Our You Tube is Up…and the next day’s update

Jul 9, 2008Archive

At the orphan home, holding a little girl. Oh how I wanted to take her home with me!

At the Ghana Bible Society, where team members bought Bibles for church leaders.
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Note: In my very limited imovie abilities, I pulled together a short presentation about Aidan’s heart for wells in Ghana. You can watch the You Tube video here.
And if you’d like to help bring water to Sankpem, you can donate at International Hope and Heritage here.
Serving the Living Water, Ganguni and Wuntuma Mary and Aidan
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June 27, 2008, morning.

Sleep glorious sleep! Halleliah!! Funny how some sleep can change your perspective.
Thankfully today we have a lighter day. We’ll visit the Ghana Bible Society, then an orphan home. Aidan would like to try to buy a bike for one of the pastors, so we will be trying to check into that today as well. A funny little thing happened yesterday. By some fluke I started getting emails. I was surprised at how happy that made me.
Years and years ago when Aidan was a toddler, he used to squat African style and play with his railroad set. We used to think it was funny. So now when we greet a chief, Aidan can easily squat that way for a long time, while I am madly shifting my weight back and forth. Perhaps he is an African boy with white skin.
Pastor Paul told me last night he’s been observing Aidan. “He is humble and he is a servant,” he said. “When I first heard about his wanting to help with digging wells, I was shocked and so pleased.” He went on to say how glad he was to meet Aidan. Paul is 35 years old. He loves Jesus and has gone through many, many trials. To hear him speak about Aidan that way blessed me.
One interesting thing I’ve learned here is that sheep and goats look virtually the same. The sheep are not fluffy. Reverend Pascal says the way to tell the difference is that the sheep’s tails point toward the earth and a goat’s points heavenward. The parable of the sheep and goats makes much more sense to me now. In the West, you can easily discern between the two animals. In Africa you can’t. I find it cool that the sheep are the more submissive (tail down) creature, that the goat is more self-willed.
The Good Shepherd will separate them from each other at the end of time. And to those submissive sheep He said, “Come you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom for you from the foundations of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger and you invited me in; naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me…Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.” (Matthew 25: 34-36, 40).
Cheryl and I talked about this, and she said, “It’s also taught me to look at the crumbs from the table differently too.” It’s true. Nothing is wasted here, not even crumbs. Last night we ate at the Napari’s and Cynthia was sad that we didn’t eat all the food she prepared for us. She made so much food (and it was wonderful) that we couldn’t eat it all. Food is precious here. When we finish eating at Peggy and Pat’s home, Lansah, their helper, scrapes our plates into big margarine or ice cream containers and brings our leftovers to his family. I cannot really fathom how rich I am.

Evening: So much to write, but it will be hard to convey the emotion. We went to the Ghana Bible Society where some team members bought Dagbani bibles to give to the church leaders in Tarikpaa tomorrow night for our closing ceremony. Most of the leaders did not have a bible!

Then we came back to the guest house to rest. Later we traveled to an orphan home where these beautiful women cared for ten orphaned babies under the age of two. One girl caught my eye. I picked her up and held her our entire time. When I tried to let someone hold her, she clung to me tighter. I wanted to bring her home. Aidan chose to give a big sum of money to the orphan home. He’s having a blast giving away his money! When we came back to the Osments, Aidan said, “Mom, we need to adopt an orphan.” I nodded. Perhaps. Lord, You know what that would mean. If this is You, please lead specifically.
We had a lovely dinner of pizza at the Osments. Then we came back to the guest house to worship (which rejuvenated me greatly) and hear Paul and Mohammed say sweet and amazing things to us. Paul thanked us sincerely for our work. We learned our efforts registering the children was on Ghanian radio today. How cool! Pastor Mohammed said, “I have worked with many missionaries, but you are different.” He felt we were humble and that we were a team who prayed. It blessed me to hear that.
I scrounged a book called Tramp for the Lord by Corie Ten Boom from the guest house library. Its pages are browned, but the wisdom therein is profound. She summarizes what I’m learning when she sees people in her hometown after being released from a concentration camp: “Yet, because I had lived so close to death, looking it in the face day after day, I often felt like a stranger among my own people—many of whom looked upon money, honour of men, and success as the important issues of life. Standing in front of a crematorium, knowing that any day could be your day, gives one a different perspective on life. . . Walking the streets that night, however, I felt growing in me a tremendous desire to tell all men, especially those in bondage to material things, of the One who can set us free from all pr(t I can’t finish without saying the Lord is so very good. Paul walked Aidan and I back to our room tonight. I felt a kinship forming between our families, though I knew our entire families hadn’t met yet.
Perhaps someday we will all meet together and share a meal.
I’ll end with this snippet from a Fanny Crosby song:
Down in the human heart, crush’d by the tempter
Feelings lie buried that grace can restore;
Touched by a loving heart, weakened by kindness
Chords that were broken will vibrate once more.

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