Goodbye to Christina

2/25/10

Goodbye to Christina

Tonight was Christina’s last night in Kumasi. She’ll leave tomorrow for Accra, and will fly home to NYC on Friday. She'll be in church on Sunday at Grace Bible Church in Brooklyn and will share a report of her time in Ghana. She wishes she could stay longer.

For this final night at the church, she joined the praise team and helped lead the worship. As much as she has come to love the people of this church, they have come to love her, and are hoping she’ll be back soon. Please pray for safe journeys as she travels over these next two days.

2 comments:

AvaByGrace said...: You look happy and relaxed, Christina! Have a safe trip home and I pray to hear of your travels and see some pictures soon.; February 25, 2010 at 11:43 PM
Unknown said...: God bless you, Christina! I look forward to hearing about your experience there when you return; I pray that your return home will be a safe one!; February 26, 2010 at 12:17 AM

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Ghana: Where we're going

Ghana is a nation in West Africa (it is shaded in gray on the map above). It is about as big as the state of Oregon, but with 20 million people.

English is the official national language, but most people in the Kumasi area have only a limited understanding of English. Akan, the language of the Ashanti's is the main language. We preach in English, which some Ghanaians understand, with an interpreter to translate into Akan.

Ghana lies a couple of degrees above the equator so it's hot and humid year-round. We received 7 vaccinations, for Yellow Fever, malaria, Typhoid, hepatitis, meningitis, etc. We packed several bottles of mosquito spray on the US doctor's instructions, but we haven't seen a mosquito since we arrived in Ghana.

The Weather Report for Ghana

The weather forecast for Ghana is hot:
High temp - 98 / Low temp - 77
Humid.
UV index: 10+ 'extreme'

It's 90 here now with a blazing sun. The weather is different from our last trip. We had rain one evening -- and cloudy and misty mornings. Last time, we had nothing but sun. Also, last time Harmattan winds blew fine particles of sand from the Sahara (north of us), up into the atmosphere, which reduces the heat of the sun; this year, no Harmattan winds - apparently unusual because Pastor Peter remarked about that.

We're hoping to leave before the rainy season starts. The rain creates breeding grounds for mosquitoes, which carry tropical diseases.

Ministry Itinerary - February 17 to March 12, 2010

5PM Wednesday 2/17 - Leaving New York's JFK on Delta Airlines nonstop to Accra, Ghana

8AM Thursday 2/18 - Arriving in Accra, Ghana, then driving into Accra to the Ivoirian embassy to get our visas to enter Ivory Coast in a few weeks. Then a few hours-drive west along the Atlantic Coast to Cape Coast where we will spend our first night in Ghana. Traveled nearly 6000 miles, 10,000km since yesterday.

Friday 2/19 - Driving about 4 hours north to Kumasi, which will be our base for the next 2 weeks.

February 20 to 24 - Ministry in Grace Bible Church in Ahensan, Kumasi

Saturday, 2/20 - The ministry starts with an early morning FM radio broadcast from the studio in Kumasi. Pastor Dennis preaches in English, Pastor Peter interprets into Akan, the language of the Ashante people.

Later on Saturday we're going out to Lake Bosomtwe, about 20 miles SouthEast from Kumasi, where we'll take a look at the piece of property where the future training center will be built to train ministers to take the gospel of the grace of God to all the countries in West Africa.

Sunday morning 2/21 - Welcome Service at Grace Bible Church in Ahensan, Kumasi, Ghana. We'll all be speaking, bringing greeetings from Grace Bible Church in Brooklyn to our sister church in Ghana. Pastor Dennis will preach the message this morning.

Monday & Tuesday, 2/22 - 23 - Pastor Dennis will be teaching at the Pastors' Conference in Ahensan each morning. Elder Leon will be preaching at the evening services in Grace Bible Church.

Wedneday, 2/24 - Pastor Dennis preaching in the evening service at Grace Bible Church in Ahensan.

February 25 - March 7 - 11 days of Ministry in 8 grace churches that started as a result of Pastor Peter's radio ministry in towns and villages a few-hours-drive from Kumasi in every direction

Thursday, 2/25 & Friday, 2/26 - Visit to grace churches in the rain forest a few hours outside of Kumasi - south to Patase and Apitisu on Thursday, north to Nsuta and Kona on Friday, Dennis and Leon preaching to the congregations in each village and open-air preaching.

Christina Alexander leaves from Accra for NYC on Friday morning.

Saturday, 2/27 - early Morning FM radio broadcast with Pastor Dennis and Pastor Peter at the studio in Kumasi.

