Eunson Dorothy 1984 Ghana

8/13/2019 Eunson Dorothy 1984 Ghana

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DIRECT MAIL TO FORWARDING AGENT NEWSLETTER , 3 7 ;oMiss Dorothy Eunson Mrs Tom Barkes Mrs Judy Tobin ^ '^o4Box 5722 603 Twin Brook Lane Fi rs t Christ ian ChurchAccra N, Ghana Joppa, MD 21085 2565 E. Kaley Ave.Orlando, FL 32806DOROTHY EUNSON NEWSLETTER

Vol. 4, No. 8 January, 1984Dear Friends in Chris t

Seven months have passed since my las t newsletter. Thank you for your faithfulpraye rs dur ing this long period. So much has happened.JUNE - College classes in full swing. Deacon Samuel Keku came to sleep in my houseto avoid mosquitoes and recover from recurring malaria. Petrol si tuat ion declining queues getting longer. Hostetters stayed two weeks with Bridges to clear their shipment and unpack and choose what to take back to Abetifi . Enoch Nyador s t i l l trying toget his passport. Thieves broke in through dining room windows. Stole a few itemsthen must have backed out when they saw Samuel sleeping in the living room. Attemptedcoup against the government brought back a 6 p.m. curfew for s everal days, then 8 p.m.curfew for several weeks. '

JULY - Petrol supply worse. Thank God for two student-drivers who help s i t in queues;sometimes overnight. Hostet ters stayed with me during final exam week to l icense andinsure their newly-cleared truck and get petrol coupons. Hos te tte rs i n my bedroom,Samuel in the l iving room and me in the study. Bridges under great pressure to sel lthings, clear the house, prepare for departure, as well as Carl s usual principalduties. Hostetters l e f t on Friday a ft ernoon , t he 9th, and we went for the studentsend of school party (sponsored by them). Graduation was on Saturday from 2 to 5:30.Sunday night was farewell love feast and s erv ic e f or Bridges. Three vehicles offriends bade them farewell a t the airport Monday night and Tuesday I rested. Enoch spas spor t in hand. College hired student driver f or v ac at io n, mainly to help get petrol .Christian Adjei new principal; Joseph Nsiah new bookkeeper. I am handling the dollarend of t he bus ines s. We make combined t r ips to town to stretch the petrol . Enoch sU.S. visa granted July 26 Bought one gallon of oil on the black market. UGUST - Water supply poor. I don t have to worry about using the truck as the neigh-bor_cjTildren ^elp me carry H. Hoarded patrol and made a weekend tr ip with two deaconsto Enoch s home village. Spent an afternoon on and in th e r iver . Enoch and his parents performed family customary ceremonies to marry his fiancee (even though she is anexchange student in Russia). Samuel and Rebecca did the same, using my truck later.Planter s peanuts and Corn Chips in the Foreign Exchange Shop. Also motor oilNine dollars a gallon. No cooking gas to buy. Kerosene scarce, too. Many peopleusing diesel fuel in their lamps and cookers. Hostetters came to spend a week, soEnoch moved over here. They were disappointed that lack of funds prevent the shippingof their house-building materials. IDES food shipment on the way for needy Ghanaians.A nice group saw Enoch off on th e plane August 19 . My truck was seized by para-governmental body August 20 for a ll eged o ffenses by our student driver. Told to comeback a week la ter to have the case considered. The truck was being used by a revolutionary cadre training school. Friends of friends t r ied to help. Got the truck tomeet Couches a t the airport August 29. What a miserable s i tuat ion for them to comeback to . Truck taken back by soldiers next day. Faith Couch is a doll . Such a joyto have this loving family back with us. Mensah had worked hard to cle an ba sic roomsfo r t hem.

