3rd
Ghana - Dani Cummings (7/2/10)
Back from BATOR!
Hey guys!
WOW God is good!!! I cannot thank you enough for praying. So the village I stayed in was called Bator, and all of you who prayed for spiritual safety - I cannot thank you enough, I am completely safe. I know one specific prayer I kept praying was that God’s light would be so bright that darkness would shrink away from it, and that was definitely the case; there was some stuff like what I heard about (ie: stuff being poured to paralyze people) but God is so good, and he protected my team and healed the victims around us! And though there used to be a lot of sorcery in the town, in recent years, six churches have been planted there, and the few remaining sorcerers have fled from the outskirts even into the woods!
As for the village itself, poverty was a tremendous issue. Most the children did not have clothes, no one had anything new, and most people didn’t have enything that fit them. The kids all ran after me calling, “Ye vu, ye vu!” which is the Ewe version of “Obroni!” They were really starved for affection and attention; anywhere I went, they chased after me and fought to hold my hands. I had two children on each finger, and so a horde of at least twenty kids around me at all times!! All the buildings were made of mud with stick roofs, including the little one-room place we stayed in. When we had to go to the bathroom, we went outside! When we showered, we got water from a well almost a mile away and carried the bucket back to these metal sheets that were sort-of blocking us from the public eye. Our landlady was so sweet though - we lived in luxury - she’d heat up our water sometimes!!!
The school was probably what impacted me the most; it was basically some metal sheets propped up by some sticks, no walls, broken desks, and blackboards. The town was really small (in population; we did a lot of walking!) so there was only one elementary school and one junior high school. The elementary school had three teachers for all six years; the junior high school had one teacher and a headmaster who was never there. Every morning, the kids would come back from early-morning fishing, do chores, put on whatever parts of their school uniforms they had (some only had underwear) and go to school, and usually, play around in classrooms that just did not have teachers in them. When we came to teach, they were soooo respectful and eager to learn. “Yes madame!” they shouted eagerly, all the time. It was just heartbreaking to see how hard basic things were for them, and to measure their enthusiasm against their odds; honestly, almost none of them will ever go to high school, even. It’s too expensive.
Anyway, I’ll share some testimonies in another message, this one is long enough! Now, we’re back at the University of Ghana, and the huge amount of wealth is overwhelming me - and this is NOTHING compared to America! Please pray against bitterness; so far, I just feel blessed, but that could change easily to feeling angry about the disparity. Today we leave to go live with some host families, who are wealthy as well, and to begin our urban ministry; after this week of working hard, we’ll go to a hotel to debrief and begin eating American food again.
So please pray against bitterness, for my time with my host family, and for my health! In short, I’ve been painfully peeing blood for a while now - we thought it was this one local disease, which we couldn’t get the medicine for for a while, but I took it a few days ago and the symptoms are still here. So it’s something else, we don’t know what yet. I’ll be going to see a doctor soon, but pray that it’s nothing serious, and that God will heal me. I know he can do it, I’ve even seen him use me to heal others!!
Love you guys, and I’ll be home SO soon! 18 days!!! Miss you, and thanks again for praying/reading all this haha.
Ye vu! Ye vu!
