We finished repacking last night and after a good night's sleep are ready for our final service with the brethren here. We wondered what breakfast might bring this morning.Last night we had asked for a hard boiled egg and fried veggies. When it arrived we had one plate with scrambled eggs by themselves, another plate with two hard boiled eggs and fried veggies. Pretty close to what we actually asked for! There was another plate with three small bananas on it.Even though they were pretty blotchy, it was a nice treat.
We went up to the lobby before nine to see if the Internet was working yet. I have not been able to upload anything since our first day here as the hotel wifi has not been working. Today the wifi is working, but it does not connect out to the Internet, so is of no use to us. The only way I've been able to download email is by turning on my cell phone data roaming and turning it into a hotspot for my iPad. Not looking forward to seeing the bill for data when we get home, but if it keeps the brethren here connected to the world, it will be worth it.
Shortly after we got to the lobby I received a text from Mr. Dima saying Daniel is on his way to pick us up because many of the brethren would like their picture with us. This seems odd to us, but we have to remember how rare it is to have visitors from the west here. Unfortunately, Daniel's car broke down on the way over in front of the school we drive by each day. Thankfully Daniel had a school mate, now a science teacher, who had been transferred to work at this school! This man was kind enough to drive over to pick us up and would also bring us back after services if Daniel's car was not repaired.
We arrived at services about 9:40 to find we were on African time again today. We fellowshipped until about 10:30 when services began. After the sermonette, we read the new Feast greetings we received from the other sites. Since we had been completely out of contact with the world, Mr. Sandilands' comments were the first we heard about hurricane Nate threatening the Caribbean and Orange Beach. I'm sure God will watch over His people at His feast sites where He has placed His name.
The sermonette was in Twi. All we understand are the scriptural references that we can also look up in our Bibles. This sermonette had more scriptures turned to than most. I'll ask Mr. Clark to work with the speakers to be sure that there is a better balance between reading the scripture and commenting upon it. The Twi sermonettes and two sermons we've heard so far are a bit light on the scripture reading and a bit lopsided on commentary. Both are needed, but scripture is king. Another thing I'll need to ask Mr. Clark about is the practice of having an emcee plus a song leader. Our tradition is that the song leader is also the 'master of ceremonies' for the service. I' m sure this will be an easy transition for the Ghanaians.
After me reading the greetings from other sites around the world (today was the U.S., Mexico, and Chile), Mr. Dima gave the regular announcements. While they were given in Twi, "10:00 o'clock" was mentioned several times in the first announcement. It was gentle correction letting the brethren know that 10:00 am start means in their seats at 9:45 ready to sing the first hymn at 10:00 am.
This was followed by the Takoradi children singing special music - a hymn in English from our COGWA hymnal. I followed this with my final sermon here on how Christ, with the assistance from the resurrected saints, with bring about the millennial conditions spoken about in the Bible.
After services, the brethren were asked to sit down again and I wondered if I'd be called upon to give another Bible Study! Instead, one of our pastors, Eshun Plange, said some very kind words about Pam and me and how much they appreciated us coming to Ghana to be with them and teach them. He apologized that the gift they had planned for Pam was not yet finished, so they would send it back to America with Mr. Clark on his next trip here. He presented me with a traditional Ghanaian shirt and asked me to put it on, which I did over my shirt and tie. At that point, a thirty-minute photo session commenced. It seemed that everyone at the site wanted a picture with the white couple from America! At some times there were a dozen mobile phones taking pictures at a time. Mr. Plange finally announced that we needed to leave, so the crowd broke up and we were able to head out the door to the car. Daniel's car was not yet fixed, so he arranged for another person to get us back to our hotel where Fast Eddie was waiting to take us back to Accra.
We will miss these beautiful, humble, joyous people and will look forward to another opportunity to visit them.
2025-02-09