B Dakpemyili

I went out today to preach at one of my student's churches, a village called B Dakpemyili. I'm not sure exactly how far the village is from Seed Ministry but I allowed myself an hour to get there on my motorbike. Of course, what I didn't count on was the tremendous storm that blew up while I was driving there that forced me to take cover under a shed with a bunch of goats and two other people for about an hour. I finally ventured out once the rain tapered off but even with my poncho on and my pants legs rolled up, I was soaked by the time I got to the village.

The rain didn't damper the enthusiasm of the worshippers though! We actually didn't meet in the church building at B Dakpemyili as originally planned. Once I got there, a young man met me to say we were going to meet at the next village up the road (Kudula) in a school building. So I invited the young man, a youth named Daniel who is affiliated with Seed Ministry, to drive me on the moto on up to the next village. I'm not comfortable driving other people on the bike yet, so I let him drive me. The photo above is of Daniel and me this morning.

The service itself was a little different. The church is Presbyterian so it was a little more formal; we recited the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles Creed during the service (which, thankfully they did in Dagbani so they couldn't hear me mess up both in English). Daniel translated for me and did a great job. Afterwards they asked me to take questions about the message, which I did. I was surprised to discover that I actually understood a few words of their questions spoken in Dagbani. I answered by sprinkling a little Dagbani myself which drew generous laughter and seemed to seal the bond between the preacher and the congregation. To top off a great Lord's Day these wonderful people gave me several yams as a gift for coming to preach. As the rain began falling again we strapped the yams to the back of my moto using part of an old bicycle inner tube and off I drove as the people stood on the porch of the school waving good-bye.