Psalms 8 (NIV)
LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
in the heavens.
2 Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?[c]
5 You have made them[d] a little lower than the angels[e]
and crowned them[f] with glory and honor.
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their[g] feet:
7 all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
8 the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
9 LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Today I started my day in Psalms. (I will end my day doing an in depth study of ps 119) If there was any passage in Scripture that could capture Africa, at least my experience here, it would be chapter 8. Yesterday I forgot to mention a story that touched my heart. Manassah is a young man Greg and Wendy often pay to do odds and ends. He is a believer in the one and true and God. You will see Manassah in many of my pictures as he has become part of the family. We LOVE him. His family is traditionalists, meaning they are very superstitious and worship many gods.
(Let me just take a break for a moment and tell you what is happening right at this moment. I just heard a knock on the door and a “hellooooooooooooooooo”! Carter went to the door and said, “Deshuba!” (good morning) and then I heard him yell to Wendy, “Momma, should I pray w/ him?” To which my sister responded, “Sure, but let Nana come and pray, too!”…this is what happens ALL DAY LONG.)
Back to Manassah. Manassah has had lots and lots of pressure to bow down and worship a pot. Yes, a clay pot. He refused to do it and told his family he only bows down to ONE God and He is Jesus Christ. (what story in the Bible does this remind you of?) Manassah told his mother and siblings that no matter what, do NOT bow down to this pot…that he and his family will serve the LORD. They were kicked out of their homes for a while, had absolutely nothing to eat, etc but they remained steadfast in their faith. The LORD has HONORED Manassah for his faithfulness…he now lives back in their compound and he is seeing how God is providing for their every day needs. For those of you coming here in June you will love him just as we do. He is so very easy to love. He is a hard worker and ADORES “Papa Greg and Momma Wendy”.
(Let me take another break and tell you what is happening NOW…Carter is trying to teach Nana the local language. Oh boy…this should be interesting. J)
The day has come to a close since the last paragraph I typed. It is now almost bedtime. Let me tell you about this amazing day. Carter and Aiden have organized football (soccer) teams. They even had a World Cup tourney a while back…complete w/ signs they hung around town and a trophy they made. Today their team challenged another team at 10:30am. Wendy even bought little jersey’s for them from a little market in Tamale. You should see these kids play! Scrappy, they are. I LOVED watching them. And then there is little Sukanya out there in the middle of it all. She is so darn cute. Nana and I got a kick (pardon the pun) out of the way some of them played only in their underpants. Manassah was the referee and used Greg’s whistle. One of my favorite moments was sitting in the middle of their pre-game huddle and hearing Carter pray. Just awesome. The kids are doing GREAT. I mean, GREAT. If there was any worry from any of you regarding the Nyhus kids, I am here to tell you JUST STOP. They are THRIVING here. All 3 of them. Yes, they have had some health issues, Aiden especially, but you should see how very happy they are here. You’ll just have to trust me. They were made for this. Our team ended up winning 3-0.
Many of my best friends (my “soul sista’s”) donated back packs/school supplies for the orphanage. But not all of them were filled so after the game the kids helped me fill each backpack. You see, Wendy has gotten enough funding to send most of the children to school. This is such a wonderful opportunity! But they needed new uniforms and school supplies. Manassah said they will probably be the only children in school w/ special bags. I think he is right. We also made sure and gave each of the children a package of the candy Pop Rocks. We loaded the back of the truck and off we went.
But on our way, we took a little detour to GO SEE CLEMENT!!! We pulled up to a homestead and before I even rounded the corner Wendy said “here comes Clement!”…and there he was. I scooped him up into my arms and just cried and cried. I couldn’t believe I was actually holding this little boy…the boy who captured my heart months ago…the boy who made me lose sleep at night…the boy whose picture I stared at so many times and prayed over. I held him for just a minute or 2 before realizing something wasn’t right. Wendy told me to give him to Baba…he was trying to catch his breath. I could feel his body weaken as I stood there holding him. Baba quickly took him and went inside the compound where they had a mat and a pillow set out on the ground. Clement rested his head on the pillow and didn’t sit back up until he could breathe again. It pained my heart to see him so ill…but it also made me so very happy to know his heart will be better very soon! His condition has worsened over the last weeks. I fear the journey to America will be very taxing on him. If I was exhausted after the trip, think of him! He will definitely need our prayers. Baba and Laadi…oh dear me..they are just darling. Baba gave me the biggest hug and he loves to talk. Laadi is very reserved so I didn’t push that relationship but hope that before I leave she will know in her heart that I love her family. Tomorrow night we are going back to their homestead for dinner. I am very happy to be able to spend more quality time there. Did I mention that Laadi is a tailor? We went by there to pick up uniforms that she made for all the children at the orphanage! They are adorable…she did a wonderful job.
