Teaching and Playing at the Sognaayili Club

On every Wednesday, we have the privilege of holding a Bible Club of our own, right outside the gates of the Seed Ministry site. Yesterday Joy taught the lesson, Seth and Caleb taught the games and John translated and took attendance. We have had anywhere between 65-80 children at this club so you can imagine how active it can be. Yesterday we had 68 children!





While the children played games, Joy held a sleeping baby so that the baby's sister could play the games. As you can tell in the picture Joy was not having a problem with this!





The Bible Clubs are the heart of the Ministry here. We love telling about our Savior to these wee ones!

Seedling- a young developing plant that has been grown from a seed.

Mrs. Bonnie teaches a class of children two times a week called the Seedlings.

The children come to the Seed Ministry Site for five hours a week for training and fellowship. They have a worship time, prayer, Bible study, and creative ministry (dance, skits, etc.). The older ones are trained to be club leaders and church workers. They have a heart to learn more about Scripture and they love our Lord.

Toby and Joy will be teaching the class while Mrs. Bonnie goes to the States, so they were there to observe. These children would remind you of some youth groups: they tease and hit, laugh and play, and get nervous when in front of people. But, how many teenagers come to five hours of training (remember this is along with their own church times, choir practice and youth group).

When they come they also bring their younger siblings. These are taught the Bible lessons on their level and everyone is taught oral English.

This week right after Christmas Mrs. Bonnie handed out the gifts that were prepared for the children. It included a T-shirt, some juice, cookies, small shampoo, toothbrush, and a comb. It was a great time for all of us.

Merry Christmas, From Seed Ministry!

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family, from the entire Seed Ministry Staff.

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring except Bob and Bonnie preparing for a long trip to Kumasi tomorrow. We will leave early so as not to be out after dark.

The thermometer reads 106 at 5:30pm. Caleb tried to put us in the Christmas spirit by decorating our evergreen tree.

The boys were wondering what happened to Christmas break. Seth had four tests today and Caleb had two.

Bro. Bob has been driving around to give gifts to some Pastors and other church leaders. Mrs. Bonnie has been in her office preparing things for the end of the year.

We just wanted to take a second and thank you all for allowing us to take part in reaching Ghana with the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Emmanuel, God with us

The Seedlings class did their last performance of the Christmas play on Tuesday night. It went very well. The play Mrs. Bonnie picked out was fun for the children. It gave a news cast of channel LOVE. They were reporting about the angels' visit to the shepherds. One reporter interviewed King Herod and the Wise men and John H. reported on the happenings of Mary and Joseph.

The evening started with the littlest ones singing a song, then the young children did their play. That was followed by "Emmanuel" being played on the hand bells. Next, the children sung the first verse of "Silent Night". They were then joined by the youth to sing as a choir. Then every body went to their spots to begin.

I was wondering if these village children would understand the TV theme of the play. Also, if they would get the hang of the microphones, the music on the mp3, and the electronic keyboard. My mind was set at ease when Mary, who was in her costume, answered her cell phone soon after the play began.

It was a great time for the participants and the audience.

We went to a church in the village of Gunisani yesterday. It is close to the northern border of Ghana. The church is meeting in a school classroom. They were definitely making the best of it. Crammed into this room were over a hundred people. It looked to be a thriving congregation. Men, women, young and old, and many children.

This village is part of the Fra Fra tribe. They speak a different language than Dag bani, so they supplied a great translator for Toby. He preached right after the two children's choirs performed (they were a tough act to follow). The Fra Fra have their own style of singing and dancing. It was a great time of worship with our brothers and sisters.

We left for church at 6:00am on Sunday and didn't get back to the Seed Ministry Site until 4:00pm. We saw amazing sights and met amazing people. We visited Christian friends who show joy in all kinds of difficult circumstances. It was a blessing to have the Parker Boys there to see how a believer can react when the hard times come (and they will come).

Meeting in Yama

On Thursday, December 16, a van load of us went to the area of Pigu to do Bible Club training and to pass out the gifts to the Bible Club leaders and Zone leaders there. Toby, Joy and Thomas taught a basic overview of the Scripture and tried to point out some ideas that the leaders could use to teach their children. John H. was there to translate. What a wonderful time we had with these brothers and sisters in Christ. Everyone there was excited to Bob and Bonnie again. The church was decorated for Christmas.

