I realized I didn’t know her name-- yet. The water lady. The young woman who must clean and take care of Theovision’s headquarters in some way has also been helping our group by stocking our water every morning and then several times a day and cleaning out coolers every afternoon after we leave. She has swept the area under our palm tree break station and provides a cardboard box for our trash. She is one of so many servants that make or break a trip like this. She is quiet and unassuming and has a beautiful smile, tirelessly providing something that everyone would howl about quickly if it wasn’t there—water and cold drinks. Edit: later I found out her name was Esther.
Later in the day I climbed to the third story of the Theovision building to get an overview photo of the construction from the balcony. Charles, a Theovision employee, was up there as well simply looking. As I came up beside him he revealed that Theovision workers were taking turns during theri day for a coordinated, all day prayer effort for our team. Again, it is the servants. God may I be your servant as well.
The following day’s summary was written by team member Cristian Barcan.I think he does a good job.If you want you can follow his blog at http://cbinghana.blogspot.com/
It feels like it has become a routine... As if we've been doing this for awhile...
Wake up at 6 AM, breakfast at 7 AM, off to the construction site by 7:30 AM, worship time at 8:00AM... actually, not today - Theovision decided to have an internal devotional today... So we went straight to work.
More veil has come down all right. People were expecting us this morning almost as their crew members.
Ebenezer and Rashid have opened up a lot today. John is making friends among the concrete workers - they even asked him for his phone number: "Do you text, John?" Mike and Nate ended up arm wrestling with a few crew members. When Nate won a game, a loud cheer erupted in the whole compound. People were able to integrate more today and find niches where they can plug in better and communicate better with the locals.
We got concrete in this afternoon and some of us helped carrying the wheelbarrows to the pool located next to the building.
A great day overall. "See you tomorrow !!" waived the crew . We're part of the team now. It will be hard on Friday - we're making so many friends.
Today was also cloths washing day, but this is Ghana (we were told...) and the power went out. Kristin volunteered to finish the job overnight (how gratefull - thank you, Kristin !!).
Right before dinner, the rain came down... Not pouring down like around the tropics, but steady, straight, quiet, and beautiful. We all wished we weren't dressed up so we can get soaked after four days of oven-hot sun.
We had a great Chinese dinner at a local Chinese-Indian restaurant together with the leadership (global and local) of HCJB Global. The Chinese food was great and it was amplified by the Indian music in the background. Asia seems so far from here, with all countries in the same bucket. The waiters were Ghanaian, but dressed Chinese... kinda cute...
Tomorrow's a special day: the president of HCJB will help us with construction work and Jeremy (local HCJB missionary) will pick up his fiancée Jessica from the airport who's coming from HCJB Global in Malawi to plan their wedding. Jeremy's parents, Steve and Cindy, from Indiana are visiting and they are very eager to meet their future daughter... We've been teasing Jeremy around the whole day with this.
Dear heavenly Father, thank you so much for such a great day - thank you for opening veils continuously and allowing us to share your love with these people. Please help us find opportunities to witness before we leave on Friday. We are relying in your mercy and grace again tomorrow as we're getting ready to be amazed again by your beauty. In the Lord's Jesus name we pray - Amen.
Praises start the morning as the team joined the Theovision staff for a short time of devotions and prayer. Theovision began with the idea of creating audio scriptures in various tribal languages around Africa. From there their ministry has expanded to create listening clubs in the villages, ongoing recordings of yet more languages as well as radio and healthcare and community development. They fit well with HCJB Global because they believe evangelism happens best through both proclaiming the Gospel and loving the people in tangible ways. But what became very evident is that these Theovision people know how to pray! Thank you Lord that they are praying for us while we are here. Last night one of the team members gave a devotional time about the veil coming down in the temple—removing the separation between man and God through Christ Jesus. Indeed, at the jobsite today the separation also began coming down between us and our new Ghanaian friends. Jesus came and broke down barriers of race, religion and culture to reach out. I pray it is the same for us.
Amazing progress on the jobsite welcomed the team from Woodmen Valley Chapel as we arrived at the construction site on Monday morning.The contractor and his crew had obviously been working diligently to prepare the footings and pillars that will allow the team to begin laying concrete blocks.After some rest to recover from jet lag that was mostly negated by the late hour required to watch the Superbowl, the team was still itching to get their hands dirty. Reverend Theo Asare met the team and showed them a short tour of the Theovision headquarters before we started. I love the sign he has on his desk that says, "Make no small plans here." Indeed, the Tree of Life Health Post day clinic , situated directly beside the Theovision headquarters, is the fruit of this type of thinking. We met the jobsite foreman and began the process of integrating ourselves into the workflow.This process didn’t go great the first day and there were many awkward moments as we tried to learn to work together with the Ghanaian crew.I learned a few names and was glad to discover that many were familiar to me—Sylvester, Foster, Ebenezer, Frank—with a few Kofu and Rasheed type names mixed in. All are said with a strong accent so often it is hard to figure out someone's name. It is some consolation that they are no better at pronouncing our names.
