Jeff's Journal

                              JULY - AUGUST 2007 

       All the spiritual news and views from Kumasi, Capital of the ol' Asante Kingdom in Ghana.

 

(A Special Note to you, the reader:  I hope that the Lord will lay on your conscience and heart the high value of reading this report and that you'll be encouraged and edified in a truly great way!  Your feedback also will strongly encourage us to press on in our ministry with even more diligence, helping us to forge deeper bonds of real fellowship with you.  We rely so heavily on you, the support team back home, for continued backup in our spiritual war efforts here.)

 

40 DAYS & 40 NIGHTS: IN INDIA AGAIN

 

     On Thursday, July 5th, for the fourth time, just after successfully completing our 11th of BCA(yeah!!), we boarded the local prop plane for the short trip to Accra, embarking on our fourth visit to the great nation of India. The Lord really blessed the first part of the trip because the plane was late, and we'd been strongly warned by the Emirates Airlines agent that they would not allow us to check in later than 4:30 pm for the flight to Dubai, which was leaving at 5:45 pm.  Fortunately, we'd prudently sent K.K and Benjith down by bus earlier that day to take our heavy suitcases and get in line.  So running from the domestic terminal, we breathlessly arrived at the Emirates checking counter and found that all was well.  From then on all went smoothly.  It certainly tests your faith and your character to air-travel internationally, especially with cheap economy tickets.  (How do they manage to keep shrinking those seats down smaller and smaller?)

 

     Arriving at the Cochin airport 36 hours on Friday at around 2:30 am, after finally clearing customs and reporting our missing baggage (yep), were happy to see Binoy. A 45 minute drive down the "National Highway" (Don't think I-45 or I-95) to his house near the busy Vitalla Junction, the biggest in all the state of Kerala saw us at his apartment.  Rebecca had roused the grandkids at 6:00 a.m, and of course,they were up and ready to roll, for playtime with gram and gramps.  It was grand to see Isaiah immediately plod off to get his new Noah's ark toys to show me.  I was in with him.  That was great.  Not having seen him for six months, and with him only turning 2, I'd wondered.  At that age, they need much "interactive involvement for relationship development."  Just like Jesus' disciples. (I Jn.1:1-3)  This is important, because it is my goal that the faith should be passed on to the fourth generation and increase, from faith to faith, victory to victory and glory to glory. I am sick of seeing the baton of faith dropped by parents and unconcerned, lazy grandparents who get lax in their old age.  The Ghanaians need to see living, happy and productive families to copy.  The "social order" here is ... not.  Rather, it's disorder.

 

     For the next 40 days and 40 nights we ministered in India:

- I preached at five different congregations, twice or three times each Lord's Day, plus every Wednesday.  Altogether I preached to about 300 altogether.

- It was great to see Benjith's parents again who were very grateful for us having had their 16 year old son, Benjith stay in our home and attend BCA for the past school year. Steve Doty had accompanied Binoy and I as we left Cochin at 6:00 a.m and pushed through monsoon-drenched roads to arrive in Ettumanuor near Kottayam by 8:30 a.m for me to preach to the English service at Rajin Ibe's congregation.  Then we hurried over to Sabu George's church to preach again.  A few weeks later, after Hadassah's birth, Rebecca and Sherrie also joined us to visit them.

-  I helped organize and run the Fourth Annual Preaching Meeting for preachers and others from all over India.  I preached thrice and led all of the singing. Steve Doty and Binoy, plus some local men and a missionary from Bombay also spoke.  It was encouraging to see some of the same men again.  Altogether, about 30 different men attended, representing five or six different Indian states, each with populations in the many millions (Kerala has 36 million, and it is one of the smallest!), plus about 15+  different local congregations in those places.

- Sherrie also taught a class each day of the seminar, and went to the hospital with Binoy and Rebecca to help with Hadassah's delivery.  She has become quite the midwife as she helps all of our young ladies deliver babies.

-  I ran, walked, lifted weights and got in good shape for the coming school year.  It was interesting lifting in a local gym where the heaviest bench press I witnessed was only around 150 lbs. They enjoyed staring at this 47 year old grandpa benching 290lbs.  I think they're afraid that they'll be hurt by straining themselves.  Running was also interesting, as the locals came out to smile, wave and stare as I jogged along the nearby Canal No.3 with its floating flotsam and dead rats and live cows on the "track".  This was because I had broken Rebecca's treadmill which was built for skinny Indians, not huge Americans.

 

    Our daughter is so strong!  I really admire her keeping up with life in a very, very crowded, and difficult environment and managing a growing family.  And having her third baby in a foreign country. (She did find a very good hospital with a Moslem.)  There were over 3.5 million cases of viral fever recorded in Kerala, plus Dengue fever (much more painful than malaria!), chikigunya virus (a new super-virus that is like a mega-monster influenza virus) and more.  Plus the city was not collecting garbage when were there except sporadically. Phew!! Especially in a warm tropical, rainy environment.  All the roads were washed out also.  We are so proud and grateful for her and her hardworking and spiritually minded husband. I also appreciate the faith and commitment that Binoy showed. During our stay:  His grandpa (91) died and his dad and uncle came from N.Y for the funeral, which Binoy was unable to attend due to the seminar; Rebecca was about to deliver her baby; he was planning and preparing to go to the All-Asia Missionary Forum; and he was hosting the Preaching Camp.  Whew!

