God Continues to Bless!

What a week it has been. The football tournament was a huge success. We expected 200 and ended with well over 250. For most of the team (or at least those of us addicted to soccer/football) perhaps the closest thing to nirvana was experienced with a 15-20 minute parade thru the slums of Medina with drums beating as loud as possible and a mass of jerseys and LA Galaxy TShirts strung as far as you could see. With support staff we were closing in the range of 275 strong. Considering we were walking thru a Muslim neighborhood created an even greater feeling as everyone would come out to get a feel for what was going on. The tournament was a success and we squeezed the finals into the 2nd day due to a conflict with summer school classes starting on Wednesday. The awards ceremony was rocking as it was a combination worship service / awards ceremony. The guest speaker was one of the premier sports broadcasters/tv personalities/newspaper writers in Ghana who is also a Christian. He delivered an excellent message. God almost stretched our prizes to cover the troops, but we will have to follow up with a small second order. Galaxy stuff is everywhere as well as Flipside stickers. We had NO idea how big a deal a ball was (even a small size 1 juggler). It equates to power in the neighborhood because the one with the ball gets to call the shots for who is playing and what the rules are. They liked the ribbons, bags, shirts, jerseys, and water bottles...BUT craved a ball!

VBS was also a huge success but it presented a chance to put into action the "flexibility" we talked about. There was a power struggle between some of the teachers that wanted to start summer school this week and the acting principal (Pastor John's Daughter) who wanted to the kids to be at VBS. In a way they both won and lost but in the end, the kids that missed VBS were the ones that lost out. There were 51 children out of about 250 on Friday that accepted Christ for the first time. In addition, they all had a blast. We tried to be as loud a possible so that the teachers that insisted on trying to have class rather than send them to VBS would have second thoughts next time. I'm sure Betsy will give more VBS details in her blog.

As far as Ghana goes, my one word is CONTRAST. The list could go on forever as it relates to the contrast. The bottom line is that inner city poverty/slums sit next to well equiped and large homes. Nice businesses are not that far from 5x5 shacks that are supporting a family. You can tell there is a state of growth here...but most of the people are not benefitting. One thing is consistent...the people are incredibly nice! More than anywhere I have ever been! Fortunately, most of the people seem to have access to minimal, basic food and water. After that, the rest is a wide range of contrast. My time is up but keep praying for our last few days and events.