 Missions News
Ghana & Ethiopia Trip Testimonies (2005 Aug-Sep 15)
 I made this trip to visit Ghana and Ethiopia in Africa from August 25 to September 15, 2005, covering 23 days. The main purpose was to visit the group that Kate Kwarteng, a Ghanaian lady who was a member of Hope Bangkok, International Fellowship (IF), started 2 years ago. The trip to Ethiopia was actually supposed to be just a transit to change flight for Bangkok. The initial length of trip planned was 13 days. However, God worked a lot of miracles until the whole trip had to be extended to 23 days with 2 groups already starting and another 2 potential groups on the way. Here are the stories.
I traveled for almost 30 hours from Bangkok via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Lagos, Nigeria to Accra, Ghana. And from Accra to Kumasi I traveled by road. It was a very tiring trip as all the flights and transits were after midnight, and half of the road trip was very bumpy and dusty. I left Bangkok on Thursday, August 25 and arrived in Kumasi on the following day, considering the 7-hour difference in the 2 time zones. The temperature was good in Kumasi; it ranged from 15 at night to 25 in the day!
The first testimony started right at Bangkok International Airport, prior to my departure. You know, I had never been to Africa before. I was thinking to myself that it would be good if I could have an African to travel with me just in case I needed help; at least for this first time. God was so good and affirmed me that He was with me right from start. Dennis, a man from Uganda who visited IF only once, was standing right behind me in front of the check-in counter! He greeted me, and I looked lost at first glance. After a little while, we were on board in the same flight! We had a long talk in Bangkok and in Addis Ababa during the transit. I told him I was going to Africa for church planting. At the end, he told me he would help our church planting work in Uganda, and we would keep in touch. What a bonus! This wasn’t even in the plan.
 Upon my arrival at Accra Airport in Ghana, Kate, who traveled all the way from China to Ghana 3 weeks before me to help our church planting work there, asked her relative to help pick me up. You know how the Africans honor ministers, don't you? They came with a black Mercedes. And, throughout my stay in Ghana, I traveled everywhere in this Mercedes with a chauffeur driving for me. How was that? God is an awesome God, isn’t He?
Kumasi is a mid-sized city 3-4 hours by car north of Accra, the capital of Ghana. Here, I spent days with the leadership team, which was made up of 5 people. Most of the time we met was spent for training and demonstrating how to run a group of their size, as well as sharing God’s word on 2 Sundays. The services were in Kate’s house. And, there were more than 20 people on both Sundays. No musical instrument, but the atmosphere was terrific! By the way, I got them a guitar later though they knew how to play only one key.
Apart from this, I decided to extend my stay in Ghana for a few more days to avail time for surveying for larger church venue, conducting a mini membership orientation and helping start the first student care group in Kumasi. Once again, God was good. There was another testimony here. I met one sister in Hope Singapore online in the internet one day; only 15 minutes before she signed off. I asked her whether she knew any Ghanaian coming back to Ghana from our Hope churches overseas. Immediately, she called someone in Malaysia and gave me phone numbers of one Ghanaian brother. I showed Kate the phone numbers. She screamed with joy and said, ‘This man lives in Kumasi. And from his name I know he’s from my tribe!’ We called one of the numbers, and there we found Paul, a brother having just returned from Hope Kuching to Kumasi only 4 days before! He came back just at the right time! Paul was in Hope Kuching for 3 years, and he knew how we do things in our church. He was there in our first student care group and was a great help! This is definitely not an accident. God linked us up together at the right time!
 How we met Paul for the first time was also very interesting. You may want to read this too. We had never met each other before. After talking on the phone, we made an appointment to meet somewhere. Kate, her daughter and I went together in a car. At the meeting place, Kate’s daughter got off the car to look for him but couldn’t find him. When we were driving off the car, Kate’s daughter saw 2 men on the roadside, one of which her friend. She waved at her friend, and the man waved back. Later, we called Paul. He asked where we were. We said we were in a black car. He asked whether it was the black car with someone waving their hands a moment ago. What turned out is that Paul was Kate’s daughter’s friend’s friend. Both of them came together. God put Kate’s daughter’s friend, of course also Paul’s friend, into the scene to help us identify each other. Some may say, ‘What a small world.’ I say, ‘What a great God!’
Another similar story happened when I was online another day. I met a brother in Hope Oslo in the internet after a very long time. I just casually said, ‘Hello’, and told him I was in Ghana. He quickly told me there was a Ghanaian in Hope Oslo and gave me his email address before he quickly signed off. I wrote to the owner of this email address immediately, and found a reply with a phone number of his relative when I was online again on another day. I showed Kate this phone number. Once again she screamed and told me this man also lived in Kumasi. We called him, and he was in church on the following Sunday!
