AME Newsletter—January, 2008

Dear Christian Friends,

Greetings from Ghana and the Kalb’s.  We hope your Christmas season was fun with family and friends, and that you’re all looking forward to 2008.  David and I had very nice holidays with friends, but we miss our families most at Christmas time.

We have a lot to report and I’ll try to do it in chronological order, right after this very special announcement!

We are very thankful to God that our 5^th grandchild, and 1st grandSON, “Britton Seth Kalb”, arrived safely on January 16^th! J  Britton weighs 7 lbs. 15 oz. and Brooke said “he is perfect”!  Seth, David and Steve (maternal grandfather) are all excited about having a little rough and tumble football player in the family!  God is SO good! Thank you for your prayers!

The National Missionary Convention last November in Cincinnati was a huge success and we thank God!  Attendance averaged 7,000 people per session, including 1,300 teens and 100 children.  There were 85 first time decisions for missionary service and 19 people requested prayer for God’s guidance in their future decisions.  The offerings totaled over $58,000 for convention expenses, and 667 missions had exhibits/booths.

David was blessed recently when one of our local preachers told him he was going to name their new baby boy after him, an honor David had never had before.  A baby’s name is never known  until the 7^th day, so when we went to the “baby naming ceremony” and it was publicly announced the baby’s name was “Kalb Boatang”, we were surprised!  Of course, we assumed the name would be “David”, so we got a good chuckle out of that.  “Kalb” is a fine baby boy and we pray his life will be a great blessing to the Lord and His Kingdom.

David and Samuel (driver) made a trip to the far North in early December.  The reports we got of the devastation of the September floods were accurate.  This flood was by far the worst one  any of the elderly people could remember.  It rained for one full month, sometimes heavier than others.  The entire flat land was so saturated that huge trees fell right over.  Countless mud houses collapsed, but the greatest loss was the food on their farms.  70,000 hectares of crops were destroyed, 10,000 animals drowned and others died from disease.  Almost 300,000 people have been affected and food prices have risen 60%-100% in many areas.  Dysentery, cholera, malaria and upper respiratory problems were on the rise.  After the flooding, snakes found their way into bore holes and wells, so people had to be extremely careful when they fetched water.  Special donations for flood relief have come in and we are very thankful!  The year ahead will be extremely difficult.  The Christian school where I tutor had a used clothing drive for the Northern Christians, so David carried a pick-up truck full of clothes and shoes on his visit.  The people were extremely happy for the help!  We will continue to share your special offerings with the churches as the months go on.  THANK YOU so much for helping these Christians!

David also visited 9 preachers we support in the North, and went to the “overseas area” to visit 2 of Abubakari Haruna’s 7 churches.  The problem is we don’t have any educated people in this area due to lack of schools because no teachers are willing to live there.  We have a real problem in educating church leaders.  This July, the Grassy Creek Christian Church in Ky. will be sending some men over to put roofs on as many cement block/pole buildings as possible.  The local people will then put up the mud/cow dung walls to complete their church buildings. 

On Jan. 2^nd Dan Salam in Bawku phoned us that a fierce tribal conflict over who should be the chief of the area had broken out and the area was in total fear and confusion.  This long-standing conflict is one of the main reasons evangelism is so difficult in this town.  Hundreds of families were told to leave their homes and take refuge in a nearby school for 2 days.  In that time, part of Salam’s house was looted and all their food and kitchen supplies were stolen.  Even though the Army was sent in to restore peace, things took quite a while to get back to normal.  The main problem remains that the 2 tribes, Mamprusi’s and Kusasi’s, are now taxing their own people a large amount of money so they can buy arms to defend themselves.  This means any future conflicts will be much more deadly. Please pray that permanent peace may be restored to Bawku very soon.

Last, but certainly not least!  Irvin and Lena Kreider, GCU friends from Pa., arrived Jan. 11^th for 2 ½ months.  Irvin, our retired carpenter, has a list of jobs waiting for him, including making book shelves and library furniture.  Lena hopes to resume her work with the local orphanage. 

Also, on Jan. 22^nd, our nephew, Jeremiah Couch, will be returning to Ghana for 2-3 years to work at the college in our maintenance areas.  Jeremiah will also be responsible to oversee the “work-study scholarship” students. AKWABA!  WELCOME!

We recently got an email that said, “Here’s a test to see if your mission on earth is complete…if you’re alive, it isn’t!”.  May God find us all faithful and working hard when He returns, perhaps in 2008!

In Christian Love,

David & Barbara Kalb