WE ARE BACK IN DENVER!

We have ALL made it back safely to the USA!. No equipment problems or connection issues, both flights I believe arrived early (talked to Don last night and think I noted he was early?). Jeanne, Pat and I spent a LONG 6+ hours in the Frankfurt airport, but were pleasantly surprised we were flying Lufthansa instead of United out of Frankfurt, which meant a non-stop directly to Denver, going through customs here instead of Chicago. Saved time and possible connections problems.
Our wrap up in Accra was great, while Don, Pat and Jeanne did not get back as early from Cape Coast as they had hoped (traffic), they did enjoy the visit to Elmina Slave Castle and the "extra" time with Victor. We had a spaghetti dinner together and spent a couple of hours, just going over the week we had just spent in Cape Coast and the blessings we all received from this time.
On Sunday we all went to the CCPC church plant in Tema. Pat, Jeanne and I shared greetings from CCPC and Don preached from Acts 2: 37 - 47 talking about the five foundations of the church (teaching; caring; worshiping; praying and outreaching). It was well received from this congregation, probably 50+ were in attendance, the music as usual was awesome! We too were all blessed by our time at the Tema church plant.
We met with the Tema Pastor Emmanuel Essiam and his leadership team following the worship service and covered needs, issues that they have going forward. They have made some improvements on the church pad, even have the roofing support for adding the aluminum sheets to cover the site for other uses. Pray that the Lord will provide the funds for that to happen. They still have a commitment to the community to build a vocational school on this land as well. They have the drawings for what their "dream" is and will be getting costs for going ahead with this project, again pray for His provision for this. The block making machine continues to be productive and generates about $200 cedes profit each month, so this has enabled them to do the improvements to the church site. Hopefully this will continue and funds can go towards the costs on the vocational school.
Your team did well in Ghana, touched hundreds of lives and I believe has had great Kingdom success on this trip. The folks at HODEM truly do appreciate what CCPC is doing for them and their ministry is being blessed by your continued support of this work.

BACK INTO ACCRA - SATURDAY AUGUST 23

Well the time does fly when you are busy serving the Lord. We have had an unbelievable trip while in Cape Coast. With a "not easy access" to an internet cafe, we have not been able to post as we had hoped, but for conversation tomorrow at CCPC I (Al) wanted to give you the latest. I came back alone from Cape Coast with the bags, so Don, Pat and Jeanne could do a few "touristy" things. They should be back late this afternoon.
WOW, what a blessing the "Maximizing Your Leadership Impact" conference was. As Jeanne had mentioned in her update on Thursday, we had about 340 attending, while prepared for 300, so did some scrambling, but it worked out. Rev. Chris Ampadv was an absoulutely "stellar" choice by Pastor Victor to join our teaching team. Don said "I would work with him again any where." What a heart he has for the Ghanan people!
The conference ended at 3 PM, with Don only getting 7 minutes to finish his last teaching to keep us on schedule, because we had graduation following the conference (Don, Pat, Jeanne and Chris spent perhaps 3 hours signing 350 graduation certificates). Each attendee received a certificate of participation with their name on it, plus an Africa Bible Commentary. For those not familar with this publication, it was written by 70 Africa Bible scholars to help explain what the Bible is saying in an "African voice". This will be a very valuable tool for these church leaders to use as they teach their flocks.
Jeanne mentioned the goats at the Crusade, but we also had dogs coming through the crowd as well, so we were out in the open in Elmina, Ghana each night, with the "local traffic" coming and going. Last night ended the Crusade with 27 people coming forward to receive Christ. It was a very interesting experience for all of the team, Don did the Gospel of Exodus on Thursday night and Pat finished last night with a teaching on the Prodigal Son. Jeanne gave her personal testimony to finish the Crusade and all involved in the Crusade believe it was her personal testimony that touched the hearts of these 27 people to receive Christ. What a blessing to witness what took place this past week in Cape Coast. As Jeanne mentioned, Don is quite an Evangelist, Victor turned to me the first night as Don was preaching and said "My God, the man is an Evangelist"! That said, he will be returning with us on Sunday :-).
We will go to the CCPC church plant in Tema, Ghana tomorrow and Don will deliver the message. We have made many new eternal friends here, as Jeanne had shared earlier, such loving, wonderful people.
We are glad to have had this chance to serve, but of course all miss our families and are looking forward to leaving Ghana tomorrow evening, arriving back in Denver late afternoon on Monday.
Thanks for your prayer cover, it was felt, it was evident as the teachings "came together", as we experienced all the distractions the Evil One threw in our way and for the success of the Crusade. Please continue to pray for good health and safe travel, we look forward to seeing many on you on the 31st at CCPC.

