eunson dorothy 1983 ghana

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i s s Horothy Tunson

Pox F7?2

^rcra N, Ghana

pnn|.»/»rr-[vr; CfMy

r s . Tom Bar'ês

^03 Twin Prook Lane

ooppa,

pApoTuy f-ir'SC^' f'EHSLrTTFr

>'o1. 4 , ^'0. f

/

NEWSLETTER:

f'rs. Judy TobinFi r s t Chr is t i an Church

2565 F. Kaley Ave.Orlando, Florida 32806

^'arch, 1«P3

Tear '^'riends in ^h r i s t .

The newsletter gap jumped to five months from tv.'o en , so much the more to tellyou now.

v/eeks ago our v.'ater camp back on with good pressure. In the last newsletter wehad hired a temporary employee to carry water for the collenc. J'is joh l as ted f ivemonths. V'e are delighted to have running water again, but sorry to see Samuel go. .'*t

least 'ôd has answere'' prayer for a new jo'^:'; he will he the driver for Joseph ^'siah'st a x i .

— TJosf'ph i^-f^ne^ of-our -fiiie-'^^naian teac-ers-afKi-M^ ol4 tax4-4^d-reachcd the pointwhere i t was more of a l ia 'îli ty than an asset. 'Je had promised to get him another oneand le t him pay for i t with his salary, îght now Imports are difficult and there is notmuch chance at all of bringing in a sedan for commercial use. V.e have bought a used car

here. Joseph seems satisfied and v/e know Jâmuel will he a good driver for him.In tê college we are holding steady vrlth 3? students, of whom four are women. I t

is really a fine group of young people. °y nov/, v/e are nearir.g the end of second term.They go on practical training to th e churches of their choice and then have two weeksEaster .vacation, ^his term I have taken the course in bas ic Chri st ian Doctrfne-from Tarl . y main aim was to get some ideas on how to teach i t i f i t ever-falTs my lo t .

The roofing sheets for the new c'âpel finally came from Sears. They-are- ii r-^:estoreroom and hopefully will get pu t on during this vacation.

I'e have long gotten a few basic commodities at control price from the governmentthrough the private schools unit of the '^hana Education Service. In recent months theavai lab il it y o f common foodstuffs has gone down greatly and the prices have gone up correspondingly. The students have urged us to try other sourccs. '-lith their help» vê havegotten one lot of fresh fish from a Tcma fishery and two hags of rice from Chana ôod^

'distribution. Tê students have to help, because th e facul ty doesn 't have any more timeto run up and down carrying le t ters of appl icat ion , checking on the le t ters , etc.

ridges and also appreciate these supplies. Chana's ground borders are st i l l close''(since October), .- 'though we have been able to buy some things at the foreigh exchangeshop here in Accra, that does not replace a ll the food we use-to get in Lom^-. e are -learning to eat more and m.orn corn products and getting some through the school at controlprice is at least saving over the street price. Sometimes, you just can't find thebasic food you v/ant. Mhat îme magazine published -^s rea lly t rue: an egg (one) cost theequivalent of $2.20. One orange cost 50^ ♦ f o r they disappeared entirely until the rainscome. Ke st i l l have good supplies of rice, tuna, oil , tomato paste^ canned peaches and somecanned and freeze-dried vegeta'^les, so vfe are not going hungry by any means, ^'ut we arelearning to bp more and more fânkful for our daily ^read.

SinceIwrote in

Octo^êr,there has

cen oneattempted

coupard

justlas t

Sundayanother plot was uncovered. The s ituat ion i s not very staMe and I fear that i f there isanot^'er c' ange i t vn'H f-e much farther to th e lef t and a real tragedy for the country . V'e

white missionaries must surely redeem the time in case our stays are foreshortened./ t Christmastir'e t^'e evening curfew was increased t i l l midnig'^t, so I am hardly aware

of a curfew at al l . ( I t s midn1g*^t t i l l 5 a.m.)The c'ûrch work is going on we'll. Christian djei travels often to the village churches

