Day 1 : Monday, October 25

At around 2:30, our Director of Communications Kelly Vincent drove me from Living

Word to Senior Pastor Michael McIntyre’s house to meet up for our trip to the airport, while

our Director of Multi-Media Michael Logsdon (Loggy) and his wife Susan followed in their car.

Our flight to Dulles (outside Washington DC) departed on time at 6:00 pm, and was uneventful.

We had a LONG walk at Dulles to get to our connecting flight to Accra, but we made it with

about a half hour to spare. The Boeing 767 to Accra only had 65 or so seats occupied out of

185 on the airplane, so we could spread out to lay down in the center rows of three seats for the

ten and a half hour overnight flight.

Day 2 : Tuesday, October 26

We arrived in Accra around 1:00 pm local time (which is 8:00 am in Saint Louis). Here

are me and Loggy between the airplane and the terminal. “Akwaaba” is “Welcome” in the local

Twi language.

I got waved through customs with no questions asked. Michael’s luggage got searched, and

Loggy got questioned a lot about his cameras. When they found out we were a mission team

everything became OK, and we had no problems. Mary Kay Jackson met us holding a “Living

Word” sign, and summoned our van driver (Anokye, pronounced “ah-NO-chay”) and another driver

for her personal vehicle (Jasper). About eight other men joined us as we walked to the van, and a

fight just about broke out when our drivers would not tip these other men – pretty exciting!

We made our way through INCREDIBLE traffic to the Baptist Guest House in Accra

where we lodged for the night. We met Jimmy, the Baptist missionary who manages the place with

his wife Sylvia. We got moved in the three of us in one room. Here we are:

We left and went with Mary Kay to the new house she is going to be leasing so that she

could sign the lease. We drove past the U.S. Embassy, and saw many school children in their

uniforms. Mary Kay’s new house was very nice, behind a gate off of a dirt road. We met one of

her fellow church-members, Francine, who will be her new landlord. Michael witnessed Mary Kay’s

signature and prayed a blessing for the house. I laughed and told Michael I would tell Susan he

was signing on a place for them to live when they move to Ghana.

When we left, it was hard not to notice the mix of relatively modest houses and the trash

all along the roads. We stopped and had fresh coconut from a roadside vendor even though Mary

Kay had said never to buy from them to be safe. We learned coconut was OK because the fruit

is inside the shell which is not eaten. The guy sliced two coconuts open with a machete, leaving a

hole in the top, through which we shared two straws each to drink the coconut water. Then, he

cut them into thirds and we ate the meat. I thought it was good, if a little bland. Michael and

Loggy didn’t like it. A chicken came up to the car. And then we noticed we were standing on

a street side eating coconut right beside an open sewage ditch. Oh well.

Traffic is unbelievable – cars pulling out in front of each other, little to no traffic control like stop

signs or stoplights. We got back to the Baptist Guest House and Mary Kay briefed us on

customs and we talked a lot about opportunities with water projects, education, etc. I bought a

Christmas ornament for us and a children’s nativity set for Sunday School from the small local

gift shop in the guest house.

We met Mary Kay’s husband Charlie and 16-year-old son Ken and chatted a while.

They are both Texas A&M Aggies, and have an older son at Virginia Tech studying aerospace! So,

a neat connection – even if they ARE Hokies! (I have an aerospace degree from the University

of Virginia – VT’s rival – and my niece and her husband graduated from Texas A&M). Dinner was

prepared by Jimmy and Sylvia and served at 6:30. It was delicious – chicken scallopini, spaghetti

with marinara sauce, carrots, the most amazing fresh pineapple ever, and a brownie for dessert. At

dinner, we met Michelle, a medical student staying there for her last night after two weeks, on

her way to Zambia for ten days. She was an awesome young lady doing some great medical mission

work. Jimmy said “eat up, it’s the last good food you’ll have for ten days!”, freaking us out a

little. Mary Kay, Charlie, and Ken left after dinner, and we headed to our rooms.

What an amazing first day! The people have been incredibly welcoming, and we got a great

taste of Accra and the local culture, just by driving around this part of the city. This area is

called the “cantonments”, on the east side of Accra. I am SO encouraged by the discussion

with Mary Kay – possibilities of boreholes (wells) in villages without them, how church management

of the wells prevents them from falling into disrepair, possibilities of scholarships to help northern

kids buy the mandatory uniforms and textbooks so they can go to school. It feels so right being

here – I am going to bed confident more than ever that God is calling Living Word to serve in

this place. I love what Mary Kay said as part of our discussion: “let’s see what God reveals to

us on our journey”. She wants us, and Living Word, to fall in love with Ghana – and it might be

happening already.

Day 3: Wednesday, October 27

What a day! We got up at 6:30 – I looked around the grounds of the Baptist Guest

House some more and took pictures:

Mary Kay arrived and we all had breakfast casserole, yogurt,

muffins, more fresh pineapple and pineapple juice. Then we left for the

12-hour drive to Tamale.

Accra traffic was terrible to get out of, but there was some pretty scenery especially near

the presidential palace on the outskirts of town. The van is a little cramped with all our stuff and

five bodies, but it will be home a lot of the next ten days!

This has to be one of the most terrifying days of my life! Seriously. They drive like madmen

here. Side of the road (left or right) seems to make no difference. Roads are often utterly un-

maintained. Anokye passes on blind hills and curves like it’s nothing, and even when he can see, he

passes with barely enough room to make it , moving into the left lane to pass before I’m convinced

the oncoming traffic is really past us. Whenever I thought we were going to die, I turned and faced

Michael in the back seat so I wouldn’t see it coming. Truly, there were sections of this road that

are hard to describe. Potholes the circumference of the car or greater and like a foot and a half

deep. Speed bumps in places 20 yards apart for like two miles, making for really slow going.

