Ghana 2018, Day 1 – 5

The convention in Kintampo has just finished, and I am in the car headed now toward Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso. I thought perhaps I should write a few thoughts so as to not forget a few things that struck me so far.  Longish post!!  It encompasses five days.  Faithful readers only!

Of course, the plane ride on the way here was terrible.  I really dislike flying for that long. Just like last trip, I could not sleep.  Just like last trip, the person next to me had no concept of personal space! We don’t need to dwell on any of that though!

Pastor Samson was at the airport to receive me, and one of the brethren at the church is head of security at the airport.  So there was an airport security rep waiting with a “Rev Trevor” sign.  He ushered me quickly through all the immigration and customs. He took me through the “Diplomats” line!  No questions, stampy-stampy in the passport and on my way!

Bro Samson and I had a light lunch, even though it was quite early, and he took me to the hotel after the requisite stop at the little mart where we buy a box of bottled water and some juice.

He dropped me off at the hotel and I showered and rested. I was so tired and starting to feel bad that I wanted to just turn around and come home. I did NOT want to start out the trip feeling bad! But after about 4 hours of sleep I started to feel better, if a bit groggy.

I got up and began to look at notes and to consider what to preach.  Dinner arrived and I ate a little of the spicy brown rice and chicken.  It was nothing in spice like my first hotel meal last trip!

Bro Samson picked me up and we headed to church. There were a couple young minister brothers with him.  Bro Nickolas and Bro Emannuel Joseph (Eman-Jo) and I quickly became friends. They are fine young brothers with very sweet spirits. We proceeded to the church for the service, I preached on “Prepare for war” and we all enjoyed the Word of God and His presence in our midst.

The next morning promptly at 5AM (Bro Samson is a punctual African man!) we headed North toward Kintampo. The drive is about 8-9 hours, and we arrived in Kintampo mid-afternoon. We turned the AC on in our hotel rooms and took some rest.  There would be nothing really to do until Friday evening service, so we had time to relax and recover from the drive.

Friday morning we awoke and had breakfast. I was feeling quite recuperated! For Breakfast we had the traditional egg and bread! After breakfast, I requested since we had nothing to do, that we go see the nearby Kintampo waterfalls.  Bro Samson happily obliged and we all went down to the falls.  Bro Cyprian from everywhere Nigeria had also arrived and accompanied us to the falls. It was a real pleasure to meet Bro Cyprian, a real missionary and servant of God. Bro Cyprian has started churches all over west Africa!  Mali, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, and Togo all have Message believing churches that were begun because of this wonderful man. There is no wonder, the brother is so happy and contagious!  We enjoyed taking pictures of the falls as well as a little bit of exercise on the 173 stairs down and 153 stairs back up!  (Two sets of stairs).

We returned to the hotel for a shower, lunch and more rest.  Ok, I’m starting to get bored I’ve rested so much!  I guess that’s a good thing! I began to look over notes and to study for the services. I chose to preach “Leaving the old temple” to remind people of the better things to come, and to let go of the things of this temple, or this body, and to live life with a heart looking for the body that is to come!

The first service is always a challenge. The saints have all travelled and are tired, convention things are a bit unorganized still, and the preacher is trying to get accustomed to the sound system, the translations, and the pull of the people. We decided, based on the demographics of the convention, that translation into two languages at the front would be most beneficial to the people. So Bro Cyprian translated into French, and Bro Paul translated into Twi.  There were other translators in the audience with their various groups from villages with different “local languages”. I found that Bro Cyprian, Bro. Paul, and I found a nice rhythm. There were times I didn’t wait for Bro Paul, and there were times I had to ask Bro. Paul, who was translating last, what he just said because I had forgotten where I stopped.  These instances were few though, and generally I felt like things flowed well.

We returned to the hotel for a little fellowship and food. We are staying at the nicest hotel I’ve stayed at in Africa. There is good AC, and the internet is passable. The best part is, the hotel generally keeps the temperature of the room.  You are supposed to turn off your AC when you leave your room, so that is quite a problem if it doesn’t keep the temperature, you can come back to a ninety degree room! So, I am very comfortable here.  One could comment on the extremely firm mattress, but no one wants to hear me whine, I’m sure! Generally, I am very comfortable here, considering it’s the middle of Ghana, West Africa.

Saturday morning we awoke and had breakfast. Egg and fried…bean bread?  It’s like bread and mashed beans fried together…it’s kind of odd, but it’s not bad. I think it’s supposed to go with the millet (porridge) but I ate it with my egg.  I’m not a porridge guy. I don’t even eat oatmeal unless AnnaMay bakes it.

