The Lord Remembers Ministry

7 Months in Ghana, Africa

During my time with Bethany Global University, I was able to spend 7 months in Ghana, Africa! This was my first overseas missions experience, and my eyes truly began to be opened to God’s heart for the nations!! Check out some of the many amazing testimonies below!

Vibrant Powerful Worship

One of my absolute favorite things about Ghanaian culture is the way that these people worship the Lord!! While I was in the nation, I was able to lead worship on both piano and ukulele often in different worship settings, and we also got to experience authentic African worship at all of the different churches and conventions that we attended!! The freedom that can be found in African worship is so beautiful, as there is much less concern about sounding perfect or being sophisticated, and everyone is truly invited to come as they are, dancing and singing with no fear what others may think of you!! It’s absolutely incredible!!

An Incredible Team

Easily one of the greatest parts of my experience in Ghana, Africa was the team that I was sent here with!! Our team leaders, Eric and Katie Dodson were great spiritual parents to all of us, and each of my teammates brought something so special to the table! We shared many amazing worship nights in community with one another and cultivated a true environment of encouragement as well as vulnerability among one another where we were able to express our needs when we struggling! These people will truly be family to me for life!!

Ministry in the Mundane

Spending 7 months in a nation, we had some really big ministry opportunities, but we also had a lot of days just living every day life, and it was some of these moments that God actually helped me to show His love the most!! Specifically, during the time in Ghana, I basically became a celebrity at the local KFC!! I would always go in there and connect with all of the different employees at both the restaurant and the gas station next store, and it was beautiful how God was able to use me even in such an every day environment!! The woman in the front of all the other employees in this picture was named Gladys, and I was even invited to attend her wedding because of the relationship we had built!!

Amazing Relationships Formed

Pictured here you can see two of the people I actually formed some of the most powerful relationships with in the mundane times in Ghana!! First off, you can see Godfred dressed in red, and this man ended up becoming my closest local friend in all of Ghana, yet he started as a simple man who was just my yellow yellow driver!! Yellow Yellows are the little go kart style taxis that local Ghanaians will drive people around in, and one day I needed a ride home from a restaurant and this guy picked me up on the side of the road! On the drive, we ended up getting into a conversation quickly about the Lord, and he invited me to his church, and after that point he became my regular driver and a true friend I would laugh with and also open up to in difficult moments!! He’s truly a friend to me for life! Then next to him you can see Muniru, who was a kind worker at the local swimming pool where I loved to spend my time!! He was very fluent in the local tribal language of “Dagbani” and he would tutor me every week on the language when I went to come swimming!! Then during our tutoring lessons, if we got finished, we would do fun things like chat about our dreams and passions in life and play uno together as well! Whether at the pool, in the KFC, or in the taxis, God was able to use every moment in the mundane in this nation to build meaningful relationships with locals that I’ll treasure forever!

Working With Fulani Muslims

One of the focal people groups adopted by The Lord Remembers Ministry is the Fulani Muslims, and during my time in Ghana, we were able to visit a Fulani village and distribute mosquito nets to the people! It’s beautiful to not only be able to satisfy spiritual needs of people, but also to meet them with their physical needs as well, because those things make the way for deeper spiritual impact!! I absolutely loved my brief experiences with the Fulani in Ghana and I’m excited to engage them further in future missions trips of the ministry!!

Preaching on Prayer

One of our absolute best experiences during our time in Ghana was when our team had the opportunity to preach at the Christmas Convention in the city of Wa!! At this convention, I was able to give a message on prayer and the importance of being authentic with God about where you’re at, and we had 3 people respond to the altar call which you can see pictured here!! In addition to that, I also got to dance around playing my ukulele with a pastor, and that same pastor actually got inspired by our messages to continue being a pastor!! Before the convention, he was so discouraged he was considering quitting ministry for good, but at the end of the convention, he opened up to all of his people, breaking down in tears about how he almost quit, and was inspired now to stay!! This was so huge because in Ghana for men to express their emotions that way is very rare and unexpected, but it was truly so touching and incredible to see how we impacted his life!!

Experiencing Ghanaian Life

Finally the last big thing that I had the honor to do in Ghana was spend 10 days in this local Ghanaian village named Bunbong!! Here, my teammates Allena, Haley, and I were dropped off with the local people and for 10 days we slept in huts, went to the bathroom in outhouses, and learned what it was truly like to be a local Ghanaian person!! The chief of the village welcomed us with open arms, and the few Christians in the village hosted us so well, cooking us meals and translating for us as we ventured to various different Muslim people nearby to share the gospel!! I think I got to preach the gospel like 7 different times in those 10 days, and it was so powerful being spontaneously led by the Holy Spirit into what to preach about each day!! In this particular image, I had just finished a sermon on how “Jehovah has the Final Say”, and I was encouraging the Muslim people to realize no matter what their families may say about them if they change to Christianity, that it will be worth what they may lose for the sake of Christ because of His love for them!

Ghana Newsletter Archive

Throughout my time in Ghana, I sent regularly monthly newsletters sharing my experiences along the way. These newsletters date from right when I arrived in September 2020 to the end of December 2021. Originally I was supposed to be in Ghana for that entire timeframe, but because of COVID complications, we unexpectedly left Ghana in March, so the second half of the newsletters also take you through the journey of my overcoming culture shock and transitioning back into America as well. Hope you enjoy!! (: