Back home from Ghana!

We’re back from Ghana!

It has been an amazing journey of experiencing different cultures, different food, different climate… and also experiencing the Lord in a completely different light.

We arrived to Accra on Monday night (Feb 4), slept for 4 hours and went back to the airport to catch a plane to Tamale, in the north. We got there at 7.30am. One of the pastors picked us up and drove for almost 5 hours until we finally reached Zebilla, our home for a week. We met some other pastors that day and then rested and prepared for the outreach.

We went to a different church every day and shared with people. Because we were foreigners, a lot of people came to the service. Not just the church members but everyone from that village that had time. That’s why we used the opportunity and shared the gospel with every message.

I was stretched out with teaching at church. I’ve only taught kids at our youth group and that was different – here I had to share a message from the Bible and try to apply it to their culture. Not the easiest thing to do! The Lord was so faithful though, and He spoke to me + through me very clearly. Things I shared with churches were things He’s been teaching me over the past couple of years. Verses I used in the teachings are verses He’s been sharing with me. I was terrified before I had to teach every time, but once I started, I loved it!!

There were so many kids – at least 200 in every village we visited! We brought them some group toys to play with and they loved it. We also brought them Bible stories coloring pages and coloring pencils. They didn’t know what coloring pencils are so I asked if they know any kids of paint. One of the pastors said they know paint (probably acrilyc) so I told the kids coloring pencils are like dry paint. They got it :) while they were coloring we were able to share the stories they were coloring, and with the stories the gospel.

The kids received everything with so much joy and thankfulness. Also, Ghanians are such a humble and serving nation! I felt so respected and loved by them!

So, one of the reasons I went to Ghana was to live out my dream of going to Africa, but also to spy out the land and see if Ghana is the place where He’d want me to go.

The Lord first spoke to me on Friday (Feb 8). I shared with one of the churches in Burkina Faso. Afterwards everyone comes to you, shakes your hand and says “God bless you”.  One of the pastor’s wives came to me and said “I’m looking forward to hear more of your teachings.” I was pretty much shocked! I’ve never taught people at church before, have no real experience with it… and here I am in Ghana where this woman came and said she’s looking forward to hear me teach again. Who am I? I’m nothing, I’m no one! Yet God used me and spoke through me. I was so humbled…

I had a battle inside for the first 4 days. I had to get used to the heat, less food, culture, language… and it took me 3 days. If someone would ask me if I’d like to move to Ghana in those first 3 days, I’d say no. But then the Lord spoke to me in Burkina Faso… and I started thinking and praying about it.

Saturday was a great day. We visited 3 different churches but in order for us to do that, we needed to split the team. I went to a village called Kamega with pastor Michael. I played with the kids for an hour and then shared with the church. That’s when I met Sarah. She is such a strong young lady, with a great gift of leadership! She leads worship at church and also leads youth. She is only 16 years old but the Lord put her strongly on my heart and I’d like to ask you to join me in prayer for her. I believe the Lord would like to do many great things through + in Sarah!

After Saturday I started liking Ghana. Don’t get me wrong… it’s not like I hated it for the first 3 days, it’s just that I wasn’t used to the new things. I did love their worship from the second I heard it! No instruments, no distractions… just their voices and clapping hands. And some dancing too, sometimes. I also loved the simplicity of life they live. And they are happy!

Every morning one of us had a devotional, and we were going through the book of Philippians. I shared from Philippians 3 on Sunday morning. I asked a question and it seemed like God was asking me that question. "Do we consider everything as a loss? Are we ready to lose everything and move to Ghana so we can gain Christ?"

We had a church service on Sunday, united with a farewell service (we were leaving the next morning). It lasted for almost 5 hours. There was a lot of worship, Ana, Shaunice and I shared 5min each, Gus shared for 30min, and then pastor Moses and pastor Michael both shared.

We left Zebilla on Monday morning and drove to Pepease for 15 hours. It was a long drive but we saw so much of Ghana! It really is a beautiful country!

Pepease is a small town where they have a Calvary Chapel Bible Training Center. Pastor Donne, the man who runs the center, met us in the morning and showed us around campus. Later on one of the students took us around and showed us the town. We also visited Calvary Chapel Community Academy (Primary school) and the headmaster said they're looking for assistants! I thought to myself »something to pray about!«.

We rested for that day and left for Accra the next day. We visited art market where we bought some bracelets and small things for our families and ourselves. They have beautiful art!

That night Ana and I flew back to Frankfurt and from there to Venice. It was a shock to come from 45°C to 0°C!
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I've been home for a good week now and I've been feeling discouraged and tired. I talked to one of the American missionary couples just a few days after I came back home and they really encouraged me. They also lent me a book by David Platt called »Radical«. I gotta say I just love it!

This is one of the things he says.

»The modern-day gospel says, »God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Therefore, follow these steps, and you can be saved.« Meanwhile, the biblical gospel says, »You are an enemy of God, dead in your sin, and in your present state of rebellion, you are not even able to see that you need life, much less to cause yourself to come to life. Therefore, you are radically dependent on God to do something in your life that you could never do.«

The former sells books and draws crowds. The latter saves souls.

Which one is more important?

I’ve been discouraged for many different reasons but one of them is the difference of receiving the gospel in Ghana and in Slovenia. People in Slovenia are hungry for the Lord and are seeking Him, but it takes a lot longer for them to realize who He is and that they need Him, while people in Ghana got it pretty much right away!

We decided to change one of our youth groups a bit. We went through different subjects of the Bible, we talked about who God is and why we believe He exists… we talked about missionaries and Jesus a lot… and we shared the gospel. But there wasn’t a constant theme going on and that was hard on us as leaders and probably on the youth as well. That’s why we decided we’re going to have a Bible study as a part of the youth group. Instead of me talking about something, we’ll be going through the gospel of Mark, verse by verse, chapter by chapter. Discussing, asking questions, maybe even arguing. But we’re going to bring it on, black on white.

This kind of scares me because this means some of the kids may not want to come back to our youth group. But… do I want to present the gospel as some steps they need to follow and tell them to just trust God and everything will be ok? There are no steps to follow to be saved! You need to realize you need Jesus, believe what He did for us is really true + depend on Him!

The Lord’s been teaching me about simplicity of the gospel lately. We are just the messengers. We share the gospel, as simple as it is, and people may receive it or not – but that’s not up to us; it’s up to the Holy Spirit.

I’m really excited to see what the Lord will be teaching me in the next season of my life as I seek Him and His leadership. “Everything is a preparation for something.” One of my Bible College teachers said that and it’s true! Youth groups in Slovenia are a preparation for something in the future – only God knows what! And I’m thankful I get to learn and serve Him, wherever, however. But I’m also thankful He called me to Africa and answered my prayers! I serve an amazing God who is always faithful! Glory to Him!