SEPTEMBER - Ran away fo r a holiday in Lome - paid for a taxi to the airport with cooking oil and sugar. Had a lovely week in Togo, Met a Canadian lady and ale many mealswith her. Mostly ate , rested and shopped. Came back to news that the truck was s t i l lin the hands of the soldiers. Samuel and Rebecca married in simple ceremony aftermorning worship. Now he no longer sleeps here College reopened September 13th.Students prompt in returning. Rice here bu t no way to chase papers yet. Board ofGovernors meeting an all day affair . Made general plans for r ice d is tr ibu tion . Theyurged master s degrees for all teachers and upgrading of th e l ibrary. Soldiers broughtth e truck back September 18. Minor body damage in 5 places, but otherwise O.K. Thanksgiven to the Lord for th is . Petrol coupons given back Sept. 24. A student introducedus to a station manager in Tema. We applied f or specia l service and i t was approved.Now we usually get 10 gallons a week with no queue. Only i t takes two gallons to gett he re and back.OCTOBER NOVEMBER - Hostetters finished language school. Staying at Bridges house.Rice cleared and distributed to churches and students quickly. Once excellent outdoorcrusade by church and one by students that gained converts and prospects s t i l l beingadded in January. More than 20 so far (Jan.) Forced to use outdoor chapel since there


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- 2 -is no longer room indoors. Fresh foods available since August, easing food si tuation.Harvests not abundant and more hunger forecast next dry season. Kwame and Jef f wentto Sunyani on a survey t r ip . The Lord answered prayer and they found a lovely bigfu rn i shed house to r en t fo r a reasonab le amount fo r th e r e s t o f t h e i r rst term an dfurlough Jeremiah Couch born Octobe r 27 . Spent a week in th e hospita l af ter t ransfusions because of R factor problem. David^s parents came (arrived the same day thatCouches shipment was brought to the house from the harbor) and helped with the unpackin g and with the children for three weeks.DECEMBER - As announced, electr ici ty rationing began on the 1st Afte r y ea rs ofbelow average ra infa l l the r iver is too low to produce a ll Ghana needs. Differentareas have al ternat ing schedules, but th e p att ern is the same--21 hours off and 28hours on . Everyone has i t between 6 and 9 p.m. Also, everyone had i t Christmas Dayand Boxing Day (26th), New Year's Day and the 2nd. We also had a few days withoutany when our area transformer burned out. Adjustment necessary in food preparationand preservation. Water situation improved this month. College on vacation fromthe 3rd, af ter Christmas party when we played Cootie . Students loved i t . RebeccaHostetter born December 5. Mother and baby fine. Big s i s t e r Jessica now has herown baby l ike Faif 's baby . David went to Ivory Coast to help George Pickens on asurvey t r ip . I helped work on clearing of his truck. Finally got i t the 12th. Spentfrom 15th through 18th in the village a t Christmas convention of churches. Everychurch represented. Was just getting rid of one bad cold beforehand and had a relapsewhen I got back. All of us plus Kwame Mensah, Samuel Co. had Ghanaian Christmasdinner jyam and groundnut stew with chicken) on Chr is tmas Day. On Boxing Day, we hadAmerican Christmas dinner with a Church of Christ couple and a Mennonite nurse asguests. Buying crisp, juicy green apples a t th e Foreign Exchange Shop brightened ourholidays.J NU RY 1984 - College reopened on the 3rd. . Harmattan f in a ll y v is ib le in a verymild degree. SUND Y morning attendances down, though we had a happy Watch NightService with no curfew. Regular Saturday visi tat ion resumed. Bought a bot t le ofcooking gas on the b lack marke t. A friend gave me some kerosene. First I 've hadsince July. The lamp is more ef f ic ient than t he candl es . This is furlough yearWell, here we are, sending you word a t l as t . The students th is year are the mostcooperative in manual labor I have ever seen. On thei r regular work day, they comecut our grass without even being asked. They are a good bunch and we pray tha t theLord will lead them to places of service tha t will not compromise thei r bel ie f s .The news from Enoch Nyador has been good. He shares a t r a i l e r with another student.His written papers have all received high marks . For Christmas, he was delightedto go home with a fellow student from South Florida to get out of the cold (I know Florida had freezes, too).Rick and Coretha Fulton are ready to come as soon as we get permission from theImmigrant Quota Committee. Some necessary documents are on the i r way from Fultonsas I write . We thank the Lord for opening the way for thei r coming.We love you at home and thank the Lord for your concern and support . Your birthdayand Christmas cards brightened many a day. May the Lord continue to bless and useyou in His service there as we continue to do our best over here. PR Y FOR US.

