Yakubu Goes Back to School

On the mission front, my trip to northern Ghana was very fruitful and encouraging. If there is a single sentence to capture the trip, it will be Jesus’ quote in Matt 9:37 –  “The harvest is plenty, but the workers are few.” I spent close to two weeks visiting, training, and encouraging our co-missionaries living and working among the Kantosi, Chakali, and Dagomba people groups.

I however spent more time with the Chakali missionaries. A week before my visit, they organized a series of outreaches and crusades in one of their neighboring villages called Gurumbelle and the Lord rewarded their efforts by giving us a harvest of Kingdom brothers and sisters. They ended up planting a community fellowship (church) for the new converts and I needed to plan with them a sustainable roadmap for Christ-like discipleship of the new converts.

Please continue to pray for Simon and Elias (our co-missionaries) working among the Kantosi people group as they continue to engage their community with the love of Jesus Christ. They are working in a community that’s not receptive to the gospel (although safe) with 99.8 % Muslims. Our co-missionaries continue to teach in the community school and use the opportunity to share the love and gospel of Jesus with their students in very creative ways.

The rest of the time was a pastoral visit with our co-missionaries working among the Dagomba people group (Jessica, Framist, Saani, Evelyn, and Prosper). It’s always a joy and encouragement to see them and hear about the discipleship going on in their communities. We are also in the process of building a new mission house for the team in the Dagomba land. The only outstanding work relates to electrical wiring, fixing doors and windows, painting, and furnishing for the team to move in. We embarked on this project because their living quarters is not suitable to comfortably accommodate their number. Additionally, one of our indigenous co-missionaries (Saani) and his wife are expecting their first child in the next two months and will need more space.

While in the North, I used the opportunity to visit our friend and brother Yakubu at school. You might recall from 2018-2019 how the Lord saved him from the darkness of Islam and occultism. His heart desire after his salvation encounter was to go back to school if he could get a scholarship (after over 3 years of being out of school). Well, by the grace of God and through your support he is back in school, and the Scripture Union (SU) president told me Yakubu never misses SU meetings and discipleship times.

This is just one of the many stories of how God is saving and transforming lives on the mission fields, one heart at a time. We, as a family and a mission team, would always reflect on Jesus’ words in Luke 17:6-10. Verse 10 says “So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.” (NKJV)

Prayer Needs

Please pray that:

• Simon and Elias (working among the Kantosi people group) will be encouraged to continue sharing the love of Jesus even though they are not seeing much fruit now.
• the new converts of Gurumbelle would continue to hunger and thirst more for Jesus. That they will grow in their new relationship with the true God.
• God will bless George, Godfred, and their translators with wisdom and humility as they disciple the new converts in Gurumbelle.
• the Lord will continue to pour in funds so we complete the building project on time.
• Saani’s wife will have a safe delivery with no complications. 
• Yakubu will continue to cherish his faith in Christ and to love Jesus with all his heart.
• all our fellow missionaries would be supernaturally protected from this global pandemic.
• Jesus will continue to be our first love and bringing Him glory will be the motive for all that we do.
• The Holy Spirit will continue to guide Afua in this new prospective job offer.