Since my last blog, I made it to the first of two teams I would be visiting as a Squad Leader to partner with and do ministry alongside this month in Ghana! This team, “the Fellowship,” loves Jesus and each other a crazy amount. They were partnered with an international church and spent their days in the streets sharing the love of Jesus with everyone they encounter (so sweet!).
One day, we went in threes to different areas of the village.
We spoke with a man who was a Christian. He said he didn’t go to church because he didn’t have anything nice to wear. We shared with him how much Jesus loves him and about the value of community. Come as you are, it is SO worth it.
While I was dancing in the streets with some children, one of my teammates, Alex, began praying for a woman with intense pain in her hip. We shared the message of Jesus and then left. 15 minutes later, she came looking for us to tell us that her hip was completely painless!
We were then invited into the home of a family with three generations of women cooking for a family funeral. They were believers. One of these women could no longer attend church because she was sick and had trouble walking. I told her that where God’s people are, His spirit rests in us, and that we can have church wherever we want! So we prayed for healing and mourning and spiritual wellness, and then we worshipped and sang to the Lord in the native language, Twi. I knew the Lord was telling me to give a message to preach in our makeshift church service, but I still did not know what to say by the time worship was over. Oh Lord, You are going to have to do this one, because I have no idea, I thought. And then, like He always does, God used me to preach out of John 1 like I had been studying for weeks! God spoke loud and clear and I was His vessel. Wow, I love Him.
Sitting on the sidewalk, later that day, a 72 year old woman ran up to me asking me to be her friend. She embraced me like we had known each other for years. Our connection was instant. She wanted to show me her house. After getting a teammate to join, we set off. She talked about her life, her children, her grandchildren, and we laughed a lot. She showed my her friends, her stand were she sells canned goods and yams, and her home. She loved me like Jesus does. When I left, I told her I was going back to the town over where we slept. She said, oh ok, can you bring me back some bread from there? They have the best bread. I laughed but almost cried because I knew it would be a long time before I could return and see her again. Thank you Jesus for my friend.