TrTHl s l ov eVDorothy

FIRST CHRISTI N UR Non-Profit Org.2565 E. Kaley Avenue U. S. PostageOrlando, Florida 32806 PAID

Orlando, FloridaPe rm i t No. 3081

DOROTHY EUNSON NEWSLETTERVolume 4, No. 8Address Correction Requested

3 Ot.C J I'.iySe r v i c e s As enBo- V^-71


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2,9 984DIRECT MAIL TO: FORWARDING AGENT: NEWSLETTER:Miss Dorothy Eunson Mrs. Tom Barkes Mrs. Judy TobinBo x 5 7 2 2 60 3 Twin B r o o k L an e F i r s t Chr i s t i an C h u r c hAccra N, Ghana Joppa, M 21085 2565 E. Kaley Ave.

Orlando, FL 32806DOROTHY EUNSON NEWSLETTER

Vol. 4 , No. 9 May 1984

Dear Friends in Chr is tEverything is fresh and green here in Ghana .sinc e th e beginning o f the rainyseason. We have had only a few rains but each one has refreshed u s , howevertemporarily. So the Lord refreshes us with blessings in between some periods t h a tmay seem to be d ry an d b a r r e n .Our second term between Christmas an d E a s te r went very well in the s c hool. Iam very glad that my las t year is with this particular group. Each year has i tsown t a l e n t s , joys and w ea kn es se s, b ut I have especially enjoyed the p re se nt se c

on d an d third y e a r men an d women. This term I have the same number o f hours. Iwould have had two more hours, bu t Rick Fulton has taken one o f my former classes, Bible Geography).Speaking of Fultons, they arrived on F eb ru ar y 15th a t th e beginning of th elong ho t season. They, had to get use to th e heat, th e dirt the bad roads, th elack of water, electricity only every other day, lack o f v ar ie ty in th e food, andthe crowded conditions o f ou r neighborhood. They have all adjusted well and makin g fri ends fas t with the C h r i s t i a n s . I believe Rick will make an e x c e l l e n tteacher from what I heard in Thursday night Bible study. Four year old Stephanieis very much a t home with many o f the neighborhood children. She can walk backand forth between the college and home by her self . She car r ies water on he r headalready and gave her mother no rest until she had a special cloth to t ie he r stuffedelephant or doll on her back. Faith Couch 2), Susah our househelper s 2h yearold), and Stephanie play, fight, sing, dance, and have a great time together.David and Deb Couch have played a very a cti ve r ol e more than I) in helpingthe Fultons get settled. The men have worked toge th er in hauling water, ge tt ingpetrol, and helping the contractor on the chapel extension. Our first heavy rainsoaked all David s papers on hi s desk, therefore, a major roof repair was necessar y. Now t h a t t h a t is done, David is trying to concentrate on his Master sDegree thesis f or C in ci nn at i Christian Seminary. His topic is t he H is tor y ofGhana Christian College. His most avid readers will be present and former missionaries to Ghana and those who visited here bef ore t he co ll eg e was established.It is d el ig htf ul to have te n extra feet on the back of our outdoor chapel anda back wall adorned with a cross,along with two panels of decorative open-workblocks. Our contractor is th e ordained preacher with Ofankor Christian Church anda former deacon with us . He walks 14 miles round trip almost every Sunday to

