Dear Praying “Family of Supporters”,
I’m sorry for the
long silence on our part. I don’t know why it is so easy for time to slip away
and before we realize several months have passed without writing to let you all
know what is happening in our lives.
Back to the last
update…. We were waiting on my Parents to arrive on the 12th of
Sept.! They came and went, and what a wonderful time we had with them! They
enjoyed getting to hold their 8mo. old grandson, Jarren, for the first time as
well as re-acquaint themselves with the other children. We had the privilege to
do some traveling and tourism with them, such a wonderful way to spend time
together! We visited a very beautiful waterfall called WLI, located about 4hrs
drive north of us. The waterfall was back a footpath about 45min. walk, crossing
a river/creek about 9 times, a very beautiful walk. Then you reach the bottom
of the falls and viewed the waterfall as it cascades strait down for about 300+
feet. It is actually more than twice that high total but you can’t see the rest
from the bottom. Only the strong and the brave can make it to the middle where
you can view most of the rest of it. Melody, Dad, our van driver, and I braved the
3hr grueling hike but it was very strenuous and I think Dad almost wished he
hadn’t gone the next day! It’s supposed to be a 4hr. hike round trip and we did
it in 3! Along the way to WLI, we also stopped and took in a “monkey sanctuary”.
The monkeys seemed to come out of
nowhere among the trees and before we realized it we were surrounded by them,
probably 40 or so. Feeding the monkeys
bananas from your hand is really a riot! The children thoroughly enjoyed
themselves! We also enjoyed a Saturday fun day with Brother Samuel’s family at
the Ocean, about a 45min drive from our house. They were here for only 8 days
so the time went VERY fast and it was hard to see them off at the airport so
soon after they got here. I think we all had to shed a few tears. J Somehow, it was a bit
comforting to think that we would be the ones traveling next time! J
We have started
constructing a new church building on our new property site. So I (Chad) have
been putting some time into that. Of course the progress is very slow because
WE don’t want to be the ones to build the church but rather do it as the local
Church here has time and money to do it. That way when it is finished they will
know it is their church instead of the white man’s church! We are planning the
construction in several stages. The first stage is to build the two rooms that will
eventually be like two prayer rooms at the front of the auditorium. Then when
those are finished we can use those rooms for services while we construct the
auditorium as the church has money. Please pray that it will help the church to
pull us together and not cause problems. Also pray that the Property where our
old church was can be quickly sold without problems and misunderstandings.
Nov. 18th
found us headed for Tamale to spend Thanksgiving with Uncle Ross’. We were
privileged to be able to borrow a friend, Godwin’s, air conditioned car which
made the 15hr. drive much more comfortable for us! What a blessing! We had a
wonderful 5 days in Tamale area, went out to visit the town of Karaga, where
Liz and I first met, and then spent Thanksgiving day going out to eat our
Thanksgiving dinner with Tanner Leibee’s in their village. I don’t want to
forget to mention the wonderful times of fellowship with Ross’. Fri. the 23rd
we headed back home and drove the whole 15hrs. in one day! I didn’t think the
driving was too much but it was an overload for Elizabeth’s arthritis! She
spent the next week laid up in a lot of pain. L
Traveling here isn’t like traveling in America. Part of the way the road is
dirt, mud and really rough, part is partially paved with lots of potholes and
then the rest is nice smooth American like road. Sometimes it seems you are driving
through a gauntlet swerving from side to side of the road trying to avoid the
potholes or save a tire from bursting. Have to love driving in Ghana! J
We are still having
our language class in the afternoons. We really covet your prayers that we
would be able to find ways to retain the things we have learned, throughout our
furlough, and that we would be able to come up with a more effective ways to
learn this language in the future. We are about to stop having the class for
now as we prepare for our furlough in about 5 weeks.
Yes, for those that don’t know it yet we have
ticket’s purchased to leave Ghana on the 21st of Jan. and we are
planning to be in America for about 7mo. We have high hopes to get to see most
of you during our time there, but if we don’t get a chance to see all of you,
you can be assured that we would like to. We also know that 7 months will pass
quickly and we won’t be able to do everything we would like to do. Please pray
for us, especially our children as we go through all the adjustments and
traveling over the next few months.
Please pray for the
Church here in Sogakope! Especially, Brother Samuel’s, Brother Nelson, Brother
Seth, Brother John and Brother Simon. We need your prayers much for God’s
wisdom as we continue working with these brothers. We desire to be able to
encourage them in the Lord and that they would continue to grow and seek God
for their lives. Also keep the outreach in the village of Ngugblibi in your
prayers. We have a fairly large group of children (about 25) that have been
attending services but we haven’t had much interest from the Adults. Pray that
God would raise up these children to serve HIM!
Blessed to be in the
service of the KING!
Chad,
Elizabeth and Family
The lower falls
The upper falls
Juli & Elayna
Our whole group
At the monkey sanctuary!
The Children loved all the monkeys... Chace was a lil afraid of them eating out of his hand
Bro Samuel's family at the ocean
Aunt Cynthia making rice balls
Uncle Ross feeding Jarren
Tanner Leibee's family at their village on Thanksgiving day
Our family at Tanner's village
