To and Fro

 It has been a personal goal of ours to try and visit and encourage our brethren working in other congregations. God has since opened many doors for us to do that.

Bolga Men’s Retreat

This March, our family made a commitment to travel up to Bolgatanga in the Northern Region of Ghana. This region is very HOT and really dry as it is closer to the Sahara desert. It was a long 10 hour drive from Kumasi to get there. The bad roads didn’t help the kids’ car sickness either but we were thankful to make it safely!  Upon arrival we were able to meet and encourage the evangelist, Adam Akola, & family who are serving up there and are running a Christian School as well. It was refreshing to see their dedicated work, be encouraged by them, and encourage as well. We took along Zion’s classmate, Benjamin Opoku (whose father is the local evangelist in a town near Kumasi), so he could see what it is like to serve the Lord in other parts of Ghana. I took Zion and Benjamin with me for the annual Men’s Retreat! It was a great bonding and learning time with just the guys! 

We camped out on the Bongo mountains, had several encouraging messages, great singing, and the kids and adults took turns quoting passages of Scripture they were memorizing! It was all very motivating. 

We got to spend an extra day with Adam and his family as we visited and had great fellowship, shared ministry ideas, and spurred each other on in the good work! On the way back, we stopped at the waterfall for a few hours as a reward for our kids who had been such good troopers. Though it was a tight squeeze for 7 of us in a 5-seater car, it was worth it to see all our kids learned together, especially Benjamin and Zion.  As a parent, I enjoyed seeing how much they both grew during that whole trip.

The kids inside a HUGE anthill on the way back from Bola

Music Concert

We arrived in time to be part of a musical concert that a young man in our congregation had put together. He had a group together to lead and sing Gospel music in our neighborhood and had also invited other groups to perform as well. 

I was blessed with the opportunity to speak the Word and encourage all at the gathering. It was a great opportunity as it gave our congregation an avenue to reach outside of the church/school premises. It is my prayer that the seeds sown would grow and that the Lord may continue to give us more opportunities to serve like that.

Accra Trip

We had been praying about being able to visit my wife’s brother and family (Jeremiah Hostetter and family) who are currently serving the Lord in Cameroon. Our kids prayed fervently and tirelessly until God answered that prayer. As we made preparations, God opened doors so that we could visit and encourage others in the process. We travelled to Accra, the capital, to work on passports for Gilead and Zion. We had the opportunity to see the Accra school in session, help in it, and spend quality time there with the saints in Accra. We saw first hand the dedication of Kukua Jantuah (Jessica’s first disciple to Christ) as she works so many hours each week to teach the seven students as well as care for her youngest toddler.  We are praying that God will raise up a volunteer to assist in the work there as each student is in a different level (grade) and requires a lot of personal attention and time and is a huge task for one person.  It is encouraging that my sister, Gifty, was able to start volunteering once a week now and give Kukua a little break.  We were thankful to get to spend time with Gifty as she hosted us and also got to visit and spend time with my older sister and my mother as well. 

Attah's mom with some of her grandchildren

Abidjan Trip

     After the passports were obtained in a record time of 5 days, my younger brother, Jackson, and I made a long and eventful bus trip to Abidjan in the neighboring country of Ivory Coast to apply for our Cameroonian visas. 

We got to meet up with a family who had their kids in our Christian school when they lived in Kumasi for a few years and we ended up staying with them for the three day period it took to complete the visa paperwork. It was good to see their family again and catch up.  It is amazing the way God works out details and what a small world it seems to be when you meet people you know in places you never imagined!

Abidjan market

Jackson and I also got to practice our French which our family had been studying in preparation for our trip to Cameroon...... more details of our Cameroon trip in our next report!  Au revoir!