God's Plan

God's plan for me today was so much better than I had planned for myself!  This has to be one of the best days so far!!

Let me start back at Friday.  A preacher from the Yendi Church of Christ, Andrews, traveled to Takoradi to visit me and see the school.  I met Andrews this past February when I spent a week in Yendi learning about clinic work here in Ghana.  Yendi is in the Northern Region of Ghana and Andrews traveled about 20 hours straight to visit me.  Yendi is dry and hot most of the time as it is closer to the desert.  He would only be able to spend Friday night here in Takoradi and then travel on to Accra on Saturday morning.  When I was deciding about his hotel reservations, I thought it would be nice for him to see the ocean.  So I booked him one night at the African Beach Resort and me two nights....I decided to take the weekend off.

Andrews was very thankful for the stay at the beach.  He enjoyed sitting at the beach talking about the many marvelous and wonderful things God made for our enjoyment.  I think that it was a very relaxing time for us both.  I took Andrews to the bus station early Saturday morning for his trip to Accra where he will be preaching today.

I, on the other hand, stayed at the resort for the weekend.  I enjoyed my first hot showers since I arrived here in April.   I will tell you that I had almost forgotten how good they felt.  Wow!  I am an expert at the warm bucket bath, but a hot shower is still the very best!

I spent hours at the beach.  Some of the time I was working, some I was just listening to the ocean and relaxing and some I was reading. I got up early both Saturday and Sunday mornings to watch the sun rise over the ocean.  I talked with God, sang praises to him and tried to listen.  It felt so good to feel the light breeze on my face and listen to the sounds of the waves crashing on the rocks and beach.  Watching the tide come in and go out is amazing.

After my Sunday Sunrise Service, I had an enjoyable breakfast and a couple of cups of tea.  I had thought about spending a few more hours at the beach before heading back to the house, but for some reason I decided to leave and go to the school to do some work.  I am thankful to the Lord for that decision.....
As I approached the school, I suddenly remembered that the Village of Whindo has their church service at the school.  As I drove in, I could see they were in the middle of Sunday school.  I decided to go to the kids class and see what they were doing.  They were learning the books of the New Testament in English.

I introduced my myself and we learned to sing the New Testament song.  They did very well, I must say.  Saying "Thessalonians" is a mouthful for them tho.  Their smiles were infectious.  I love the children.  They are so eager to learn.  By the time I left them, they were singing the song by themselves and came to Thank me for joining them.

When church was over, I went into greet the adults.  This church is only about 40 people.  I greeted many of them.  Some of them are students from OAVI.  Today was a wonderful day for the Lord's Kingdom.  Two of the OAVI students and one other student were baptized!  Mary Baidoo and Emmanuel Cudjoe are two of my students.  (Mary is the young girl who I have talked about in the past who had chickenpox.)  I walked with the church the mile or so to the river and the three baptisms were performed.

As we approached the river, they began to sing praises to the Lord and immediately after hearing the confessions and watching the baptisms, they again began to sing Praises.  I was so excited that I had left the hotel early and decided to go to the school.  What a wonderful blessing to be a witness to this beautiful day.  And, you know, there is no way I can believe anything except that God wanted me to be there.  He gave me such a wonderful gift.  The students walked me back to the school even though they live near the river.  This was another one of the best days!!!

Matthew 28:19-20  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

AMEN!