to exhort, rebuke, teach» etc. *'ay God grant hin v;isdom and strength Last Sunday Ivjent with our young pastor, Bro. ' noch, to visi t the church at Cfankor. The deacon whousually goes there wanted a ^reak. Têre were about a dozen people who came. J led thesinging. Pro. Enoch preac*'ed, and vê shared a i ible teaching time after the main service,^he number is small, 'ût I believe they have at least a few stable mem'êrs and we willcontinue to build vfith fêm. In January aôut the same number of them cam.e to beka to

share in our services. The chapel was really packed that day and several people fromboth churches confessed ^ r l s t as thei r Saviour. At tha t tim.e the water was s t i l l of f , so

we went to a lake a'ôut 30 minutes drive from here, ' 'e made several t r ips there in the

l a s t f ive months

In January I took a turn with another lady cleaning and arranging the chapel onSunday morning. Since the harmattan was in full force (one of the strongest I've seen) we

had unusual amounts of dust to cope with, but at least at C in the m.orning i t was cool.' 'e would finish a t 7::ê and dust the c 'âir s again when we returned for service a

l ttl a f t e r n ine .

'•' e f i rst Sunday in January, t*ê c'ûrch had a love feast, the f i rst in four or fiveyears. Everyone ^^rought something, except t?ôse w' e forgot ût fêre vras plenty for themtoo. It V7as a very happy occasion, one suggestion made was that next tir:e peopleshould share e l a t e s to make t more ^hanaian .



- 2 -

On two recent Satur<iay afternoons the visitation group has made survey calls in anarea where we bar* never gone house-to-house before, ''e had had two training sessionsbeforehand. -'^t Ws writing, we don't know how many real prospects this has yielded, y partner and I encountered a follower of Mare Krishna and two worshippers of theRiver Pra spir i t among an assortment of various church members.

Defors this venture, another '•rother and I had ^êen visiting a soothsayer more orless regularly— ôr the purpose of telling him about Thrist. He just wants to have

Jesus along with his other gods. ^ e isn't converted yet by any means, hut we wills t i l l vis i t him as we can. I »êlieve his wife is more receptive than he.

women's fellov.fship has been revived in our church. Cne of the women in the

college came and spoke to our women about starting again. They had their first meetingin Teb. and 01 enda taught the lesson, ' ourteen v/omen attended. I hope i t continues.

That weekend I had gone witb Christian to visit the work of one of our students.V'e v/ent on Sat. afternoon and came home Sunday afternoon, '/'as i t hot ' ' is work is avery gib Sunday School so far, although eventually he wants to 'ûild a church, . eshared in a service with the children Saturday evening and again Sunday morning. Imade my presentation almost totally a Pible story with very brief application, f^venthough the student had to interpret every word, I was surprised at how well theylistened — about kids, many of whom were less than 6. Probably the fascination

of watching a white lady helped.In our free time we ate, talked and relaxed in the compound of the chief's house.V'e also slept there Saturday nigH. Sunday morning, the chief and his wife, thestudent, and about half a dozen boys went to two farms in my truck and collected foodstuffs for themselves and for us. I'e came home vfith cassava, coconuts, oranges, palmnuts and bananas. We were late for the announced time of service, ût the childrenwere all there. Christian had a simple sermon for them and then I had another briefstory and lesson, ot another church in the rather large town docs anything for children so our s tudent has tbem a l l .

If I *âd written just a fte r Christmas, I would have told you many details of theChristmas convention. Nov?, i t seems too long ago for that, but I ' l l share a little.It was held at Ofankor, near ^.ere, ^>ecause transportation to the original far sitev?as too costly. Abeka did not succeed in ^îring a truck so our car and true? endedup making two trips a day and four tr ps on Sunday. For tê Sunday service, we hadmore than 5Q from Abeka at the convention, ^hat was the service at v^ hich Pro. Enochvfas ordained as a preac' er, therefore, i t was a special day for us. The truck had tomake one trip a day to haul drinking water and we hauled ^-enches, boards, and all theelectr ical equipment.IV a • I j u • i n L ^

Everv cburch but one was represented, although some groups were small because ortransportkion difficulties. Tt was a very smooth-running convention, and the struggling new church there was really encouraged by what they saw. Some people were won to

S t to o

Now we are preparing for the aster convention, flarch 31 - ®pril 3. It will bein Kpenu v, here there are plenty of mosquitoes . ,

