Today began with two church services. At the first, King's Christian Ministry, we were only able to stay for praise and worship. Although we were only there for such a short amount of time, it was truly a blessing. Worship was incredible! Just listening and seeing the sincerity on people's faces was so great. They weren't just standing there or singing words that meant nothing to them. They sang and danced with all that was in them knowing that their Lord surely does live! I had wanted to stay for the full service, but before we knew it, it was time to head to the next service.
At the next service our group was introduced to the congregation before Tanishia and I made our way to the children's class for the rest of service. When we walked in I was blown away. The children were worshiping. When I say worshipping, I don't just meant there were songs being played for them, I mean they had several older children (maybe 13-15 years old) playing drums and singing. Every child there was singing and dancing along! I can't wait to put up video!
After this the teacher invited any children who had a special song they wanted to share. Several children came up to sing and were immediately accompanied by the drums and the voices of their peers. There was also more dancing! I wanted to get up to dance, but I had attracted a little girls of maybe three years old who was sitting in my lap. I tried to resist making her move, but eventually I couldn’t hold back the dancing any longer! She held my hand the whole time as we danced in the circle with the other young girls. At this time the teacher began the lesson. As she was teaching I really felt led to share with the children that Jesus loves them and present the Gospel to them. When I was done about 30 children came forward to receive Christ! It was incredible! My prayer now is that they understood their decision and that it was a true conversion. Either way it was so awesome to hear this huge group of kids pray to receive Christ in their native language (the teacher was translating for me)!
The festivities weren’t done yet though! Dr. Clarke arranged to bring in soda and biscuits (cookies) for each child. Some of the children from the surrounding homes got wind of what was going on and came over to get some. At first the teacher and other students in the class were keeping this group of about 20 children outside fearing there wouldn’t be enough for the class and these extras. I stayed by the door, however, and assured everyone that we would have enough. Eventually they let these children come sit inside and participate with us. It seemed like such a short time and it was time to leave.
At this point I was exhausted. We had been up late at the revival the night before, then I had attended both services that morning. It had already been a long day and we weren’t even halfway through yet! Lunch was decided upon and we were able to sit and rest in the ac on the bus while waiting for food to be prepared. When it was done we enjoyed chicken and fried rice, among other dishes, under the shade of a giant tree.
Next came a meeting with the chief of Tamale. This was a very interesting meeting, but the story comes more before we met with the chief. There were several young boys outside playing soccer. Apparently the draw was too much for Dr. Clarke and Kwaun who both ended up playing football (soccer) with the kids. We got some awesome photos and videos!
Finally, the time came for Angela and Vincent Adkins to leave us. They were part of the team from a church in NYC who decided to stay longer than the rest of the group. Having quickly become part of our group is was very hard to see them go. Their flight left early this morning (Tuesday) so please be praying for travel mercies that they will be returning safely home shortly.
Even with so much having occurred already, our day was still not over. We were able to get some rest before another program with the revival that night. Although they had seats set up for us, I just couldn’t seem to stay seated. After the first song I walked to the back of the meeting where I stayed for the entire event. I walked the periphery praying constantly for those at the meeting, the speakers, those at the “bar” next door, those within earshot, etc. I couldn’t possibly type out the amazing things we saw that night. The Holy Spirit surely showed up in amazing ways.
Another tidbit from the program that night – on three separate occasions I was approached by a toddler with open arms! It was so amazing. The first time was when we first got there. A little boy of about 1.5-2 years came toddling up to me and hugged my legs as I walked to the seats. Then as I walked to the back of the meeting another little boy approached me in the same way. It was such an encouragement and just made my heart smile! J
As I mentioned, there is so much more to tell, but it would be very hard for me to write everything out right now. I’ll have to write as begin to process things later as well.
Prayer Requests:
- Travel mercies for Angela and Vincent.
Praises:
- Praise God for allowing us to take part in the mighty work He is doing in Ghana!
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