To Africa and back
Submitted by dibollfreepress on Wed, 09/23/2009 - 18:522009-09-23 / Church
MIssion trip one to remember
A few weeks ago, early in the morning, a mission team of eight, including our leader Gene Hazel, pastor of Fairview Baptist Church, started out on a long, long, journey.
During one’s lifetime, we will travel many journeys, some long-some short. This journey to Accra, Ghana in West Africa, was probably the longest most of us have ever taken.
We flew in one of Delta Airlines largest aircraft, and from Houston’s airport to Accra it was 6,855 miles.
After leaving Fairview Baptist Church that Friday morning, we arrived at Houston’s International Airport about 6:30 a.m. and with passports in hand we rushed through Customs and Immigration stations to have our luggage inspected.
We left Houston about 10 a.m. and arrived in NYC-Kennedy Airport at 12:44 p.m. After a 5 hour layover we boarded our large Delta plane approximately at 5:25 p.m. and approximately 10 hours later we landed in Accra.
We were picked up by Bro. John Lindsay and his wife Margaret, who are missionaries serving in Ghana, West Africa for 12 years.
After leaving the Kotoka International Airport, we traveled to the town of Koforidua, about two hours away. mileage wise, it wasn’t that far but due to the condition of the roads, we were not able to travel very fast.
Finally we arrived at our destination at the Capitol View Hotel in Koforidua. It wasn’t a 5 star hotel, but it did have A.C. and a 40 seater restaurant.
On our first Sunday there, we visited an African church service. We enjoyed the service, even tho it was a very different type of service, and the people were very friendly and courteous. The service was held outside an old school building and most of the children in attendance went to school there during the week. It was a very lively service with lots of dancing, shouting, and clapping. We all had a good time with the people because we were all there with the same purpose and reason and that was to worship our God.
We saw first hand how glad and grateful the children were to receive the school supplies, candy, toys, shoes, and some clothing that we brought them. Some donations came from the McDonald’s store at Wal-Mart, who gave us hundreds of Happy Meal toys, and indeed it made hundred’s of children happy. I would like to thank Troy Schuster, Director of Operations for Wil-May Enterprises Inc, in Lufkin for their generous donations.
We saw poverty first hand and felt so blessed that in our small way, we were able to meet some needs as we traveled through several poor villages. We saw many children and families who only had the barest of food and lodging.
It was heartbreaking to see conditions like that, and it made us realize how fortunate we were to have been born in the greatest country in the world-the good old U.S.A.
If you have a loving and compassionate heart for missions, you will understand the great feeling and blessing we received because we were able to minister to these people who needed so much.
Later in the week we were able to visit and witness to children in another school. Some of the children put on a program for us and performed an African dance. It was very colorful and all the children enjoyed performing. As always the children were happy to get the toys and school supplies we brought for them.
Our team consisted of some young, some old and some in between.
Those who made the trip were Misty Harris, Hollie Williams, Charlene Constante, Jan Voss, Travis Engel, Gene Hazel, Glenda Goins, and Joe Miranda.
Here are some thoughts from the group:
Glenda Goins, mother of two, grandmother of five said “It has been a dream of mine to come to Africa on a mission trip. God has made that dream come true. We all need to step out of our own little world, so that we can see the real world thru God’s eyes.”
Travis Engel, from Central Texas and a Baylor Bear. “Here in response to a direct call of God, for short-term mission and life-long call to ministry.”
Jan Voss from Splendora-” My love for Jesus led me here.”
Charlene Constante, mother of two, and grandmother of three. “I am closer to God at this point of my life than I have ever been. I want to share that with others.”
Hollie Williams-A senior at Lufkin High School. “I plan to become a foreign missionary after college.”
Misty Harris-”I came to share the gospel with Africa and further the Kingdom of God.
This journey to a distant land in Africa was one we will always remember as long as we live. To have been able to go and have the opportunity to witness and minister to the people there had to be the highlight of our trip. We all received our special blessing from being able to take the message, that is in the bible (Matthew 28:18-20) to the people in Africa.
We had a mission and goal to accomplish when we left Fairview Baptist Church, a few weeks ago. Our goal was to reach 500 souls for Christ during our mission. We exceeded that number early in the week, and our final total was 650. I believe as we plan our return to Africa next year-as for this journey we can honestly say “Mission Accomplished”.
