ANGELS IN NKORANZA

 

 On Friday, the 26th of February, Connie and I, along with our good friend Ernest Ofori, traveled the long road to Nkoranza, Ghana,  to visit "PCC - Hand In Hand Community", a village for children and young adults with special needs. The village has 97 children and young adults with mild and moderate disabilities, including Down syndrome, autism, and physical limitations.

     Once we arrived, we were greeted by Samuel “Baffo” who joined the Hand In Hand Community in 1998 and used his entrepreneurial skills to help establish many amenities in the village and nearby town. He gave us an amazing tour. As he led us around, Connie and I were in awe of the warm and peaceful surroundings. The residents and devoted caretakers have a paradise of sorts where they can live and thrive in their abilities and newly acquired skills.

     We met many of the children and older residents along the way, and they beamed with delight at our presence. The smiles and hugs were full of love.

   We were in the midst of 97 angels! 

While there, we were honored to meet the founder, Dr. Ineke Bosman, and her wonderful husband Bob Maram. We sat with them and gleaned wisdom from their 25 years of caring and loving "The least of these" as Jesus spoke in Matthew 25:40. Not only did we fall in love with the children, but our love for these two genuine people who have given their lives to the Hand In Hand children, cannot be adequately expressed.

As Ineke and Bob shared their experiences and opened their life up to us, we knew we were in a special place establishing a lasting relationship with two very humble and loving people.

    

For most of the afternoon, but not nearly enough time, we heard testimony of their beginnings, the rough road of challenges and the joy in ultimate victories. We witnessed the love they had for their children, and the love their children had for them. It was an experience Connie and I will cherish forever.

As we made preparations to leave, there was a longing to stay. The Hand In Hand Community that Ineke and Bob cultivated over the years does that to you.

When the time came, our dear new friends invited us back and walked with us to the front. As we got into our car, fastened our seatbelts, and prepared to drive out through the gate, I almost hoped the car wouldn’t start. But, deep inside I knew my God had something good for us to wait for.
 

     Connie and I came away with so much more than we expected. We overcame fears and a lingering doubt in the back of our minds. We now understood we cannot rely on our abilities. We must cling to and trust in God's limitless abilities. It is the availability of our hearts that matters to God. So instead of giving place to unbelief, we received a resounding confirmation from Him that we’re right on schedule. His will is being accomplished.
He is preparing us for His plan, implanting His own love in us for the children to come. He has gone before us. We believe. His timing is perfect.

1 Corinthians 13:7-8a, “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” ........Never!

As Connie and I continue to take the steps of faith God has given us, we are moving confidently through the processes and requirements given to us by the government of Ghana.
We are believing soon, God will open the door for our own children and the future He has waiting.

 Please keep praying along with us as we walk the steps.

With God’s love,

Papa John

 

               A Home, A Hope, A Future…

 

Welcome to Our Journey of "Faith."

 

    In Hebrews 4:2 God's word says, "For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it."

    Whatever we are trusting God for, or should be trusting Him for, should be mixed with faith.

What is faith? It simply is believing in what God's word says specifically about the area of our lives that He has gently put His finger on. Daily we are constrained to trust His word, not giving into the temptation to "fear," which is to doubt what His word says. The word of God must be mixed with faith in order for us to profit from it.

     Here at Step By Step Worldwide Ministries in Kumasi, Ghana, West Africa, according to God's faithfulness we are continually being led forward to do just that. We are experiencing the benefit that has come from believing God's word mixed with faith. - Connie Lynn Stainsby







 

 

Love Without Truth Is Not Love

Brokenhearted in the Bush -

On Good Friday, April 18^th, we were in the small village of Antokrom, about 5 miles outside Dadieso, in the Western Region of Ghana. We had just established a church there two nights before. While preparing for an evening worship service, we had some extra time before sunset, to expand our evangelism efforts, so we ventured outside the village and into the bush. We traversed some pathways and traveled through a coco farm leading to a small homestead. As we approached the home, we announced our arrival. A family member, the eldest daughter, greeted us. The mother was in the family coco farm working, so the daughter sent for her. This family was just one of many coco farming families in the area.

After being seated on benches and welcomed, we stated our mission. When we began sharing the Gospel with them, we sensed a resistance, so I began asking questions. I asked them first if and where they attended church, and the daughter responded, “SDA” or Seventh Day Adventist.  I then asked them what the SDA teaches, and again the daughter responded, “They teach if you follow the Ten Commandments, and don’t do things like adultery, you would be holy and go to heaven”!!! What I heard shook me and my heart broke. The mother, who had arrived from the farm and sat down with us, mentioned that they once belonged to the Methodist Church. She said her husband died a year ago leaving her with the children, the farm, and all the burdens that accompany it. She said shortly after her husband’s death, she developed a severe eye infection and was not able to see. She went on to say that no one from the Methodist church visited her or offered any acts of compassion to help her through this devastating period in her life. During that same time, the people from SDA came by and showed love and kindness to her and her family.

This widow and mother of a large family, then made a decision to leave the Methodist church and join the SDA church.  My heart was even more shaken. This family has unknowingly been deceived by the enemy and their minds were set. They did not understand the scriptures. They listened to a person they assumed was trustworthy and Godly, who then misled them in the lies of the enemy. Satan had them in his lair!

 

“Be sober; be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” – 1 Peter 5:8

 

After our conversation went on for another five minutes or so, the mother abruptly got up and became involved in other things. We spoke with the daughter briefly on the love of God through Jesus Christ and the truth of the Gospel message. It was apparent however, that this family had already made their decision and wanted what they perceived as love at any cost, even if it was not based on truth. We were well aware that this family had shut us out and would have nothing of our message, so we asked their permission to depart.

They did not want to hear the truth. They would cling to their own version. Pontius Pilot said to Jesus in John 18:38, “What is truth?” This encounter was a sad realization that in this homestead, they did not know the answer, but instead in their ignorance, clung to the lie. Sadly, this is not uncommon in many areas we have visited. Isolation from Biblical spiritual authority has left these areas vulnerable to the lies and snares of the enemy. Many of these small detached churches, out-of-the-way and with no accountability in their teachings, have put people in eternal peril. This chance meeting showed me the importance of love in truth and truth in love. You see, the Methodist church drove away this woman and her family, not with words, but with a lack of love and compassion. The SDA church lured this family in, with what this spiritually vulnerable mother perceived as love; a love that lacked truth, a counterfeit. Love without truth is not love.
The pitfalls of love without truth, and truth without love, can be eternally devastating! Real love must be married to truth.

 

“Grace, mercy, and peace will be with you from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.” – 2 John 3

 

As I have experienced on the mission field, there are those, who in humility, gladly receive the message; and there are those who through deception and lies, and the false teachings of others, reject the message. They are sheep without a shepherd and do not know who leads them. There are those who want their own way, and will say that if you truly love them, you will give them what they want and let them do what they want.

Two thousand years ago, Jesus, through His experiences, showed us what to expect. Times have not changed. People have not changed. Even so, Truth has not changed and God’s word endures forever. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. – Hebrews 13:8

- Papa John