At school quite a few of the teachers have been burdened to disciple the students at our school that need so much to be shown and taught what it means to be a follower of Christ! The second week back from Christmas break we had Spiritual Emphasis week for the secondary students. Rick and Mick came from America and taught a lesson each morning while including some games and music. The students responded positively to the time spent learning about God and his love for us. On Tuesday during spiritual emphasis week the students were placed into small groups (6 or 7) with a teacher leading each group. Rick and Mick prepared a lot of questions (some silly and some serious) for the students and teacher to share their answers to the group. Having this time with the students sparked us as teachers into developing some way to disciple the students who had a desire to be discipled. (Most students here do not have a youth group or anything like that to go to and have the opportunity to be discipled) Well this past Friday we kicked off discipleship groups! We had a big kickoff during lunch and will start the real discipleship groups next Friday. I am really excited about the opportunity to minister to students and to share the love of Christ with them through discipleship!! Please pray with me and the other teachers at AIS that this time on Friday each week will be a time of growth and understanding in the Word of God for our students!
Traveling to Wli Falls with 5 freshman students was also a time where relationships could be developed and grown with the students. Christy and I took 5 students along with us on Friday, February 10th to the Volta Region to hike up to Wli Falls. I don't think the students knew what they were in for! The driver (Andy) certainly did not know that the hike would be "serious," as he put it. We left before 7 a.m. from the school and arrived after 11. On the way we played several word games and all but one of the students fell asleep. The students are not morning people! When we arrived we went into the little building where we had to pay to hike the mountain. The first set of falls was a nice easy 30 minute walk and I think the students thought the whole hike would be like that!
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| The lower falls |
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| Upper falls |
Well, needless to say the whole hike was not that easy! The hike was 2 hours up and 2 hours down. The trail weaved right and left the whole way up the mountain and was not exactly easy. We had to climb over roots and rocks the whole way. A couple of the students, about 10 minutes into the hike, asked, "How long is the hike going to take?!" The students eventually realized that there was no use in complaining, and they developed better attitudes throughout the hike. All but one of the students had NEVER been hiking before!! It was amazing to me that they had never really done anything out in nature before! I can't imagine going through life without the many times I have had out in nature enjoying God's Creation! The hike up is definitely worth the work! The students went swimming in the waterfall, and I drank some waterfall water! The waterfall comes from a spring in the mountain.
The trip was a great experience for the students and a fun time for me and Christy. It was good to be able to see students outside of school and be able to talk with them about life. We were able to share our views and how much hard work can pay off in the long run, even if it doesn't seem worth it in the middle of it. I pray that God will produce fruit through the many lessons and principles the students heard while hiking Wli Falls!
Time spent with students has been great, but so has the time spent with the Onion boys! It is hard to believe that me and Christy have really only spent maybe 10 afternoons with them! Christy and I have gone 4 or 5 times and spent time with them and Gomer over the past month or so. Gomer is actually traveling back to the States in a couple weeks, so he has moved out of his house and into a guest house. The onion boys cannot come and just hang out at his house anymore! So now, when we visit them on Saturday afternoons we just hang out on the side of the road where they sell the onions! (I will hopefully get some pictures for you in the upcoming weeks so you can see the boys and what we do) Gomer encouraged us last week that even if we don't get anywhere with teaching the boys to read and write, our goal is much higher than that! These boys from Niger (pronounced nee-gair) are Muslim and are going to hell if they don't accept Christ! Our goal is to ultimately, through loving them unconditionally in our words and actions, be able to share the Gospel message with them! This past Saturday was an especially great time of interaction with the boys. Gomer was busy, so we went and hung out with them by ourselves. Christy brought small whiteboards and markers for them to practice writing. We were able to spend about 3 and a half hours interacting and trying to talk to them. Some of them know French and are able to talk with Christy, but I can only understand English! Some know English, but it is tough to communicate with them as they don't understand everything we are trying to say. But you know what? Teenage boys are very similar no matter what religion you grew up learning and no matter what culture you grew up in! We love to compete and goof off, and you don't necessarily need to be able to speak the same language to do that! The time yesterday was spent developing relationships with these boys so that eventually we can share the Gospel! Love is how non-Christians know we are different!! Later in the afternoon we somehow ended up talking about running, and I told one of the boys (Moro) that I would beat him in a race, not expecting him to actually want to race me! Can you imagine seeing an obruni and a teenage boy racing as fast as they can down a busy street in the middle of Accra, Ghana?! Well, if you would have been driving down the road yesterday you would have witnessed it! I'm sure it looked hilarious to everyone driving by, but looking foolish is worth it as long as Christ is able to be shared among these boys!! (if you're wondering, I won haha)
So please join me in praying for the Onion boys! Pray that they would see our love for them and ask us questions about why we are different than the Ghanaian's who make fun of them and beat them up. These boys have been through a lot in their short lives, but through Christ they can be saved from the grip Islam has on their lives! Pray that we would know how to interact with them and how to bring up the Gospel in our conversations with them.
Please pray for the students at AIS also! Pray that they would understand who God is and what He has done for them. Pray that they would have a desire to know God and the Gospel! Pray that they would understand what being a Christian really means (as many of them understand Christianity from their parents who live very luxurious lives, while millions of people around them have nothing! Many of them also come from broken homes).
