Update #12 April 20-June16 2011

To all of our praying friends and family,

Greetings in the Precious Name of JESUS…. The name above All names!

Recently, in reading Oswald Chambers “My Upmost for His Highest”, the revelation of abandonment in lighted to me in a new way. It says, “There is actually only one thing you can dedicate to God, and that is your right to yourself. If you will give God your right to yourself, He will make a holy experiment out of you – and His experiments always succeed.” I know it basically means to give your whole heart, soul, mind and strength to God, but to put that into practical words… Your RIGHT to YOURSELF!!!

We are very sorry for the LONG silence! J And I will try and back up and inform you of the last 2 months!

From the middle of April into May our mailbox was full of cards! First Anniversary cards then birthday cards for Chad! What a blessing it was to receive all those encouraging cards and notes during that time! A hearty THANK YOU, to all who took the time to send us one! Chad got over 30 birthday cards plus about 15 anniversary cards!

The beginning of May Chad’s parents, Vern & Elaine Martin, and Elizabeth’s sister, Anna Dunn, came. Anna has come to take Serenity’s place and Chad’s parents came for a two week visit to bring Anna over and take Serenity home! We really had a wonderful time with them here! They helped us plant our garden, roof our new storage building, crochet some rugs, and enjoy being with us and our children!!!! We celebrated Elayna’s birthday while they were here…. Even though it was 2 weeks early! We took Bro. Samuel’s family with us to the ocean one day…. Their children had never been to the ocean before so they thoroughly enjoyed it! J And we also went to the Volta Dam, which is about 2 ½ hours north of us. We stayed at a very nice secluded guesthouse that had only 3 rooms in it, so we took up the whole guesthouse! J It was right along the river with grassy lawns and nice landscaping… outdoor pavilions with tables and chairs. They also had a restaurant right there too! Then we took a tour of the Volta Lake on a large Ferry Boat that could hold 200 people! There weren’t that many people on it when we were there but there were still plenty of people there! Another highlight of Dad’s being here was that Uncle Ross & Aunt Cynthia came and visited us for a day and a night! We all so enjoyed their visit here… and hope they did too! J All too soon we were saying a hurried good-bye at the airport! L It had been raining most of the day off and on…. And we were all thankful that the rain let up while they unloaded their luggage from the lorry and piled it on the luggage carts! It was a very sad moment…. But it was too brief for tears! Elayna kept telling her Auntie Serenity that she is going to cry when she leaves…. But it hasn’t happened yet! J But she fondly talks about her and probably won’t forget her!

Four days after Dad’s left Chad came down with malaria! We started treating right away and within a day or two he felt really good! The malaria dose we gave him is only a three day dose and after the third day he felt fine. But then two days later he started to get sick again… and it seemed like malaria again. The first dose must not have been strong enough to knock. So he went to the Doctor and he prescribed him a very strong drug…. Which did knock the malaria but the side effects of the drug were wearisome too! This week he seems to be feeling a lot better, except that his muscles are still sore, so pray that full strength could be restored!

Last week we went to Accra to see Matt & Janelle one last time here in Ghana L…. And meet the new missionaries that have come to take their place, Ervin & Mattie Rudolph. J We had a really nice time visiting… it seems like a looong time since we had the opportunity to fellowship with two other young families like ourselves! [Some of you may forget what a BLESSING fellowship is when it is a normal occurrence every Sunday for you!] Ervin’s have 2 little girls ages 2 ½ and 9 months…. Just a little bit younger than our two! There were seven children five and under…. And they all seemed to enjoy each other’s company! We will really miss Matt & Janelle…. But we look forward to getting to know Ervin & Mattie better!