The terrain started off hilly, but transitioned to plains. We had some downpours of rain along

the way, but it was mostly sunny. Every village we came through was just bustling with people.

Markets, buying and selling, approaching the car to try to make sales, little kids walking to or

from school in their uniforms. Women carrying all kinds of stuff on their heads. We stopped at a

“rest stop” and bought bread and went to the bathroom somewhere on the way to Kumasi.

The primitivity/poverty seemed to get worse the farther north we got. The Black Volta

River was in flood due to recent heavy rains, and we saw riverside villages completely flooded out.

Kumasi felt like another big city – it is second in size only to Accra in Ghana. We ate peanut

butter sandwiches on bread Mary Kay bought at the rest stop while on the road, along with

apples. In Nkawkaw we bought fried plantain chips from a street vendor girl. I thought they were

very tasty, like Ghanaian potato chips – really salty! It was such a long drive – I took pictures

of us just riding along:

It got dark about a half hour to an hour before Tamale, and the ride got even scarier if

that is possible. Headlights must be an option. Then we arrived at the Catholic Guest House in

Tamale where we are staying for two nights. It makes the Baptist Guest House in Accra look like

the Ritz Carlton. Each of us has a room of our own with two single beds, but they are

absolutely the worst rooms I have ever stayed in. Walls peeling horribly and very dirty. The doors

do not feel secure at all. The pillows are more like couch cushions. First experience with what will

become common in Ghana – you can’t flush toilet paper, so it goes in the little waste basket

beside the toilet. No air conditioning, but at least there is a ceiling fan. Did I mention yesterday

how hot and humid it was? Worse today. Here are shots of my room and the outside walkway up

to them:

We all met up after moving into our rooms and went to the guest house restaurant after

applying bug spray, lighting mosquito repellent coils outside the rooms, and spraying the room big time

just in case. I had sweet and sour chicken with fried rice which wasn’t great, but not as bad as I

had feared given the room conditions. It wasn’t terribly hot, either, which made me a little

freaked out about gastro-intestinal potentialities, too. We came back to our rooms, and Loggy

filmed our rooms amid our laughter just because we didn’t know if people would believe us about how

bad it was.

So, today was basically a travel day from south to north. I was amazed by the

juxtaposition of new and old. Cell phone towers beside mud hut villages. Talked at dinner with

Mary Kay about the difference between living in a very “primitive” lifestyle versus being in poverty.

These people are often both. Tomorrow will be a busy day, so we are going to bed around 10:00,

hoping to be able to sleep. Big thunderstorm started in around 10:30, and lasted quite a while.

The sound of the heavy rain on the metal roof was a little unnerving.

Day 4 : Thursday, October 28

What a day full of amazing experiences! We began with breakfast at the Catholic Guest

House in Tamale – I had a spanish omelet and toast which was pretty good. Mary Kay led us in a

devotional about the Good Samaritan, and we shared first impressions from yesterday.

Then we left for a 9:00 meeting with the Bishop of the Northern Diocese of the

Methodist Church-Ghana, Rev. Immanuel Maclord Afriyie. We were greeted by his assistant

secretary and seated at a long table in a screened-in porch area at the compound. He arrived and

sat across from us with his assistant, who took copious notes. Mary Kay made introductions, and

spoke about the purpose of our visit. Then Michael spoke about how God had spoken to him

about partnering with the people of Ghana to have a missional impact there, and the bishop was

very pleased. He assured us of cooperation, and agreed to videotape a greeting to Living Word,

which was awesome! When we asked him to also send Christmas greetings for us to use during

Advent or on Christmas Eve, he left and returned with two others – his wife and the treasurer

– along with hymn books. He led us in carols and gave a wonderful Christmas message for Living

Word! He was such a passionate and spirit-filled man – we gave him a Living Word golf shirt and

baseball cap, which he put on over his clergy-collared shirt, and we took some group photos (left

to right are the treasurer, bishop, his wife, and assistant):

The bishop and his assistant led us to the Tamale Children’s Home, far down a back dirt

road in Tamale, whom Mary Kay has been trying to find to determine their water needs. We sat

in on this meeting, with the women who work and volunteer there for the orphans, including two

young women from Europe – one Dutch, one German. The place was heartbreaking, but the women

seemed to truly care for the children. It turned out that their water issues are more frequency of

availability and internal plumbing problems. From their perspective, they were more concerned about

electricity and wiring problems. We left with plans to bring back ceramic water filters. The

playground looked like a good place to catch tetanus, and on the way out Mary Kay told us

about some issues they have had getting equipment in there. But there is the possibility of sending

teams to help with wiring, painting, plumbing kinds of work rather than giving goods. They did not

want photos of the children, but here are some photos around the place:

When we left, we said goodbye to the bishop and headed for the headquarters of the

Ghana Bible Society to pick up Bibles in the native northern languages to take with us – but

we found out they did not have any and we would have to go to a different place to get them.

Still, we got a photo of Michael and I outside the place:

We headed for the home base of Pure Home Water, which produces the ceramic filters

which make the dirty water drinkable by filtering out bacteria and other contaminants. Mary

Kay filmed a description of the project, and then we headed out of town to the nearby village of

Taha where they are building a factory to produce these filters locally so they don’t have to

transport them the 500 difficult miles journey from Accra that we took yesterday. We took

15 filters with us for both the orphanage and the villages we will be visiting later, and filmed

Halloween greetings to try to send back to church for this Sunday’s services.

