in 2004.

David Wassan

This is the only photo of Bro David that I could find. I apologize Bro David, I will do my best to get a better photo! (He usually has a big smile on his face but he was getting ready to jokingly chide the person who surprised him with this photo shoot!)

Bro Anthony Hamadzi

Bro Anthony was very sick in this photo and passed away about a month after this phot was taken in 2004 .

Ready to Go!

"I Beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." Romans 12:1

This verse is the prayer of our hearts! That we could be a living sacrifice, and fulfill our reasonable service, holy and acceptable to God! We are getting really excited about going and doing the will of God in Ghana! The last several weeks has been filled with such peace in knowing that this IS God's perfect plan for us! We want to say a BIG thank-you to each one of our church body for the help and support the last several months! Especially the last 2 weeks during the intense preparing and packing! The babysitting, meals, packing and cleaning that different ones of you did was SUCH a BLESSING! THANK-YOU!


Chace Garnett 10 mo. Elayna Suzann 2 yrs.
Chad & Elizabeth

Fund Raising for sending Missionaries!

Time is swiftly passing and Bro Chads have set Nov 9th as the departure date for going to Ghana! In the meanwhile Bro Chad's sister Serenity Martin has volunteered to go with them and help them get settled in for the first 6 months.

The mission policy is that any youth going to serve in L&HCM will raise their own support for their time of service and so the youth at Light & Hope Church have rallied to help Sister Serenity raise the funds for her air ticket!

This led to a special fund raiser breakfast for a large bicycle club called the FREE WHEELERS (around 1300 bikers) passing through the area! Here are some pictures of that event. We raised close to $1000! Thanks to the FREE WHEELERS and the local church youth for making that a possibility.

Lots of good food....

....and hungry people....

.....and bicycles!!

Missions Blog Site

Hello. We are preparing to share the activities of the growth of the church in Ghana Africa that is being supporting by Light & Hope Christian Missions. This is a trial run!