Many of the people had to travel miles by foot, bicycle or vehicle over a dirt "road". There were eight of us in a hot van for three hours (one way), but we were counting our blessings. The van got us there and back. It was important to Bob to make it home before dark. Yesterday was a holiday called the Fire Festival. It is celebrated, partly, by firing guns. We made it to the Seed Ministry Site at 4:00pm safe and sound.

It's starting to look a lot like Christmas!

What a fun trip we were able to take today. Rev. Bob, Toby, Joy, and Caleb, along with Thomas and John headed to the bush. We went to four villages. Our mission was to give the Seed Ministry Christmas gifts to the Club and Zone Leaders. We didn't hand any gifts out to the kids. The Leaders (who work hard all year with the kids) get to "present the presents". Toby shared the Gospel with the children at the first club, Caleb took it from there telling the kids about the true meaning of Christmas. Caleb became the Seed Ministry spokesman for the rest of the villages. The children were very appreciative for the gifts and the visit. It was a surreal feeling driving up to a group of 50 kids and hearing their sustained cheer. It wasn't for us, really it was more for the treats that they knew were coming with us. Bro. Bob kept us safe on the "roads" and the trip was an all around success.

Boys will be boys

Even though the Parker boys have to stay pretty busy, they still have some time to unwind. They have friends over to play soccer or throw a football around. The boys also ride bikes (bicycles, that is) to their friends' house. They hitch a ride into town with Emmanuel every chance they get. They even have time to send an e-mail and check the Facebook page a few times a week. Between going to clubs, working with the Seedlings, and doing their home school, free time is a hot commodity (recess, what is recess?)

Good help is hard to find?

It is a pleasure to work along side the rest of the Seed Ministry Staff. They are hard workers that love our Lord. The three guys that are here full time are John (pictured with Bonnie), Emmanuel (pictured with Toby), and Thomas (pictured in a previous posting). They do everything: Drive, Translate, Teach, Maintain equipment, and work with the Christian schools. Sometimes you may flatter someone with the phrase, "We could not do it with out you." But in this case that is exactly the case. If you are thinking or praying for the Seed Ministry Staff don't forget these guys.

And the Winner is...

The Seed Ministry 10th Annual Regional Rally was held Saturday. It was a big success.

Thomas would read questions to the 35 children. They had to be under 14 years old to participate. The questions varied in difficulty. The question was read in English, then in Dagbani. The timer would then be started. First round 25 sec., Second round 20 sec., then for the remaining rounds they had just 15 sec.

Here were two questions that occurred during the final rounds.

Question 178: How many times did Peter deny Jesus? Answer: 3. (no problem)

Question 185: What does it mean to 'Remain in Christ'? Answer: 1)to believe that Jesus is God's Son, 2)to receive Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, 3)to do what God says, 4)to continue to believe the Good News of Jesus Christ, 5)to continue to love one another. (can you do that in 15 sec. ?)

The children impressed (or humbled) us all with what they had learned.

"Hide Your Word in my heart that I may not sin against God."

All of the participants went away with something. There were some great prizes for the top winners. The 3rd Place winner received a small radio and a few Cedis (money). 2nd Place won a phone with enough Cedis to activate, register, and purchase minutes with. 1st Place won some Cedis and a new bicycle. Everyone was happy with their prizes.

10th Annual Regional Rally

What a great day it was at the Seed Ministry Regional Rally! Everyone here was very excited and you could tell the participants were nervous. Children from 112 of the Bible Clubs have been competing in their own clubs and in their zones. The thirty-five finalists were here trying to recite as many questions and verses as possible. Thomas was the head judge who asked the questions in Dagbani and English. The students had to answer the questions word-for-word without any mistakes.

The quizzing started at 9:30 am and some of students went through all the questions (almost 300). At 12:30 we took a break and then the students that were left started to recite Scripture. It was amazing to hear them say these verses very fast by memory. The participant who won stopped at 54 Bible verses.

The ladies fixed lunch for everyone present (close to 300!)

A Full House!

Everyone at Seed Ministry has really been busy this week getting prepared for the 10th Annual Regional Bible Club Rally and it is finally here! Tonight, Dec. 10, students all over this region came to spend the night in preparation for tomorrow's Rally. The Rally begins in the morning at 9:00 am.

Zone Leaders and Participants had a welcome and worship service while all the Parkers were getting their supper ready. Supper consisted of hot rice balls and groundnut soup (with ground fish in it). It was a blessing to see all the students sitting around eating. After supper you could see students studying for tomorrow. They were even studying in the dark! Some of them really want to win!