We took the filters back to the orphanage and they were very grateful. Then we took a

long drive to try to visit the village of Nyobido. We had to stop in the town of Sang to get

better directions, and saw some amazingly cute kids. All along the drive on a small back road we

saw mud hut village after mud hut village – SO primitive! We found the turnoff onto a dirt road,

but after a long drive on it, encountered a washout that was impassable, so we had to turn back.

We had hoped to visit Nyobido because a church in Atlanta has partnered with them, and we

wanted to see what a partnership between a U.S. church and a local village has already

accomplished. Disappointing, but we had to say “oh, well”, and recognize the need to be flexible

on our journey.

Back in Tamale, we stopped and I went into a market with Mary Kay to find jam to go

with our peanut butter (which we ate again today for lunch on the road). It was a pretty unique

experience inside a Ghanaian “grocery store”!

Back at the guest house, Loggy spent some time trying to compress the filter factory

video for Sunday to a manageable size. Then we walked to a place called SWAD for dinner. We

all ordered pizzas of various kinds, and then Michael and Loggy left to walk down the street to

an Internet café to try to send the video back home. I stayed at the restaurant with Mary

Kay. Suddenly the skies opened up in a major downpour. We ran to indoor seating, and after a

few minutes the power went out. Talk about dark! I was just hoping Loggy had managed to get

the video sent before the power went out. The power came back on shortly, and then Loggy came

running in completely soaked. Michael straggled in behind him, and was FILTHY! He had fallen

down in the sewer drainage way beside the sidewalk thinking it WAS the sidewalk in the total

dark and pouring rain. It was deeper than the sidewalk, but the water was level on both, so he

didn’t realize what he was jumping into. He scraped his arm and knee – and his shirt was covered

in what was almost certainly goat manure since it smelled horrible and was brown. He walked back

to the room to try to clean up, and the three of us ate our pizzas. Mine was called “Hawaiian”

and described as ham and pineapple, but the “ham” was a very strange brown shredded meat that I

told myself was just pulled pork. I hope it was.

Found out the internet café was a bust, but when we got back, Loggy was able to send

the video using Mary Kay’s phone. So, Living Word should see us on Sunday! We all headed

to our rooms after a long, productive day. The highlights – singing hymns and carols with the

bishop! The filter factory! The orphanage! Michael covered in goat manure! All will be great

memories.

Day 5 : Friday, October 29

How do I even begin? Short of the day I got married and the days my girls were born,

this has to be one of the most incredible days of my entire life! We began again at the Catholic

Guest House in Tamale (again having the Spanish omelet and toast for breakfast). Then we moved

to an outside table where I led the morning devotional, about Christ’s gospel being to announce

good news for the poor, and how all of Luke’s reports of Jesus’ interactions with the people being

him doing just that. We have the same anointing of the Holy Spirit, so we can be Christ’s body

and we are in Ghana to do what Christ would do if He were here.

We left for the two hour drive to Bolgatanga in the far north, stopping first to pick up

Bibles in the local Frafra and Mampruli languages from the place the Bible Society had directed

us to yesterday.

We went first to the mission home of Rev. Besa Simmonds, and he greeted us warmly.

Rev. Simmonds is the pastor of the Bolgatanga circuit of the Methodist Church-Ghana – an

appointment he has embraced but which is one of the most undesirable in all of Ghana, like being

appointed to Siberia or something. He has 22 churches on the Bolgatanga circuit, and about

10 mission churches as well.

We then followed him to a corner in the market, where he was waiting for a pickup truck

he had arranged to travel in since his car would not make it through the regions we would be

traveling to. There were beautiful baskets for sale there, so all of us bought some to bring home –

they were made by the men sitting right there!

When the truck arrived, we followed in the van to the village of Yagsore (pronounced “yog-

ZOOR-ee). There was some beautiful scenery on the drive. But on the way, the truck ahead of

us got stuck in the mud. Loggy filmed, and Michael was reluctant to muddy up his shoes since

they are now his only pair after throwing out the ones ruined in the sewer-dive incident, so I helped

push the truck out. Sounds crazy, but it was awesome fun – the kind of stuff you kind of

anticipate if you’re really doing back-country mission!

We were met at the Methodist School by a number of representatives of the village. It

was SO remote, but the scenery all around and on the way was breathtaking. We met with

them under a baobab tree behind the school in a circle while the school kids stared at us through

the windows. Their teachers were probably sorry for our visit as I’m sure they lost all control. It

was incredible to be sitting in a circle of African elders discussing their water needs. We presented

the school with water filters and Bibles. We then drove through the grass to the site where

they would like to have a well, centrally located to the family compounds that dot the landscape.

This would be a great place for a new bore-hole. While we were there, the people gathered round

and sang praises to God, including a song that translated “this is a good day, so I will praise God,

hallelujah”. Amazing to watch them just break into a capella joyful song! They were so overjoyed

at our visit it was incredible. We got some amazing video of all this that I know will touch many

hearts. They loved how “Yagsore” and “Missouri” kind of sound the same.

We left Yagsore and traveled what seemed like forever to another village, Sekode. We

were greeted near the Methodist chapel by representatives of the villages near Sekode. They

explained through an interpreter that the chapel was on a site where they would also like to have

a vocational secondary school (high school) because the nearest secondary school is in Bolgatanga,

and would require boarding – which most villagers cannot afford. We also saw their current bore-

hole from which they get water – but it was not dug deep enough, so it is dry six months of the

year and intermittent at other times. These photos show the chapel, the site where they want

the school, and the current bore-hole.

