Newsletter From the Ghanaian Mission Field
Rev. R. Moore, PRCA Foreign Missionary e-mail: revmo@ighmail.com
Private Mail Bag #15
Madina-Accra, Ghana
West Africa July 15, 1999
To our dear calling church in Hull and the other congregations of the PRCA:
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We report to you through this first newsletter from Ghana the following way in which the Lord has led us.
One of the first things that strikes us as we are back in Ghana is the friendliness of the people of Ghana. We are welcome wherever we go, whether we spend a cent or not. The people here it seems are somewhat better off, than they were when we were here in 1994. Although there is still much poverty present, there are more small businesses, etc. The smells of the street are still the same, the mixture of the open sewers and the smells of the food of the street being made. A mixture of the good and evil smells, very typical of the mixture of man. There is never the good without the evil being present in this life. We are made new in Christ but still struggle daily with the old man of sin. The grace of God alone enables us to persevere in this life that we may obtain the life where no sin shall be.
We landed in Accra about three quarters of an hour late. But were happy to find that all of our boxes followed us to Ghana. They were all in pretty good shape with only one that had broken open and it appears all things were there and okay. We were able to get them through customs on carts about the size of grocery carts so we had seven of them, with porters helping us. The customs people had us open only two of them, and then decided to let us go through.
Rev. Gabriel Anyigba was outside the airport area waiting for us, he had a Nissan four door pickup at his disposal from the place he works, and in two loads brought the 18 boxes to his house. And also brought us to the Penta Hotel. He had prayer with us thanking God for our safe arrival and then returned to his home. Friday was interesting, we awoke at about 8:00 in the morning after getting about seven and half hours of sleep. And felt much more refreshed.
The first thing we did was to attempt to open a bank account at Barclays Bank of Ghana Ltd. This process took about three hours and three trips to the Bank to open an account and put our money in it. We wondered if it took this long to give a Bank some money how long would it take to move through the government channels. However we did know that this would be the way it is here. And we know that God directs also these things, and this for our good. In the first days already we began to do some comparison shopping for appliances and goods that we would need to set up housekeeping, and also began to look at various vehicles.
On Sunday we accompanied Rev. Gabriel Anyigba to one of his churches for worship.
On Monday the 21st of June we went to Gabriel's house to retrieve a church order and a few other things from our boxes, this is a walk of about 10 blocks one way. We desired the CO to have as a constitution when we would go to the Registrar General's office where we must get our mission registered in Ghana as a non-profit organization. We next went to the American Embassy to register ourselves as dwelling in Ghana. This is only a walk of three blocks from the Penta Hotel where we are staying. The Penta has served us well for the work that we have done in Ghana up until now. It is an excellent place to meet people and is close to many of the places we must go At the Penta Hotel we were again able to cultivate several new contacts, and hopefully this shall bear some fruit for our labors here.
During this week we did go to the Registrar Generals office to obtain incorporation as a non-profit organization which is necessary for our missionary to legally begin his labor of preaching and teaching. After three trips to this office and about a week later we did receive our Certificate of Incorporation. Thus the first step with the Government has come to a successful conclusion . We also spent much time pricing items for a house, and also began in earnest to look for a home, a permanent address was required to receive Incorporation. Rev. Anyigba had been to see us almost every day, and does whatever he can to help us to be established.
This week as mentioned was spent for a large part in seeking a home. We looked at large houses, small houses, all were separated houses that were relatively expensive. But three of them that we had decided would fit our purpose were rented before we could make up our minds. These are homes that rent from $550 / month up to $1500 / month. This shows that for many the economic situation in Ghana has much improved over the past five years. After these disappointments, we saw two more homes that would serve to house us and the volunteers who will come to labor with us here on the field. And in harmony with God's will we believe, we chose one in an area in which we should be able to labor, and one which will serve us well. Although it is near new, it would prove to have many things to make it livable for us.
Especially has this been so of two main things. The first nine days we were in the house we had no running water. The water we did have was carried to us by two young men who are staying on the property for us especially when we are not there, and helping with the care of the property. These two young men are both Christian with very inquiring minds with respect to the truth's of the Scripture, they especially enjoy the times that we spend together in the Study of God's Word. The water situation has since been rectified and we now have a reservoir besides a reliable source of running water, so if the water goes off again we shall be able to get along for a few days. The second thing is the electricity is all goofed up, the circuits were not wired properly and many outlets are not properly grounded so that we can get shocks from appliances, etc. This is presently being worked on and within a couple of days we hope to have this rectified.
We were also able to find a very good pickup reasonably. It is a '97 Mitsubishi 4 door, 4 wheel drive vechicle with 76000 Kilometers on it. It should serve us well, it is now licensed, insured, etc.
