This month in Ghana we are doing it all: construction check, children’s check, preaching check, evangelism check, dance team check, drama team check, sport’s check, and women’s check. All of it. It’s exciting, fun, busy, rewarding, and challenging. For construction ministry we are renovating and painting a boy’s home that our ministry partners are starting. For children’s ministry we are visiting local schools. We tell a Bible story and then act it out. The Bible story that we have told is the parable of the ten talents; we use seashells instead of talents. Then we ask the kids to think about the talents/gifts that God has given them. Are they using them or are they burying their talents in the sand? Afterwards we help them memorize a Bible verse, Matthew 25:21: ‘Well done faithful servant, you have faithful with a little so I will trust you with a lot!’ For preaching ministry we are going to churches in nearby villages and preaching the Word of God. For evangelism ministry we are walking up and down the beach talking to local fishermen and the local women who sit under the shade of the palm trees making or mending nets. For dance and drama ministry, we dance or act out Bible stories at church before we speak, with the kids at the schools, and at sport’s ministry. For sport’s ministry we go into the community on Saturdays and invite kids to come dance, sing, and play sports with us. The kid’s come to the beach where our ministry provides breakfast, then we share our songs and dances, a Bible story and its drama, and then we play basketball or soccer in the sand. For women’s ministry the Star Warrior ladies are hosting a young women’s retreat this weekend; they are encouraging the girls to stand up for a sister.
Ministry is all around. Some days it’s easier than others, but it’s rewarding to keep going and press into God’s strength, to serve the community in so many different aspects. While we have done many different forms of ministry my favorite part of ministry this has been at our host’s home. Our hosts have 3 boys (2 of their own and own foster) under the age of 6. I love wrestling with them on the couch or tossing the Frisbee to them or reading a book to them before they go to bed. They bring so much life and energy to their home, to our home. One of my favorite memories of the month involves one of the boys, Koffi. Koffi is the foster boy that live with our hosts. Koffi recently just turned 6 and we were able to celebrate his birthday with him.
One day I was washing my clothes in a 5 gal. bucket in the lawn, when Koffi comes up and asks me if he could help wash my clothes. I said of course, so Koffi reached into the soapy bucket and pulled out of my socks and began to rinse it in another bucket. After he rinsed it I would wring it out and put it on the clothes line. Koffi would reach in and pull the other sock out and rinse it. After he found all my socks, he moved on to my underwear, and then my t-shirts. When he got to my pants, he couldn’t lift them out of the bucket because they were too heavy. I told Koffi that I could finish, but he stayed with me while I rinsed and hung up my pants. Koffi even helped rinse out the soapy bucket when we were all done. I didn’t need any help washing clothes but I wasn’t going to send Koffi away. I loved his willingness to help me and it gave me an opportunity to get to know Koffi and just love on him. Sometimes the best ministry is the ministry that happens at home.