We were only at Clement’s for a short time so that we could make it to the orphanage at a decent hour. When we pulled up it didn’t take long for me to hear the pitter patter of many feet come running towards the truck. They are all SO cute! And they were SO EXCITED to see all of us. You can tell they ADORE “momma Wendy”…just like everyone else in Ghana. J We went in and had all of them sit down on the ground and Wendy shared w/ them about her many friends who donated a back pack for them to go to school. She taught them the story of the lepers who Jesus healed and how only 1 of them came back and thanked Him, and she told the children to all be like that 1 leper…to be sure and thank Jesus for the gift He was giving them that day. When they found out they were getting backpacks, I wish you could have seen the look on their faces! OH MY SOUL SISTERS…You would have been a blubbering fool just as I was! Their looks were PRICELESS. They all clapped and cheered! We made them come up to get their bags ONE AT A TIME and we took out your picture and told them your name. (If you didn’t give me a picture I took the liberty to print one off of you to put in your bag. I wanted them to see WHO gave them their bags/supplies) It was a very emotional, touching, heart gripping moment…some of you even wrote them letters and we had Manassah translate them for us. THEY ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS. I was able to take a picture of every child holding up your bag and I’m very excited to “tag” you upon my return. I will make sure you know YOUR child’s name, too…so you can pray over them. OH SISTERS…THIS WAS SUCH A COOL THING YOU DID. I told nana…it didn’t seem like that huge a deal at the time, but BOY am I ever glad we did this. I had NO IDEA what an impact…LIFE CHANGING EVENT…it would be for them. They also got to put on their new uniforms that Laadi made, so they were all on Cloud 9. Right before we left we had them take out their Pop Rocks and eat it. I HAD to capture this on video. And I’m so very glad I did. They were HILARIOUS. It was a HUGE hit. They even shared some w/ the 2 women who take care of them and they were so very cute, too. Next time I will remember that no matter the age, they LOVE THEM SOME POP ROCKS. For those of you coming in June…THIS IS A MUST HAVE. Lots and lots of pop rocks.
Not all days are perfect. In fact, even today Wendy had a couple of people knock on her door and demand she pay for one of them to go to school. They get “pulled” on from every direction and they can’t do it all, of course. Life is very hard here. Death is everywhere. Paganism, idolatry, jealousy, greed, theft, lies,…it is all very “in the face” here…does that make sense? I do worry about Greg/Wendy because I don’t see how they can keep up this pace much longer. They are the perfect example of being a broken vessel. All day long, every day they pour out all that they have/are to these people. Everyone LOVES THEM DEEPLY. But I stop and think about how can I help fill that vessel a little bit? It’s obvious they seek Jesus daily, hourly, minute by minute, and it is HE who fills them up…but that is why although I know I came to serve the people, I feel that God has laid on my heart to see how I can serve THEM. This trip has really made me more sensitive to ministry to our MISSIONARIES. I think when we think of mission trips it’s all about serving the people…but we cannot forget to minister to those who are in the field day in and day out.
Tomorrow we are going to the Assembly of God church and I guess I’m singing a solo for them??? Just found that out. J Not sure exactly what I’m going to sing but for some reason the song that has been in my head all week is “Mighty to Save”…so maybe that’s what I should do. We’ll see…
We’ve been so busy I haven’t even had a chance to tour the hospital/nutritional feeding center yet! Let me leave you w/ this song in your heart…I love you all dearly. Thank you for going on my journey w/ me today. Until tomorrow…
Everyone needs compassion,
Love that's never failing;
Let mercy fall on me.
Everyone needs forgiveness,
The kindness of a Saviour;
The Hope of nations.
Saviour, He can move the mountains,
My God is Mighty to save,
He is Mighty to save.
Forever, Author of salvation,
He rose and conquered the grave,
Jesus conquered the grave.
So take me as You find me,
All my fears and failures,
Fill my life again.
I give my life to follow
Everything I believe in,
Now I surrender.
My Saviour, He can move the mountains,
My God is Mighty to save,
He is Mighty to save.
Forever, Author of salvation,
He rose and conquered the grave,
Jesus conquered the grave.
Shine your light and let the whole world see,
We're singing for the glory of the risen King...Jesus (x2)
My Saviour, He can move the mountains,
My God is Mighty to save,
He is Mighty to save.
Forever, Author of salvation,
He rose and conquered the grave,
Jesus conquered the grave.
My Saviour, you can move the mountains,
You are mighty to save,
You are mighty to save.
Forever, Author of Salvation,
You rose and conquered the grave,
Yes you conquered the grave
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