Sunday the 27th of June we worshipped with Gabriel's sons in South La Evangelich Presbyterian Church where they have their membership. This was an English service which was reasonably good, and we were blessed. We met Kofi Awitor a former contact of ours from the above named church and had a pleasant reunion with him. The contacts that we have in the EPC of Ghana we will attempt to continue in the way of personal fellowship.
After the first week we moved to the OSU Children's Home, this is a home for orphaned children and this Home had four guest rooms to help raise a little money for their needs. We were able to get a room here which was sufficient for our needs for about $12 instead of the $60 at the Penta. While here we made several contacts with different people, young and older. We left our name and telephone number with them and it may be that the Lord will bring fruit upon the discussions that we had with them. I even had a Bible Study from Mark with two young men aged 25 and 23. They have said they will come out to worship with us in the future. We will continue to follow up on these contacts, as soon as we are able to settle down to the labor.
On Friday of our second full week in Accra we went to the house again with the landlord's representative to meet some of the people he had working to get the place fixed up for our lease of it. There were painters, electrician, plumber and a contractor to place netting on all the windows. The result of the next two days is that we will be able to move into our new home, and it will look near new although it has been lived in by a niece of the landlord for some time previous. We get home in the evening after these days tired but thankful for the leading of the Lord and the blessings we encounter daily.
We met another young man perhaps of thirty that is interested in learning more about our church that we are going to start, he desires to know what we stand for and why? He will be coming to our house in North Legon to learn more, his last name is something like Prospect I will get it in writing. We moved in the house on Saturday the 3rd of July, although much work would still have to be done to the house. We have purchased 50 Bibles KJV, And we can also obtain Bibles in the EWE language and the AKAN or TWI.
Gabriel came out to see the house and strongly recommended that we keep the young men on to care for the property so that there is always a presence on the property. This for safety of contents of home and of our persons. We believe that we ought to take his advice and so Richard Kwame Kumi age 21 and Richard Melchizedek Huddo age 20, will be staying on for the above mentioned reason. This is not costly for our churches and it does provide them with a daily wage.
The greatest benefit for the young men will be the opportunity to have Bible studies with Jan and I. This they both desire, On Sunday we went to Church with Richard Kwame at the EPC Ghana. We found the services similar to the EPC of Ghana, but a bit more subdued, with silent prayer, etc. We met for a short while with their minister and assistant a Professor in their seminary. I told them who I was and what I would be doing here. We got home from Church at about 12:45 the service began at 9:30. About Three Thirty we invited the Richards to come in for a Bible Study with us. We spent time with the infallible inspiration of the Scriptures and studied in the book of Ephesians for a little over an hour. After this the boys remained with us in the house and read through some of our creeds. Namely the Heildeberg Catechism and in the Belgic Confession. They had several questions about the fate of the Muslims, about the apocrapha books which they took note we do not use, nor did they have it, but they wanted to know why the church does not use them and others? They remained studying and asking questions for another hour.
Further, they are going to pass the word out to others of their age and others to come to a Bible Study we are going to begin a week from Tuesday Evening. Also I told them that we plan to begin worship next Sunday and we talked about getting property or a building but we may begin here in the home in the large sitting room. Richard Kwame has contacted a man to look into this and we will probably get at it on Thursday of this coming week. We will benefit also from this relation that is beginning between us especially in that one Richard is EWE speaking the other AKAN or Twi. So I hope to begin learning the language.
We have spent several hours in government offices, being sent from one ministry to the other before we could finish what we need to in order to continue down the path toward residency. We still expect that this will take considerable time. One spends an hour sometimes in an office before getting a hearing. Things are still different here in that respect. One instance of this is the bank account has now been opened for some three weeks, but I still do not have check blanks to use, and they always say on Wed. or on Friday, but those days come and go and still no blanks. Anyway we are getting use to this and are learning ever more to be patient.
We continue to have good Biblical discussions with the two young men that are caring for our property.
This past Sunday is the first time we had our own worship service. We started small as expected, but trust that this will change as we are able to spend more time in the community and as we get our signs made and out on the corners etc. Sunday the 11th of July I preached on Genesis 1 in the morning, and on Lord's Day 1 in the afternoon. We hope to increase this number by next Sunday, but it may take even a bit longer to accomplish this.
We have finished the work at this time with the Ministry of Culture, and with the Ministry of Land and Title Registry, the latter we will not need unless we buy some property. This may be necessary in order to obtain a place in this area in which to labor.
While there are these little problems, the Lord has blessed our labors in the short while that we have been here. By His grace and according to His will we have achieved much in the short time we have been here. And we believe this will serve the work of the ministry here in Ghana. We are looking forward to the time soon when we can put down the more mundane work of settling here in order to more directly take up the work of Missions.
Our new email: revmo@ighmail.com
Our mail address is Rev. Richard Moore
Private Mail Bag #15
Madina-Accra, Ghana.
Our telephone number is 233 21 51 0353.
We live about 30 minutes from the city center of Accra.
Continue to pray for us.
Rev. Richard Moore