Hi Family!! Matthew here!
I wanted to take some time to fill you guys in on what we have been doing here in Ghana and what the work out the ground here looks like, SO here you go 🙂
About 1 month before we left America to begin this journey, I was blessed with the opportunity to teach a two week class on the topic of “Outreach” at our local church in Pennsylvania. At the very end of the two weeks in which we spent much time in the Word, my final exhortation was “Use your passions.” God made us who we are and graciously gave us our hobbies, interests, and passions and He gave them not just to escape from reality. We were given our passions because it is what will give Him the most Glory. God loves when we are partnering with Him for His Glory, and when we are using what God gave us, we are also receiving that joy. God is fun! And what is more freeing than using what you love to make an eternal impact? God gets the glory and we get the joy!
That is exactly what we are doing here in Ghana. We are using our passions. We are getting to use our love for sports daily by playing basketball with an organization called Hoops Care International. They are an organization that is focused on training and growing kids and teens into the best they can be and helping them get scholarships to play basketball in America and all over the world. They train everyday to grow and reach their dreams. They are also connected to (but not affiliated with) NBA Cares, so the likes of Chris Bosh and David West have been on the court we play at daily.
So we are here to partner with this organization and the Holy Spirit to bring the Kingdom. We show up to the court and begin by breaking into groups and sharing the Word of God. Afterwards we warm up and run some drills before we play basketball until the sun goes down (these kids can play forever). God is getting so much glory and we are getting so much joy.
I (Matt) have gotten to use and even cooler passion this month. I have really grown and began to love to create and edit videos (nothing fancy but I am learning). God put on our hearts to help these teens reach their dreams of furthering their education through basketball, so thanks to some donors, we were able to rent out a university gym for 8 guys whose age ranged from 14-19. I have never seen boys like this before. One of the young men was 14 years old and 6’8”. Yes you did not read that wrong he really is that tall!! We spent over 4 hours recording film of them playing and doing individual workouts so that we can put together individual recruiting videos for them. We are still hard at work finalizing these videos but it has been such a blessing to be a part of these kids journey and how thankful they are. So many of them have invited us to meet their family and become a deeper part of their lives. That is such an honor here. We have received so much love and gratefulness and all we did was do what we love to do. God received all the glory and we got partner in His joy. Plus they let me pour into them with the Word of God, lead their workouts, play alongside! It does not get cooler than that!
We also spend some of our time in the mornings at a local school. Both Kalyn and I are passionate about growth and learning so it has been so nice to be invited into this school and essentially teach the kids English, Math, Science, and more. The kids also love to act out and learn Bible stories and songs. It’s been really cool to use some songs that we did at Shekinah in Africa! It can often be challenging because we learned the long way that it takes 1 hour to teach 4-5 year olds how to write the letter “A” in capital and lower case, but it is so joyful to know that at the end of the day you have imparted something and impacted someone even if it is just the letter “A.” We have a passion to teach and see people have the “lightbulb” moment so once again, God got the glory and we got joy!
Lastly, we have had many opportunities to do evangelism and lead Bible studies. We have gotten to invite those who we have shared with on the streets to join us at the bible studies that have been started since we arrived. We have even had the amazing opportunity for the women on our team to lead a female Bible study at our compound we stay at for all the girls who live there. The young men, women, boys, and girls who we live with at the compound have been rescued out of very bad family situations and have been taken in by the people we stay with. We enjoy facilitating and sharing the Word of God so it goes without saying that God gets the glory and we got joy! (For reference this picture is of two guys who randomly stopped to talk to me while I was having some time with Jesus in the middle of a isolated field! Of course the one guy had a random Pittsburgh shirt on and they both received Christ that day! God is wild!)
God loves for us to use what we love so we are praying that these stories and great opportunities will encourage you to use what you love this week and see what God does. If you love cooking or watching movies invite over a friend, couple, or family to join you. If you like being outdoors then find a place to go on a hike and take someone with you. If you like coffee, (this should hit home with almost everyone) go to coffee shop and start a conversation with a stranger or even start a bible study at a coffee shop. There is nothing you love that God has not given you and made a way for you to love others with. The options are unlimited and so is Gods glory so let’s partner with God this week and have some fun!
Love you all! Thank You for making all this possible through Christ!