Then we followed the men who greeted us to the Paramount Chief’s Palace, where we circled

with a council of chiefs and sub-chiefs to discuss our mission! The were delighted and welcomed us

graciously. I can’t believe I was sitting in a real-life “tribal council”. Sekode is subdivided into

many small communities, and the chiefs of most of them were present, although the Paramount Chief

over all of them was not in the village because of a funeral elsewhere. Here is the shelter we had

council in – some of the chiefs are still seated inside.

We also had to visit the leader called the “Landlord” to receive his blessing to use the

land to build new boreholes and the school. Complicated system where the Paramount Chief is the

leader of the people, but the Landlord technically gets to decide how the land can be used and

bought and sold. The communities would like three new boreholes – one near the Paramount

Chief’s Palace, one near the Landlord’s home, and one at the new school, because the sub-villages

are so spread out in this area. Also, it is a very hierarchical society – for the community to get

a borehole, the chief and landlord need one first. The Landlord was so impassioned as he spoke of

the water needs. We gave them a filter and he and the others with him nearly cried – and he

said he just wished they always had water to put into it. Then he gave a blessing over us.

Unbelievable – hospitality demanded they give us a gift … so they presented us with a live

chicken and guinea fowl to say thank you. Michael’s face was priceless as he thought he was going

to have to hold those birds – but the pastor’s assistant received them instead. They were also

passing a bowl of water around to express their hospitality and Michael and I were freaked out

that to be respectful we might have to drink what we were sure was unclean water from the bowl.

But, it never made it to us somehow. Maybe they knew.

Words can’t describe this experience. Tourists NEVER get back to these villages, and

would not be invited into the chief’s palace even if they did. We had the honor of participating in

a deeply meaningful interchange between cultures, and it was life-changing to see God reflected in

these people’s faces. I’m looking back over these words and can’t find the right way to express

how amazing it was – it was so much more than words can describe.

On the way back, we ran into a cattle drive right by the chapel and potential school

site, so we had to wait a while – we got out and talked with the people so more and I took

pictures of the cattle and shepherd boys. Talk about culture shock:

We drove back to Bolgatanga and checked into the Sanat Minat Lodge, which was like

the Hilton compared to the Catholic Guest House in Tamale. We each had a room, and mine had

a king size bed! Air conditioning! Hot water! Real pillows! A refrigerator! We went to dinner

at a restaurant down the road, and we TRIED to order Ghanaian food, but most of it was

finished” their way of saying they were out of it. Everything we tried to order was “finished” –

we all finally found spaghetti with chicken in a spicy tomato sauce. But the chicken was just

cleavered chopped up bones and all. No distinguishable chicken parts, and everything had bones in

it. Kind of freaky. All of us except Mary Kay just ate the pasta and veggie sauce, and pushed

the chicken aside.

Then, we went to Rev. Simmonds’ church, Ebenezer Methodist Church, arriving late

because of all our dinner problems, and then taken to the front to be seated. We sang a song

with the band, and then Rev. Simmonds introduced us – and Michael had to give an

extemporaneous sermon! We were not expecting to preach here! Michael was awesome, and

preached on the body of Christ through an interpreter. We presented them with more Bibles,

and they presented us with local smocks to much applause and laughter. They had had three of

these made in anticipation of the day God would send people to help them. And the three of us

arrived! Mine barely made it over my big head, which produced a lot of laughs. The shirts are so

beautiful! We sang more hymns, and the offering collection was a beautiful processional as these poor

people came and offered what little they had. Absolutely incredible.

We returned to our rooms, where we joined up in Michael’s room for a circle prayer. After

everyone left, I went back to Michael to thank him for one of the most amazing days of my life.

I admit I got a little teary. Back in my room, I read two of the letters sent for us on our journey

from Mom and from Karen. God must have planned for me to save these two for today out of all

the ones I got. They both made me just break down and cry for like ten minutes before I regained

my composure. Sometimes I can’t understand why I am so blessed by family, friends, and pastors. I

will never look at them the same way again. God is so good.

Day 6 : Saturday, October 30

We met up in the courtyard outside at the Sanat Minat Lodge at 8:00 for breakfast

each of us had a fried egg and oat bread, which came with coffee, tea, or “Milo”, which is a hot

chocolate mix. Rev. Simmonds arrived, and we followed him north to the border town of Paga,

which is right on the Burkina Faso border.

Paga is famous for its sacred crocodile pools. There are great legends about the pact

between the Paga crocodiles and the humans who live there side by side with them. We went to

the “Chief’s Pond”, and the guides whistled and called the crocodiles out of the pond.

Eventually three crocs came – big, medium, and small. We went out to them and one by one held

the crocodile’s tails and got our photos taken. Pretty wild! Then, they fed a live chicken to

the crocodile as a thank you. That was actually pretty disgusting to watch. On the other hand,

I’m pretty sure they keep these crocodiles pretty tame by keeping them full of chickens!

Then we went across the street to a village house compound that is a sort of touristy place

but it was cool to hear the stories of how they would hide on the roof of these huts during the

slave trade days. It was unusual for whites to come here for slave trading, but blacks would capture

other blacks to sell to the white men. We saw a birthing room, and many sacred totems and

carvings, and went up to the roof of a room. We put on native headgear and hunting weapons and

were taught a dance that had us cracking up. I bought two shaker instruments called “sinyale”

for Karen, and two for Sara for children’s ministry at Living Word. A neat place overall.

The next part was wild, too. Even though we didn’t have visas for Burkina Faso, Rev.

