Comforst of Home

First I want to apologize for not writing in a while. I have a good excuse though! The power was out last weekend because the dam was not up to par since the new president won’t fix it entirely. It was a project of the past president and the new president doesn’t want to do anything that has to do with him. It is always fun getting ready in the dark! The lights then stayed off during the day but came on at night. It was kind of frustrating as we had to get grades done at school but the Lord provides and everything was accomplished! Then during the rest of the week, we did not have internet at the house so I am finally able to connect with you all again!
Okay, now back to the topic at hand. Two weeks ago I mentioned that I was going to visit a new church and how connecting with a church has been hard for me. Well, that church proved to be an interesting story as that day they were having a special revival by a preacher from England. We went with the business manager and his family and they told us that they really learned from the sermon a week ago so we figured it must be good. Unfortunately, they forgot about the special revival and that it started earlier so we were late. We had to sit outside where we really couldn’t see into the church at all. The message was pretty much the “prosperity gospel” which is a big message here. The gist of it is…. The way to be right with God is to have a lot of money and by listening to him, you can get. That sounds about right doesn’t it? In Ghana and other African countries, the preacher is the one with all the money, nice house, and great car. I wish that was the same in America? Just kidding I promise. Anyways, it isn’t the message that should be preached to people here because again they base their salvation on good works and on selfish reasons instead of learning to work together as a community to build up their resources. The rich will keep getting richer as the poor get poorer because no one is willing to invest in them. Oh the story ends with us leaving through it as we obviously didn’t agree with the message or learn from it. I also left very discouraged as I want Sunday to be a close time with God where I can learn from His Word and be with the body.
God heard my call as last week brought a little taste of home in terms of church. I went to Elim International Church where a lady at our school, husband, preaches there on occasion. I needed that sermon as He talked about Paul in 2 Timothy 2 and still pressing on even though He was in prison. Everything about the service reminded me of home and helped me focus more on my relationship with God. After the first service, we stayed to teach Sunday School during the second service. Before we taught, we listened to the music again. We were singing “How Great is Our God” when the power went out. We had the drums, no lights, but the spirit of the Lord was working as we sang out to our God and told him how Great He really is even when the power is out. God uses even the power to prove his Almighty Presence. For Sunday school, we really didn’t have any books or have a clue what we were doing but when we started looking through the materials I realized that it is the same curriculum that I used at UCC for four years! I was even teaching the same age group of young children as I had at UCC. Oh this was music to my soul as there was familiarity and a feeling that I could actually contribute as I already knew how to teach the curriculum. I still haven’t figured out exactly where I need to go to church and how involved I should become. I know this is very different than how I am in the states. I feel like I am not doing the most I can for the community but like I said before, I need to realize that my number one priority is my classroom and as long as I am just seeking out the opportunities to make contact with the people, then I am following God’s commandment for my life right now. Hard lessons and changing of my heart to bring me closer to my Creator is still a work in progress.