Home From Ghana!

Everyone is home from the Ghana trip! I’ve been listening to story after story as Jake excitedly shares all the details from their amazing experience. I CANNOT WAIT until my mom starts uploading her pictures…..all 614 of them! They are going to be so good! Jake keeps on saying that they made tremendous progress for the foundation on this trip….we have so much to talk about. He also mentioned that he and the rest of the Kingdom Cares team got to experience just about everything you could possibly encounter in Ghana. Their trip was so rich, and the newbies certainly came away with a greater understanding of the country which was one of the main purposes for this first ‘vision’ trip with a missions group. Jake is already planning out the next trip and who he wants to invite! Watch out, you might be on the list! :) The next few days are going to be so fun as the trip highlights unfold and Jake reminisces about his time in stories and pictures and videos.

Here is Jake with the newest host student that has arrived via Kingdom Cares International…..just take a wild guess what the host student’s name is……yep, SAMUEL! :) Jake and Samuel are pictured with Samuel’s new host family….the Diers family from Pella.

Samuel will start school this semester at Pella Christian as a junior. Because of the transfer rule he will have to sit out of sports for 90 days, but he will be able to participate next year for his senior year. You can check out the Diers’ blog here: http://stepupsister.blogspot.com/ It's going to be so fun keeping up with them!

And here are my beautiful Ghanaian gifts that Jake brought back for me:

A beautiful hand carved end table, a necklace, handwoven wall art, and a bag for my laptop! Jake is a great gift-picker-outer!!!!!! Glad my hubby is home!

Lil Boogers Basketball

Well, JJ has officially started his basketball career as a 4 year old!!!!!!!!!! One of Jake’s Kingdom Hoops coaches organized a little parks and rec team for a Des Moines league and he convinced Jake to let JJ be on the team. I say ‘convinced’ because ever since I’ve known Jake he hasn’t ever really embraced the idea of the kids starting competitive play so young. His theory used to be that they learn bad habits because the hoops are lowered and they aren’t called for traveling/double dribbling/etc. during the games. Not sure what changed, but I do know one thing…..JJ is LOVING getting to play on a team. In fact, to say JJ LOVES the game of basketball would even be an understatement. It’s so interesting because he already has a strong desire to practice and he has big dreams that he will someday play in the NBA. All he wants to watch on TV is channel 216 which is NBA TV. He knows almost every single player and who plays for what team. He remembers the scores of every game which amuses my Grandma as she also loves the NBA so they have full conversations about what games are coming up on TV. This past weekend at my Grandma’s house she was looking up the game schedule in the newspaper and JJ said, “Let me have a look at that.” All of a sudden he found the top 20 NBA scoring leaders listed out and he went down the list reading each of their names out loud. But the crazy thing is that he is 4 years old and cannot yet read! But, by looking at each player’s last name he was able to recognize it because he has seen their names so many times, so he was able to go right down the line and read most of them to us at first try. He got stuck on a few that he didn’t recognize, but he easily got 15 of the 20 on his own. My grandma and I were rolling with laughter! I wish I could have gotten it on video! I remember when JJ was little everyone would ask Jake, “What will happen if JJ doesn’t like basketball?” Jake would always answer, “Well, he’s going to be around it so much that it probably won’t really be a choice...it’s just going to be a part of his life, like it or not.” But like it he does!

JJ requested a little photo shoot before his practice started….here he is all decked out in his practice gear including his jersey of his favorite player - Lebron James, NBA headband, NBA leg sleeve, and he would have worn his NBA shooting sleeve but I nixed that one as it is too big for his arm and he is always messing with it.

And his 'tough guy' look.......

And here is JJ and the coach’s son, Darius, who also happened to show up for practice in his Lebron jersey….

JJ and Darius go way back…..here they are as even littler boogers…..

Darius’s dad and Jake have always talked about how JJ and Darius will be on the same AAU team, and so it begins! The team is co-ed and a mixture of 3 & 4 year olds. They will have 5 games and they practice one night a week for an hour.