Simmonds spoke with border guards in Ghana who allowed us to cross into the “no-man’s land”

between Ghana and Burkina Faso. Then he did the same at the other side with Burkina Faso

guards, and we were allowed to walk into Burkina, but without Loggy’s big video camera. The

border guards know him well because three of his mission churches are in Burkina, and he crosses

over frequently. Still, it was a little scary to be in another country with no passport on us and no

visa for Burkina even if we had. But cool to be in another African country! There were probably

50 trucks pulled aside – Rev. Simmonds explained to us that they may wait for three weeks

while every cubic inch of their cargo is searched before being allowed entry. We walked around and

took some pictures until a guy who looked like an army soldier saw us and yelled at us. Talk about

mild panic! But Rev. Simmonds and his associate apologized, and we walked back out into Ghana.

We drove away from the border, and Rev. Simmonds took us to the Methodist chapel in

Paga. It is outdoors – basically, a roof and support beams. He made a plea for us to help here,

because when the weather turns “harsh” (realize, it was about 110 degrees out this day), the

people won’t come. I asked, and by “harsh” he meant the harmattan winds that blow in parts of

the year from the Sahara, bringing major sandstorms. At the least they would like some walls to

help shelter the people from the winds.

We left and went to the town of Navrongo, on the way back to Bolgatanga, and visited

the Bethel Methodist Society, where there is a church building, a primary school, and a mission

home for the pastor’s family. The home was funded by a partnership with St. James UMC in

Alpharetta, Georgia. The outdoor school was cool because on the blackboard was the children’s

math homework (“How many days are there in a week?”, etc.), English homework (“What does a

farmer do for work?”), and also R.M.E. homework. R.M.E. stands for Religious and Moral

Education, and the homework – for PRIMARY students – was “Define these attributes of

God: omnipotent, all-loving, all-merciful, omniscient”, etc! They are getting this in primary school

while in America a lot of adults couldn’t answer those questions!

We headed back to our lodge, and Rev. Simmonds spoke to us again while Loggy filmed.

He sent Christmas greetings, and we filmed the Ghanaians saying “we are Living Word” and “we

are the Body of Christ”, and us saying “we are Ebenezer” and “we are the Body of Christ”.

Pretty awesome. We presented Rev. Simmonds and his associate with shirts and hats from Living

Word, and they left. We relaxed and drank Cokes for a little while.

Then we drove back near Secote from yesterday, and found a beautiful lake where Michael

filmed a water-themed video. It was hilarious – a bull kept honking, another one kept wandering

close – so it was hard to get good takes. A group of villagers eventually gathered to watch –

and we actually got THEM to say “we are Living Word” for us! It was so cool that while

Michael was filming, Anokye was hurling boulders at bulls to keep them away!

Then, we drove back and stopped at a beautiful, isolated place where we filmed another video

about the need for solitude and quiet to hear God speak – “Be still and know that I am God”.

The scenery got more and more beautiful as the sun lowered in the sky. While they were filming I

got to sneak away and use Mary Kay’s phone to call Karen. It was awesome to hear her voice

after so many days and experiences – I almost cried again!

Finally we got back to the lodge for an hour of down time before regathering for dinner at

6:45. All of us except Loggy had the native “T.Z.” (pronounced “Tee Zed” since they

pronounce the Z “zed” like the British), with Ayoyo soup (I have no idea what this is) with

guinea fowl in it, which we had ordered in the morning before we left. I actually thought it wasn’t

too bad. The T.Z. is a millet-based thing like polenta, and the ayoyo soup was a leafy, tomato-y

brown soup. The guinea fowl tasted like chicken, just gamier. We went to our rooms around 8:00

to get ready for preaching tomorrow.

Day 7 : Sunday, October 31

Every time I think things can’t be any more awesome, another day comes that is

indescribable. We began the morning with breakfast at 7 a.m., again with the fried egg, oat bread,

and Milo. We then left and drove about 40 minutes south of Bolgatanga to Walewale, where we

met Kofi – a lay leader from a church in Kumasi who has evangelized the local villages and

founded new churches in this region in very remote villages, and whom Walter, the pastor in Virginia

who Michael has communicated with, has also visited several times.

We followed Kofi far on a back dirt road to the village of Sagadugu. They had a small

chapel building, and we entered to some amazing music: only drums accompanying a wonderful girls’

choir, with the congregation joining in. After several songs, Kofi preached a little, giving

encouragement and then introducing us. Mary Kay also gave greetings from the Methodist

Church in Accra. Then Michael preached his sermon, through an interpreter who translated into

the local Mampruli language. We had been told there were 30 people wanting to be baptized in

Sagadugu – but the place was packed, and we ended up baptizing 70! All ages, men and women,

and they just kept coming! It was so amazing and the place was so spirit-filled, it felt like the

book of Acts where whole families and villages were baptized. Michael and I took turns doing the

baptisms – and worked up quite a sweat! It takes a long time to baptize 70 people one by one!

I was so thankful that my bishop had given me permission to do these baptisms along with Michael,

since as a commissioned provisional elder I am really only allowed to do the sacraments in my local

church. After the baptisms, many came forward and asked for prayers for healing, which Michael

gave while many of us laid hands. We also provided rice and Bibles, which were both received with

such joy! Then they took up a collection. Mary Kay gave the benediction, and we left amid

laughter and smiles. Just incredible!

Then it was on to the next village, Diani. Not quite as big, no girls’ choir, but the people

were singing to the sounds of drums and there were a couple of girls dressed alike who seemed to be

leading the singing somewhat, although everyone was singing. Same routine with Kofi as before, but

this time I gave the sermon. That was so cool! Shouts of “Amen!” and spontaneous clapping –

so different from American preaching! We were not expecting to baptize here – but 64 people

came forward and asked for baptism! So we did it all again – Michael and I taking turns, and

then having prayers of healing as well. In all, we baptized 134 new Christians today in villages that

were once Muslim and Juju (the local witch doctor religion). Awesome!

