Day 1 is a question mark. I feel so messed up that day 1 feels like three days. How long ago did I get on the plane? All Iāve done is take some naps since there. Thereās been no distinguishable sleep!
Have you ever been on a 10 hour plane ride? My longest prior to this trip was probably 4-4.5 hours. Bearable, and just at the point youāre totally ready to be on the ground, youāre pretty close to landing.
Not so with a 10 hour flight! I could not sleep. I realized that I can sleep if itās hot if Iām lying down, but not sitting. I would say the air temp in the plane was a good 75 degrees. I like a nice 69 degrees for sleeping. I was looking soooo longing at the aisle floor. It looked SO COMFORTABLE!
Finally 7 hours into the flight, I was so tired, and could not sleep and I just wanted to lay down somewhere that I got up and stood around the galley area for an hour. At least my body was in a non-bent position. If I couldnāt get horizontal, vertical was the next best thing.
Itās 6:05 PM (10:05PM Local Ghana Time) on my laptop as Iām writing this. That means I left D.C. 24 hours ago. That means Iāve been mostly awake for a good 36 hours.
Good News though! I donāt have to wake up until around 3:45 in the morning! Thatāll be a nice distinguishable rest.
Thankfully, Bro Samson says he doesnāt mind if I sleep in the car.
You should return to top of post and re-read now. Ā <whimper>Ā I sure hope the car air can keep us cool.
ANYHOW!! I donāt mean to complain, just to convey how Iām feeling. I cannot begin to express how much more difficult a 10 hour flight is than I anticipated.
We landed in Accra, Ghana without incident. The brothers were waiting for me. One of them seems to be a big cheese at the airport and I was easily whisked through customs and had a guy with a cart pushing my bags even though I was perfectly capable of wheeling them out.
Bro Wontumi, VGR Representative, was there to greet me and make me feel welcome and offer his services.
Bro Samson, pastor of Message of Grace Tabernacle was there to pick me up and take me to the hotel. After an hour or so rest, I woke up and went to the restaurant for lunch.
And by lunch I mean, incredibly incinerating volcanic lava cayenneic unbelievable hot chicken and noodles that did NOT look like it would be hot. I couldnāt eat it. The restaurant uhā¦guyā¦chiefā¦something or other thankfully offered to bring a new one that was less spicy. The same dish but not āprepared as a black man would eat itā (His words). Which made me feelā¦ weak. Poor little white boy canāt handle the PAIN!
No, thank you very much I sure canāt, by the way, can you bring me some bread and butter, oh and another sprite? I need SOMETHING TO CALM THE FIRE!
He brought all this and the prepared specially for ānon-black manā chicken and noodles.It was good. It was still pushing my heat limit. Perhaps I just ordered the wrong dish?
After lunch, Bro Samson returned to pick me up. I asked if we might be able to visit the VGR office and he was gracious enough to take me across town to see it.
It was a real treat to see something that I normally only see in pictures on the web. Bro Wontumi was very gracious and gave me a tour, made me sit in his chair and told me āyou are director todayā, and introduced his wife to me.
We talked about the work God had been doing, and that God WAS doing. It was good fellowship and special to see. I left with questions in my mind about how the Agapao tablet will change the current office model. I donāt know if it will or not, but Bro Wontumi himself said the library he has is not used much anymore. Everyone has the messages on their phones. Technology is changing how everything is approached. I will definitely continue to ponder all of this.
We returned to the hotel and I got another hour nap. Getting myself up was brutal. Still I was excited. āYou are about to preach IN AFRICA!ā
I never dreamed Iād ever preach at so many of the places Iāve preached. This was no exception. Itās almost surreal. What am I doing here? How did events transpire that I would even be here? Why me? Maybe itās not a big deal, Africa is a place like any other place. It has people like any other people. It just seemed so daunting 48 hours ago. Now, it seems like such a normal thing.
We went to church and I prepared for the service, reviewing my notes and getting quiet before the Lord in prayer. Hearing the sweet melodies of the congregation. Some songs I knew, some I did not. Some I knew the tune, and every now and then I recognized the words, and then I couldnāt. Maybe they changed the words, or maybe they sang some lines in Twi (local language) and some in English.
It was neat to hear Only Believe being sung in Africa.
I preached āWilt thou be made wholeā. I believe it resonated with the people. It came out very different than anytime before. That isnāt surprising though, weāre in Africa and the needs of the people are very different.
I had been feeling a little trepidatious about preaching here. Could I relate to Africans? Iām such an American (see Chicken Noodle story above for proof), but the people made it very easy. They were a very responsive group and I knew in the first minute that all would be well. Other than a few rewording of some sentences for clarity, the translation went well. Iām not sure how many actually needed the translation.
Itās still a bit surreal. āYou just preached in Africa!!!! AHHHHH!ā Still is kind of how Iām feeling.
BTW, I will never travel without this Swiss Granola Cereal from SAMs Club. Itās amazing, and a really good post preaching- I need to sleep soon, kind of snack.
Well, I’m going to go to sleep now. Ā Rest little bride, rest, for all is well.
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