Look at what God did in Ghana. Kate and I are very sure and can testify God’s presence and guidance in the trip. Now, Kate has planned to return to Ghana again in the next few months. This time she wants to stay longer and open a new restaurant in Accra to help church planting in the capital city, starting from her and her son who’ll start school in Accra in November 2005. She’s very much on fire for God. And I thank God for this family.
These are only some of the things that happened in Ghana. Now, I’ll tell you what happened in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In fact, I only planned to make a short visit to meet some friends during my transit in Addis Ababa. When I extended my stay in Ghana, I had to postpone my trip from Addis Ababa to Bangkok too. I had the initial confirmation that I would have seat on the plane and leave on September 10, which meant I would be in Addis Ababa for 3 days only. But what actually happened is that I had no seat on the day and couldn’t leave till September 15, altogether 8 days! The first thing that came into my mind was, ‘God must have something for me to do here.’ And, I was right when things started to unfold.
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Ps David, Alemu and Tigist - The First Contacts in Ethiopia.
Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, is a city located 2,100 meters above sea level with temperature around 10-20 degrees when I was there. In Addis Ababa, I knew only a few people who visited IF Bangkok a while ago. Possibility of planting a church here within such a short stay was just a tiny piece of cloud for me. I only planned to leave some materials that introduce Hope of God with one of them; just in case she could introduce us to someone in the future. Now, remember the story of that little boy who gave Jesus the 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish? I started with the little I had by faith, and God did work miracles!
All these visitors to IF were busy when I arrived there. One of them asked her brother to take care of me. I met this man on the following day. Later, I found out that he was a born-again Christian, worked in one Christian organization for 10 years and had just resigned from his work a few days ago because he believed in church planting and wanted to start to do it. He had been praying for God’s direction and had no idea of my purpose of visit in Africa. What could I say. I just thanked God. I showed him the VCDs I used for training in Ghana. He was very amazed in the Core Values, Vision Statement and Principles of Ministry of Hope. On the following day, he brought 2 more friends who had been involving with some kinds of Christian ministry. They watched the VCDs; with him watching it over again. They were all amazed. He’d told his friends about Hope the day before. These 2 men came with questions. But by the time they had finished watching the VCDs, they told me that all their questions had been answered. They said, ‘It’s a holistic ministry.’ They had never heard such things before and asked how they could join such vision. Things rolled on. I went through the same training I did in Ghana with these people. On the last day, they – now 3 – introduced to me the fourth man, who had just returned from a trip from the upcountry, and it was only a few hours before I went to the airport for my departure. And, yet they still had another man, the fifth one, being interested to join us. All of them are in the 30’s; young, teachable and visionary.
To add to the intensity of God’s presence in Addis Ababa, I’ll tell you 2 more short stories:
Story 1: One day I was browsing the internet. The man next to me saw me browsing a Christian website and asked whether I was a Christian. I said, ‘yes’, and told him I was here for church planting. He told me he was working in a Christian organization and offered to help immediately. Not an accident, I’ll tell ya. Now, we still keep in touch.
Story 2: There was one Ethiopian man who was in IF last year. I wanted to meet him during this trip. But this man works in a town hundreds of miles outside Addis Ababa. I wondered how I could meet him. But, without my knowledge, I happened to be in Addis Ababa during the Ethiopian New Year holidays, and this man came to visit his family in the city. So we met! He also joined the training I was conducting for the rest of the men. On the last day, he said, ‘I want to start a Hope church in the town where I work!’
Now you’ve got the answer why God put me in Addis Ababa for 8 days, haven’t you? In fact, 8 days in Addis Ababa didn’t seem to be enough. These are some of what happened from close-to-nothing on the first day. I could have just quickly made the transit and rushed back home 8 days before to spend time with my family and friends. In fact, I was terribly tired and wanted to come home badly. But I knew I wouldn’t be in Addis Ababa often. I’m glad I took the step of faith, and God did His awesome part. Before I came, I tried to plan for something great, but God worked greater things. I’d like to encourage those who read these stories to be bold to go for church planting. Most people I met knew the Gospel, but they said our Core Values, Vision Statement and Principles of Ministry are very unique and make us very different and attractive. I believe there are a lot more people who will co-work with us and join us if you will only visit them and share with them your life story in Hope of God Church. After all, it’s not only you. He’ll keep His promise: “…And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
When I saw the sun rose over Mumbi, India from the plane, I knew I would be home again in a few hours. But the past 23 days in Africa had created an impact somehow somewhere, and it would last long. You can do it too. Glory be to God alone!
David Chen
Hope Bangkok, International Fellowship
September 22, 2005
 Read Other Testimonies by Pastor David Chen >> February 2006 Testimonies
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