At their first practice this week the Kingdom Hoops gym was packed and the little guys & gals became quite the attraction! Everyone loved to stop along the sidelines and watch them and cheer them on. Really, they were so adorable that you just had to stop and smile. Here's a little video of JJ practicing a lay-up....


The first game is next week, but unfortunately we have to miss it because we had gotten tickets to a Timberwolves game up in MN for everyone as a Christmas gift….but, I’ll have to post again once he gets to play in his first ever game! So fun!

Jake's journal - Day 6 in Ghana - Last day

Day six was yet another fabulous day as we spent the majority of the day with Prince in his village. They scheduled a soccer match for us to watch and we spent hours interacting with the children and people from his village and surrounding areas. Doug even got to practice his skill at making banku with one of the local women. Let’s just say it did not go great and soon he gave the reigns back to her to make sure he did not ruin the food for all the people she was about to feed. We could not have asked for a more incredible day spent with a young boy we have all come to love. It will be hard to leave Prince again tomorrow but we do know that God has plans for him and in that we find some comfort.

We closed the day with a great meal at Esi’s with all the volunteers from the Isaiah 1:17 Foundation and of course another half-dozen guests that know Esi and consider her a great friend. We cannot express our appreciation enough to all the volunteers especially Ameilia and Michael.

It is bittersweet to know we are leaving tomorrow. I am so ready to get back to my wonderful wife and beautiful kids, but at the same time there is a feeling inside of me that is in love with Africa and in love with the desire for opportunity that many of the young people have here in Ghana. I will miss the sense of community. I will miss the amount of joy expressed despite having so little. I will miss how alive Christ feels in many of the villages we have spent time in. I will miss a place where things of the world don’t matter.

What other place in the world can boys wear pink backpacks and pink sandals, where girls can shave their hair, and where people can come from different communities and laugh together? This was never more evident than today when we showed up to Prince’s soccer match and they threw JD a uniform and asked him to play on their team. They even started JD in the game and quickly passed him the ball whenever possible. There were no kids on the bench pouting, no parents mad that he got to start, but instead they were simply thrilled to welcome a new person into the team and into the community. It did not matter that he was not as fast as them or had never practiced with them. They didn’t care that he was white or that he came from America. Instead they welcomed him as if he was one of them. As if he was Ghanaian.

If you could ever see a perfect resemblance of Christ and what it looks like today was it. I pray that I will be able to take the things I have learned this week from the alone time I have spent with God and carry it home with me. It has been a unique experience having so much quiet time this week as Janel and the kids did not make this trip. Being away from them the past seven days it has certainly reminded me how much I love them and how much I desire the simple things....like seeing the expressions on their faces as they talk and holding my wife’s hand in the car. The little things we take for granted on a daily basis can quickly be brought back to the forefront of our minds when those things get taken away - even if it is just a few days.

I hope to have them along with me on all future trips but God has used this time to grow me in my faith. I thank God for that opportunity and if I can ask one thing from Him tonight it would be - what is next? God, what do you want from me? It is so weird because it feels like I have been designed for Africa. Here no one cares about how quickly you returned a phone call or how much notice you provided when something had to change. People genuinely care about people here! In all my trips here including the past 7 days I have never heard one person say a negative thing about another person. Today I was wondering if gossip and all the talking behind peoples’ backs actually exists here. It just feels as though this is how God created people to be and I pray that as an organization in the United States that we can exemplify Christ by not only what we say but how we love others. The ability to love one another in all circumstances is clearly written in scripture many times over. I am beginning to understand exactly what John meant when he wrote the following - A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another ( John 13:34-35). I’ve just got to keep praying for God to give me clarity about what is next and how to move forward in a place He has called us to…

Good Night from Africa,

Jake

Jake's journal - Day 5 in Ghana

Day five started with incredible worship and a wonderful message to kick off the new year at International Central Gospel Church (ICGC). I wish every Christian in the United States could take part in the worship at ICGC as the passion for Christ is so alive in every member of the church. The joy of living for Him radiates through each person attending the service.