Kofi wanted to take us to two other villages even though services were over by now (each

of the earlier services were about two hours – 9:30 to 11:30 and 12:00 to 2:00)! So we

did. The first was in Bugiya. Michael and I had to go to the bathroom so bad we had to go

behind a couple of trees in a grove next to the chapel! The key to the lock on the chapel had

to be fetched from the village, so we hung out with some kids who were sitting by the chapel.

One of them had a sewn-together ball, and Loggy played soccer/hacky-sack with them. They

loved it! Then I noticed that one of the boys had an open sore on his knee, and there were about

four flies feasting at it. He didn’t even bother to swipe them away. Some Neosporin and a Band-

Aid and that wound would heal right up – but they have no such thing, and we had not brought

anything like that with us. It was heartbreaking and eye-opening at the same time. Then we

entered the chapel – very modest, with a cross that had “CPC” on it. We asked what it

meant – “Come Preach Christ”. We met the local preacher and gave him Bibles in the

Mampruli language. By now a large crowd had gathered, and they were laughing and smiling and we

gave them crackers. Kofi (the most outgoing, energetic person I have ever met) got them to say

“we are Living Word” in English for Loggy’s cameras, and “Merry Christmas!”, too! So cool!

We left, and back in Walewale had to stop at a filling station because Kofi’s car was

breaking down. He and his associate joined us in the van, and we drove to a site near Walewale

where they are in the process of building a mission house on a parcel of land they own. We went on

north toward Bolgatanga, and turned off to go to the village of Nabuli. Big reception here, too!

Many villagers came to see us and we again gave them Bibles, met the local preacher, and laughed

with the children. Awesomeness again!

We took Kofi back to Walewale with his car – and gave him some cash to help with his

expenses. He has done, and is doing, some amazing work in these formerly Muslim villages. An

incredible, spirit-filled young man of God who I hope to meet again. He wants to meet up with us

again the day we are in Kumasi – we’ll see! We gave him and his associate Living Word shirts,

and they loved them!

On the way to Sagadugu, we had crossed over a creek where women and children were

washing clothes and bathing. We thought it would be an awesome spot for Mary Kay to film a

“water issues in the world” video, so we headed back to it. Loggy and Mary Kay got out to

film, and little by little a crowd gathered again. They were so fascinated! The video shoot was

great, even if there were a bunch of naked little boys running around!

Finally we headed back to Bolgatanga. Anokye has not been feeling well, so we took him

to his room, and then went to dinner with Mary Kay driving the van. We went to a

motel/restaurant called Comme Ci, Comme Ca, highly rated in the guide books, which said it had

an indoor seating area. Somehow, we couldn’t communicate well the fact that we needed indoor

seating because of the mosquitoes – but finally the waitress figured it out. I had my favorite meal

of the trip so far – spaghetti bolognaise, which was basically spaghetti with meat sauce, onions, and

green peppers. It was great – a really good spicy kick in the sauce which Mary Kay said was

just cayenne pepper. Oh yeah, it goes without saying that lunch was the ubiquitous PBJ

somewhere out in the middle of nowhere.

We returned to the lodge, and I borrowed Mary Kay’s phone to call Karen again. Got

to talk 20 minutes this time, which was wonderful. Found out it only costs about 1 cedi for 10

minutes, so a 20 minute call means I owe Mary Kay about $1.33. Sounds like services were

good at LW this morning with the Halloween stuff. The video we sent was good quality and people

enjoyed seeing us.

Another busy day – exhausted and ready for bed at the end of it all!

Day 8 : Monday, November 1

Yet another fried egg, toast, and Milo for breakfast. We packed up the van to move out

of Bolgatanga. Rev. Simmonds met us and we followed him back to Ebenezer to see the

Methodist School behind it. It has 1100 students – half attend in the morning, half in the

afternoon. There was one class for each grade 1 through 9 – but every class had about 80-90

kids in VERY cramped quarters. But the kids were beautiful and respectful and we visited every

classroom. It was wonderful to see, but sad that they can’t even assign homework because it would

be too much to grade. They could really use funds to build about twice as many classrooms.

We left Bolgatanga and headed to Tamale where we were supposed to have a wrap-up session

with the Bishop. But when we got there we learned he had been called to Accra. It was no

big deal to us, because we had taken a lot more time in the school than we thought we would and

were running late. So we hit the road again for the long drive to Mole National Park. Of

course, PBJ on the road again for lunch.

The road to Mole was ridiculously bad! Dirt, had to ride in the ditch beside the road a

lot of the way because it was in better shape than the road. Enormous puddles. We stopped in

Larabanga at the entrance to the park and tried to see the 13th century mosque, but we were

bombarded by people wanting money to take us to it. We could kind of see it anyway, and decided

that was enough, so we went on to the park.

We got to the lodge and checked in. Michael, Loggy, and I in one room with single beds,

Mary Kay in another room. OK looking (like at summer camp), but the water didn’t flow in the

bathroom. They told us it only flowed from 5 to 9 in the evening. So we hung out in the room

for a little while, then left for the afternoon “game walk”. Just the four of us and an armed

guide. Pretty amazing – we saw three types of antelope (kob, bushbuck, waterbuck), warthogs,

green monkeys, and baboons in their natural environment. We came across elephant tracks that

the guide said were a day old, but we did not see any elephants. It was pretty “outback” – not

on trails, but through the forest, to streams and watering holes and salt licks. The walk lasted

two and a half hours and we were all pretty wiped out at the end.

We went to the restaurant to cool off on the patio overlooking a watering hole far below.

