Ghana, Africa

Tonight I had my first meeting in preparation to go to Ghana, Africa in July. A team will be traveling there to do evangelism, plant churches, and medical missions. It was quite exciting (and a bit overwhelming) to hear about the things that I can expect to take place.
I have never been in a foreign country and certainly not one thousands of miles away from home, but I am looking forward to seeing what God will do while we are there.
Mrs. Susan Harvin, a friend of ours, has been to Ghana the last several years and shared with me some of the amazing things she has witnessed. Although there is extreme poverty, there is also a pure love for God and dependance on Him in the lives of those who already know Him. For those who have never heard of the love of Jesus, there is a hunger and thirst to know more.
I am looking forward to being stretched spiritually and seeing God in a way that I have not had the opportunity to before. In America, people are self-sufficient and think more highly of themselves than they ought to (me included!) but in a place like Ghana, Africa every drink of water or morsel of food is a gift from God and the people are thanful all the more for it. Susan shared how in all of her years of going, she has never heard one single complaint from a person in Ghana. Although there is disease, polluted water, and extreme poverty, there is also joy and love and a true sense of thanksgiving. I am longing to go there and experience it myself. How refreshing!
Please pray with me as I prepare to go: for all of the preparations that will need to be made, for the financial aspect of the trip, for protection and covering over my entire family as I am away & safety for me, for God's Spirit to already be at work in the lives of those we will come in contact with, & for God to deepen my faith and relationship with Him like never before. How exciting to think that God uses people like us to accomplish His purposes here on earth. Praise be to Him!