June 4th, 2008

           To all my friends and family,

 

Let love and faithfulness never leave you; 
            bind them around your neck, 
            write them on the tablet of your heart.

Proverbs 3:3

 

A quick lesson in Twi Spelled phonetically for you:

May Pouch o My edge a (like saying sir or ma’am, seen as a sign of respect)

Ma Chi (good morning)

Ma Ha (good afternoon)

Ma Jo (good night)

Click Here for Other Common Phrases in Twi

 

June 16th, 2008

To all my friends and family,

 

A quick lesson in Twi

Spelled phonetically for you

 

Na mi in schrow   God Bless You

Me din de   “your name” my name is “your name”

De yea   sleep well

 

 

 

˚ Military Shower: you splash a small amount of water on your body and then lather. You then use another portion of water to rinse the soap off

 

 

˚ Local Law Enforcement: military trained and equipped with ak 47’s or M16. Law enforcement vehicles are the vehicles of any resident in town. The prison in town is an adobe built building with an iron bar door. If you are imprisoned here your family and friends are expected to bring you food and water.

 

˚Breakfast: various meats, usually goat, grasscutter, or chicken with pineapples, mangos, plantains and everything here is SPICY!!!!

 

 

 

It should also me noted that I am a chemical engineer. Not an english major. If I was an English major you wouldn’t have to suffer through my grammatical errors. But it’s ok, its just God’s way of teaching me humility because lets face it. My grammar is horrible.

 

 

July 1st, 2008

 

 

To all my friends and family,

 

In my last letter I promised you an update on the repairs at the school.

However, when I arrived back to my village from town a request came from another nearby village that my villages should share their Old Bruni (Fn 1). So, off to another town I went. To get to the next town a taxi (Fn 2) was generously provided. After moving into my new home I was escorted to the local church for the Wednesday night service. Once it was time for the sermon to begin my host quickly explained that I was a pastor from America who had come to their village to lead evangelism campaigns .On top of this, he announced that I would be giving tonight and every night’s sermon for the next week. Since all of this was a surprise to me, I was praying it was a joke, hoping it was dream, but I felt as though I was a TV show, or a really under budget movie. Either way, we could break for a commercial. A congregation of about 50 people were just sitting there staring at me. I closed my eyes and just prayed “God I know that my time here isn’t about me it’s about you, but please send down your holy spirit to guide me through the next half hour.”

 

Once again God’s promise of faithfulness to those who call upon him name was proved. After I finished praying, a sermon popped into my head and my host translated it into Twi. During the day I would go about the village and surrounding area talking about the love and forgiveness of Christ and at night I would hold church services. Everywhere I went the Holy Spirit seemed to go before me preparing the hearts of all those I encountered. Even in my conversations He seemed to put the words into my mouth. At the end of the week the congregation reached 200+. On the last night we gathered in our church consisting of bamboo and palm fronds and I gave an alter call. By the grace of God it was well received. We spent the rest of the night dancing and singing out of pure joy for our new brothers and sisters in Christ. It was a sad day when I left to return to my previous host. Many of the church members showed up to see me off; I don’t think I’ll ever forget that image. Before I left I hitched a ride to the nearest big city to buy a few egg laying hens for the church to help bring them a little more profit. So I doubt they’ll forget the image of a very white man (Fn 3) carrying a couple of chickens (Fn 4) on his way to church

.

The greatest lesson God taught me this week was that I would never be able to lead anyone to Him. Only Christ leads people to Christ. After all, who am I to lead anyone to Christ? I have more problems than I can count and I’m certainly not one of these big shot Christians. I struggle to wake up early on Sunday just to go to church and it’s only when I get to church that I remember I haven’t read my bible all week. But its not about who I am that matters to God, only that I want to be used. The harvest is plenty but the number of workers is few. I realized God just wants to be used through us, and for us to listen to him. I know that it is really a stretch, but it makes me laugh because it reminds me of the movie Ghost (Fn 5).

 

Now, a new section in the news letter; Ghanaian Cooking with Daniel. The diet here mainly consists of starches and vegetables. The base to most dishes is rise, noodles or more traditional dishes like Foo Foo (Fn 6) or Bancou (Fn 7).. Vegetables range from peppers to tomatoes, palm nut, and onions. The best part is the meat. My meat options are Chicken, Grasscutter, Goat, and Snail. The only thing is that they all taste like chicken so it really doesn’t matter. The cool thing is that Grasscutter is like a guinea pig the size of a small dog and the snails get as big as a shoe. So far my order of favorites is Grasscutter, snail, goat, and chicken. I’m sure that if you want to learn more about these critters or for some Ghanaian recipes check out Wikipedia. The dishes remind me of Mexican food. There are about five ingredients that are in every meal that they use but there are thousands of combinations.

