Stuff

Of course we love to bring stuff to share, give, hand out and use while we are in the remote parts of West Africa! Everyone has been asking what sort of stuff to plan to bring. I have no news about tools to bring, but I do know that we are going to be playing with and loving up the kids in Kanulowe village.
Items we could use for this part of the ministry and leave behind for the school include:

Colored pencils
Pencil sharpeners
Deflated rubber balls
Ball pump
Yarn (for crafts) especially browns and tan
Children's books (with good moral values)
Round tip scissors
Q-tips (for spreading glue)
Tops for disposable cups (like at McDonalds for putting glue out to dip into)
constuction paper or heavy colored paper
popsicle sticks (400)
5 thin dowel rods
ink pads (like for stamping)
Laminated pictures of animals ( a few that are native to the USA)



We have someone who is sending donated eye glasses and also donated paper. The team in Wisconsin will divide up the paper for the weight. One good idea is to put items in big Zip Lock bags for transport. No one wants glue all over their luggage. We can take 2 bags at 50 lbs each. Please plan on one bag for yourself and one for donations. We need to try and bring some items back home to the USA too.

Questions can be asked in the comment section of the blog. Praying for all the prep you are doing!

Visas!

I got a box from UPS and I think it is full of 'stuff' for our trip. I think Emily got the same box in Arizona! Passports, visas, devotionals to read. We are going to get all set to get on that plane on January 13th.
You can ready your heart by staying in His Word every day, praying for your team mates and also for the leadership of I.N. Network in Ghana. Pray that they may have a sense of His presence as they work for His purposes in that part of the world.

My encouragement for us all today is to ask God to help us practice serving in our every day lives. It is a skill we are going to need on our journey. Look for ways to serve outside your normal routine. Get ready for the challenge and let us know how God is stretching you!

Next steps

So we need to meet and pray and dream and work on details. But the holidays are arriving. Would you look at your schedule and see if the Wednesday after Thanksgiving works? We can skype with Laurie in Michigan, so I am thinking 6:30pm at my house in Germantown.
If the team in Arizona has detail questions or things we ought to discuss, please send a comment so we can include them at the meeting. Also we would be so glad to take prayer requests! How is the fund raising going? What about finding 10 people to pray for you while you are gone?

Thought I would also include a link to some pictures from my last visit there.

Ghana article slides
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My prayer request is for my husband, Lee who will be going right after Thanksgiving to Ghana. The gathering of church planters will be at Adidome.


I know that You can do all things and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted Job 42:2

Ready, Set...Go!

Ghana in January 2010! Our count down is at less than 8 weeks before take off. I hope you are finding yourself getting ready on many levels.

This blog is for us to interact across the miles, share info and ideas, ask for prayer and even get to know each other a bit more!

I was hoping we could start with some introductions. Would you post a little about yourself? Perhaps a bit more than age, height and job description.

As I gather info for us from our Ghanaian leadership, I will try to get the details up here for all of you. I hope we can use this blog also while we are in Ghana to let our prayer teams know some of how the work is progressing. I had a friend in Africa this summer who was not able to blog while there but did faithfully get pictures and stories on line when the team returned. I loved that we got to see and hear much of what they experienced.

For starters, let me ask if you are building a prayer team for while we are gone? It would be great to find one person who would forward our updates and your personal emails to your group. Not sure how reliable the internet is, but I do know there are days when even electricity is spotty.

Margit De Jong at the I.N. office in Michigan tells me the visas are on the way back to us. We have had a few changes in the team this week, so we are already getting the chance to be flexible. I pulled the 'purpose of the trip' information off the I.N. Network USA website and thought it would be a good reminder for us.

Purpose of the Trip

* See first-hand what God is doing among Trokosi girls and women in the Volta region of Ghana.
* Visit local villages to gain an understanding of their culture, and interact with the fetish priests and villagers.
* Help construct a church pavillion in a village that needs a church.
* Interact with former Trokosi slaves at the Adidome Vocational Training Center and get a rare glimpse into their future.
* Visit one of the I.N. Network schools and meet the children.

* Listen to what God is saying to you about connecting with women and children in this part of the world.