   

BACK TO GHANA:

    After tearful farewells, we left India on August 16th, sneaking quietly out of the house before the grandkids could awake.  Our taxi driver looked and drove like he'd celebrated a bit too much for India's 60th anniversary. 36 hours later, crossing the Arabian Sea, Saudi Arabia, the Suez Canal, Egypt, Niger and over the vast Sahara, and landing in Accra,  we were back Kumasi again.  Surprisingly, the power has much improved since we left, which is a great blessing.  It had been off for 12 hours every other day when we'd left for India.  I read that the Electricity Company is using diesel to fuel some extra power production at a huge loss every month.  We'll see how long this lasts. One interesting note:  There is now a South African version of a Wal-Mart Super Store in Accra!!! 

 

    It was shocking and sad to hear on our return that one of our students had been raped the day that the youth camp was supposed to start, by a 19 year old acquaintance of her mother.  He did it his brother's place, which was empty at the time. He'd been cultivating an acquaintance with the victim in order to get this opportunity to rape the unsuspecting girl, who was a virgin, according the forensic doctor's report. We are proud of that, and the police were amazed that she and her fellow classmates at BCA could still be virgins!!  My daughter, Mrs. Jessica Osebereh (she's the girls teacher) and I have gone to the Central Police Headquarters to support the father in pressing charges.  Pray that justice will be done in a system that can be so corrupt. Also pray for the Officer-in-charge of this case, Asare, that he'll keep his promises in this regard.  The rapist was let out on bail, and his relatives and a local chief have been exerting maximum pressure for the father to take some payment as an out-of-court cash settlement in lieu of the case going to court.  Virginity is a cheap commodity here, as in many places.  Our prayers are that through this, the Lord will work much good, as promised in Rom.8:28.  Our girls just have a very difficult time comprehending how much evil lurks in the hearts of most men.  It is a very, tough hard way to learn this lesson!  At the time of going to press, the parents are going to take a bribe out of court because they are scared.  Several chiefs, one who is their landlord, have been threatening them to do so, and not let the 19 year old rapist, who bragged of doing this before, to face justice.  There is basically very little justice in this town. (Gotham)

Our twelth school year of BCA was started today.  We have lost some students since last year, for various reasons.  It is somewhat heartbreaking, of course.  Hopefully the seed planted last year will someday germinate into something very beautiful.

We will be getting the weight training, memory work, P.E, computer lab and the regular pace work all going again. 

I will be leaving for America to preach at the Montana Family camp next week, and be gone for 10 days. Then I'll return with my son Jeremiah and his wife Brittney and baby Hannah with volunteer Alyssa Sears all together.

 

UPHOLDING MOSES' ARMS:

 

     When you support this mission financially, it's as when Aaron and Hur upheld Moses' arms in Exodus 17:11-13.  Joshua, (whose name is the same as Jesus'), then one a great victory over the Amelikites.  We just cannot devote ourselves as full-time missionary workers in the serving the Word to these Africans without your continued faithful support. The cost of living has increased steadily over the years so we need all of our supporters to add a cost of living increase yearly. Then we'd overcome the 30 % deficiency in our normal monthly operating expenses that we now face. We face steadly inflation (13 % in Ghana) and a weaker dollar that hasn't gained in its exchange value since Sept. 2001.

    Please consider this idea, and if you have any questions, feel free to see me personally at the camp or email or call us. In the meantime, while we work on increasing our monthly support from all of our "investors" in this ministry, your special offerings have made up all of the difference.  Perhaps  you could raise your support for us by 30%, and even gradually do it in yearly increases of 10% over the next three years? Then we can raise special funds through WWHA or IDES or special donors for special projects, or just not undertake them.  It is the monthly operating expenses that need improvement the most. 

     On our part, we promise to keep training the Ghanaians to be workers and givers and to contibute more each year.  One of our Vocational Graduates, Augustine Avasong, just had three job offers, in three different countries in Africa after finishing first in his class in a one year course in Shipping Managment.!  We know that he will contribute as much as possible, and more like him are being produced. A BCA high school graduate, Stephen Jantuah, who graduated from an elite private university in computer science just moved to a higher paying job in Accra, the capital. We are and will win the war for self-support by training up spiritual men and women who have the skills to get good jobs in a very competitive market. It will just take some time. Then we will break this cycle of dependency once and for all.  Africans can then evangelize Africa.  This has been my plan from the beginning.

Thanks again for all your support and prayers!   May the Lord richly continue to bless you, and I hope to see many of you soon at the camp in Bozeman.

 

In Service to King Jesus,

Jeff Hostetter