 

Now that I am back in my “home” town for my final week I plan to fix up the local school, say good bye to all my friends here, and prepare to move to a new town in the north. One of the last things I want to say is about one of my friends Kuwami. Both of his parents were brutally murdered by thieves when working on a farm. Since then he lived with his 85 year old grandfather until his grandfather could no longer support him. He had to quit schooling and work to support himself at the age of 14. He rents a room in another hut that is just big enough to lie down in. Kuwami weeds people’s farms to earn money for rent and food. The only problem is that work is hard to come by and there is no way for him to break the cycle. He is a very bright boy, now 17, and I am in the essing of learning how to reenroll and support him through more schooling. From what I have gathered, it will cost 400 US dollars a year to pay for clothes, food, housing, and schooling at a very good school. I hope also next report to have much to tell you about Kuwami and what can and will be done for him

.

Please continue to pray for my family while I am in Africa as well as for my heart in following Christ’s will. Also pray for all of my new friends as I prepare to leave them.

 

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

Philippians 4:4

 

Daniel Vocelle

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Sunday I will be leading worship in Twi Here is a simple Twi Song for you

 

Mi nim  ( I knowwwwwwwwww)

 

Mi nim  ( I knowwwwwwwwww)

 

Mi nim say yay sue yay magine quine

( I knowwwwwww that Jesus is my savvvvvvvvvior)

 

I hope that gives you an idea of the beat

 

 

 

 

 

Fn 1; Old Bruni: Gringo is to white man in Latin America as Old Bruni is to white man in Africa.

 

Fn 2; Taxi: A 1980 Japanese made vehicle. Things not included: upholstery, seat belts, part of the floor, paneling on the inside of the door, a non shattered window. O and the best part, to save gas, you turn the car off when going down hill. All of this was ours for 20 miles at the cost of 50 American cents.

 

Fn 3; Chickens form market. With twine they tie up their legs and then you carry them by the wings. A few of them I put in bags to carry. Either way the chickens were really mad at me.

 

Fn 4; Very white man: Fair skinned, blond haired, blue eyed little Dutch boy. It doesn’t really get any whiter then that

 

Fn 5; Ghost:  A man dies; he comes back as a ghost. Whoppie Golberg is the only one that can hear and see him. He tries to use Whoppie to avenge his death and tell his wife he loves her. She ignores him and does her own thing but eventually listens to him and helps him out. Similarities are:

We are Whoppie Golberg; God is the ghost trying to talk to us to do his will. We ignore God a lot, but hopefully in the end we will listen to him.

Told you it was a stretch, but get of my back. I miss movies.

 

Fn 6; FuFu: mashed plantain and casaba I’m sure you can find a picture on Google

 

 Fn 7; Banku: It’s nasty, plain and simple

 

 

 July 18th, 2008

 

 

My last week in my small town was spent saying good bye to all of  my friends and finishing up many of the projects I had begun. I was able to help the school in some of its minor repairs, fixing cracks, providing necessary school supplies, and other minor repairs that would have taken them a year to raise the money to fix. The school  had prepared a report for improvements that they hoped to make over the next two years to help the school and its proficiency in educating its students. The total cost of there two year plan was 45 dollars. Thanks to your donations I was able to help them meet this cost in full. I asked the school to prepare a wish list of things that I might be able to find support for back in the United States. They  only asked for two things, a new coat of paint for the school and walls. The location of the school is right next to the local soccer field and after the games people relieve themselves in the classrooms. The classrooms have also become a hangout spot for many of the local drug dealers. Every morning the teachers must show up early to clean up the remnants of human feces and drug paraphernalia. The greatest need for the school is walls and doors so that they can keep their school clean and protect their students from the debauchery that occurs in the classrooms after hours. 

             In my last report I promised you an update on our friend  Kuwami. The total cost of Kuwami to go to school, have two meals  a day provided for him, books and a uniform for school is $350. This is the total cost for the next 4 semesters. During my last week I spoke to the principle of the school and registered Kuwami for the next 4 semesters. I have set up a means to get money to the pastor in the town who will make sure that Kuwami’s school fees are paid for. The pastor has also assured me that he will take Kuwami under  his wing and help him with his studies and make sure that he continues in his education. We have also made the proper provisions to pay for his housing and meals so he does not need to worry about anything but school. I believe it is the will of God that for the first time in this boy’s life he doesn’t have to struggle just to stay  alive, but that his faith through all of his struggles is rewarded.  He is a very intelligent boy and is extremely excited for his chance to go to school. Please pray for him and that God would bless him with  the wisdom and knowledge that he needs to go to school.

