ghana 1

as many of you know i had the opportunity to go to ghana last week. if you know me very well you also know that this was a huge step of faith for me. a few things to help bring others up to speed about me:

1. i am a germaphobe

2. i am a homebody

3. i don't like to sweat

4. i don't like flying for longer than about 3 hours

as you can imagine....all of these things would be tested. as you can also imagine.....i was apprehensive about the trip.

our host is named Stephen Aputara. we met him at a seminar in little rock arkansas in 2007. at the time we just exchanged business cards and went our separate ways. he also met and quickly befriended one of our staff members named don. stephen now confesses that he sensed from the beginning that God was creating a partnership. over the past 3 years stephen has invited me to ghana on several occasions. i had an excuse for everyone of them and never went. about 4 months ago he was in the states and told me that he wanted me to come and that i should let him know when i would be there and he would build everything around our visit. i didn't have a way out. i knew this was God's way of telling me "excuse making time is over...better start packing!"

news of my trip traveled quickly. almost immediately i had 7 other people who wanted to be a part of this journey. i thank God for blake, phillip alycia, kristen, garrett, kayla and sean. they were the perfect people to make this first and most important journey with me.

over the course of the next few months we prepared for our trip. financially, physically with lots of vaccinations and spiritually....we didn't know what to expect. the area where we served is saturated with Islam so we studied to ready ourselves for potential conversations. the preparation was so important for me on many personal levels.

the day finally arrived....we hugged our families and boarded the plane for Africa.

in the next several posts i will do my best to introduce you to some of the fascinating people we met and describe the remarkable places we went. a quick glimpse of what is ahead:

• bats in the worship center
• 150 kids under the pee-tree
• one a day vitamins...if you eat 2 you will die
• preaching by flashlight
• dancing with the widows
• whistling for crocodiles
• sleeping with the geckos
• eating the slaughtered goat
• tour de ghana to hear the gospel

it was an amazing journey.....stay connected to my blog and i'll tell you some incredible stuff!

on each post you will find a picture of one of the many widows i met along the way. i promised them we would pray for them so thanks in advance for lifting each of them up.