Barrels Away!

The year has almost ended, and as I reflect on the past months, I'm amazed at how the Lord has guided this project along every step of the way. From the beginning stages of this mission early in the summer, we have been richly blessed in many ways.

Recently, the rain barrels that we have been filling with school supplies and donated items have been sealed and loaded on a ship bound for Accra. Thanks to everyone who made a contribution to this. Hopefully they will arrive right around the beginning of February.

So now, with just over 6 weeks to go before we depart, we know that almost all of our arrangements have been made: our flights are confirmed, our fundraising is complete, and the project site is almost ready for us to begin our work. While the tendency has been to focus on the logistics of our mission such as flight times and building plans, our thoughts have also been focussed on becoming spiritually prepared as a team. Our prayer is that as a team we may encourage each other and build each other up, that we may work together as we go about our daily tasks on the job site, and that we may reach out to those around us as we share the Good News with the people of Asamankese. I am so thankful for all of our supporters - for each of you - who have helped to make this project possible.

Please PRAY for the team members - pray that along with our families, each of us will remain healthy in the weeks leading up to our departure, that our personal and group devotions will draw us closer together as a grou, and that we may all experience the Lord's continued blessings as we seek to do His will, and discern his calling in our lives.

Thanks Joanne and the Grade 6 class!

We were thrilled to learn that Joanne Kroezen had offered to use our mission to Ghana as a study unit in her grade 6 class! At a recent student assembly we were able to see what the students spent learning about over the previous two weeks in class. They studied the geography, history, culture, and food of the Ghanaian people and shared their findings with us all. It was very interesting, and their visual displays were fantastic. Thanks Grade 6!!!

Over the past two months we have been collecting school supplies for the school children in and around the town of Asamankese. We have two large rain barrels, and we have placed one in the Halton Hills Christian School and another in the Georgetown CRC, and are using them to store our supplies. This weekend we'll be packing and sealing the barrels and bringing them to a shipping depot in Toronto so that they can be loaded onto a boat and sent to Ghana ahead of us.

This Saturday we will have a table set up at the HHCS where we'll be meeting our supporters and sharing about our mission. We'll also be offering our Ghana prayer bracelets to our supporters.

See you there!

Hardships and Blessings

The past few weeks have been very eventful for the team in both good ways, and otherwise. The team was shocked and saddened at learning of a sudden accident that took the life of our friend and team member, Dave Westerveld. Dave was a core team member, and truly had a heart for missions. He had been on many short term mission trips in the past, and had been involved in missions since the early 90s. At first we as a team we wondered how could we go on, but we do go on - not in our own strength, but in the strength of the One who calls us, and with the support of our friends and families.

In that way the team is so thankful for the support of our community after our hugely successful fundraising dinner this past weekend. With the help of Carel VanderSluis, and his team of chefs we were able to serve a traditional Ghanaian dinner to more than 200 guests in Georgetown on Saturday night. This included a silent auction with donations from many very generous supporters. Thank you all!

We are also thankful to announce that we have added two new team members: John DeVries and Allison Norg. Welcome to you both.

Our preparations continue now that our major fundraising is complete. We will focus on getting healthy, and on receiving our Yellow Fever vaccinations. We will also continue to focus on our spiritual health, and will pray that the Lord will prepare us to be effective in reaching out to those we meet as we share about this mission.

Please pray for our team, and for the members individually. Take time to offer words of encouragement, and share a piece of scripture if something speaks to you.

Thanks to you all... stay posted for further entries - I will try to update the blog weekly.

On behalf of the Georgetown Ghana Team

John Blaauwendraat

Preparations Continue...

Only 17 weeks to go before we leave, but there is still so much to accomplish!

October is a very busy month for our team, as we will do most of our fundraising and promotion this month. We are most excited to be hosting our Missions Sunday service on October 24th. This will be a big day for the team, because we'll have the opportunity to, along with our congregation, focus on the work of our missionaries, and also on the project in Ghana. The service will be at 10am at the Georgetown CRC, and following the service, we'll be hosting a potluck lunch and all are welcome. During the lunch we'll hear more about the work of Worldwide Christian Schools, and about the school we'll be working on in Asamankese.

We have so much to be thankful for, especially that our leader Mary Ashun has recently returned from Ghana safely, and was able to spend some of her time there making preparations for our work. But this past week we were also sad to hear that our team member Peter Lanting will not be joining us on our mission, which means we are now back to a team of 10.

Thanks to all of our supporters! Please continue to pray for the team, that preparations will continue to go smoothly, and that we may find encouragement and focus on the work that has to be done.

On behalf of the Ghana team - John Blaauwendraat

Welcome to the blog of the Ghana mission - 2011 edition - in cooperation with Worldwide Christian Schools and His Majesty's Christian School! With 20 weeks to go before we embark on our mission, the blog begins. Thank you for joining us here, and thanks to all who have helped us get this far! The team is in place, and I'm pleased to be able to post their names:

Doreen VanderSluis
Dorothea Vuyk
Dale Menken
Cecil Simpson
Randy Simpson
Peter DeKleer
Peter Lanting
Jay Postma
Dave Westerveld
Daniel Roest
John Blaauwendraat

We are also thankful to be able to include Wilma Grin on our team. Although Wilma will not be travelling to Ghana with us, she Albert are our anchors here at home. Wilma has graciously volunteered to represent us at home in the Georgetown CRC as we prepare to leave and while we're away.

We're also very blessed to count Joseph and Mary Ashun as core team members. Joseph and Mary are the project managers for this initiative, the founders of His Majesty's Christian School and without them, there may not have even been a Ghana mission.

Finally, I want to give a special word of thanks to Tim Bootsma and our friends at Worldwide Christian Schools. They have been all a huge source of strength through the period of discernment, and all along the planning stages so far. Thank You!

The path to Ghana has been a long one, but it has been made straight, and this project has been blessed in many ways. Each of the team members listed above has joined this mission for different reasons, and I want to take this opportunity to encourage each of you in your decision to come along, and to let you know that I have been praying that the Lord will speak clearly to you as you reach out in His name.

Thanks to all of our supporters who have offered us words of encouragement and especially your prayers! Please keep this project in your prayers as we prepare.

The journey continues.... stay posted for further updates!

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