Purpose

Boys at Pram Pram where we led the service. They are so beautiful and filled with Joy! Kim, Lauren, and I doing a skit about the reasons we have the Bible.

My kiddos at the Spring Music Program even though we don't have spring here. Can you tell that it was a western theme? Aren't they cute?

Two of my girls before the program. I was so proud of them all!

Again, this was a picture from Pram Pram. We helped the kids make wordless Bibles to remember the message of Christ and then share with others.

Daniel, our guard, was cleaning upstairs for us when Faith and I were making dinner so we made him join us. We introduced Daniel to oreo's dunked in chocolate nestle milk which Faith got sent from a friend. We are turning him into an American so he said we now have to eat more Ghanian food.

Crunching sand underneath my feet, awaken me to the fact that I am indeed in Ghana as "obruni, obruni," is echoed across the road. What is my purpose for being here? To see how many times in a day I can hear obrunei? Is it to snap photos at the way the Ghanaian people live? Or am I here to make the most money possible(I hope you know that one is faulty! However, my kids on Friday tried to tell me that I am only here for the money, but I corrected that right away!) As I tripped over hidden rocks on the crunching, hard sand, and dodged Ghanaians hidden by darkness, I began to contemplate the purpose for living here and remember my first love for Ghana. As the days wind down, it is easy to look forward to America, to family, and a rest at home. These are all great things but again what is the purpose? Oh yes, again it goes back to Jesus and His purpose for us. Am I focused on the task he has given me at hand? What is that again? Oh yes, daily carrying my cross for Him by answering the same question 12 times, breaking up little fights, but most importantly listening to questions that require thinking about Jesus Christ. Days can be rough, but moments are precious as I tackle the "what if" questions and learn how my kids faithfully follow Christ. I talked to one student this past week and asked her who Jesus was to her. She told me that it made her sad sometimes thinking about what Christ did for her. I asked why and she went on to tell me that he had to die because we are the sinners and He did nothing wrong. However, he died for us so we wouldn't have to go through all that suffering. Wow! Is that the purpose for living and being in Ghana. Is it so precious 6 year old hearts and truly understand the sacrifice of Christ? If that isn't a reason for living than I don't know what is. Today I heard a powerful sermon in church today about our appointments with Christ. We need to be ready to have appointments with our students, our employers, employees, or random people on the street. The missionary speaking today told us countless stories of how people were willing to be at the right place on a park bench, on the other side of the phone, or wonder into a village to share the redemptive story of Christ. We don't have to be superheros but we do have to be diligent and be ready and waiting for the time that God has appointed us to share with others. Amen!

Ocean breezes and constant clashing of waves, welcomed us as we pulled into the property of Kinder Paradise in Pram Pram. I had mentioned months back about visiting this haven for street children. the first Sunday of every month with other missionaries. Unfortunately, the two missionary couple before us, recently left so the torch was laid on us as we gladly carried the flame to prohibit the distinguishing of the light of Christ. Again, we are not amazing or anything, because as we were driving there, we were figuring out our lesson and cutting out construction paper. Not the best of being organized! We arrived late as our driver missed the turn off and we weren't paying attention so we missed most of their gorgeous singing but we did arrive in time for the boys and girls singing. The girls sang "Nothing is too difficult for Thee" which touched me in a powerful way. These girls come from broken and abusive homes but yet they are still able to sing about God's power with all their might. They have tremendous faith at an early age because they have to dependo on Christ for survival? Do I know what it means to truly depend on Christ for my every need or do I just expect to have something? Our lesson went okay but Christ convicted us that we needed to be more prepared. We did a small skit on the reasons to read our Bible and the purpose for having it. We then made wordless books which turned out to be somewhat chaotic but the kids didn't seem to mind. They want us to come back next month so it couldn't have been that bad! I love interacting with these kids as they are so open about their lives and want to be your friend right away. They have so much trust in people even when they have been hurt. They show love for one another that can only come from Christ alone. How am I suppose to bring a message to me when they bring the truth to me?

Ah Lord God, Thou has made the heavens and the earth, by thy great power

Ah Lord God, Thou has made the heavens and the earth, by thy outstretched arm

Nothing is too difficult for thee

Nothing is too difficult for thee

Oh great and mighty God

Great in counsel and mighty in deed

Nothing, Nothing, Absolutely Nothing

Nothing is too difficult for thee

During the week, it was brought up during prayer time that I was going to be moving to the third grade room, which means I will have a room three times my size! I do admit that I will the character my room brought with kids tripping over one another or sweating to death from lack of air conditioner, but alas life will be easier with more room. Anyways, the kids freaked out and thought I was going to be the third grade teacher. One girl said, " I would scream if you were my teacher again! They all started saying how they didn't want me again because I get scary when I am angry and I yell at them at least a thousand times a day. Alright, that conversation had to be fixed quickly so I stopped prayer requests to nip that in the bud. I asked if they went home and told their parents these horrible things about me. My one student who I have been around and around with piped up and said, "Of course not, I tell me parents how much I love second grade." Okay, that put the horrifying converfsation to rest as at least I was touching one of their lives. Well, I think all of the kids were kidding because I don't want them to have this impression of me. I do love kids and I try to show my love to them as much as possible.

Later in the week, I was telling my students that we would have to skype my dad on his birthday. The boy mentioned earlier told me he would send my dad a movie, but then a wii. He would even give my dad burned copies of the games he doesn't play anymore like SpongBob. I feel like he is being pretty passionate, don't you?

The end of the year bring Spring Musicals or second semester musical since we don't have spring. The program this year was western theme which could be guess easily after looking at all the kids in their adorable cowboy shirts, bandanas, and hats. God's message reigned through as the music worked this time and the kids were respecful to praising the Lord through their voices. Please remember, that our school takes in a wide range of students who don't all believe in Christ. We are all very eclectic but it is amazing how we can still praise the same God or work together to accomplish His will. Parents heard the truth tonight if they wanted to or not, so a seed was planted at least. Please continue to pray for the salvation of our students and parents. They are searching, they just need to search for the Christ who isn't hard to find.