Our Neighbors

Behind our house is a village type setting. There are houses that are made up of scrap metal, wood, cardboard boxes etc. They do not have running water or electricity. It is a sad situation when we look at the little kids running around hungry and dirty. One day April went to the bakery and bought some cake and gave it to the kids. When she gave them the bag some of them starting crying. Of course, we’re not sure if that was because they were happy or fighting over it… Our guard told us of a young mother who lives back there who had been sick in bed for 11 days. She finally went to the doctor and got a prescription. Long story short somone asked our guard to ask us to help buy the medicine. We were concerned about setting a precedent. Spencer decided to look on the internet to see what kind of medicine she was prescribed. It was for Malaria! This girl was very sick... so we decided to send our guard for the medicine. The medicine may have saved her life. It is sad to know that many die because they can't afford the $10 medicine. That money was nothing to us, but meant a great deal to her. So after getting the medicine April made up a plate of food and took it to her shack. Of course, our guard went with her because her French is... limited. Seeing their living conditions saddened April. The girl was able to eat the food and was better in just a couple of days. Praise the Lord.


On Wednesday,May 14th, we were sitting on our couch when we heard lots of screaming. April ran to the front of the house and I ran to the back. When she opened the door our guard was throwing his things inside our gate and yelling at her in French. He seemed very upset. So as April ran to get me I told her to stay inside and look for my ladder. Of course, she didn't stay inside - she ran back to the front after finding the ladder and noticed that the dark sky was red. The red was from a huge fire that was on the other side of our wall. There were 2 of the shanty houses that were burning. When April stepped outside of our wall/gate kids and people were screaming. It was very upsetting to hear people screaming and crying. Our guard, Cheik and I got the ladder and managed to get our water hose over the wall. We are thankful we have a long hose. As they were trying to put out the fire with our hose and low water pressure from our house, April called another missionary not knowing what else to do. We weren’t even sure if the fire truck could even get to the fire. But after talking with missionary Tim Eby he managed to call our pastor who ended up calling the fire department. Surprisingly the fire truck arrived about 15 minutes later. All they were able to do at that point was to make sure the fire was out. The national police showed up later and took 4 people away. This was apparently arson. Pray that we will know how to respond to someone who has lost so little, but at the same time everything.

Spencer in Ghana

I went to Ghana for 10 days of leadership and education meetings.  It was a great experience.  The opportunity to meet the leaders on our field was great.  The District Superintendents and or Ministry Coordinators were there from Benin, Togo, Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Cape Verde, and Senegal.  One really cool thing was to meet Matt Price who was our LINKS missionary in Lake City!  Small world, huh?  Well, West Africa is seeing a lot happening and there is really much more on the horizon...  

I thought it might be interesting to share some of my experiences on the trip.  First of all, I thought Senegal was hot... until I went to Ghana.  We would lay down to go to sleep most nights, around 11:00 p.m. and the temp. would still be about 92 in our room with - I'm guessing - about 80% humidity!  Comfy!  Although the cold shower just before bed didn't hurt, when we had water...  I did have my first bucket bath also.  You do kinda get used to sweating all the time after a while.  There were about 20 guys staying at the church.  We had four showers, all cold, and one sink - outside.  We ate a lot of rice and various sauces, all sauces were a little spicy, a welcome change from Senegal!  We ate lunch at a local restaurant several days.  When we walked in the second day and saw bowls of water and soap on the tables, I wondered what it was for.  The second day I saw it, I knew we would be eating with our hands...  So we drank our water from bags and ate with our hands. : -)   

The markets were much like Senegal, however... Ghana is an English speaking country (a surprisingly strange adjustment) so they had many products that we are used to that are unavailable in Senegal.  I was able to bring back some brown sugar, Crystal hot sauce, Tobasco, and even a little Root Beer!  I was able to walk around town one day with Frank Mills, a local pastor from Accra.  We taxied around to find a bank that would accept my check card, stopped at his mother's house and had a "Vita Milk," a very different drink for an American (Soy milk), and walked a few miles around town.  By the end of the trip, I had tried a "Malta Guinness" also.  Again, a very unusual drink.  It tastes like drinking carbonated grape nuts with a corn flake finish.  I'm not kidding!  The funny thing is it was surprisingly refreshing on a hot day.  Well, I could tell things of much more significance, but I thought these experiences might be interesting to others.  If the conditions sound miserable to you, well...  I had a wonderful time.  The only condition I really didn't like is my family wasn't with me!  God is good!  Oh I almost forgot, I was able to attend a Sunday service in English for the first time since we moved here!  God IS good.  Be blessed.  And feel free to join me here up on the Potter's wheel.  Spencer.