Wild baboons walking along the edge of the patio where we were sitting. We also ate dinner –

spaghetti bolognaise again for the three of us. Afterwards, we headed back to the room looking

forward to a shower – but the water still wasn’t flowing. We were pretty annoyed by that,

because we were all pretty sweaty and stinky. Washed up by bottled water the best we could.

Hung out in the room for a while afterward. All of us have liked the trip, but all of us

admitted we’re really ready to go home. It’s been a long trip, a lot of driving, a lot of energy

spent, and nerves are getting a little on edge sometimes. But it’s all good – we’re hoping to be

able to sleep tonight. No A/C, only a fan, and it’s stinking hot!

Day 9 : Tuesday, November 2

Woke up around 6:15 – still no water. I didn’t fall asleep until probably 3:00 a.m. –

but that’s still better than Michael who didn’t sleep at all. It was just SO hot, and we were

so sweaty and couldn’t clean up before bed, and the fan was not much help. We decided to put

on our swimsuits and go to the pool at 7 a.m. even though it said it didn’t open until 8. A worker

skimmed an enormous number of bugs off the surface, and I got in first, even though the water still

seemed a little sketchy – pretty lukewarm, but it felt really good after no bathing since the day

before yesterday. Michael and Loggy both followed and we hung out in the pool for a short time

just trying to get the sweat and bugspray off of us.

The air was actually kind of cool that early, so we didn’t get all sweaty again in the long

walk back to our room. We got dressed, and Michael and I went up to the small park gift shop

where I bought a shakire and djitai (native musical instruments) for souvenirs for Karen. Then we

met Mary Kay for breakfast at the restaurant – omelet, toast, and Milo. Anokye arrived, and

we went back to the room to load our stuff into the van. A family of warthogs and a mother and

baby baboon were outside the door. Mary Kay was behind us – and we missed a baboon

snatching her picnic basket from her hand and then taking our lunch PBJs out of it! Wish we

had that on video!

We left Mole and started the long drive to Kumasi. We took the western route because

Anokye heard that the road was better, and it was! Not too bad for most of it. We stopped

in the town of Wenchi and visited the Methodist University of Ghana College of Agriculture.

Mary Kay’s husband is a lecturer at the main Accra-Dansoman campus, and she felt she should

stop to say hello since she isn’t here very often. The dean gave us a tour and spoke of his needs

for wells, funds to enlarge the library, and for new construction. They have grown substantially in

their ten years, and need is outpacing funds. The served us some awesome pineapple juice locally

produced at the college.

We continued on to Kumasi, having re-made PBJs on the way! When we arrived, we went

to the “Cultural Center” for shopping. It is a nice enclave of craft shops and a theater and a

restaurant and not crazy crowded like the rest of Kumasi. I bought more souvenirs, including a

talking drum for Karen, as well as a little djembe key chain.

We left and arrived at the Wesley Guest House, on the 4th floor of a building in downtown

Kumasi. Fortunately, attendants carried our bags up the stairs. Really cool view from the end of

the hall overlooking the city, and a fairly decent place overall, beating my expectations from the

walk up the stairs!

After about a half hour we left for dinner at an Indian restaurant called Moti Mahal – Mary

Kay’s “favorite restaurant in all of Ghana”. I had chicken kandahi (or something like that) – it

was OK, but not great, with basmati rice and naan bread. We dined with a missionary couple and

their young son who are friends of Mary Kay’s. They are working with child rescue efforts among

the child slavery problem that exists in the Lake Volta region where fishermen will buy children

from extremely poor parents and work them in the fishing industry. The work these missionaries are

doing sounded pretty amazing.

We got back to the guest house around 8:00, and all retired to our rooms for the night.

Day 10 : Wednesday, November 3

Slept great last night even though it must have been the hardest mattress I have ever

slept on! Like a table! Woke up at 5:45, went back to sleep, and didn’t wake up until Loggy

knocked at the door at 6:30. First time that’s happened! Got up and re-packed, then they

served us, surprise, a fried egg, toast and Milo for breakfast. Kofi (finally got that his last name

is Boakye, pronounced “BWA-chay”) showed up around 7:15 and talked us into visiting his

church and school in Kumasi. Michael rode with him and the rest of us followed in the van. His

church is called “Come Preach Christ International”, and there was a school behind it that is

free for all the kids who attend. Part of the school (three classrooms) were originally built by two

missionaries about 20 years ago, and more recently, Walter, our Virginia pastor contact, has added

a second floor to that and three more first floor classrooms. Once again the children blew us away

with their smiles. The 4 and 5 year olds reciting the alphabet were ADORABLE! We saw

their outdoor dining hall/kitchen, and then toured the very small health clinic that serves the

community. Their medicine chest was pitifully empty, and we gave the head of the clinic 200 cedis

to buy medicine with. We also visited with the pastor of the church, who is also the head of the

school, and he told us some incredible stories about the work God has been doing in this

community, including the miracles of no one being killed in a major softball-sized hailstorm, and praying

for no Sunday rains three years ago when the roof blew off their church – and having no rain on

Sunday ever since then! He led a wonderful prayer as we prepared to depart, and we all gave Kofi

a lot of goodbye hugs. He is such an inspiration!

So then we left for Cape Coast – pretty uneventful journey, but again, incredibly poor

roads. More PBJ on the road. We first went by the Methodist Cathedral, built in 1835.

Mary Kay told us the history of the Methodist and early Protestant missionaries in Ghana,

including the fact that the first three missionaries all died within 6 months of arriving.

Then we went to the Cape Coast Slave Castle, where many African slaves were held

before being shipped to the Americas. We saw male dungeons, female dungeons, prison cells, the

tunnel they were marched out through, and ending at the “Door of No Return”, so named

because when one went through that door, it was never to be seen again. The whole experience was

incredibly depressing and horrifying. We also visited the museum, which had good historical exhibits

and actual shackles and branding irons.