Immigration here âs said that ileff and Sherry Hontetter can come on ihe visitors

visas v/hile the^r regular visas are being processed. They may be here in time for theconvention. Answered prayer . uI m sure you heard aôut the thousands of r.hanaians 'vho vyere sent home from

•^ igeria because they had overstayed their legally permitted time. Cur congregationgave a thousand cedis to tê relief effort, e sent Samuel and the truck several daysto help and I drove the truck myself one afternoon to take food to the harbour forthose returning by ship and also to the Trade air Site for t*ôse coming by true•^here remains the very enormous challenge of re-incorporating them into society

Keep on praying for us and for this poor country. We thank ôd for your faith.ullove and concern a lv 'ays .

f.ove in h r i s t ,

' - ôrot^-y

FPST r.HUPCH Non-'^rofit '^rg.?56E E: Kaley Avenue' rlando, Florida 328^6 ^ ^

DOPOTHY EUr SON ^•EWSL^TTFP

' 'olume 0 . f

ddress Correction ^pquested

V rc^

Orlando, Horida

Permit ?'o. 3081



ApriX 1903

Fon rm COK'l:aiBi:TC:es

Fj:isnds j

Things ha:ve r e a l l j bên happening in the la.su f i v e Tha l a s t

o f the term extin Tjeek I ha4 icy f i r s t s and I hope ny only^. a t t a c k o f g a s t r i t i s

a lo ng tr ii h a T/iiid ca^je ox vihich rf^:aui-}:ed tvrc f u l l coui'sies of ciilorcqulne

t o cuze® Thaf^s ojilj' my second tlriie of iria'laicla in I.5 so 1 caii ' t coiîpilaiu

I Has a c l s t o prepare avid :Aaxk a l l oi ' my b;^t ti^^veUv^rs helped »ith

soiê o f the typing and iiîjpîrvifjin^v i n the classsroc /;.

That saxiif) êek J e f f £.nd 3 h e r r i e l icr- tet ter arj:lve^'. cg legiri t h a i r Bias icnary

c a r s s r in Qimna^- After three weeks : / l th ua 'thi-jj noyed to /iOeti:;'i yesterday to

begi3f2 ti'isiT s i s nanths of language school r They res :.©df did ftattl ing-in businossc

and s t a r t e d to g s t acqualriied ;;Tith l i f s in Ghana in 19^3 as when J e f f

l e f t il l ) Hostettev-s Btbiyr:6. v.ltli Bridfces bat ca::i<~ to hoisa ev^ry evening

f o r suppert

Lcvst vjeekeni f:i?oa Thursd^-y aitervroon to l^vx^sly^y a f t • .. •: Kas a t S a s t e r

convention up In Kpsnii,: f'iy t ruck oa.rr53d ten people a.nd 30 big had to cover

it ijith a blanket ar-d rops it ozij, Our groir:; incl Aded thy ;^/c:c:trici<La vrno s3ts upand sup-jrviaf iE generiiôr.: l i g h t s aiirl spysîiers;: iie 5.^ a iiisiabsr o f ouv- clârcht.

Much <5f the ros^ bet-ween here and thers i s terribla., . but viB : ^ . a it viith no juishapt

Hosto f

thv;.^map

hO'iBSden uif'sse

along-cith aîOther clu-rch

lb a higmulti«2?o«-£fid ho^sao At tliat,^ isan^ slsp :. outoid e i t s cooler^ThrtV gave a racm of nsy mn a t a di.f;i:'e;..-e«t pl^-Cie r;.nd put oin' p rey.c;her ^nd a

daacan 5:}.2:v:t floor to ke?ip is-s companyc vie are :•l' sa^^r g'- 'Od fi-iends i n the Lord, so trfi

had a. g;:)o;5 t5.f5s sharing a^?d i-filpir^g enoh e t h e r n naysso Fo:c Instance 3 each

ôrviing X fi-as cu^ksd zo iâke k. tri.p- t-c: tVii^ rive:cv 6 to Isri-ng Tjaolr dr3.nki?2{swater in dviAUis and buckt-it^^j, Icoal 'jôvl^ die 3.XI the work c f loarling and

, ualSadirigt> ^)hile I âs gibne on tb« 2nd aM 3 ^ Diorriin^::^, 8Bth r\nd Erhah'( locked Kice

