Ghana Field Journal — Missions With the Consfords
Sunday, October 7, 2012
W’apow mu e, Dan is sick with malaria today. So, we combined the children’s classes, and I taught all of the children together for Sunday School. Joe had…
Missions With the Consfords
Ghana Field Journal — Serving the Lord for Over 25 Years
These daily journal entries document the Consfords’ missionary life across Ivory Coast and Ghana. Over 1,630 entries capture the church planting, the hard days, the answered prayers, and the everyday reality of following God wherever He leads. Browse the full archive or join the Consfords as a prayer partner.
W’apow mu e,
Dan is sick with malaria today. So, we combined the children’s classes, and I taught all of the children together for Sunday School. Joe had his class with the adults. He started out with just one man in his class but ended up with several people. I had about fifty for Sunday School.
More kids came between the two services. I had 39 in the 8 and under class for Junior Church. A little girl fell off the bench and was crying. Ordeth was teaching the lesson in Junior Church. So, I held the little girl, and she fell asleep in my lap. Bonnie must have been a little jealous because she decided that she needed to come sit right beside me when she saw that I was holding someone else.
Gilbert was trying to take notes today as Ordeth was teaching. He was trying to sound out the words. After he wrote a couple sentences, he would show me to see if he got it right. He had “Thidl” for “Title.” She was talking about David. Gilbert wrote, “David chid a laiyin, a bar, and a jint.” He was trying. : )
On the way home from church, we are not even on the main road (which used to be paved but is mostly just a dirt road now) for half a mile. The police were out, and Joe did not have his seatbelt on. I had mine on, but he had forgotten to put his on. The policeman in charge said that he was “arresting” Joe, which means that they write you a ticket to appear in court and confiscate your license until you have appeared in court. They could not find a pen to write the ticket. He sent another man over to write the ticket. After he got it all written out and explained everything that it said, he asked Joe what he does in Ghana. Joe told them that he is a pastor and that we were on our way home from church. We had several kids in the car who we were taking home. He gave Joe his license back and said that he would forgive him this time. Joe said that even if he had his seatbelt fastened, they would have found something else that was wrong. In the few minutes that we sat there, they stopped every car that passed, and the policeman who said that he was “arresting” Joe took four bribes in the few minutes that we sat there. We did not give a bribe. We just were polite and agreed with what they said. Danny and Bonnie were full of questions.
When church started tonight, it was just our family. Two people came during the singing. So, we had seven in attendance. We had a good service even though there were not many people there. Dan usually preaches on Sunday night, but he was down with malaria. Joe preached a good message about Satan’s traps.
On the way home from church, we stopped to visit a lady who used to attend faithfully but has not been to church in a while. She wasn’t home though. We will have to try to visit her again later. All the children in that neighborhood turned out to chant, “Brony, brony…” as we walked down the street. (“Brony” is the Fante word for “white man.”) Gilbert said, “They are really rejoicing about seeing us.” : )
Nantsew yie!
Joe, Laura, Gilbert, Danny, and Bonnie