The message was a simple one to start off the new year. The theme for this new year at ICGC is for all followers to take those next steps to live a righteous life for Christ. The pastor started today’s service with identifying priorities that will allow us to live according to Christ and the righteous life he describes in the Bible. The core of the teaching was over Matthew 6:31-33:

So do not worry, saying,‘What shall we eat?’ or ’What shall we drink?’ or ’What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

The pastor clearly explained in this new year of 2011 our first priority needs to be the kingdom of God. He went on to explain that many times we have priorities that we put before the kingdom of God. These things could be our work, our friends, our social activities, our personal development, even our family. However, it has clearly been written in scripture that our first priority needs to be seeking the kingdom of God.

He went on to explain in more depth as to how we can determine if the kingdom of God is really our first priority or whether we are like so many Christians who only claim it is their first priority. The pastor gave us three concrete ways to measure our priorities.

Measurement I: What do we spend our TIME doing? Where you spend the majority of your time is where your highest priority typically lies.

Measurement II: Where do we spend our MONEY? Typically the things we spend our money on give clear direction to what priorities we hold in highest regard.

Measurement III: Where do we provide the most EFFORT? Whatever we work the hardest at will typically determine what is most important to us.

It was a simple message but such an important one as we head into a new year with new opportunities from God!

Following church we headed to Nana’s village in the eastern region. I cannot remember the exact name of the village but Nana is the chief of the village which only enhanced our experience. As we arrived into the village in our 15 passenger van we were quickly surrounded by many elders greeting Nana as this was his first trip to the village in the new year.

They quickly escorted us through the village to an area where they had about 30 chairs set up in a circle. After we went through the line greeting all the elders we took our chairs. In African culture the elders and appointed officials have a tradition that goes back thousands of years of welcoming the chief to the village for the first time each year. They do this elaborate ceremony pouring shots of Schnapps onto the dirt floor as a sign of giving respect to the ancestors and calling on their wisdom for the new year. The entire ceremony lasted about one hour and I was even asked to address all the elders which was quite an experience since none of them besides Nana spoke English. It was quite the intimidating environment but it was a moment I will never forget.

Following the ceremony we handed out various gifts to the children within the village. I am not sure where all the children actually came from but by the time we finished we were surrounded by a few hundred children elated to receive our gifts and to touch the women’s hair. The joy we were able to bring a child with a small bag of chips or couple of pieces of candy really begins to put in perspective how much I have lost my joy over the small things of the world.

After we finished in the village we went to a little remote spot just on the outskirts of the village where Nana and Esi stay when they come to work in the village. The place is in the middle of the ‘bush’ as they say - kind of like a forestry area in the United States - with 4 small 2-bedroom homes. The homes were not big enough for all of us to sit inside of so we set up tables outside the homes on a small slab of concrete. Esi was with us which meant we had a car full of food with us and more snacks and drinks than you could have ever imagine could appear from a single car. As we all sat down to visit in the middle of an eastern region mountain village to our surprise Esi pulls out a popcorn popping machine!!!! Our only reaction was “HUH???!!!!!” We were in an area with no running water and what appeared to be no electricity but that was until we saw an extremely long extension cord being pulled from one of the houses to operate the popcorn machine.

So, there we sat on top of a mountain in the middle of the bush with sun hidden behind the hills and we had freshly popped popcorn. All week I have said expect the unexpected and let God do the rest, but I am not even sure God could have gotten a popcorn popping machine to operate in the place where we were located; so tonight I guess we can say expect the unexpected especially when you are with Esi. The great news was that not only did we have fresh popcorn, but the only light we had within at least 10 miles from where we sat was the popcorn machine itself which lit up our gathering with all the light one would need.

