Mission trip to village of Awuna Beach

Written by Renee Beland our missionary in Takoradi from Greater Grace Church of Montréal, Canada….

Last weekend, the church in Shama reached out to the Ewe people living in the village of Awuna Beach, just a canoe ride away from Shama. It was our first missionary journey, and was truly successful, not only in reaching to those people and seeing them getting saved, but also in giving our people a vision for the lost, and in experiencing joy and lots of fun when the Body of Christ gets together and walks in unity.

6 of us left Shama in the afternoon last Saturday. The 30 minutes or so canoe ride to that village was successful for some in overcoming their great fear of being in such a small boat on the water. As for me, I was overjoyed to be part of that little group of believers, being on that African canoe, going to unknown territory to meet strangers, by faith... to proclaim the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ. Being in the midst of a Fante speaking area, were we going to find people in that village to communicate with or will they all speak only in the Ewe language which none of us knew???

We arrived in a very small village spread out along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Even though I was with Africans, I felt very much that everyone from that village knew we were not natives of the place. We arrived at the first house and were right away invited to sit down with the ladies and shared the Gospel with them by using a mixed of English, Fante and very small Ewe. Some needed interpretation and after some times spent with them, they all received Jesus in their hearts and were all so thankful. That was very encouraging for us and we kept on exploring this new place.

In no time at all we found ourselves in front of a shop bar (a very small place where people can sit and eat the typical African food)...and all of a sudden, surprisingly, all the guys expressed the fact that they were hungry... The food served that day was the Banku (a mix of corn dough and cassava dough) fresh fish and groundnut soup...it was very appetizing except for the million of flies that were around and who were also hungry. At first, although I love that food and was also hungry, I did not want to eat because of all the flies. But as the guys all sat down and the food was brought, I decided to join and by some miracles the flies were gone and the food was awesome and the cooks were laughing and being happy that the white lady had finally decided to partake of their delicacies.

We made new friends in that “chop bar” (A local restaurant) and promised to be back and told them that they should have the Banku ready for us... and it was already time to be on our way, church service in Shama is at 6 pm and we knew that we probably would have to wait for the next canoe taxi to take us back to Shama.

As we waited on the beach by the Coconut trees for our ride to come, two of the guys with us decided to try to get some coconuts. They both climbed those tall straight trees in no time but none of them when they reached the top could get a hold of those precious coconuts. One of them who were at the top of one of those tall trees started to speak Fante to us who were standing on firm ground. I naturally did not know what he said, but started to be worried because I sensed he was up there getting very tired and like a cat that cannot come down from the tree he had climbed, he also did not know if he had the strength to make it down. I thought that he would just collapse and fall backward...but then, all of a sudden he just slid down very quickly from that tall coconut tree and threw himself in the sand ...he was exhausted...
Now that he was safe on the ground... I was able to think of this whole scene, it was hilarious. You should see the picture I took of him up there: an African Spiderman.

The canoe finally arrived and we made it back on time for church in Shama. Abeiku, the preacher / leader who came with us, kept complaining on the way back about being tired...being so tired after this outreach...but he ended up preaching a great message on Psalm 133...Oh how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell in unity...for there God commands a blessing. And truly we were blessed that day at Awuna Beach with the Ewe people....

Thank you for continuing to pray with us for the great work of God here in the Western region of Ghana. This Sunday we will be having our joint service in Takoradi with our churches from Shama and Sekondi.

We love you all and may God bless you,

Renée