Ghana

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Sis. Keiser's Missionary Report

(Faith & Victory : March 1983)
 
Dear Bro. Flynn, co-workers, and all saints scattered abroad: Greetings of Christian love to all of you in the precious name of Jesus. 

"He hath shewed his people the power of his works, that he may give them the heritage of the heathen." Psa. 111:6.
 
I arrived home on Jan. 25, 1983, from a very successful visit on the mission field in Akumadan-Ashanti Ghana, W. Africa. Jim Akwasi's uncle, John Duku Agyemang, a military man, met me and quickly whisked me through customs. Soon I found myself face to face with the young man to whom I had been writing concerning the true Church of God. His younger brother Kofi Beriman and a young sister, Glenna, were also there to meet me. After a short ride we were all bedded down in the uncle's home. It took the better part of the next two days to travel the 190 miles from Accra where the airport is, to Akumadan-Ashanti, the village where I was to spend a very busy week. After very long waits, we traveled by two different buses, packed like "sardines in a can," over very rough roads. We were stopped several times by the police for inspections. Every place we stopped we were met by women carrying on their heads things to sell, and with babies wrapped on their backs. Oranges were a very popular item. 

Upon arrival at our destination, I was given a room in an experimental agriculture division where Anane Cromwell, the overseer, and his wife lived. There was no running water or electricity in the building. Jim Akwasi and his brother Kofi Beriman cooked for me on a single-burner kerosene stove. Food was scarce and very high priced. Such commodities as bread, sugar, and milk were almost impossible to buy. No kind of butter was available.
 
Jim took me to the offices of several of the denominational preachers in the village. I talked the true Church of God to them; about being born into her, and Holy Spirit leadership. They each one agreed I was saying it right. Then they came collectively to talk and ask questions. I could only see union and not unity, unless they would come out of their false doctrines. When I told them the ministry in the Church of God didn't receive salaries but rather looked to God for their living, it was too much for them to take. After four or five visits they all left, went back to their little flocks, and never returned. I was thankful to God for taking care of this situation. I knew God wanted to plant a true Church of God in Ghana, and all of this other would have meant division and confusion. 

On the morning of the only Sunday I was there, we had a service on the veranda of the place where I was staying. A good many came from the village, and after preaching the plan of salvation from the heart chart, a good number were saved including Jim Akwasi's mother Elizabeth Baah, who came out of the Catholic church; his brother Kofi Beriman, and Anane Cromwell. A young man, Kofi Appiah, inter­preted for me. He is in another church and is very unhappy with conditions there. I talked to him at length about the Church of God, the leadership of the Holy Spirit, and he was very pleased. I am trusting he will "come out of her" and receive the truth. 

Sunday night we had a street meeting with loud speakers. The lighting was so poor we did not try to read from the Bible, but brought a simple gospel message from the heart, anointed by the Holy Spirit. An altar call was given and fifty pressed their way forward from out of the crowd to be saved from their sins. 

The last night we were there over 150 people came out to a service on the veranda. They filled the veranda, the steps, and the yard. We talked about the Church of God; went over the qualifications for pastors, deacons, and various duties concerning husbands and wives in the Church, and duties of the congregation. Bro. Jim Akwasi was appointed overseer of the congregation. He was the one who carried the burden to have the Church of God planted there. 

I am very thankful for the leadership of the Holy Spirit in this mission to Ghana. It was He who led Bro. Jim to write to me, and put a desire in his heart to have a Church of God planted there; it was He who prompted me to respond to the letters sent across the miles with letters about the true Church of God; and it was He who kindled a fire in my breast to respond to the need there. It was the Holy Spirit who put down and out the elements of division which tried to creep in; and it was He who led people to repentance and to a born again experience which made them members of the true Church of God. We ascribe all praise, honor, and glory to God for all He has done on behalf of this mission. 

This victory presents some very present needs. The Church there is asking for a missionary to come and spend some time with them. So this request has burdened me to ask God for someone who will consecrate their life to go and stay with them for as long as they are needed. I am praying and seeking to obtain a prolonged visa for at least one year, either for some brother of God's choosing who will feel the burden and answer the call, or even for myself to go back on the field if it is the will of God for me to do so. Lasting good cannot be accomplished over night. God has begun a work there and He wants to finish it with the help of His people. The work is so new it shouldn't be left alone too long without some experienced worker to help them become established in the truth. 

Bro. Jim's mother has donated two acres of land on which to build a chapel and mission house. They are looking to the Church of God in America to help them. The mission house should be built first so that whoever will give themselves to this work will have a clean place to stay. 

Dear saints, will you pray with me concerning these needs? And then go a little farther and sacrifice that this new work will be established? The end of time is upon us. May we, as the people of God with the truth, be stirred as never before to take this gospel to the ends of the earth. We owe this to a lost world. 

Offerings for the work in Ghana may be sent to Faith Publishing House, P. O. Box 518, Guthrie, Ok. 73044, or to me. Specify what the offering is for. 

I want to thank everyone for their prayers, letters of encouragement, and offerings which helped make this trip possible. Pray for me always. 

Yours for souls all over the world,

 -Sis. Dorothy Keiser
 

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