preach for his small village church. He has had technical training and can betrusted completely. The next phase of work ar e several more major masonry repairjobs around t he c ol le ge property including th e leaky ridg e cap of my roof). Afterthat, we would like to begin the side extensions to the chapel. The college isadvancing some funds to help Fultons clear their personal goods and their truck,but the Couches are making good progress paying back similar advanced help. TheLord is meeting our financial needs very well. We rejoice that Christian Adjeiis doing well as principal. I t is s t i l l one of our goals to help him completehis M aster s Degree.During the students ^ two weeks of practical e xp er ie nc e b ef or e Easter, Abekahad a first year student to help. He didn t know where th e church members lived,but helped us faithfully in visitation when someone showed him th e p lac es and madea few repeat visits once he knew th e houses. He fulfilled every assignment he wasgiven and traced all th e picture stencils for the next quarter s S. S. l es so ns .That helps Deb an d me a lo tDuring th e vacation, I typed enough of the lesson stencils to cover the schoolterm. My Christian Education s tu de nt s a re doing their practice teaching under ourobservation this term and I wanted to have all th e materials ready in advance. Debhelped by s ea rc hi ng o ut all necessary visual aids.We have had only two people give their lives to Christ since my las t newsletterbut have had a couple o th ers join us as already baptized believers. I am lookingforward to our semi-annual outdoor crusade next weekend. In fact, th e whole churchis and we are praying for a good harvest of so uls .J e f f and S h er ri e H o s te t te r moved to Sunyani a few days a ft e r th e New Year. Atthe beginning of February Jeff had a bicycle accident and suffered a broken jaw.They came to Accra by plane and we all decided together that the best thing forthem was to go home for treatment. They did and returned in good health and spiritsMarch 30th. New they are back in Sunyani. Jeff is s t i l l working on hi s Twi andhelp ing l oc al ch urch es. s soon as they have th e trail bikes, which just arrivedin Fultons shipment, he and Kwame will carry out an intensive survey of many villages around Sunyani, laying the groundwork for his extension teaching.


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The second IDES shipment of rice arrived before Easter. Once again, our churchof Christ friends saved us hours of labor and delivered i t right to the college.Much of i t has already been distributed. I s t i l l have some to deliver to an out-of-town mental hospi ta l and blind school. You may remember that the governmentrequires us to give some to government institutions. Next Sunday we will distributeto the adults in our church. didn't have time before Easter. gave to 100Sunday school children last Sunday. kept i t secret or we would have had 500and an u n c o n t r o l l a b l e s i t u a t i o n .This morning one of our newest members came to me. Her husband, an accountant,is out of work. She is a typist but with two l i t t l e children, has been unable towork. She said they have borrowed and credited to the limit and last eveningthey had nothing at all to eat. Could I please give her something for the children?There was IDES rice for her, plus some o i l mackerel and onions for a stew. Evenwhen there is no IDES rice, the church has a benevolent fund, or I can help andsome people have sent me money especially to help in such cases. Last year therewas a shortage of food in the count ry . Through long range planning in l ight of apoor harvest , t he re is food in the country this year, but many have no money tobuy. Thank you to those who have helped in any way.Our annual Easter convention was in Enoch Nyador's home village. I know hewould like to have been there. The place had more mosquitoes than any I 've attendeda convention in , so those without nets suffered a great deal. Most people sleep onthe f loor or the ground. I was given a single bed which I sha red with one of ourchurch women. Two other women and s ix c hild re n slept on the floor in the same room.There was the lovely Volta R iver nearby for a wate r supply . A local taboo forbidswomen from bathing iji i t . dipped our buckets full and carried them up a quarterof a mile in the bushes under the t rees. The river was also a place of r el axat ionand fellowship in the morning and sometimes af ter lunch. The convention was a goodone. My teaching session on Preparation for Marriage, planned for women and g i r l swas also attended by about 20 young men. I had two in terpreters . The woman student translated into two languages, an admirable accomplishment of intelligence andstrength. Lack of space prevents more d e t a i l s on t h i s important phase of churchl i f e in the brotherhood, (now numbering 24 congregations).Enoch Nyador had 3 A's and one B for f i r s t semester. We thank the Lord for hisgorrd a t j i i i t y . - Sortie 61^yOTrtwen3rsked~atrouT his' financial needs. From offeriirgs youhad already given, $15,000. was deposited with th e s choo l, $5,000. for each year ofthe course for basic l iving expenses. He is adequately taken care of th rough you rg i f t s . I f any church or group wants him to v i s i t and hea r about the Christ ian workhere, you are welcome to invi te him. I f you wish to give him a g i f t he will s e taside half for his return plane t i c k e t and he can use the other half as he wishes,especial ly to purchase things to bring back to Ghana. He i s a f ine preacher and adel ight ful person.