Worship at Kalpohine Baptist Church

On Sunday, December 5, Toby was glad to preach at the Kalpohine Baptist Church here in Tamale. The pastor's wife led the worship. She had her youngest child in a wrap that forms a sort of 'backpack'.

One of the pastor's sons were playing the drums while another child stood on it just to keep them from falling over.

They all made us feel very welcome. We were greeted by most present. John, one of the Seed Ministry staff members, translated for Toby.

Please pray for the believers at Kalpohine Baptist Church. Pray for the pastor and his family as they work in their community. Pray for the small school that is by the church.

Christmas in the Langbinsi Zone

Whenever time allows we have been collecting and putting together Christmas gifts for the Seed Ministry Bible Club leaders and their helpers. We have also been putting together gifts for every one of the over 6,000 children registered in the Bible Clubs. The gifts would seem very small to some but for the children that have very little to begin with it is probably the best gift they will receive this year. Their gift consists of a pencil, a few crayons, a few sheets of coloring paper, a small notebook, one piece of candy, a bookmark with a Bible verse, and a small toy(usually a McDonalds toy donated by someone from the states). We were able to hand out a few of these gifts to the children's club leaders. The club leaders will hand them out for Christmas. They love the kids in their clubs and this will give them something tangible for the children.

These are the items in the gift bags for the club leaders and helpers; Ten Christian books, five items of clothing, a box of chalk, packets of milk powder, a box of tea and two cups of sugar. The Leaders also were given a gift bag for their club. It had enough candy to give every child in their club two pieces, a soccer ball (which is a very big deal!), and a bag of over the counter medicine. Having a little peroxide around 50 barefoot soccer players is always a good thing.

These gifts are given by Seed Ministry, which exist because you give to Seed Ministry. Thank you.

Langbinsi Bible Club Training

On Saturday, December 4, Bob, Toby, Joy, Seth, Caleb, Emmanuel, Thomas and John H. all headed to Langbinsi AG church where the area Bible Club leaders met for training. Joy, Toby and Thomas divided a three hour training time over the God's Story curriculum that the Bible Clubs will be teaching in 2011. The leaders all received Megavoices, which are small solar-powered audio players that have the God's Story on them in their own language. The Bible Club leaders will be able to use these to tell the truth of scripture from Genesis to Revelation--"God's Story". As funds allow, Seed Ministry will be providing this important scripture teaching tool to the 168 Bible Clubs.

More on Saakpuli

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We wanted to show more pictures of the work that was done building the school at Saakpuli. When we first arrived at the village the bricks had already been made and were laying out dry on the tall grass. The masons got right to work measuring and digging the lines where the foundation would be placed. This only took a few minutes because they worked very fast. The workers laid the cornerstones of the building and then everyone gathered for devotion and prayer. Bob spoke on Christ being our Chief Cornerstone although many rejected Him and still reject Him today. He also spoke that Jehovah God gave this blessing to the village of Saakpuli and that we all should give God the glory. Bob then asked Toby to pray for God's blessing over the village and this new school.


Please continue to pray for the people of Saakpuli. Pray for the traveling pastor that comes there every week to preach the gospel. Pray that the ones that do not know Christ would come to know and believe.

Village of Saakpuli

We had a bus load going to the village of Saakpuli. There were the 6 of us, plus 7 mason workers, plus a translator, and a pastor from a neighboring village all crammed into the Seed Ministry bus. Tools and materials were brought to build a 3 room schoolhouse for the children. There is no building for them so they meet under a tree.

It was amazing to see the women of the village carrying big buckets of water on their heads. They carried it a short distance (about one half mile) to where it was to be mixed for the cement mortar.

While we were there we saw cattle being led by small boys from one area to the another. They were very young to have so much responsibility.

The chief of the village came over to greet us and we could tell that he was thrilled to have Seed Ministry there to help his village.

Worshipping Jesus, Ghanaian-Style

Toby, Joy, Seth and Caleb went to church Sunday morning with Bob and Bonnie. The church is called Faith Baptist Church and is only a few minutes from the Seed Ministry site. It was a great time of worship through praise music and Toby appreciated an opportunity to preach again at Faith Baptist. His last time preaching there was in 2004.

They made us feel very welcome. They prayed for the entire family. We heard many testimonies about what our Lord is doing through Seed Ministry. We enjoyed being with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.