Upon leaving, we met a television crew from Lagos, Nigeria who were very nice and inquisitive

about Loggy’s camera, which was better than theirs! We got to our night’s lodging in the town

of Anamabu just east of Cape Coast – the Anamabo Beach Resort. Gated, and VERY nice!

Michael and I shared a double, Loggy and Mary Kay each had singles. As soon as we were in

our rooms, we put on swimsuits and hit the beach! The three of us had an absolute blast with the

best, biggest waves I have ever been in! It was SO therapeutic after a hard week – we stayed

in the water until after sunset and we had to get out because it was dark. One of the best

beaches I have ever been on, truly beautiful! Mary Kay had told us she always schedules a day

like this at the end of a team’s long mission trip, to just sort of unwind after the impact and

intensity of what they have seen. Yeah, I get it now … we really needed it.

We ordered dinner and went and showered and changed back into day clothes, and met up

again at the outdoor restaurant. I had fettucine alfredo, but Michael ordered red snapper – and

naturally, it came as a full fish, head to tail! Classic. We had a nice dinner, and talked about

some of our favorite parts of the trip. Finally headed back to our rooms.

Our room was HOT! It has A/C, but the controller seems to be missing, and it is clearly

set far too warm. Michael was a trooper and went to the reception area to tell them about it,

even though it was a long trek back. A guy eventually came with a remote, and it finally cooled

down.

Yet another great day in Ghana. Can’t believe we return to the U.S. tomorrow night –

but all of us are truly ready. It’s starting to feel like a really long time since we’ve seen our

spouses.

Day 11 : Thursday, November 4

Michael and I both woke up around 7:00 and headed down to the beach. We had said

we would meet for breakfast at 8:30, so we just took some pictures and talked some more about

the week. We must have laid in bed in the dark for an hour and a half last night talking through

our time here and next steps. Pictures are a little foggy because we got it so cold in the room,

and then it was hot and humid outside and the lens kept fogging up!

The resort had a decent breakfast buffet with made to order omelets and fresh fruit and

juices. Michael and I got hungry and ate even though the others hadn’t arrived, and when they

did, they also had a good breakfast. Then the three of us guys headed back into the ocean at

around 9:00. My back was hurting so I got out after about an hour, but Loggy and Michael

stayed in until 11:00! I got some shots of them in the waves while Mary Kay and I talked

about logistics of getting projects going. She can help beyond just water projects, with things like

bringing teams to lay foundations for a school for example. Finally we went back to our rooms and

showered and then met for lunch in the resort restaurant. We all had chicken burgers and fries

(“chips”) which was really good – although Michael got sick from his later in the afternoon.

On the way back to Accra we stopped in the town of Winneba to visit the Rafiki

Orphanage. We delivered food, the Living Word shirts, and the cards our kids made for them.

Then we went down to the dorms to visit the kids – we weren’t allowed to take pictures or video

for the kids’ safety, kind of disappointing. The kids were adorable – about 20 ranging in age from

two months to about seven years. Mary Kay held the baby while the three of us worked up a

sweat playing with and loving on the kids! Swinging them around, bouncing them on our knees,

holding them, high fiving them, just a lot of fun for like 45 minutes. We were exhausted but so

overjoyed by the visit! An absolute highlight of the trip on our last day! It renewed our spirits

after being all “I just want to go home” for a couple days.

Finally made it to Mary Kay’s house – the drive through Accra was unbelievable with

the traffic! And, of course, again with the terrifying driving! At Mary Kay’s house we re-

distributed all our luggage and carry-on stuff, said our last goodbyes to Anokye, and then the

Jackson’s served us a nice soft taco dinner.

We left for the airport around 7:00, with Jasper driving instead of Anokye, and got to

the airport around 7:30. Kind of crazy process to get checked in, what with immigration,

customs, baggage check, and all that – but we finally said our goodbyes to Mary Kay and made

it to the gate. No luck with an empty plane for the trip back – probably because last night’s

flight was canceled. This flight was FULL. But, we made it without any major hassles, although

our flight was held on the ground for like an hour due to “technical problems” before finally being

able to depart.

Day 12 : Friday, November 5

The overnight was tough, being so full. Not a lot of sleep for any of us. We got to Dulles

on schedule. The first customs agent was no problem to get through. But the luggage took

forever to arrive, and Loggy’s tripod came on a whole different carousel for some reason. Then, when

we reached the luggage checkpoint, we found that Michael’s and Loggy’s customs agents had put

an “A” for “agricultural” on their paperwork, but mine didn’t even though we had filled out our

forms the same. So they got pulled over into another room to get sprayed with Lysol or Clorox

or something, effectively separating me from them. We were already running late because of the

luggage, and I started to worry they wouldn’t make it. But they got to the gate a half hour

before boarding, full of stories about Michael’s further detention to get some kind of chemical

applied to his hands and a body search. Michael’s good travel luck strikes again!

The flight to St. Louis did leave on time, and actually got in about a half hour early!

Susan Logsdon was meeting Loggy at the airport, but not there yet – so we said goodbye to

Loggy and headed to the Parking Spot where we had left Michael’s van. Michael drove us to

his house and picked up his wife Susan, then they took me home. I arrived at my house about

10:45 a.m. Karen was working, so I immediately took a hot shower, put on clean clothes, and

sent lots of text messages to let people know I was home. It is great to be home, but it was an

experience I will never forget – and I have a feeling additional trips are in my future.

Completed 11:50 a.m.

November 5, 2010