I l l t e l l you about our $1,000 telephone which no longer works, in my next correspondence. This i s one of our local disasters Meanwhile, God .bless you a l l andmay you be as happy in your Christ ian l i f e and service as I am.In His love and s e r v i c eDorothy

FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH Non-^Profit Org.2565 E. Kaley Avenue U. S. PostageOrlando, Florida 32806 PAIDOrlando, FloridaP e r m i t No. 3081

DOROTHY EUNSON NEWSLETTERVol. 4 No. 9Address Correction Requested

Saarlotuc: I ay on S e r v i c e s A s s rDo:c 2427I n o v v i l l e T^


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DIRECT MAIL TO: FORWARD AGENT: NEWSLETTER:Miss Dorothy Eunson Mrs. Tom Barkes Mrs. Suzy Reid151-10 Bliss Drive 603 Twin B rook Lane First Chris ti an ChurchTallahassee, FL 3230^ 3oppa, MD 21085 2565 E. Kaley Ave.Orl ando , FL 32806

DOROTHY EUNSON NEWSLETTERVoL No. 10 August, 198^

Dear Friends in Christ ,Greetings from the U.S.A. I arrived home on Saturday, July 28. Most of you haveheard little or nothing of my furlough plans. I was very slow in getting it worked out, buthere is the general plan. Since the Ghanaian board of Ghana Christian College asked themission to continue their efforts to help every teacher earn a Master s degree, the othermissionaries~agreed^haT I t ak e an ex tend ed furlough t hi s t im e to work on mine. This~firstyear home then, I will be a student at Florida State U niver sity in Talla ha ss ee , aiming for aMaster s Degree in Library Science. You may almost have to pretend I m still in Ghana.Until I see how I cope as a middle-aged graduate student, I c ann ot commit myself to any

speaking engagements. When that work is done I will be free to report to the churches andmake all necessary preparations to return to Ghana. I will be home a maximum of two years.If e ve ry th in g is complete before then, I will return early. Please bear with me and praywith me during this furlough. I don t like being away from Ghana that long, but maybe it willbe better for the work than I realize. I ll continue to write newsletters and keep you informedabout the work there as well as my own progress.

Now for th e news since t he las t newslet te r. In mid-May th e Abeka church held it s semiannual outdoor crusade. From the point of view of cooperation of church and students,weather, and responses to the invitation 23), it was very successful. However, only onene w member ha s come from that effort even though several followup visits have been madeto every person who walked forward. We ar e disappointed, but not shocked, because wehave learned from experience that people respond to an invitation for many reasons otherthan a readiness to commit the ir lives to Christ. The visitation group continue to work onthose who show any interest at all.

The third term of college classes was busy with editing th e efforts of the ChristianEducation class to produce a usable series of lessons on Acts. Also, two of then v taught inSunday School classes each Sunday under th e observation of Deb Couch and myself. Thenwe wrote evaluation sheets for them. Rick Fulton too k one of my former classes , and thatenabled me to make three out-lying church visits.

One of those visits was made to a senior student s town. He had started with a bi gSunday School, but through much hard work had won some adults in that town. He is alsodetermined to start churches in th e villages around that town, and has some Christians intwo of them. The group in th e town have t ri ed three times to get l and f rom th e chief andstart building a shelter. Twice, individuals or groups have threatened to tear down the building, so they moved. This last time the paramount chief and all his elders agreed on the landplot. The chief is a Christian who wants to se e Brother Nyame succeed. Now the Catholics,whose land is next to the plot in question, are threatening him with a court case if he triesto build. They claim the land is theirs. From what I know of Brother Nyame s work, th eCatholics fear that if he is successful in building a church, he will take many members fromthem. He has been very successful in attracting and training th e children of the town. Someof th e dm in i s t r to rs of mission schools t h re t ened to s tr ik e th e n mes of th e chi ldren fromtheir rolls if th e children cont inued to attend Brother Nyame s Sunday School. He is determined to fight, so let s pray that the Lord s will be done, so that His Word can redeem manyin that town and in th e vil lages round about.

Brother Nyame comes from a Muslim fa mily. A few have cometoiknow th e Lord, andhe has a vision of winning them all. At his graduation 3uly 1^, there were several Muslinsin th e u d i e n c e

The second church visit was also an overnight trip to a town where two students worktogether with a group of about 35 adults. They are doing very well and hope to bring a number of leaders to the retreat for leadership training to be held at the college this month.Both of the young m en are married and live at the college on faith. Sometimes they have nomoney to buy the items in th e school store, but they show no signs of faintheartedness. Bothof these churches that I visited are part of the Christian churches brotherhood. We are gladthat more students are showing such an interest.

