Update from Ghana.

Ghana Update 02/24/10

Hello All,
Thank you for your prayer over the last week as we went to the Northern region to visit the former trainees. We made it safe, had a blessed trip and then returned home safe and sound.
Sammy Spurling and myself left Wednesday Morning at about three AM. It was about a 16 hour bur ride with a two hour lay over in the city of Kumasi. On the way there the we had a nice talk with the guy sitting next to us. His name was shadrach and he belonged to the 7th day adventist “church”. We had a nice time talking with Him about How Christ had freed us from the bondage of the law and has given his children life instead of death. We arrived in the city of Wa at about 7:00 to 7:30 wednesday night. When we got there Shadrach assisted us in finding our room and then asked if he could meet us the next morning so he could introduce us to his Mom and Dad.The plan was for me and Sammy to take the lead because I had to buy some parts for my motorcycle, then Tim and Mike would join us in Sawla 90 km south of Wa. So after a good night rest and visiting Shadrachs parents we were able to find the parts we needed and then it was back south to Sawla. On the way back the bearing on our tro tro(van) spoiled and so we were broke down on the side of the road for a couple of hours. We had no water and were in the hottest heat I have ever been in, so I was extremely thirsty. But other than being a little parched all went well.
We arrived in Sawla just shortly after Mike and Tim at around 4:30 Thursday afternoon. After getting settle into our room and taking a little rest we went and visited one of the former trainees out at some prayer camp( which is pretty much a place were there is no distraction so you can focus on Christ while you pray.) His name was Joseph and was encouraging to see him again.
The next morning after a very large amount of rice water we decided to go and visit Bole which is just 18 miles south of Sawla. Friday is Bole market day. That is were people from all over come to sell all sort of goods from vegetables to clothing. So our plan was to visit former trainees and to do a little shopping in the market.We were able to meet with some of our friends but a few had traveled to other parts of Ghana. We also met with an American from New Jersey who a volunteer for peace corp. . He is not a Christian so please pray for Him that the Lord would open his eyes. He is the only white person where he is so he is very lonely. We made plans to have a meal with him Sunday Afternoon which made him very excited. After finishing with visiting in Bole it was back to Sawla for the evening. That evening we were able to meet with the brother from the prayer camp again to see whether or not he would like to go out to a village near Sawla to investigate it to see whether or not we could come back to preach there.
The next Morning after borrowing a couple of motos we headed out to the village. We had a nice time out there. Mike was able to share the Gospel for about 45 minutes with the chief of the village. The chiefs response was I will not be a Christian because my idols are helping me. The idols helped his father and were helping him so he said that he would not become a christian. He boasted of the power he had because he worshiped the idols. He said that if he wanted to he could call the bees to come and chase us away. He wasn’t angry with us but was just explaining his position. The idol, which was just right behind us was a 2 foot pillar of mud. But he did however invite us to come back to his village to live there for a coupe of weeks possibly and share the Gospel with the people in the village. The name of the village is guirey and most of the people are idols worshipers. There is however one Methodist church in the village but I am unsure of how many people attend it.
The plan for Sunday was to go back to Bole and go to a couple of the churches where some of the trainees attend. Samuel and I attended the Bole Methodist church and Tim attended the Evangelical church of Ghana. Our meeting was somewhat discouraging to see, The pastor was not there and so the people were just going through some Methodist devotional which its mane theme was ending poverty and Gaining wealth by Faith. This particular Sunday they were talking about how to git people to come to there Church. They did not even use the Bible in all of this but were just following a manual for how to make a better church. During the study they asked us to share what we thought of the teaching and Samuel was able to encourage them to stick to the Bible instead of some man written manual for how to make a Methodist church. Some did not appreciate his encouragement but most did. I believe what he said was of the Lord and done in a humble and loving spirit. Jesus would have said it. Tim also had a chance to share st the ECG church and shared on the needed for the Churches to come together as the body of Christ. He shared how that if all the churches are just competing then the work will never get done. If every church is marking their territory and moving with a divided vision then their work will always fail. H e also received a positive response from the people and most agreed of their need to come together and the Body Of Christ.
After lunch with Matt(the white man) we were able to meet with a few more of the former trainees from Bole and to share with the our vision of going out into some of the unreached villages around their towns.
Our vision in all of this is to take some of the people who went through the training course and to now get them moving towards the work. So we want to take them into some of these villages and preach along side of them to help them to get moving. We are praying that the Lord would give them a desire to go out and to tell those who have not heard the truth. This work is far to big for a few white people so if the Africans themselves don’t catch the vision or should I say if the Lord doesn’t move their heart in that direction then it will never get done. Some of the trainees showed a desire to be involved in the work so we were encouraged about that . Please pray that the Lord would lead and guide us and the people there about how we should proceed in the next few months. There is a very great need in both the churches and unreached villages of Ghana for the divine Truth encased in Jesus Christ.
Love to all,
John Burwell
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