            Having said all of my goodbyes, there was only one thing left to do; have the traditional goodbye celebration. As the culture  dictates, I was to buy a male goat and bring him as a present for my host family. So on the last day I went to market and got a  mighty fine male goat, if I do say so. Later that day we killed and butchered it for a feast with the town. It was a grand send off and as soon as I can actually send some photos, I hope to show you what the celebration was like. The next morning I got on a tro-tro, one of those 10 passenger vans, with 18 other people for a 9 hour drive to  the north. It was an interesting experience. Once I got to the north I stayed in a small town called Lawra to work with an HIV/AIDS orphanage and malnutrition center. I hope to have more to tell you about the orphanage soon but my time is running short with the internet.Thanks for all the e-mails of encouragement; they mean a lot. Please continue to pray for my family while I am in Africa as well as for my heart in following Christ’s will.

 

Daniel Vocelle

 

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, 
but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

Proverbs 1:7

 

July 29th, 2008

We, Daniel's parents, were able to speak with him recently. Because of extremely poor and limited Internet access, Daniel  has asked us to update all of you about recent events on his mission trip.  When Daniel last reported he was in a Lawra, a small town in northern Ghana working in an HIV/AIDS orphanage and nutrition Center.  As he explained it to us, not only is this an orphanage for children who have lost their parents to this horrible disease, but also home to those children whose families cannot afford to keep them.  Most of the Ghanaian people in that part of the country are mere subsistence farmers, barely growing enough for their own needs.  Crops can be wiped out at any time by monsoons and droughts.

 

Daniel described for one child , Salia Kobina, who was nine or 10 years old and  weighs a mere 20 pounds.  Daniel and others from the United States brought suitcases full of "beanie babies" for these children.  In Ghana, mothers carry their infants in a homemade type of knapsack or carrier on their backs.  Daniel told us that when these orphans lined up to pick out their very beanie baby, it was the first time in their lives that many of them had an actual possession of their own.  The next morning many of the children had fashioned a little carrier's for their beanie babies made out of scraps of material.  You can see these in the attachedphotographs.  Daniel described the conditions in theorphanage as 20 or more people living in a space the size of his college dorm room.  There may be one or two old mattresses which areclaimed by the older children.  The rest sleep wherever they can.

 

The food is very scarce.  Most of the meals at the orphanage are made out of the moringa plant.  This fast growing small tree which has adapted itself to sandy, arid conditions, is nothing less than a miracle plant in this portion of Africa. The use of moringa for medicinal purposes may seem to have its roots in folklore and myth, but indigenous people have found much success in using various parts of the tree to cure many physical ailments.  For example, the juice from the leaves is believed to stabilize blood pressure, the flowers are used to cure inflammations, the pods are used for joint pain, the roots are used to treat rheumatism, and the bark can be chewed as a digestive.  These are just some of its many uses.    Most sources seem to agree on the excellent nutritional benefits of moringa.  Because the tree produces leaves during the dry season and during times of drought, it is an excellent source of green vegetable when little other food is available.  The leaves provide many necessary vitamins and minerals and can be eaten cooked or dried.  The foliage has been compared to spinach in both its appearance and nutritional quality.

 

While in the north of Ghana, Daniel also had occasion to cross the border into the neighboring country of Burkina Faso.  He then began his journey south to the city of Kumasi where he was able to continue his mission work with members of the Ghanaian Methodist Student Union (GHAMSU).  He is now back in the Ghanaian capital, Accra where he will live with a missionary family originally from Georgia until his return to the United States on August 14.

 

As you can see from the attached photographs and the manylinks to informational websites contained herein, the Daniel has seen and experienced things that most of us cannot even imagine. 

 

In closing, I am reminded of a passage from President Kennedy's January 20, 1961 inaugural address:

" To those peoples in the huts and villages across the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required…not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, itcannot save the few who are rich."

 

Please pray for Daniel's safe return and for the people of Ghana, who Daniel has pledged to support both spiritually and monetarily.

 

AUGUST 14TH, 2008

 

DANIEL IS HOME!