It is time for the AM service, and I took a bit deeper of a thought for a bit more teaching in the morning. The theme of the convention is the very Bro. Jefferey-ish “The only trusted and unfailing economy in this day”.  I titled it “a false economy” and spoke out of “Anointed Ones at the End Time” and out of the Church Age Book. We spoke about our names on the book of life, and how people can still be religious, but their names be blotted out of the book of life.

Surprisingly, even with two translators, and a weighty topic, I only preach around 1.5 hours or less. The same with Friday night.  Go me!  There are plenty of services, and we don’t need to wear the people out.

After service was over, it was a beautiful day, a bit hot but not overbearing.  I was shaking hands of the children and Bro Nickolas audibly noted “a friend of children” behind me.  Bro Nickolas is always behind me.  He’s carrying my bag, or my Bible, or anything that is in my hand unless he thinks I might want it right away, such as a water bottle.  He just wants to respect me…but I give him a fuss about it every time! He’s such a nice brother.  As I speak with him later, I realize that he is a young minister and he just wants to be near the older ministers to learn from them, so what better way to be close than to serve? Perhaps he is a very wise young man.

During lunch time, Bro Nickolas tells us his wife has had her baby.  Yeah, she’s at home having a baby, He’s at the meetings because Bro Samson wanted him to come. “It is different in Africa” they tell me as I am appalled at the thought!

I have good fellowship with Bro Gilbert and Bro Cyprian. Bro Aristide was with us too, but he doesn’t speak English, and I don’t speak French, so he mostly stayed quiet.

Bro Jefferey brought the ministers from the villages by.  We distributed the materials we had purchased for them. A Samsung phone with the VGR SD card already installed. It’s really important to equip the ministers. These villages with local languages have nothing or the message translated into their language. If they are to hear the Voice of God in these last days, the only way for them to hear it is from these “wonderful helpers” that Bro. Branham talks about in the Church Age Book.

I’ve also given Bro Nickolas and Bro Eman-Jo SD cards for their phones. Bro Nickolas is becoming a pastor in his town, he needs to be able to hear.  Bro Eman-Jo is a missionary like Bro Jefferey. He is going into the jungle villages of Nigeria and preaching the Word of Life to the people. He has started some village churches.  It’s not really relevant, but Bro Eman-Jo has the coolest voice, deep and soft.

Back to my room on Saturday, it’s been a busy afternoon, and I need to be in prayer and study. I begin to go over the video that Bro Eman-Jo took for me on my phone.  I wanted him to get some video of the translators in the audience, so everyone could understand what it’s like a little better.  As I review the video, it really concerns me.  For some people, there are two translations before they hear it. I preach, the bro translates in to Twi, and the brother in the audience translates to some local language.  As I look at the people in this video, my heart just begins to yearn for them.  Do they understand me?  Am I connecting with the people? I feel part of what is unique about my ministry is how I try to connect with the heart of the people.  I’m not saying that no other ministers do this, but that I do it…differently? I want the people to feel what I am preaching, I want the words to reach in and cause reaction in their minds and hearts, is that reaction happening for this sister I am looking at in the video?

“Lord, what should I bring tonight?”

It is my last service for the convention and to speak to the people of the villages. Sunday, Bro Samson will be preaching, and Monday I leave for Ouagadougou.

“Lord, it is my last opportunity, how can I connect with them?  Was I too deep this morning?”

I captured a screen shot of a sister on the video. “Lord, I want to connect with the heart of this sister.”

I have a sermon that’s titled “The coming supernatural” where I use Mary and the coming supernatural birth that was about to happen to her. In my mind, I retitled this sermon “Mary, from the village”.  I spoke that an Angel of God came to visit this poor, insignificant young woman, from a poor village in the middle of Israel. I told them that if they prepared their heart, that Angels of God would visit them in their village and declare “Blessed are you, you are highly favoured.” I read a quote from the prophet that declared:

“Oh, church, hail. Blessed are you among the people, for you’ve found favor with God. You’ve believed for eternal life, and God’s give you the baptism of the Holy Ghost.”

The presence of the Lord was with us very strong. I was so tired before I started preaching, but as soon as I got going, I was giving it all I had left!

After preaching, we sang “I am on the winning side” and “I command my hands” and had a marvelous time praising the Lord.

