So I realized there was a lot that I left unsaid in my last note. I wasn’t really sure how to say some things or even put the trip to Nkum into words. It is difficult to explain even now as I have spent the past 8 hours reflecting and sorting through my thoughts. I thought about many things from how those who are least fortunate seem to not worry as much as those of us who, in comparison to them, have everything and worry about everything…. to how much I am thankful for everything that I do have, including my family and friends. Hopefully this note will not be as long as the previous, sorry if it is.
The day that I had the opportunity to travel to the villages around Nkum, this is when the thinking became difficult. You see people with hardly anything: few clothes, little or no food or clean water, no health care, poor shelter, diseases that in America could be cured, and starvation. My first thought was, how can they live off of so little? A second thought, and somewhat frustration (hopefully justified), is why doesn’t anybody help these people? We have SO much……. we are rich (yes myself included who can’t afford to pay bills upon returning to the U.S.) we are rich compared to these people. We have shelter, cloths, running water, food (how many meals do we eat in a day?). We have healthcare. I’m diabetic and have a place to go to get checked on and medication to help keep me healthy. These people have absolutely nothing. We have family, some of them no longer do. The first village I went to, a lady had 4 or 5 little children with her, some of them hers but others were not. She asked us to pray for her and these children, for they were always ill and she had lost some children of her own already. Even through all the pain and suffering, the children touched my heart. As my team member Dan stated a few times, they are the definition of a bundle of joy. The laughter from playing peek-a-boo or just turning and with a smile waving to them….. laughter was always present.
The evening we walked around Nkum was possibly the most uncomfortable of the evening, as many of the adults just stared as us, no smiles included. (Michael kindly stated we should all have shirts on that say “Stare at me longer, I might do a trick”). I was able to witness somebody accepting Christ as their Savior. I also witnessed a man who didn’t know what to believe because there were so many different teachings being spread, especially those not from the Bible. We sat and talked for possibly 45 minutes trying to convince him that the Bible was the truth. His question to us: if what we say is true, why are there so many different churches, so many different teachings, so many different beliefs in a “god” but still so much sin? Let that sit for a while.
My reflections on the final day for the past week: I have seen a people with very little to give that would give all that they had. We saw the definition of a “servant heart”. We were treated by those willing to serve, who had been called to serve. We had clean water every day to bath with. We had 3 HUGE meals a day. We had shelter that kept us dry when it rained. I saw a man with severe elephantiasis (swelling of a limb) in his leg. The house he was at had a few wood plants as the siding and some straw and branches as the roof. This man with so little came and gave Dan (my teammate) and myself a Coco bean plant. Somebody with so little gave more than what he could probably afford to give. A memory that will probably never leave me (other than the one previously mentioned) was the older girl and the young deaf man that stayed in the building we were in while in Nkum. Both helped fetch water and prepare every meal……. And chase away the children every night when we wanted to go to sleep. Both of them gave of their time and energy to make us feel so welcomed and never once did I hear them complain. Philippians 2:14 -15 “Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe”. That is the verse that comes to mind when I think of those two children of God.
SO, now is the part of the note when I list my thankful and my random thoughts and SOME humor as to the things I take for granted on a daily basis. At one point while in the village of Nkum, the electricity went out. Even in a poor village in the African jungle we took it for granted that we would have electricity. We take food for granted. We even PAY people to make us food and take it for granted how well and how much we eat. I saw people who are malnourished, who don’t know if they will be able to feed their families even one meal a day. I’ve seen people who don’t have running water or electricity, who don’t know the luxury of it; therefore they don’t take it all for granted. It blows my mind how they are able to live the way that they do.
One thing I really appreciate is how nice and hospitable Ghanaians are towards EVERYBODY. It was explained to me by the young man who works for my host father, Ghanaians KNOW there are people who have more and make more money or have less and make less money. BUT what they also know is that all people are created equal under God. Everybody deserves respect and friendliness. Everybody was created equal, therefore they should be treated equally (something the majority of us need to learn at times). If they don’t treat somebody as an equal, they at least treat them better as they do themselves. Philippians 2:3-4 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
My thankfuls: my family and my friends. I think of the lady who has lost part of her family. I have seen and experienced the loss of family. I have seen two outcomes of losing family: run from God or run to God. When things head south, do we turn our backs and say it is too difficult, I don’t want to do it anymore, or do we run to him and ask him to restore us? Nobody said it would be easy. 1 Peter 4:12-13 “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.”
Small thankfuls or things I take for granted: My music, whether that be my iPod or my guitar. I never realized how much music was a part of my time spent with God, whether that is Christian music during quiet time or when I’m frustrated, or my guitar and being able to sing to Jesus. Another thing: traffic. NEVER again will you hear me complain about the traffic in Manhattan. You have NO idea what a traffic jam is until you try to travel through Accra Ghana in the middle of the day. First 5 places to visit upon returning to the U.S.: Jimmy John’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, Early Edition, Chipotle, and somewhere with great pizza. Last thing: Walmart-one stop shop and nobody reaching in my car window trying to sell me something.
Hope you enjoyed my rambling thoughts from the past week of surviving without running water, a cold bucket bath in a cement room with a flashlight, and not having a toilet that flushes.
