Let there be peace to every nation, and hope for all the world to see. Let there be love and joy to all the children. Let us be the hands and feet of Jesus and take His love to the least of these….
Greetings to you all during this Christmas season!!
My prayer for this newsletter is that as I write it, I will be able to reflect on the goodness and faithfulness of our Heavenly Father and be able to express it to you all in words and pictures. I know we all on different parts of this world right now, but what a joy it is to be able to celebrate birth of peace in Jesus with you all! The words under the first picture are lyrics from a Carrie Underwood song that have become a personal prayer of mine during my time here. There is so much need around me day to day that I sometimes get distracted from the peace that surpasses all understanding, but I recently read a devotion that reminded me that peace cannot be stolen because it is a person. That person is JESUS! He came to bring peace and wholeness to this broken world. Check out Revelation 21:1-7 for further confirmation in that truth) 😊 If we know Him, then the peace in our hearts will pour out to those around us. This reminder has refocused and reenergized my heart to press on and be His hands and feet here on this side of the word in any shape or form that He allows me to do so!
FRIENDSGIVING
My last newsletter left off right before Thanksgiving, and so I would like to share some pictures of our “friendsgiving” we hosted for some teachers my neighbor children. It was fun to show some of our “western” traditions to my friends here. They had never had mashed potatoes before, and to my surprise they really loved them! We substituted the turkey with some fresh fruit, but all the changes made it that much more special to share with them. I had picked up some custard mix from Accra the last time I was there to share with the children, and as you can see they also loved it!
PRAISE REPORTS
I am so thrilled to share that the five barrels that were shipped back in September, all safely made it to Ghana!! These barrels were a labor of love from so many of you back in the States. Donations of items, financial support, taking them to the port, and PRAYERS were all done so that they could reach Ghana successfully. Now that we have received books and other learning materials, the after-school program will be more effective.
This beautiful girl is Irene that I have shared about previously. I am so excited of how she is growing in her relationship and faith in The Lord. She is so eager and hungry to know more and share Him with others. Her biggest burden now is her family. Now that she is attending church with us regularly, the family has shown a bit resistance. Her dad gave his blessing for her to go with us on Sundays and I even made him a personal invitation for him to join us, but he has yet to agree to come. Deka Deka is a saying here which means one by one. We are praying that one fine day the walls will fall down and her whole family will come to know the peace that Irene is now overflowing with!
Another praise is that after a very scary situation with my neighbor named Salawu, he is now healthy and back home smiling and playing with his siblings! One evening, he came to me complaining of a headache. When I touched him it was boiling hot. From then, we did everything we could to bring the fever down, but was not successful. My roommates and I took him to the hospital in the town for admission. I shared the urgent prayer request with several people here and there in the States. He was diagnosed with a severe case of malaria with more than 50,000 counts of infection in his body. After several IV drops, medications, and prayer, prayer, prayer, we were able to bring him back home feeling and looking so much better! This is just one example of the severe effects of malaria here. Children like my neighbors run around half naked, therefore, the chance of being bitten by a mosquito carrying the infection is higher. These are some of the concerns I hope and pray to have the chance to bring awareness to through out Sustaining Love Kids program. To educate and support the families in taking care of the least of these…. The children.
TRAINING IN THE BIG CITY
For months, I have been trying to arrange a training with the group called Literacy Evangelism that was first introduced to when I was in the States. When I arrived here in August, I had a meeting with them to share the vision and goals of the after-school program I aimed to begin in the village of Zuime. They were very supportive and interested to do a training for us in the methodology of teaching literacy skills through a Biblical perspective. Finally, we were able to arrange a training course. This opened an opportunity for me to bring a few of the female teachers the Lord has put on my heart that will be the torch carriers of this program to the big city of Accra. They were so excited to be in a different environment for a few days. I am so thankful for how everything worked out. The training was 5 days from 8am-5pm every day, and then some homework projects after that. We learned how to implement the curriculum called: Firm Foundations of teaching English. A neat thing is that this organization is international, so they have this curriculum in many languages all over the world, Ghana included. The training opened the eyes of the teachers I brought to a whole new way of teaching children. I pray that the seeds planted will take root for them to use not only in our program, but in their daily teaching careers and interaction with children.
PRAYERS
To use this time of celebrating Christmas as a way to extend love and care to those around me. To be be bold in sharing to true meaning of Christmas and the peace of Christ. (There is a certain Muslim man that has requested to “debate” the Quran and the Bible, please pray that we can set up a time for me to bring some other strong in the faith male friends to have this conversation).
To have the discernment of how to handle difficult circumstances and scenarios of need around me.
To continue laying the foundation for the after-school program with the best interest of the community in mind.
As I wrap up this newsletter, I would like to share how thankful I am for the continued love, support, and prayers that have been poured out from all of you. Even if you just read this newsletter, that is a huge encouragement to know that people are following what the Lord is doing here. I know times are a bit strange for all of us these days, but our Lord reminds us to take heart, for He has overcome the world! He is our Peace. He is our Sustainer. And He is our Emmanuel, God with us. Merry Christmas to you all. I pray that you can all celebrate the birth of our Savior with loved ones knowing that no one can still your peace that surpasses all understanding.
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM GHANA!
Feel free to reach out anytime!! God bless you all.
Shalom,
Chelsi
コメント