Kowpla

Check back here often to read stories of the Kowpla preaching point and fellowship with them in the name of Christ.

2007 Augus 15
Today is apparently the catholic holiday of \"Assumption,\" and here among the Dagara, it means, I was told, that we can rest and do no work and then have a big meal together as a family. Because of that, we didn\'t exactly have a meeting in Kowpla, but we did have some good discussions about the future of the work out there. Nyuor and Serafin discussed with me a long time why it was so difficult for them to do any evangelism at this time of year. The rain comes almost every day and because of that so do the weeds. If they aren\'t in the fields every day, that means less food for the next year (seeing as they seem to inevitably run out - this is a major problem). If Sorian Christians do leave their fields and go to Kowpla one day, they are going to be frustrated because no one\'s going to come to the meeting, because THEY are in THEIR fields. Then when they return, perhaps some of their crop will be ruined, and this will be a further discouragement. After all this discussion, I accepted that they weren\'t just giving excuses (which does happen a lot also). I asked them what they thought of having their Sunday morning worship in Kowpla one Sunday and then asking the Kowpla folks to come worship with them later. They seemed to be excited about this idea and are going to gather the church up to go to Kowpla this Sunday. Pray that this will be an encouragement to both churches and that the Sorian church will truly take on the work of evangelism whenever the rains slow.

Aaron
Posted: 08/15/2007 4:30 pm - GMT

20 June 2007
This week in Kowpla we had a much larger crowd. The folks here are itching so hard to get baptized that they wanted me to go through two lessons in one week. Death is such a huge part of Dagara life and culture. We taught the story of Lazarus and then of Jesus own death burial and resurrection and I could tell that people were touched (Nyuor taught the Lazarus lesson and I taught the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus lesson). We talked a little about baptism as well. Next week we are going to have our lesson on the cost of discipleship and see if they still want to be baptized. I believe God\'s Spirit is convicting souls in Kowpla to turn to him. Pray that God will call many folks into an intimate knowledge of His love and that His Kingdom would come into Kowpla.

Aaron
Posted: 06/21/2007 10:35 am - GMT

13 June 2007
We didn\'t have a very large crowd comparatively this week (only about 20), because there was a funeral of some one from Kowpla going on. However, those who were there were very serious and asking about baptisms again. God willing, we will have some baptisms in a few weeks. Pray for many to come to a vibrant interactive relationship with their God through Jesus Christ out in Kowpla this month.

Aaron
Posted: 06/15/2007 12:59 pm - GMT

Strategic Absence
This week I tried what I have heard one missionary calls strategic absence. When I arrived at Sorian, I gave them a copy of the evangelism curriculum that the Kowpla folks had purchased. I told them I needed them to deliver that for me and that they might as well go ahead and teach lesson 5 while they were out there.

Aaron
Posted: 05/18/2007 9:03 am - GMT

25 April 07
The Kowpla church plant is going fairly well despite the fact that we missed last week, and I was still not feeling quite well, so I took the truck. Pray that this doesn\'t hamper the evangelists from continuing this work, if I\'m not there. We once again had a large group. They asked about baptism and we discussed its meaning. Also, we had a policy not to sell the evangelism curriculum to a preaching point, but wait until it\'s a church. They had asked. Sorian had asked for them, but I kept sticking to my guns on our policy, until I found out that, last week, people from Sorian just gave them their book. Praise God for all the excitement in this group of seekers.

Aaron
Posted: 04/26/2007 10:54 am - GMT

18 April 07
Didn't make it since I was feeling under the weather in more ways than one (I have lots of sinus congestion and it rained all day). Pray that, somehow, someone from Sorian made it to encourage the seekers from Kowpla today.

Aaron
Posted: 4/19/2007 8:40 am - GMT

11 April 07
We had a good second lesson on Noah out in K. today with over 50 people there. Some of them were able to recall well the first lesson and they listened attentatively to this second lesson. They are showing eagerness to learn all these stories that they have never heard. I litterally had a blow out on the rear tire of my bike on the way there (not just the innertube but the tire itself blew out a hole. But some guy from K. was able to repair it while we gave the lesson. I reviewed them on lesson 1 and Nyuor taught them lesson 2 and Ingmin taught them songs and Ni-faa led a prayer.

Aaron
Posted: 4/12/2007 9:02 am - GMT

04 April 2007
I and the contingency from Sorian arrived in Kowpla in waves. So as we waited for the others to arrive we socialized in the little marketplace there drinking dolo. After about an hour of this, we gathered and gave introductions: Ni-faa introduced himself, Florentin introduced himself, and I introduced myself. I then asked everyone if they had ever heard the story from the Bible about how God created the earth. I looked around at all the shaking heads and that’s usually when my blood gets pumping – it is so exciting to tell people these stories for the first time. There were 40 adults split about evenly between males and females and there was a group of children all of whom listened attentively while I went over the creation story from Genesis 1. Then I started asking questions for comprehensions. Our final question is, “What did God think of his creation?” But then I usually add. Is the world still very good? Isn’t there poverty, war, etc.? How did this happen then? One old lady responded, “well, I guess God decided to ruin it later.” Then I told them the story of Adam and Eve. I could tell that there was genuine consideration of this story, and that people were very pleased and were excited to hear more. Ingmin, from Sorian, lead several songs and Florentin, also from Sorian, lead a prayer, and we went home. Please pray for the hearts in Kowpla to remain open. Pray that those that heard this week would invite their friends and that they would remember when and where the next meeting will be (Dagara aren’t much on watches or even calendars).

Aaron
Posted: 04/05/2007 11:13 am - GMT