Greetings from Ghana! Day 5

Greetings in the Name of Jesus! Al and Jeanne have stopped to update you on our activities at the Pastor's Conference, Maximizing Your Leadership Impact, and the Crusades. We are thinking of you and thanking God for you and your prayers for Ghana and us. Al has successfully retrieved Pat's luggage and she was able to dress in fresh clothes today and looked beautiful, I(Jeanne) might add! The week is flying by as we experience one blessing after another. God is so faithful and good. The biggest blessing has been the people we have come to know and love! They are so very lovely and hospitable. They so easily share their lives as we put our hearts and heads together in ministry for Christ and His church.

Monday: After enjoying a visit with the precious women (I believe Al's post described our time with about fifteen women) at the Hodem Headquarters, Pat, Jeanne, Pastor Don and Pastor Victor drove to Cape Coast. This trip took about three to four hours--we have lost track of time here in Africa! Your prayers for safety were heard and answered as there was a terrible auto accident just a half an hour in front of us on the two-way, unlit highway. Driving in the traffic in Ghana has been a matter of complete reliance on the Lord! The Matlat hotel is very nice although nothing like in the States! The meals have been very good and the fellowship around the table edifying and rewarding.

Tuesday: After a good nights rest without many bugs, we set off to the village of Nkwanta to visit Pastor Mensah and Chief Baiden, and see the progress on the church they are building. They have raised the support beams for the roof, layed the cement floor and made bricks for internal walls. It is beautiful and set in a lush grove of coconut trees. I have many pictures that we will upload with our next posting when we return to the internet cafe which is some distance from the hotel and conference. The drive to the village was remarkable in the contrast between the urban open markets filled with people, cars, noise and intense activity and the rural greenery and quiet of the the rual areas. Chief Baiden was glad to see us and recieved us warmly. We prayed together and he sends his greetings to the Cuitillo's. Pastor Mensah and his wife Hannah are encouraged as they wait for the delivery of the tin roofing from Fred, a church member of Hodem.

As we drove to the village we met Al, who was on his way from Accra to Cape Coast. He stayed their over night to pick up Pat's baggage but to no avail. We were so glad to see him! He has been a blessing to all of us. Now I truly understand why he always answers "Blessed" when ask how he is, God tells us we are "blessed to be a blessing." Al has been a blessing along our every step with a servants heart and encouraging tongue!!!

The Crusade Tuesday Night went well and was very exciting with many people from Hodem and Cape Coast. All the planning was well executed and quite impressive. The heart and strength of Pastor Victor's ministry is remarkable. Pastor Don preached an amazing message on the gospel of Genesis, he is quite the evangelist. The Word says that God will separate the goats from the sheep and I just want you to know that the goats were in attendance--literally!! They were traveling back and forth ing front of the stage at will. There are goats everywhere!

Wednesday: Now the fun began as we entered into the conference that started at 8:30 a.m., which was about 9:30 a.m. "African time." We started with 100 pastors and leaders and with in an hour grew to 340! Praise God!

The teaching has been instructive, inspiring, correcting and deep! The people are so receptive and gracious. As the speaking team has gone through our messages at both the crusades and conference, God has knit them together in perfect harmony of theme with the other speaker Dr. Chris Ampadu! God is GOD--All the time!!

Sunday was a great day!

