Blogger: Mason Beebe, age 15
As you can probably imagine, the weeks
leading up to our departure were extremely hard. We had to leave everything we
knew to come serve the Lord and experience his greatness, here in Ghana. Now
that we are in Ghana, this feels like home to me. Of course, there are things
that I miss - white people, warm showers, a food disposal, paved roads,
friends, family, and even things such as Wal-Mart (you never know what you have
until it’s gone), but there are so many things that I get to experience here
that most Americans never will experience in their lifetime.
When we were here last March to bring
Godwin home, the predicament of orphans did not really hit me. Now in all
seriousness, can you imagine life without your parents? Really think about this. There would be no one
to tuck you in at night, no one to read you a good night story, nobody that you
could talk to when you are struggling with something. This is life for kids
here. I don’t know how I would be able to survive without my parents. Sure
there are times when I just want to give them a pop in the nose, but I think if
I lost them, those would be the times I would miss most. Even just barely being
able to understand what these orphans experience helped me realize that any
love I could offer them would be gladly accepted. You know what? I was right.
Our first ministry opportunity was to help
with a medical outreach at City of Refuge. This was an amazing yet horrible
day. We were able to help the people of Ghana, but helping them is not always a
great experience. At the medical
outreach, there was one station that tested the patient for HIV. 17 people
tested positive for HIV, about 5 of those being children. One of the last
families tested was a single mother, a six year old boy and a three year old
boy – they all tested positive. This
rocked my world. I actually saw the
faces that I had only known as statistics. And I’ll never forget them.
While the reality of the test results was
hard to accept, I also met some of the kids from the City of Refuge orphanage
and began relationships with them. One of these kids was Sammy, who had just
been rescued from child slavery. I was able to love on him by playing with him.
I was able to produce many smiles and laughs of joy. I played soccer,
basketball, and frisbee with the kids. You would not imagine the effect that
even a simple smile from me brought out of these children.
An FTO volunteer, Lola, left Ghana last
Monday after serving in Ghana for 9 months. All the kids hear call her Grandma. The night before she left, the orphanage
where she had been staying for the last of her 9 months had a Good-Bye party for
Lola. When we arrived, one of the orphans that is being adopted by some good
friends of ours ran up and gave me a hug. I picked him up and told him that I
knew his family. He beamed and squeezed me. I told him that I was great friends
with his brother, Tyler. After I said this, he looked up at me and said, “I
love my brother,” and then squeezed me again.
After this, there was a special dinner –
whache and juice boxes. John, who runs the orphanage, gave a kind speech
about Lola and the impact she’s made.
Then there were some good-byes. After the good-byes, everyone went
outside to dance. I busted a few moves and then decided I didn’t want to put
everyone else to shame, so I hung out on the sidelines.
I was standing there when one of the
little boys, Moses, walked up to me and reached his arms up, gesturing that he
wanted to be held. I picked Moses up and he got the biggest grin. He looked at
me and played with my necklace for a few minutes and then laid his head down on
my shoulder. I held him like this for a while and then asked my Dad if he was
asleep. At the sound of my voice, Moses lifted his head off my shoulder, looked
at me and then laid his head back down again. Again, he did not go to sleep.
This is when I realized that he didn’t want to go to sleep while he was being
held. He wanted to soak in every moment of love he received. I started
scratching his back and rubbing his head. As I did this, I wondered had anyone
done this for him before? Had he ever felt this much love? Who holds him at night?
As these events took place, I felt really
good. I felt like I was doing something to advance the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
I began to wonder, how did I ever live the safe American lifestyle? How was it
possible for me to survive just going through the motions of life when all these
children needed was for someone to smile at them?
So, why have I taken the time to write
this blog post? I am not writing it so everyone can see all the good I am doing
in Ghana. I am not even writing this to share my experiences, although I want
to. I am writing this to challenge you.
In America, I heard this several times. “There
is so much immorality in America. People won’t have to leave the country any
more to be missionaries.” Well first of all, we should be missionaries wherever
we are, but I will say I’ve never seen the brokenness in America that there is
here in Ghana. There is great poverty here as well. Spiritual warfare is much
more evident here than in the states. If you are reading this from the U.S. I
would say that you don’t eat dinner each evening listening to the prayer call
of a nearby mosque, but that happens here in Ghana. My point is that you need
to serve God wherever you are, but let your love reach to countries that sorely
and truly need love.
So how can you help from halfway across
the ocean? The first way is to pray. In America, this seems like something we
do not take seriously enough. Anywhere there is a problem you hear that you
need to pray. I am not talking about a “Dear God, please help the orphans in
Ghana. Amen.” type of prayer. I mean, plead
with God to bless these hurting children. And don’t just pray for Him to “help”
but pray specifically. Pray against
the devil in this country, pray that the orphans would know love and would know
the Father, pray for God’s Kingdom to come, etc.
Another way is to sponsor a child. You can
provide a child with clean drinking water and three meals a day for a month by
giving up one meal at a restaurant each month, only $30 cares for one child! If you do sponsor a child, send them pictures
and letters of you to let them know that YOU love THEM specifically.
Lastly, come. Everyone is so worried about
the cost to go to a foreign country, which sadly, holds many people back from
experiencing great and mighty things our God is doing around the world. Our
family had to raise a huge amount of money to come, but God gave us even more
than what we needed in less than 9 months! He provides!
One of my
friends, Michael, who decided to come to Ghana for the summer,* was trying
to raise money to come. God abundantly supplied
Michael’s financial need AND gave him supplies to bring with him. If God wants you to go somewhere, you would be
surprised at how richly He will bless you in your efforts to go.
And once you
get to wherever you are going, it seems so easy to do God’s work.
For me, all
I had to do was smile.
“For it is not the
hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who
will be justified.”
Romans 2:13
3 comments:
Mason,
You're an incredible young man, and God used your post to really stir my heart. I'm glad you told us specifically what to pray for because I'm doing just that! Thanks for being God's heart and hands and feet there in Ghana.
Missy Moore
awww, Mason that was just beautiful. What a wonderful way you get to share God's love with these precious kids. Love your tender heart!
these Beebes. i tell ya, how do they all get me crying every time? what a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful family! love you all!!
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