Since coming back from Accra we have been really diving into LL again! We took a two week break when Dad’s were here and then when Chad was sick we didn’t do much….. so now we are at it again!!! Pray for us as we try to find new ways and methods that will help us to learn the language better/faster! We are praying about trying to find an young teacher that would have time to tutor us in the afternoons… like take the same language course book that we are going through and drill us on the lessons we are doing or have already done! It seems like we should be able to say more than just the greetings…. And we know more than that but we are still trying to figure out how to make sentences that make sense to them! Anyway, sometimes we think we are really making progress then other times it seems like we are not getting ANYWHERE! So pray especially against discouragement in this area so that we can have clear minds to learn and understand!

Rainy season is really underway here…. We were getting a rain almost every other day, but it’s been three days now since we had a good shower! Maybe we will get a downpour tonight! J We love the cooler weather rainy season brings…. But the abundance of mosquitoes isn’t so nice! So pray with us against malaria as we try to do all we can to prevent it!

May the Lord Jesus be near to each one of you this next week and keep you in His care!

Striving to be faithful! Chad & Elizabeth

All of Chad's birthday cards! Thank you!!!!

Auntie Anna!

Our new shop/storage shed

Uncle Ross & Aunt Cynthia Ulrich Family

Headed to the river...

Grandma crocheting...

Grandpa reading books...

Bro. Samuel's children at the ocean

Enjoying the sea!

At the dam

The Ferry boat

Our family on the boat

Enjoying the ride!

Serenity and Anna

April 28th Chad's Birthday!

Chad's birthday.... Rennie got up bright an early and started donut dough! Then after it rose twice... I came and helped her with the frying... and glazing! Quite a lot of fun! We made about 8 doz. of donuts... and more than that of donut holes [cuz we made holes with all the leftover dough]!!! About 9am we called Bro. Samuel to come with his children and help us eat up some of these donuts... then we gave some to our American neighbor girl, Hannah... plus bagged up some to give to our old neighbors from the other house!!! In the afternoon we went to Shekinaiah Glory Hotel to swim in their pool.. the was shining bright and the water was warm... a little green... and the water level in the pool was pretty low [several inches below the skimmers ]... but fun nonetheless!!! Two grown guys came and joined us soon after we got in... they didn't know how to really swim but were just practicing what they knew... so Chad was giving them lessons! Actually he was trying to help me learn how to swim better... and they overheard us talking and started asking him questions! Chace is such a fat heavy guy... but you get him in water and he just floats... we put arm floaties on him and would float all by himself and even try to 'swim' by kicking his legs, etc.! Elayna on the other hand is almost terrified of the water.... and this cute little rhino intertube that we got for her and Chace! Sometimes the children just like to sit on the steps with just their feet in the water... and the intertube is just in the pool... well, when it starts coming towards them they both cry and scream... and Elayna says, "The Rhino is going to get us!" With this horrified look! Then after swimming for awhile we made our way to another motel off the river where we ate supper ... it was a beautiful evening... and we had a delicious supper of grilled chicken and french fries! There were a ton of Americans there... all with the peace corp. So it was dark till our supper was over... and Ren and I had to bike back with Elayna... in the dark! [Chad took a moto with Chace back to the house since we only have two bikes] We were trying to decide if we wanted to ride through town.. with all the traffic and lights.. or the back way with all the loose dirt, pot holes, and few lights! Chad told us about a side road through town that we opted to take.. and it was a little busy at the one section... but thankfully not a lot of big semis trucks like the main road would have had! Then JUST as we got home... it started to rain!

Update #11 April 1- 14 2011

Greetings in the precious name of Jesus from Ghana!

It is amazing how much can happen in just over a month’s time! We continue to be amazed daily, at the grace of our Lord Jesus! “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee”