I miss you all!!!!
Love,
Sharina Marie
P.S. This will be the last thing posted until Monday. Pray for us as the team will be assisting with a camp from Friday through Sunday (similar to Main Event or a regional Navigators conference)
The day that I had the opportunity to travel to the villages around Nkum, this is when the thinking became difficult. You see people with hardly anything: few clothes, little or no food or clean water, no health care, poor shelter, diseases that in America could be cured, and starvation. My first thought was, how can they live off of so little? A second thought, and somewhat frustration (hopefully justified), is why doesn’t anybody help these people? We have SO much……. we are rich (yes myself included who can’t afford to pay bills upon returning to the U.S.) we are rich compared to these people. We have shelter, cloths, running water, food (how many meals do we eat in a day?). We have healthcare. I’m diabetic and have a place to go to get checked on and medication to help keep me healthy. These people have absolutely nothing. We have family, some of them no longer do. The first village I went to, a lady had 4 or 5 little children with her, some of them hers but others were not. She asked us to pray for her and these children, for they were always ill and she had lost some children of her own already. Even through all the pain and suffering, the children touched my heart. As my team member Dan stated a few times, they are the definition of a bundle of joy. The laughter from playing peek-a-boo or just turning and with a smile waving to them….. laughter was always present.
The evening we walked around Nkum was possibly the most uncomfortable of the evening, as many of the adults just stared as us, no smiles included. (Michael kindly stated we should all have shirts on that say “Stare at me longer, I might do a trick”). I was able to witness somebody accepting Christ as their Savior. I also witnessed a man who didn’t know what to believe because there were so many different teachings being spread, especially those not from the Bible. We sat and talked for possibly 45 minutes trying to convince him that the Bible was the truth. His question to us: if what we say is true, why are there so many different churches, so many different teachings, so many different beliefs in a “god” but still so much sin? Let that sit for a while.
My reflections on the final day for the past week: I have seen a people with very little to give that would give all that they had. We saw the definition of a “servant heart”. We were treated by those willing to serve, who had been called to serve. We had clean water every day to bath with. We had 3 HUGE meals a day. We had shelter that kept us dry when it rained. I saw a man with severe elephantiasis (swelling of a limb) in his leg. The house he was at had a few wood plants as the siding and some straw and branches as the roof. This man with so little came and gave Dan (my teammate) and myself a Coco bean plant. Somebody with so little gave more than what he could probably afford to give. A memory that will probably never leave me (other than the one previously mentioned) was the older girl and the young deaf man that stayed in the building we were in while in Nkum. Both helped fetch water and prepare every meal……. And chase away the children every night when we wanted to go to sleep. Both of them gave of their time and energy to make us feel so welcomed and never once did I hear them complain. Philippians 2:14 -15 “Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe”. That is the verse that comes to mind when I think of those two children of God.
SO, now is the part of the note when I list my thankful and my random thoughts and SOME humor as to the things I take for granted on a daily basis. At one point while in the village of Nkum, the electricity went out. Even in a poor village in the African jungle we took it for granted that we would have electricity. We take food for granted. We even PAY people to make us food and take it for granted how well and how much we eat. I saw people who are malnourished, who don’t know if they will be able to feed their families even one meal a day. I’ve seen people who don’t have running water or electricity, who don’t know the luxury of it; therefore they don’t take it all for granted. It blows my mind how they are able to live the way that they do.
One thing I really appreciate is how nice and hospitable Ghanaians are towards EVERYBODY. It was explained to me by the young man who works for my host father, Ghanaians KNOW there are people who have more and make more money or have less and make less money. BUT what they also know is that all people are created equal under God. Everybody deserves respect and friendliness. Everybody was created equal, therefore they should be treated equally (something the majority of us need to learn at times). If they don’t treat somebody as an equal, they at least treat them better as they do themselves. Philippians 2:3-4 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
My thankfuls: my family and my friends. I think of the lady who has lost part of her family. I have seen and experienced the loss of family. I have seen two outcomes of losing family: run from God or run to God. When things head south, do we turn our backs and say it is too difficult, I don’t want to do it anymore, or do we run to him and ask him to restore us? Nobody said it would be easy. 1 Peter 4:12-13 “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.”
Small thankfuls or things I take for granted: My music, whether that be my iPod or my guitar. I never realized how much music was a part of my time spent with God, whether that is Christian music during quiet time or when I’m frustrated, or my guitar and being able to sing to Jesus. Another thing: traffic. NEVER again will you hear me complain about the traffic in Manhattan. You have NO idea what a traffic jam is until you try to travel through Accra Ghana in the middle of the day. First 5 places to visit upon returning to the U.S.: Jimmy John’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, Early Edition, Chipotle, and somewhere with great pizza. Last thing: Walmart-one stop shop and nobody reaching in my car window trying to sell me something.
Hope you enjoyed my rambling thoughts from the past week of surviving without running water, a cold bucket bath in a cement room with a flashlight, and not having a toilet that flushes.
I miss you all!!!!
Love,
Sharina Marie
P.S. This will be the last thing posted until Monday. Pray for us as the team will be assisting with a camp from Friday through Sunday (similar to Main Event or a regional Navigators conference)
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