On Sunday February 7, 2010 services at the church Lee and Michelle Sonius attend on the campus of the University of Ghana.At first the academic setting seemed to saturate everything with an intellectual tone.The music and the message were intelligent and well done, but the crowd was somewhat subdued and quiet in comparison to other African churches I've been at.Yet when the offering baskets were placed up front and the music started for the offertory, everything changed.Joyous singing arose from every mouth. Feet began to shuffle, bodies began to sway and hands clapped rhythms that seemed to arise from every soul.Joy arose from giving.What a testimony to the Kingdom of God that the most celebrated event at the church is the act of generous and spontaneous giving.
I put a new feed in the bottom right corner of our blog that automatically updates with the latest Tweets from HCJB Global. A lot from our medical team in Haiti recently.
This is an article about HCJB Global's involvement in Haiti. My friends Steve and Sheila and about 4 others are over there now. Please pray.
Sources: HCJB Global, Samaritan’s Purse (written by Ralph Kurtenbach and Harold Goerzen)
A quick response by HCJB Global Hands has put an emergency medical response team from Ecuador en route to the devastation on the Caribbean nation of Haiti after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck on Tuesday afternoon, Jan. 12.
In response to Samaritan Purse’s request for a medical help, International Healthcare Director Sheila Leech immediately began assembling a medical team including surgeons, family physicians, nurses, an anesthesiologist and a water engineer.
A registered nurse, Leech is heading the group as she has done in previous disasters around the world such as in 2005 when a medical team from Ecuador helped in quake relief efforts on Nias Island, Indonesia.
Samaritan’s Purse is centering its relief efforts at a 100-bed hospital in Port-au-Prince operated by a local partner, Baptist Haiti Mission. The hospital, 20 miles from the quake’s epicenter, only suffered minor damage and has electricity from back-up generators.
The hospital’s director of operations, Kyrk Baker, called the situation “overwhelming” with patients lining the floor. “There are big box vans coming in with people to see a doctor,” he told Samaritan’s Purse. “It’s just unbelievable the amount of people that are lined up trying to get basic medical care.”
Samaritan’s Purse has chartered a DC-3 cargo plane from Missionary Flights International (MFI) to transport supplies such as water, shelter materials, medical supplies and other emergency needs to Port-au-Prince. The first flight departed from Fort Pierce, Fla., Wednesday afternoon. A second flight on Thursday will carry additional supplies and staff members from Samaritan’s Purse and HCJB Global.
Family physician Dr. Steve Nelson said search and rescue efforts will be essential during the first few days. “We expect we will be receiving patients with severe traumatic injuries,” he explained. “A lot of the early response will be surgical, yet we hope to be able to manage some of the other kinds of problems that will be seen early because of the lack of water and infectious disease.”
While team members will concentrate on meeting people’s physical needs, their spiritual welfare is also pre-eminent. “We’re going with a team that we know—people who love the Lord and want to share Him in every way as we’re in this ministry situation of disaster response,” Nelson added. “We want to be able to show the face of Jesus as we work with our hands. We trust the name of Jesus will be lifted up in all that we do.”
HCJB Global and Samaritan’s Purse combined efforts after two natural disasters in 2007, including an earthquake that left thousands homeless in Pisco, Peru, and flooding that inundated southern Mexico’s Tabasco state.
The quake struck while an HCJB Global engineer was in Port-au-Prince to repair an automation system for partner radio station Radio Lumière. The engineer and three other technical workers, including two volunteers from the U.S., escaped injury. Operated by the Evangelical Baptist Mission of South Haiti, Radio Lumière is a radio ministry with a network of nine stations that reaches 90 percent of Haiti’s population. Radio station 4VEH, operated by cooperating ministry One Mission Society (formerly OMS International) in Cap-Haitian, was not damaged by the temblor.
“Our hearts go out to the suffering people of Haiti,” said Ken Isaacs, vice president of programs for Samaritan’s Purse. “We appreciate the close working relationship we have with HCJB Global for this response. Please pray that God will use this relief work for His glory.”
“This is an opportunity to show God’s love in a tangible way,” added HCJB Global President Wayne Pederson. “We feel privileged to play a small part in this emergency operation.” In order to donate to the relief efforts, please visit www.hcjbglobal.org.