I’ll try to start back in March where Elizabeth last wrote… We spent the Month of March in Language learning and the other necessary things of life, including working on paperwork for us to be able to stay here on a more permanent basis. We also became increasingly worried because the landlord whose house we anticipated moving into by the 15^th of April had ceased working on the project and wasn’t making any effort to “hurry up and finish” like he promised he would do! After some repeated phone calls and visits by our pastor, Bro. Samuel he finally realized we are serious and want the place finished fast so that we can move in! He got most of the things finished and then basically said that is all he wants to do for right now! He didn’t want to put the tile in the toilet and bath or the hand sink in the hall way… “when I am ready I will come do that” In other words I am not doing it. The toilet and bath were left very rough, obviously with the intention of doing tile. And all the plumbing was there for the sink. We were able to “push” him and he got finished everything he was planning to do by the 4^th of April, then we came in for the rest of that week and tried to finish some things up and paint to make it “homey”. I got a local mason to come and smooth up the toilet and bathroom walls for me to make it easier to paint. We had a bit of a bike ride back and forth… about a mile or more each way. Two of us would come over in the morning and work then ride back for lunch, after which we would come back and work for several more hrs. in the afternoon. It was a lot of work but the end result is a cute little house that we get to call home. Liz loves to decorate and make things look nice, so we took the few colors of paint that we could get here and mixed things together and came out with some really nice colors!

Tuesday April 12^th was our big moving day! Our new landlord has a big truck which he offered to use to bring my things from our other house to here. We are very grateful because we got everything on one load and it went very well! It was a big load none the less! By evening the ladies had it really looking like home. I helped some but had some things to do like go and get ceiling fans and get them installed so that we could sleep! J And putting the trim back on our one wardrobe that had to be removed to get it into the temporary house we stayed in for two months. We spent Wed. the 13^th getting more things unpacked and getting ready to leave for Accra the next day!

April 14^th the day 4 years ago that I took my beloved bride to be my wife! We traveled into Accra and left Serenity and the children with Matt and Janelle Wollman. Then Liz and I went to a Hotel that we had made reservations at to celebrate our Anniversary! We had a very very nice time! The room had A/C something we really enjoyed, not to mention that it had a very “American” appeal! We had to stop and ask ourselves several times if we were really in Ghana! Serenity, bless her heart for watching our children, made this possible for us! We will really miss her when she leaves on May 24th, although I am sure that we will enjoy having Anna [Liz’s sister] here just as much. I also would like to say a special THANK YOU to all who made our day even more special by sending us an anniversary card! We got at least 6 so far and there may be even more coming yet in the mail, you never know! Mail service is slow here sometimes. Saturday afternoon found us traveling back home again with our regular driver John. He stopped along the way for us to pick up a polytank for water storage. The water at our new house is on from about 11pm. to 5am. So we need a lager storage tank to have enough water to get us through the day. We got home at about 8pm and got some egg sandwiches in the town for supper, Yum! If you have never tried a Ghanaian made egg sandwich come and visit, I’ll be glad to get you one! We were a very tired but happy bunch, having thoroughly enjoyed our getaway!

This past Sunday, Serenity and I made a trip to the village of Nugbilebi with Bro. Samuel and his wife to have our service… We were able to have a service with 4 of the youth. They are really seeking to follow the Lord! I am blessed and challenged by them every time I go, but I have to wonder why there is so little interest for spiritual things among the parents and adults? Please join us in prayer for this village… It is steeped in Idolatry and fetish practices! We really want to lift up Jesus but we are having a hard time getting them to realize there need of a Saviour. Or they think they are already Christians because they have been to church a time or two and so that makes them a Christian! But their lives are still full of all the sin and wickedness that Jesus Christ came to deliver us from! Please, Please, Please, lift them up in prayer with us, that their hearts would be softened and they would be ready to hear the Gospel message!

This week we have been getting back into our routine of language study again, after taking the previous two weeks off to work on the house and then move! We are enjoying our new location, being close to Bro. Samuel’s and having a little more privacy than before, at our temporary house. Although we do miss some of the friends we made over there. Life keeps moving on! We have now lived in Ghana for over 5months! What a privilege to be in the service of our LORD! May each and every one of us be in His service till He returns again!

May God’s blessing be upon each one of you as you ‘serve’ with us in prayer and support for HIS KINGDOM To Be Established!!!

Looking to Jesus! Chad & Elizabeth Martin

Living room

Kitchen

Girl's/Children's room

The moving truck at our new house

Master bedroom

4th Anniversary