JKa^tar .so-j«e cÛi-t .sat. tcfi^th-sir-irhsr.-I- . 4 t .5^; ;-.fiv'vsr--4iv^v'ilS5^-.-«j£rvl4y5swa rêrê .fed lyv the convontio;-, t/i^-; pv&aciiey/s-. 1 /ûes:^ ^nul ' ' lafâi s^-nco

y.e ?iach Imd a aej^'ni.on or teatihiiig; assaiQ-ic Kiv:i« :vatt oeiii;; a -îsBlonax'v ^• eitavigeiiess'-^

and X an o b j e c t lesnciî anc posjt^rs t o s:ak(^ a vi-ûal iîp^-ci^ on even the

illlter teef

I t «a& c. v7ell g,ttended i::onve;:itior .. even thoU;?;;h y^^ny chu;;c:hes3 inclt;.div-jg AbeiTahad lisrry trouble , e ojriginal lorr:f driver didn'^t tarrn \ip Priflay siorni^g, scv it

took thea £,bout three hci.n?s to f irid a iotiifHr one,. TI;.s;y fir S.l lj ;E;.r;;rived about 2iJ.Q ptA^,,

sfiS aii.l noticad ntvd vie'i.X th& :/. ;opl0 l isisried to ssir'-ucns rind t>jaahi:»g« in ste ad o f

sleeping^ Bridges 'Jhris ^;.;un Adjoi oa-fie 6e.tu.j?:i.'-y :;;orning and ataysd overnight«

Glenda and Cindy shared rov^tft and Qarl viet up his n-oKcuito nsst iji an unfijiished tooxsi n t h s iSEiise hou-ê.. OXende ar-d X d i d n t sl'5Gp too b.=^.dly consi^^sririg t h a t oiir raattress

was 3iad« o f Isundles of riv(vx- Our bat'-i i iat -ir ^Ta« ic-a-^'CC?lored and s a l t v aîd you

coi?.ldnM, g e t any ^.t ;ill,; Sunday i;ca:*rii,ig 1 took kv bs,tn in the r i v e r behind eom«

gj:ass whilî the 'iKiys were J.or=5x5iiig th9 truck ^Îtn ^^latercThe •corning weririce -was the i is ua l. w ith the Supper and test ifaonies

a s the focusTh-î testiriOiiies i7ere goocl- eBoecial ly a s a i?itnoSC t o idcsl y?orshippers;

but a l i t t l e lon^â Six jomig •f:eijpl^ haO. tc- the innitat ioK in svsning ssrvices

and had been bapti^êd Sund^.^- nonuyig^. E:&ch 'vorning hs.d 'begUti with c hu rc h :ôups

s inging and -^s-aying fron- 5 on^rard^ t h r s 8 s.iayir^g i n the sawG plaice

u;:iually ha.d on r cUvirotioBs a t 6^The fccKl s i t u a t i o n is j worseninii- h?e pr;îy a l o t f o r food a ni r a in Food i s s c a r c e

and astroncy iica3.ly pr iced unless- you ax-e for tuj iate erioufjih to g e t t i n y q u a n t i t y

dii;itribiited a t cc-:itrol pricey; ^ ê i inderatana a ehip inent f ro is Fo-i^d f o r the Hiuigr y i s

0)1 its Ue -:i«3iorjaris?5 Ci-ri r::et r i c e an.-j so.iiiO o t h o r b a s i c s^rgoltes a t forsîgn

oxchanga -shgp an;i al«o g ^ t f o r our teanh^rs sta:?fe Oi^ristians r e a l l y

ti^rik tiie f o r austaininy; tiif;::?i day by -tay,. Plrâye p r a r f o r t h i s country, t h a t

people tdJl have sno-ngh and tmi t -hose v^ho ar's p r o f i t u e r i n g i-rill bs changed,> Don'^t

wor^:'y sbout ua^ ws a ro fine,, but naed. your prayers f o r love and pat iencSfe I n Chr i s t

i '.\ Porothj'



JUN 20 1983

DIRECT MAIL TO : FORWARDING AGENT: NEWSLETTER:Miss Dorothy Eunson Mrs om Barkes Mrs. Judy TobinBox 5722 603 Twin Brook Lane First ChristianAccra N, Ghana Joppa, 21085 Church

2565 E. Kaley Ave.

Orlando, FL 32806

DOROTHY EUNSON NEWSLETTER

Vol. 4, No. 7 May 30, 1983

Dear Friends in Chr is t

There are three big news items to share with you and then other things as spacepermi t s .

