We praise the Lord for what He has been doing here in Ghana. Since our August update there is much to report. We have had some challenging things happen here…
Tuobodom:
We have only one deacon in our church, and we had to ask him to resign. This has been discouraging to us, but a discipline issue has arisen. He has resigned as a deacon, and is currently on church discipline. Please pray for wisdom as we as a church work with him to bring him back into fellowship with us. At end of August, Pastor Ameyaw was in a motorcycle accident in front of the Techiman church office. The motorcycle was pretty mangled but Pastor Ameyaw was alive. He suffered some road burns and some bruised ribs from the handle bars hitting his chest. We sent him to the hospital to get checked out, and we praise the Lord that the injuries were minor. He was recovering from these for about 2 weeks. His motorcycle sustained about $200 in damage. We had the motorcycle repaired because that is his only mode of transportation. This was just three weeks before his graduation from Calvary Baptist Theological Seminary.
On September 10, 2011, Pastor Ameyaw graduated from Bible School. It was an awesome time for him as many of our church members came to encourage their young Assistant Pastor. The next big event for him is marriage. He does have a young lady that he would like to marry, but he is waiting for Lord’s timing. So pray for him!
The Lord has been blessing our church with visitors just about every week. Last week we had 5 children in our children’s Sunday School and Church receive Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. We rejoiced at the testimony from Adu Paul about these children. On September 25th, we baptized four people during the evening service. Praise God for His grace, and the willingness of these believers to obey His command. We are in our second rainy season and on Sunday at 4pm the rain started falling hard until 8:30pm. We didn’t have church on Sunday night because 99% of our people walk to church, and some walk as much two to three miles.
Adutwie:
Pastor Ameyaw travels on his motorcycle to Adutwie every Sunday morning to hold services there in the village. This group of believers enjoys asking some theological questions which shows us that they are reading their Bibles. The children’s Bible Club continues to go strong, but the rains often prevent our traveling over the poor, muddy roads. Our vehicle is not 4 wheel drive, and can get stuck quite easily. Pray that we would be able to start developing the land that has been purchased.. We would like to put up a 25’x50’ building for the church. I’m estimating that it would cost between $20,000 – $25,000.
Peterson Family:
The Todd family has gone through a very trying time with our grandson Josiah. He got a stomach virus that would not let go. He had numerous visits to pediatricians, two ER visits for IV fluids, and one overnight admission at the hospital. Praise the Lord. He is doing just fine now. We called him several times on “Skype” to just encourage him and Meridith. Don and other grandchildren are doing fine.
Jon is working at AT&T mobility. He loves to sell those cell phones. Rebecca is working two part-time jobs and going to Holyoke Community College part-time. Rachel and Tom! Rachel is due to deliver their first child (our 4th grandchild) on October 30th. It’s a girl and her name is going to be Eden Paige Kingston. Rachel had a mid-wife appointment on Friday and asked how big she thought the baby was? She said between 8 to 9 pounds. Dona and Julia are scheduled to leave Ghana on Oct 27th and arrive in Boston on Oct 28th. We have planned this visit for them a long time ago. Dona is going to help Rachel with the baby for about 6 to 7 weeks. While she is there, she will have some blood work done. She has been experiencing some symptoms and some severe intermittent pain that feels deep enough to be bone pain. These have been troublesome for about 4-5 months.
Before we came back to Ghana, Dona had a hyper-thyroid issue which delayed our return until January 2011. We were wondering if some of these symptoms were thyroid related. We had a thyroid test done here in Ghana, and her thyroid is borderline low which may mean she may have to determine if medication will be needed. Please keep us in prayer as we search for the difficulty. Dona had continued with her ministries along with teaching Julia. She mainly has trouble at night. When she is busy, she doesn’t pay attention to the pain.
I’m doing well, but am a little tired because of Dona not sleeping. I’m not sleeping all that well. I am getting ready to teach in the Bible School next month. Pray that God will enable us to remain faithful to the work He has given us.
In His Service,
Jim, Dona, and Julia Peterson
