I recently took a trip to Kumasi, Ghana to visit a team of missionaries there. It’s about a 5-hour bus ride, but thankfully they sent a young Ghanaian woman down to ‘fetch’ me and bring me back because I would not have known what to do if the bus would have had troubles. The bus was actually pretty nice. It was much cleaner than the average taxi (okay, so that’s not really saying much, but there weren’t any chickens or goats on board), and it had A/C so strong I had to turn mine off! I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve been cold in the last 3 months, and two of those times were going to Kumasi and returning from Kumasi! :)
They do have things called tro-tros (that is a total guess at the spelling) that are basically like a 15 passenger van with a hatch-type back door. Usually there’s about 20 people or more in there, beside whatever else has been strapped onto the top and what is hanging out the hatch. It’s an interesting sight to behold, and I don’t think I’ll ever be brave enough to try one of those things. My personal favorite is when another missionary says, “Hey, can I give you a ride to….?”
But back to the bus. I had no idea that there were ever movies made in Ghana, but unfortunately they are. For the entire ride there and the entire ride back (with the exception of about 40 minutes some guy stood up to preach) they played these cheesy, Ghana made movies with lots of screaming, violence and other things I didn’t want to look at or to listen. Praise the Lord for my IPod that has over 200 sermons, 500 songs and the entire Bible on it! While at times I still had to put my hands over my ears to block the sounds from the movie and to hear what I was listening to, I was thankful the movies were in the local dialects so I couldn’t understand them if I did hear anything.
One thing I noticed both going and coming is that almost every village has a ‘church’ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) and Jehovah Witnesses. We may not like their doctrine, but they are more faithful to what they believe than most folks who have the truth.
While I was at Kumasi I helped in a small ACE Christian school scoring paces. Both the missionary kids (MKs) and Ghanaian church members children make up the student body. This was my first experience with ACE, but I think it would be great material to help Isaac learn to read. Currently, I’m using an A Beka reader, but I wish I had more pictures. Isaac doesn’t know the English words to a lot of things, so sometimes I’m just busy trying to teach him what a word means. Otherwise it is nonsensical to him. Beside that, the reader has animals meeting one another like people do. Try explaining that to someone who probably has been exposed to animistic beliefs!
Speaking of Isaac, I would like to tell you about his recent conversion. Since trying to teach him to read he has been more willing to talk to me. Before, he was so quiet that I didn’t know if he understood anything I said or not. Now, I realize that he’s probably watched enough Hollywood movies that he understands more than I have given him credit.
Anyhow, I was given the Firm Foundations material that presents the Bible chronologically. Unfortunately, I asked for the wrong series – there is evidently a series for Western cultures and another for more tribal cultures. But I have still found the material very helpful. In particular the sketches that accompany the Bible accounts of the Old Testament are great when you’re working with someone that is illiterate. It helps them picture those things to which you are referring. For Isaac and me, the sketch of Cain offering fruit from the garden and Abel preparing to cut the throat of a lamb was a tremendous help.
Last Tuesday Isaac was late getting to work. That is unheard of for Isaac. He has never been late in the 3 months I’ve been here. All I could picture in my mind was him laying dead on the side of the road after being hit by a car or something (he rides his bike to work each day). The Holy Spirit just pricked my heart that I had not fully given him the gospel. Once before he was in my presence as I gave the gospel to someone else, but I was not addressing him per se as I didn’t think he understood at the time. When Isaac showed up about 40 minutes late he explained that he had overslept and got here as fast as possible.
We have been doing a Bible lesson four evenings a week after his reading lesson, so that evening I was very pressed in my spirit to present the gospel, even though we had only gone through Cain and Abel in the accounts of the Bible. For two hours we talked about how Adam and Eve tried to hide their sin and cover it up with their own works, and how Cain tried to offer the works of his own hands as well, but that these efforts and offerings were not satisfactory to God. God demanded that blood be shed as a payment for sin. It isn’t enough that sin is forgiven – a righteous judge cannot simply forgive a criminal for his transgression. The sin debt must be paid. After I brought Isaac to the understanding that he and I both are sinners, eternally separated from God because of our sin and deserving of eternity in Hell, I showed him the sketch of Cain and Abel. I reminded him that the works of our own hands cannot satisfy God. I asked him, “Isaac, can you die in my place to pay for my sin?” He immediately said that he would! But then I asked him, “Isaac, what about your sin? You can’t die for me because you owe the same debt I owe. Do you know someone that can die in our place, someone whose death is acceptable to God because He has never sinned?” He thought for a minute then looked up and said, “Jesus!” Amen!! That’s what I’m talking about!! I then pointed back to the picture and asked him if he knew that Jesus was called the Lamb of God, and he said he knew that but he didn’t understand why. I then explained to him while pointing at the picture of Abel with a knife to the lamb’s throat that Jesus was like a lamb that went to the slaughter, and that just as God accepted Abel’s sacrifice, He accepted Christ’s. Shortly thereafter he placed his trust in Jesus Christ to pay his sin debt instead of trusting his own good works. Praise the Lord! Thanks to all who have prayed for him.
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