About ^00 people attended graduation. The floors of the side extensions on the chapelhad been poured, and some big b lu e tarps that David Couch had b roug ht b ac k made anattractive shelter over them. The front wall and chalkboard had been freshly painted, and


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one of the students had drawn the head of a graduate alongside a welcome message. It wasone of our lights off days, so we used the generator for the loudspeakers. There were atleast a dozen singing groups, and the speaker had a dynamic message. When it began to rain ,people shifted their seats a little, and from time to time the students went round with a poleand emptied the sagging tapps of water s o they wouldn t tear. This year we used a ticketsystem for serving refreshments so that passers-by would not deprive a rightful guest of hisshare. Even so, we ran short of cookies. Seven men and one woman graduated. They havebeen a better than average class in their unity and spir it of helpful cooperation. We ll missthem but know they will be valuable workers in the Lord s kingdom.It was more difficult for me to leave the church than to leave the college. However, aftermuch prayer and preparation, the congregation hired their second full-time preacher. (3uly 1)(Brother Enoch was our first and he is here in the States at Emmanuel School of Religion.)This young man s hame is Brother Christopher and is a diploma graduate (Three year) of thecollege. He had only been worshipping and working with us about six months, so it will takehim awhile to get to know the people well. I believe he will do very well. Our youth arevery, very active now and preparing themselves for more evangelism. Brother Christopher getsalong very well with them, so I m confident the church will continue to grow. The churchcommittee (board) has fine people on it and they were proposing some new members for it

when I l e f t

Rick and Coretha Fulton came home just after graduation for treatment for Rick s gallbladder disease. Theyliope to be back in Ghana in time for the September opening.3eff Hostetter preached part of his sermon in Twi on his last visit to Accra and is aimingto preach an entire sermon in it by th e end of this month. He has a weekly Bible study withleaders from several churches in Sunyani. During my absence my house can be used as a

resthouse fo r them when they come to Accra.An IDES shipment of pinto beans was due in Ghana at any time. The missionaries decidedto ask that no more be sent, unless a shipment of medicine. There will always be hunger inGhana, especially during the dry season, but this is a perennial problem. The emergency need

has passed.Enoch Nyador had a very good second semester at ESR. He had four A s and two B s. Ihope I do that well in my studies In July his fiancee was able to come from Russia whe re sh eis studying medicine on a scholarship. They were married in Johnson City on July 1^ (thesame day as our graduation). Carl Bridges was one of the officiating ministers. Enoch s wifeLydla wilLrfitiirn to Russia thp f nd nf August- Enoch-hacLmarried her by-Ciistomar,y rites in

Ghana a year ago, but she was in Russia at th e time.After a year and nine months, Ghana f ina lly opened her ground borders shortly before Icame home. Since the foreign exchange shop in Accra has a lo t of food staples, oil, tires, lightbuilbs, etc., now the missionaries probably won t go to Lome, Togo as often as they used to, butit s nice to know you can, especially if you need^a-hallway.^The week before I left Ghana, there was water in my pies t he f ir st time since Christmas.I kept forgett ing to wash my hands with running water. Due to a neighborhood tranisformer

burning out, we had no electricity at al l the la st two weeks. I hope Couches write a say itcame on soon Some church friends nearby let us make ice cubes in their freezer.Thank you fo r your love and interest and your f ine f inancial support . You are our co-workersin the Ghana vineyard. You will be hearing from me again

In His lo ve and service,Dorothy

FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH Non-Profit Org.2565 E. Kaley Avenue US. PostageOrlando, Florida 32806 PAID

Orlando, FloridaP e rm i t No 3081

DOROTHY EUNSON NEWSLETTERVoL 4 , No . 10Address Correction Requested S .nrlotte Uay

i lxG iion Se rv ice s AssnBox 24?.7Kno-./ i l la , TN 37901

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Eunson Dorothy 1984 Ghana