God is working. He is working in so many ways in Ghana right now that it’s giving me goosebumps as I type. Check this out….
That would be our Kingdom Hoops team in Ghana with Pastor Randy Jaramillo. Pastor Randy is in Ghana with his family for a 5 year mission trip to plant a church. He is there with a church called The Potter’s House. A few weeks ago, Pastor Randy happened to be walking by the court that our Kingdom Hoops team was practicing on. He decided to stop and play some ball with the boys. And in doing that, he struck up a conversation with the captains of the team, found out about how the team got started, and he received Jake’s contact info. He emailed this to Jake:
My name is Pastor Randy Jaramillo and I am pioneering a church here in Accra. I am from the USA (Texas)...I have been playing basketball with your team and having a great time! I am here in Ghana trying to reach out to the communities to bring the Gospel to them. If there is anything I can do to help the team please let me know...I am here and available. I find playing with them a great opportunity to minister to them; in fact James came to church with me this morning. It almost seems that for most of these kids basketball is their only hope...they are good kids and God can do so much with them….
Exactly. Since this initial email, Jake and Pastor Randy have spoken every couple of days. There is MUCH Pastor Randy can help us with, and I believe God had him walking by the practice courts for a reason that day.
Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord. (Psalm 117)
Speakin’ of preachin’, Jake is going to be sportin’ the pulpit at Living Word Fellowship Church in Knoxville this Sunday! They’ve asked him to come share his testimony and also to talk about what God is doing with Kingdom Hoops in Ghana! He will be speaking for about 45 minutes. I know he’s got some awesome things to share. If you would like to come, church starts at 10am and it is located at 321 East Robinson Street in Knoxville.
Tomorrow we say goodbye to Yaw’s family. They will be heading to North Carolina for about 5 more days to visit Esi’s host family from when she was an exchange student in the 70’s. Jake and I both agree that it is going to be so strange not having them here. Our house has been bubbling with activity and rich conversation for the past 3 ½ weeks. We’ve laughed, cried, reminisced, prayed, and realized that God has so intricately woven our hearts together. The best part is knowing that this is actually not a real goodbye. It’s just good bye for now. Jake and I can’t seem to keep ourselves out of Ghana for even 6 months at a time, so I am sure we will be seeing them in a few months! Oh, and since everyone keeps asking us if we took them to the Iowa State Fair….the answer is OF COURSE!
James is SO EXCITED to finally be here! He has been waiting such a long time, but God is GOOD!
So, he will be back on Iowa soil soon! We are working out flights, thinking he may travel back to the U.S. with us during our August trip to Ghana. We’ve missed his cheerful presence in our family so much!
Two other potential host students, Riyaz and Cyril will be having their visa interviews coming up on June 14th. They are projected to be hosted by the Vander Weide family once approved and will attend Iowa Christian Academy, and West Des Moines Dowling respectively.
A few other potential host students have been identified off the Kingdom Hoops Ghana team and will begin going through the academic screening process to assess where they will fit best.