The f i rst item is the big change that the Ghana government has made in currencyexchanges. For years we have been penalized by an unrealistic exchange rate on thedollars you give us. We survived this past year because we were able to legallyearn a better return by importing books through African Christian Press. They soldthem for us and tyrned over the proceeds. ow the government i tself has initiated

a system of bonuses for dollars exchanged at the bank. The official exchange rateremains at 2.75, but the bonuses raise the cedis to nearly 30 that we actuallyreceive for one dollar. In April, the government announced a new budget doublingthe price of gasoline and more than doubling the price of kerosene and cooking gas.They raised the cedi price of an airplane t icket to London on Ghana Airways sohigh that many people lost all hope of making trips because they don t have anyforeign exchange. Food prices on the open market were st i l l spiralling upwards.Just a few weeks ago we learned of the bonus system, and we thanked the Lord mostsincerely for such relief . Tomorrow s pay day will bring a tripling of our salar-^ies in cedis, both missionaries and Ghanaians. That big an increase is necessaryto double our takehome pay, what with Ghana taxes. I am so happy we can do thisbecause our Ghanaian s t a f f j u s t wasn t making i t .

In addition to the sal ary inc reases , we have bought food at the ForeignExchange Shop and we will sell i t to our co-workers for cedis. There ts no way theycan get those things for a comparable price on th e open market and some are completely unavailable. We all hope to survive a while longer now. The ForeignExchange shop has gotten in a great variety of food, even frozen meat. Flour finally came in , so we can have bread again. With our projected salary increases,Glenda and I have started buying lettuce and cucumbers again. Fresh frui ts andvegetables have been scarce in our diets for a while. One week I traded one cakeof Lux soap for one pound of onions. The se l le r and the buyer were both happy.

The second item: Because of th e worsening food situation in Ghana, InternationalDisaster Emergency Service HOES is launching a drive to collect funds to ship foodto Ghana. The shipment will be administered here by the Board of Ghana ChristianCollege, which includes the missionaries. IDES can ship 30 tons of donated grain

for 6,000.00. I t will take a lo t of time and work for already busy people, butthe need is so great that i n Chr is ti an compassion, we can t say no » Many, manypeople a re ea ting less than adequate food and there is no appreciable harvest fortwo more months. Even is i t is a good one, the problem will no t be solved immediately. I believe we have enough funds on hand or coming in to handle th e transporttation and distribution expenses here in Ghana, bu t i f any of you who read this arenot regularly supporting our work financially, here is an opportunity to f i l l agreat need with a one time gi f t to IDES.

The third item: Bro. Enoch Nyador, a G.C.C. graduate and th e preacher for ourlocal congregation here in Abeka, has prayed and pursued a plan to get graduatestudies in the U.S. Forrlong time we missionaries held off because the only men we~have helped are those who were teaching in the college. But finally, because of hischaracter, his talent and his dedication to Christ , I have decided to do i t withmission funds under my control. I t is not a college project, although the othersare aware of i t . In that way, we hope t he col lege will no t be accused of favoritism,even though many may not distinguish between an individual missionary and the college,Enoch has been granted a full tuit ion scholarship by Emmanuel School of Religion inEast Tennessee, so i t is his living expenses that many of you will be helping with.He has the papers necessary to enable him to get a U. S. visa . The Ghana passportoffice, unfortunately, has lost his application for that all-important document. Soplease pray tha t all the necessary papers will be obtained and plans completed intime for him to begin the fall term on schedule. I sincerely believe that Enoch seducation is a good investment in the future of Chris t s kingdom in Ghana, and thathe will be fa i th fu l ly serving af t e r I re t i re



- 2 -Jeff and Sherrie Hostetter and baby Jessica arrived in Ghana on March 18. They

stayed with Bridges for three weeks before language school started. I cooked supperfor them every night. Jeff is happy to be back home and Sherrie is learning fastand learning to cope. They started language school on April 10th. The school isabout a three hour drive from us . They have a rented appartment and are doing theirown cooking with limited borrowed equipment. Their health has not been the best,but they are doing well in the Twi language. We visited them last weekend and theywill be coming to stay with us next week while they clear their shipment of suppliesand vehicle from the port. Pray for them as they make plans and lay some groundwork for their proposed work in the Brong Ahafo region.