We were able to share at two of the HODEM churches on Sunday. Don preached at the headquarters church in Pokuase and preached on The Trinity, the message was well received. Pat was scheduled to preach at Taifia, but of course was in Germany. They asked me to speak, I was able to use my "Africa" message, as I've not spoken in Ghana, other than prayer at several churches. They were gracious, I was able to pray for the new pastor, Cromwell, who will be taking over from Victor's wife Christiana. Neat young man and will do a great job.
We went to the airport on Sunday night to pick up Pat and Jeanne. My other bag by the way did arrive, God has a great sense of humor, on Saturday night only one bag arrived, which included all of the materials for the conference, me still with no fresh underwear :-). Pat and Jeanne did not appear, so I talked the security people into letting go into the arrival area and found them. Pat's bag did not arrive so they were doing the paper work. Maybe tonight? I will stay behind and spend an extra night in Accra while the rest of they team head to Cape Coast. PRAY that her bag arrives tonight. Victor is having minor car problems, it is 4:30 pm and they have not left for Cape Coast yet. For those of you that are aware of the Africa Bible Commentary saga, Victor and I picked them up this morning PTL.
Pat and Jeanne had a great meeting with the women at HODEM today, instead of 10 women 16 showed up and they all had a great meeting. Christiana baked some great meat pies and cakes for lunch, I slipped in and had some too.
The evil one is still trying to put road blocks in the way, but Jesus will be the Victor! We are excited about this opportunity. We are all well, please continue to pray for us, thanks for your support.

Al is in Ghana

Well, someone does NOT want us in Ghana, but God WILL prevail. I spent an unexpected night and day in Chicago. We had equipment problems out of Denver on Wednesday, so I missed my connecting flight to Frankfurt. I did get on a flight Thursday afternoon, to connect to my flight to Accra Thursday afternoon and arrived last night into Accra on time. KEEP praying, my bags did not arrive with me, so we are praying that they will arrive on the flight tonight. I did hand carry all of the important papers we need for the training, so he was fooled on that. There is some material in one of my suitcases that will be helpful for our training but we can proceed without it if necessary.

Don Sweeting is in the air at this moment, scheduled in about 15 minutes late. Victor and I will pick him up. Victor and I had a good day today, planning a youth ministry trip to Ghana in July of 2009. I think we have some good ideas, will meet with Hayford in Cape Coast on Tuesday to get his thoughts about what the CCPC Youth Team thought and what Victor and I added/fine tuned and have a plan when I get back to Denver. We could not go to Dagby(sp) raining, muddy roads. I was blessed to meet the CHE trainer today, as he was in Accra picking up some supplies and he has a four wheel drive vehicle, so he can go back. It was fun the be at HODEM headquarters today and hear the laughter of 100+ kids as they played before lunch and the afternoon teaching. I also enjoyed with them the usual fare, rice, chicken drumstick and a hot red sauce.

The other news is Pat and Jeanne are spending the night in Frankfort, as guests of United. They had equipment problems in Chicago and missed their connecting flight to Accra, so are spending the night and day in Germany, a little extra side trip :-). There were not seats for them on the scheduled flight direct to Accra, so they have been booked on a KLM flight through Amsterdam, arriving Sunday night about the same time they were scheduled tonight. Pat will preach at Hifia (sp) next Sunday instead. I will speak and greet them from CCPC in her place but will not be delivering a full message :-). The planned meeting for Pat and Jeanne with the women leadership at HODEM will take place on Monday morning before we go to Cape Coast. I learned when I arrived, that the Crusade will not take place beginning Monday because local law require a "quiet night" each week at church. I guess God knew this and knew we needed extra time on Monday for this "rescheduled meeting, PTL!

We are still encouraged, with all of the distractions, you have to know what we have planned will have great Kingdom benefit. We will appreciate your continued prayer cover. It will be good when the four of us are together in Accra tomorrow night (with my bags?).

We were commissioned today (August 10, 2008)

Good morning - Pat, Jeannne, Don (he was in Chicago Land) and I were commissioned at the first worship service at CCPC today. Marty Martin prayed for us as the three of us went forward at the end of the service, so we are "feeling really blessed" and ready (mostly) to go.

I/we will try to give you regular updates as we are able to access the internet in Ghana.

Thanks for your continuing prayer support. May Christ be honored by all that we do and say.