Dear Praying Friends and Family,
Loving greetings in the Name that is above ALL names….. JESUS CHRIST!
“Unto Thee, O God, do we give thanks unto Thee do we give thanks: for that Thy name is near Thy wondrous works declare.” Ps 75:1
A lot of time has elapsed since the Lizard updated you all….. J! So now it is time to write again! Life has been very busy the last 2 months. Let me back up to our sweet corn harvest…….
Most of the corn had stood back up…. kinda cruved… after the storm. But some of the stalks in the middle were still lying on the ground. We started harvesting it around 9am, after we finished laundry. Chad and I picked while Anna and the children started husking. We had two nice size piles of un-husked corn till we were done. Some of the ears that had been lying on the ground had rotten spots on them…. But most of them were nice big full ears of corn! Chad had fertilized it once, plus sprayed for bugs twice. And we were blessed to have very few worms in our corn! Elayna would exclaim with almost every ear she husked, “Look Mom, Praise the Lord, no worms!” J Now if you are from the East coast or up north you may just take for granted that there is never worms in your corn…. But if you are from Oklahoma there is a worm in almost every ear! So it was a REAL blessing not to have any worms! Before we had gotten all the corn husked we realized that this was going to be a big job… and the largest kettle that I had was going to take us forever to do all this corn. So Chad went over to Bro. Samuel’s and asked if we could borrow Sis. Eunice’s big cooking pot that she makes porridge in. They brought it over and Samuel helped Chad get the fire started and the pot arranged on blocks. We had two 22 gal. totes FULL of husked sweet corn!!!! Most of you know the process of doing sweet corn…. And how long it can take! We ran out of ice… plus we didn’t have any freezer room for the bagged up corn! So Chad had to make arrangements with a friend… run into town n get more ice… plus keep up with the fire and blanching the corn! Anna and I were busy full time with cutting the corn off the cob! It took us till after supper time until we had everything put in bags, and in the freezer. But we were not disappointed with the labor of our hands… we got 47 quarts!!! Praise the Lord! In a land where sweet corn is almost unheard of…. And most missionaries that we talked to said they tried it and it didn’t work…. And after our rain storm flattened it to the ground…. We considered this a miracle from God! That was just the first picking... there was the second picking yet to be done! We called Irvin and Mattie Rudolph from Accra and asked them if they would want to come and help us do up the second picking and take it home! We had no more freezer room for it, plus we wanted to bless someone else! So they came and spent the weekend with us and we did the last of the sweet corn…. And got about 15 quarts! So total our little patch produced over 60 quarts! We are very grateful to God for his bountiful provisions!
The next biggest event that happened was Charity African Mission’s Retreat! We were delighted and blessed for the privilege to go! Most of the missionaries we had not seen since we came to Ghana simply because of the long distance. Irvin’s are in Accra 2 hrs. from us so we get to see them about once a month. The retreat is held in Kumasi, about 5 hours from Accra. We had a very relaxed and refreshed 5 days! There was lots of time for fellowship and sharing, praying for each other, games, and inspiring messages from Bro. Mel Esh. The children made some new friends and really enjoyed playing with so many other white children! J Near the end of the week Elayna heard someone sweeping outside our window and asked, “Now is that a black person or a white person?” She had to start refereeing to the missionaries as white people and the workers at the guest house as black people…. Because before then everyone around her was black… and we were the only white ones! Another highlight was we got to have lunchmeat and cheese sandwiches every day for lunch! That was a real treat! Plus all the other food was delicious too! We served vegetables from our garden…. Sweet corn, green beans, and soy beans… and it was a real big hit! Everyone enjoyed them especially since vegetables of that kind are hard to come by here in Ghana!
A big THANK YOU to all who sent me birthday cards… whether through the mail or cyber space! It was a real blessing and encouragement!
The lastest happenings around here are harvesting groundnuts [peanuts]… we and Bro. Samuel’s had planted the rest of the garden in groundnuts. And now it is harvest time! We haven’t gotten much rain recently… so it is hard work to hoe up each plant. But thanks to my hard-working Hubby and Bro.Samuel they have most of the patch harvested! Then Bro. Samuel’s children came and helped pick the peanuts off the plants. The children have had loads of fun jumping into the piles of groundnut plants after the peanuts have been taken off! Now the groundnuts have to dry for several days… then shell them… and store them! Quite a process but they go for “good” money after they are shelled! We have been enjoying them boiled and roasted! Yummy! We have also been getting lots of tomatoes! We are very grateful for them…. And hope to make some spaghetti sauce to can soon.
Chad and I are still devoting a lot of time to language learning! Our friend and teacher has goon back to University and now one of his friends is teaching is. It is somewhat difficult to change teachers, because their teaching style is different and the way they interpret things is different… plus they don’t know what you have already learned and are familiar with. But, by God’s grace, we are learning to know our new teacher and are trying to keep plugging on in the language! So, please continue to pray for us for open minds and ears to understand and hear EWE!!!!
One last thing I should mention before I close this letter…. Is that Chad bought a moto bike! Before we just had bicyles as our only means of transportation, and now that I’m pregnant it will be a real blessing to not have to bike everywhere. It is a used, fully automatic, lady friendly moto! J It is big enough for Chad but also very easy for us girls to drive! Everyone here expects us to buy a nice, big, new moto because we are white and have money…. So this definitely looks strange to them! But it serves the purpose well and makes it nice for Chad with all the running into town he does!
PRARY REQUESTS:
Pray for us as we strive to learn the language
Pray for our health [Praise the Lord only Chad has had malaria so far]
Pray for Elizabeth’s pregnancy and our unborn child in the womb
Your prayers are our lifeline…. Please keep lifting us and Light & Hope Church up to the Throne of Grace! Thank you for all your prayers on our behalf! If you have a moment we would love to hear from you and what God is doing in your corner of the world!
Servants of the Most High God! Chad & Elizabeth Martin & Family