The next day was Easter Sunday. The hotel ran out of data on Saturday afternoon, so as I awoke and opened my Table app to listen to an Easter message before breakfast, I had a very African experience.  I couldn’t just download whichever sermon I wanted, whenever I wanted it.  I didn’t have access to data.

It’s more than just access to data for the believers here. Do they have a smart phone? Do they have the electricity? Do they have the data plan?  There is no unlimited data here, they have pay as you go data. Well, since I have an iPhone – an SD card wouldn’t have helped either! I had to settle for a message that I already had downloaded since I didn’t have any Easter ones.  I chose the Seventh Seal and listened as I got ready and awaited the knock on my door telling me to come to breakfast.

A small side note, I brought cold brew tea and crystal light lemonade with me on this trip.  I brew up enough tea for 4 bottles of tea/lemonade mix each day.  It has been WONDERFUL.  Very comforting. I cannot tell you had not tasty the Voltic water is here. But it makes for fine tea and lemonade.

My body is tired Sunday morning.  If you consider the quote of Bro. Branham regarding preaching under the anointing being equivalent to 8 hours with a sledge hammer, I have put in two 8 hour days and on 16 hour day in the last 5, not to mention the 11 hour plane ride.  I slept well through the night, but just feel fatigued in my body.

We arrive at the convention grounds and go to service.  Bro Samson preached “We are His Victory!”.  It was difficult to understand.  Bro. Samson is more used to one interpreter and had a hard time slowing down enough. Bro. Samson has a slight accent to his English too, making it more difficult for me than everyone else. Also, there are word choices that don’t really make sense to me right away, so it makes me doubt I heard correctly. Everyone enjoyed the service, and I walked around to the outside closer to the speaker and enjoyed the breeze and I could hear a little better there.  Bro. Samson preached through a lengthy quote from “Christ is the Mystery” and I followed along on the Table App which really helped.

After service, I noticed a young brother taking a picture of me with his phone.  I waved him over to me to just take a picture WITH me instead of OF me. The thought occurred to me, this may have been a bad idea, but I had already committed.  Well, the ‘picture with the “white man”’ commenced since the door had swung open and I stood there and had pictures taken with a lot of different believers.

I noticed a little boy standing there with his arms full, but he obviously wanted a picture too. After the crowd died down a little bit, I waved him over and asked if he wanted to take a picture with me.  He did, so I said “get your tablet out” and as he began to press buttons, it would not come on.  His battery had died.  To make him feel better, we took a picture with my phone, but I was not confident I’d be able to get this picture to him.  I find out later that night, Bro Jefferey knows who the boy is, and we can at least forward the picture to his father.

Finally, we were able to leave to go back to the hotel.  After lunch, I went back to the waterfall with the “Burkina Frenchies”.  It felt good to get out and get a little light exercise, even if it was pretty hot and humid.

Bro Nickolas and I fellowshipped after we returned until it was time to get ready for service. We departed for the convention’s final service.

Bro. Samson preached about the angels that surround us, and how they behold the face of God. It was a stirring reminder of God’s care for us. We finished the service with a prayer line that everyone came through. I remembered to bring my “Second Seal” prayer cloth, that was prayed over at the Branham Tabernacle, and we spoke the name of Jesus Christ over each person as they came by.

The service ending, we went back to the hotel to pack. We are leaving around 11pm, after post-church supper. If we can get to the border before they open, we will get through much quicker.  Also, the Ghana police check points hassled the church’s rented bus quite a bit on the way down, and they feel that they will have less stopping through the night.  We have about a 9 hour drive ahead of us, including the border stop.  I hope I can get some sleep.  I’ve been writing for about two hours now, of course, it’s a bit bumpy with all the speed bumps, and just terrible road bumps, so that makes it a bit more of a challenge.

I’m staying with Bro. Israel. He’s French but speaks a little English.  We haven’t said too much to each other.  Bro Jefferey was supposed to be with us, but he had so many things to finish up with for the convention, so he stayed and will take a bus up to Ouaga on Tuesday. So our communication will probably be very basic until he meets up with us.  Of course, Bro Gilbert will come by during the day and be able to do any translations.

So my schedule is to preach Monday – Thursday each night in Ouagadougou.  Then Jefferey and I fly to Abidjan, Ivory Coast for a few days, then drive to Takoradi, then drive to Accra and home.  I’m about a quarter of the way through the trip, and though my heart longs for my family and home, I’m in good spirits and feel fine.