About those land negotiations

A friend told me that when she read our updates of the trip, she was surprised to see that I had casually slipped in the news about a land deal.  Where was the fanfare?  Where was the celebration?

That's exactly what I was wondering.

After our first year in Ghana, J-M and I began laughing at our expectations to purchase land before the end of our term.  We spent the rest of our time getting educated the hard way about the Land Administration System in Ghana, legal procedures, and, well, how God had a different plan.

I wasn't part of the meeting when the team shook hands with the land owner on the land deal. Tonya and I had been meeting with the women in the microfinance program.  Actually, I think that meeting was over and we might have even just been playing with the kids in the courtyard, when the guys from the team took us aside to tell us that we had come to an agreement, now we had to figure out details.

It was a bit of a shock to me because I guess I had figured that the whole land purchase part of this would be THE PINNACLE of our mission.  I wanted time to pause, reflect, wonder, freak out and send out a whole bunch of We Just Had A Baby! notices. 

Tonya Hamilton read a passage of scripture to the team during one of our morning devotions.  It was Genesis 41, the story of Joseph, about how he spent two years in prison and then was released QUICKLY.   In the same way, we spent years grappling with the steps to give this project footing, the land purchase, only to have it completed QUICKLY. 

So there is this resounding insight I've come to terms with through this whole situation.  That if I was ever disappointed about the pace of the land project (whether slow or fast) it's because I had put my desires or my priorities before God's. I might have even wanted a piece of the fanfare.  Like I mentioned, I didn't get to be a part of the land negotiations.  The option was removed from me, and I'm actually considering celebrating the fact.

The details of the land deal:

• BFMC has purchased, or rather signed a 100 yr. lease, on behalf of the Ghana Mission, the property that Pastor Charles' school, New Dawn Preparatory, is currently occupying.
• Through our partnership with the Ghana Mission, we hope to build a multi-purpose structure that will accommodate both New Dawn Preparatory and the church and ministry activities (i.e. microfinance, vocational school, youth meetings, etc.) of the Ghana Mission.

Now that we're all in the loop, we hope you'll help us see it through to completion!