After a couple of hours taking in the scene and talking we headed back down to Accra which was about a two and half hour trip. Our night was not over there. As we returned to the hotel the entire Kingdom Hoops team was waiting for us. We had planned a dinner at the hotel for all the boys and it gave us a great chance to get to know the boys on a little deeper level. The highlight of the meal was the announcement that Grace had been brought into the Kingdom Hoops Ghana family as the boys announced that she is now considered their sister.
We got all the boys back in taxis and on their way home at about 10:30pm and we were finally able to call it another night. What an incredible day and an incredible experience. I am not sure what God taught me today but I think it was the simple fact that He is everywhere and He can especially be felt in the most remote parts of the world.

Good Night from Africa,

Jake

Jake's journal - Day 4 in Ghana

Day four was another great day in Africa. Nothing really went as planned but when the day was finished it was a day filled with fun and craziness! The day began at 10:00am as the driver picked us up and brought us to Sakumono for a family-fun event that Esi had planned for our Isaiah 1:17 Foundation.

It looked as though we were holding our own county fair with inflatable toys for the kids, face painting, cotton candy, and of course some grilled tilapia, banku, and fried rice!! We had around 100 people show up throughout the day which was lower than what Esi expected but none the less we had the opportunity to dive into some more lives at the event.

The best part of the day was when an announcement was made that we were all heading to the beach which was about 2 miles down the road. I was unaware that we were that close to the ocean and I was even more confused as to why we were going to the beach. But, like I said from the beginning expect the unexpected and God will do the rest.

As we began to pile into the vans we were told that we were heading to the beach to help Esi and staff to sell the leftover food from the family fun event. To say the least this concept dumb-founded me a bit but I thought to myself this might be quite the experience and oh it was!!!

As we pulled within a few blocks of the beach we were surrounded by three lanes of cars in only two lanes of traffic and parallel parked cars on both sides of the road all facing in a variety of directions. My next view was the ocean and then a rough estimate of 10,000 Ghanaians all on the beach celebrating the New Year accompanied with stereo systems lining the beach, rap music blaring, and a variety of vendors selling every type of food.

I thought I had seen everything that was possible to see in Ghana but tonight it became possible to see even more. It was one big party with dancing, food, and swimming. Swimming at the ocean in Ghana provides its own experience. Swim suits are not required and the more I think about it I am not sure swim suits are even allowed. We saw people swimming in jeans and a T-shirt, summer dresses, or many of the men decided that clothes are not even necessary you can simply strip down to your underwear and go for a swim and then dance like crazy on the shore.

Besides the crowd and variety of swim clothes the most entertaining part of the night had to be when it was time to go. JD had decided to go out for a swim in the ocean and had gotten kind of far out so he could not hear us yelling his name that we were leaving. Soon Grace became annoyed that JD could not hear us and decided to get up and head down to the shoreline to yell at JD to come as we were ready to go. Besides Grace getting hit on by a few Ghanaian boys, everyone was looking at her and trying to figure out who she was yelling at. The entertaining part was that out of the 10,000 plus people on the beach there were only seven white people: Me, Lori, Dawn, Doug, Angie, Grace and JD; and JD was the only white person in the ocean amongst a couple thousand Ghanaians. As Grace was yelling for JD a couple of the Ghanaians started to point at JD and then yelled back at Grace to see if he was the one she wanted. I am not sure words on a page can do the scene justice, but the Ghanaian people around JD really were not sure if she was yelling at JD to say ‘lets go’ or someone else. This whole scene gave us quite a laugh on the way home. :)

Every day I have tried to learn something new and valuable that God is trying to teach me. Today it was the virtues of joy and happiness over the simple things of the world. I stood on a beach with thousands of people who have very little in material possessions yet they celebrated the New Year with such incredible joy it was hard not to be pulled in. There were no presents or fancy foods it was simply a joy of being together as a community and celebrating all that God has provided them over the past year and what he will provide in the year to come. I pray that this type of joy will remain in my life in all situations just like the Ghanaian people. Many times I believe I am coming to Ghana to help change lives but like always, my life gets changed the most.

Good Night from Africa!

Jake