Our Easter church convention was a good one. The preacher, three deacons, anelectr ic ians and five choir members went f i r s t from our church. The truck was soloaded we had to tie i t on. About fifteen from our church came the next day on ahired lorry, and the Bridges and Christian Adjei came on Saturday for overnight.The promised hired lorry failed to appear, so the elders spent three hours beforethey found another one to bring them. He was a more careful driver and cheaper too.The Lord wor ke d t h a t ou t f ine

I had a private room with a thick reed mattress, a t iny table and a small

chair. Bro. Enoch and Bro. Seth, one of ou r deacons, were given a room next to mine.We took our own mosquito nets. The rest of the group was in a big house a couple

hundred yards away. I t s l ike camping out for three days, with a pit toi let nowalls) and a bucket bath. Our group of three ate with the preachers twice a day andwe cooked our own breakfast on a l i t t l e ga s burner. The men cooked t he b re ak fa st

while I went with some of the local young people on the truck to bring drinking

water from the r iver . The local water looks l ike tea and is sal ty.Bros. Enoch and Seth and I a ll had a lesson or a sermon on Friday. Mine was on

Being a Missionary ( evangeli sm .) The ir attention was obtained by calling on twopeople to come for t iny wrapped packages. Those two called two others and so on.

Eventually we had 64 people in the front. Inside the packets were two sugar cubes

which they could also share. You can share the good news of Jesus by the samemethod and He is sweeter than sugar. I enjoyed searching the scriptures for the

lesson and I also made some big posters to i l lust ra te the main points. I wanted as

few people as possible to fa l l asleep on the hot afternoon.

All the sermons were good, and the youth quiz had more enthus ias t ic entrants

than ever before. Abeka won third place, but we are glad the in te res t of th e o th ersis increasing. About six young people gave the i r l ives to Christ and were baptized

early Sunday morning. There were some very long, but good testimonies a t the Sundayservice from people who have l e f t t he f et is hi sm and t ra d it ional r e li gi on.

We were bone weary by the end, but was worth i t . The conventions are a real

encouragement to these small congregat ions. And to me toov^thoro i rg t i ly enjoyed

the whole t hi ng , e speci al ly the fellowship with the two brothers next to me.

Just before Easter, I had a f i rs t and I hope last) bout of gastr i t is . At th e

same time, I had my second case of malaria in fifteen years. I t was very mild compared with the f i r s t . I had a miserable week, but I prepared a ll my exams. Theo ther t eacher s gave them for me and I marked them. Now I am r ight as ra in . I got

rid of my dog to help prevent any more gastr i t is , (ha) He was lots of fun andcompany, but he also had a lo t of bad habits tha t were a constant source of tension.

Now he belongs to a vi l lage hunter .Our local church work continues s teadi ly . Attendance and offer ings are both

being affected by the general conditions in the country. At leas t tha t s how I per

ceive. I t s a time of special vigilance and concern for the lead ers in order to

encourage and help the brothers and s is ters through these hard months.

Thank you for your prayers. We have had a lo t of important decisions to makerecently and the Lord has surely helped us. Only ix mnrp wpeks till graduation^dRrid^nn pormnnont Hpparture. Prav for them, for the Couches preparing to return

and for Rick and Coretha Ful ton who are s t i l l raising support to come and help usinIf5el CG 14e§e^.

God bless you a l l .

In His serv ice ,

Dorothy

FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH Non-Profit Org.

2565 E. Kaley Avenue U. S. Postage

Orlando, Florida 32806 PAIDOrlando, Florida

Pe rm i t No. 3081

DOROTHY EUNSON NEWSLETTER

Volume 4 , No. 7

Address Correction Requested

Shaslotte RayMission Services Aeen.Box 2427laioxvlllSj TN 37901

eunson dorothy 1983 ghana

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