In the evening - the first of our open-air "crusades" -- meetings held in the village square, after dark, with singing, dancing and preaching. The whole village gathers for the meetings - sometimes a thousand people. This evening we'll be in Prabon, a suburb of Kumasi. Pastor Dennis speaking.

Sunday morning, 2/28 - Elder Leon preaching in a joint service of all the grace churches held at the church in Prabon.

Pastor Dennis preaching in the evening at the 2nd crusade meeting in Prabon.

Monday 3/1 - a day of rest.

Tuesday, 3/2 - Dennis and Leon preaching at Grace Bible Church in Tano-Dumasi -- This is Pastor Peter's hometown, a small village many miles off the paved highway, in the rain forest, on the Tano River in the West of Ghana.

Elizabeth Kiszonas leaves from Accra for NYC on Friday morning.

Friday & Saturday 3/5-6 - Evening Crusade meetings -- open air preaching at New Tafo, another new grace church near Kumasi. Pastor Dennis preaching on Friday, Elder Leon on Saturday.

Sunday morning 3/7 - Farewell Joint Service of all the grace churches in Ghana at New Tafo. Pastor Dennis will be preaching.

Monday to Wednesday 3/8-10

Ministry in Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) with Pastor Georges Amoako-Prempeh at La Maison de la Destinee in Abidjan

Leadership Training Seminar - Monday and Tuesday evenings 3/8-9 - Pastors Peter and Dennis and Elder Leon teaching in both sessions.

Pastors' Conference on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, 3/9-10, Pastor Dennis teaching.

Wednesday evening, 3/10, Farewell Meeting at La Maison de la Destinee in Abidjan for the whole church. Dennis, Leon and Pastor Peter preaching

Thursday 3/11 - We depart Abidjan for Accra, a long drive back to the airport in Ghana. Our flight leaves on Friday morning 3/12 and arrives at JFK in New York City on Friday at 5PM. The end of our 23 day mission journey to Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire.

Thomas Wood now from Little Ferry, New Jersey, originally from Cape Coast & Kumasi in Ghana, meets us at JFK in New York City.

Sunday 3/14 - Welcome Home at Grace Bible Church - Brooklyn, NY -- Everyone is Welcome!

Morning Service at 11AM at Grace Bible Church in downtown Brooklyn, in New York City. Pastor Dennis and Elder Leon bring their report concerning the mission trip to Ghana and Ivory Coast.

Grace For Today & Grace Bible Church in New York City

This Grace To Ghana blog is sponsored by

Grace For Today a New Jersey Nonprofit Corporation which ministers the grace of God in New York City
and the surrounding area: New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, & Massachussetts

Our contact information:

email in Ghana: gracetoghana@gmail.com

Website: http://www.gracefortoday.org/

Tollfree phone in the USA: 1-800-803-0003

Mail:

Grace For Today
PO Box 798
Times Square Station
New York, NY 10108
USA

Listen to the Grace For Today radio broadcast on radio station WMCA - 570AM in New York City on Sunday mornings at 10:00AM. (This station can be heard in NY, NJ, CT, RI and MA.)

Available in .mp3 and .rm anytime, anywhere, world-wide on the Grace For Today website: http://www.gracefortoday.org/
Webcast worldwide on http://www.nycradio.com/ Sunday mornings at 10AM Eastern Time (USA).

Our home church:

Grace Bible Church with the Sunday morning service at 11AM in downtown Brooklyn, New York.

While the pastor is away on the mission trip to West Africa, the preaching schedule at Grace Bible Church is:

Feb. 17 - Pastor Joe Torres, preaching

Feb. 28 - Thomas Wood, a native of Cape Coast, Ghana, now living in the NYC area, will be the preacher. Christina Alexander, who returns from Ghana on 2/26, will report on the first week of the mission to Ghana.

March 7 - Pastor Joe Torres, preaching. Elizabeth Kiszonas, who returns from Ghana on 3/5, will report on the first 2 weeks of the mission to Ghana.

March 14 - Welcome Home Service -- Pastor Dennis and Elder Leon will report to the church on their Grace to Ghana and Ivory Coast mission.

Every Sunday there is Prayer led by Henry Bulwer at 10AM followed by Bible Study with Dr. John Mark Stevens and the Service at 11AM.

The Sunday morning service is held at

The Metropolitan Corporate Academy
(A NYC public high school)
475 State Street in downtown Brooklyn

Corner of Third Avenue and State Street, in the Boerum Hill section, downtown Brooklyn.
475 State St. is located between Third Avenue and Flatbush Avenue, and State Street is one block north of Atlantic Avenue.

For information & travel directions visit http://www.gracefortoday.org/

or call 1-800-803-0003

Grace to Ghana & Cote d'Ivoire - 2010

2/25/10