Welcome

Looking forward to travelling

On 23 April I set off for four weeks in Ghana, as part of my training to be a minister in the Methodist Church.  I will be spending three weeks on placement with the Methodist Church in Winneba, a town and fishing port on the coast of Ghana, just over 40 miles west of the capital, Accra.

For the last week of my stay, I will be travelling with a Ghanaian friend into the Ashanti region where we plan to visit Amankwatia, a cocoa growing community who are currently being supported by my training church, Wesley Methodist Church in Reading.  The idea of a visit to Ghana came about following a visit to Amankwatia by two church members (see http://www.wesleychurchreading.org/thetraidcraftstall.htm) and encouragement from others, particularly at Wesley and STETS (the Southern Theological Education and Training Scheme) where I have been studying since September 2012.

One of the requirements of this placement is do something 'outside my comfort zone'; having never travelled outside Western Europe and North America, this is certainly in that category.  Nonetheless, I am looking forward to the experiences which I will encounter during my stay, both within the community of the church and elsewhere.

A big thank you goes to my immediate family who have been supportive in allowing me be away from home for this extended period.

Internet connection permitting, I plan to keep this updated throughout my trip and will post some pictures alongside my thoughts and reflections.

Prayer requests

Please give thanks for all those who have made this possible, in the first instance Philip Richter for his enthusiasm to the suggestion.  In Ghana, thanks are due to Rt Rev Dr John K Buabeng-Odoom, the Methodist Bishop in Winneba who will be my host, alongside Rev Joseph Maxwell Ossei who will be supervising my placement.  Stephen & Dorinda Appiah and Derek & Joan Pike here in Reading have all generously offered their time and practical advice during all my preparations.

I am also thankful to all my colleagues at Waitrose who gave me a good send off from work recently.

Looking ahead, please pray for 

• safe journeys for myself, together with Stephen and Dorinda who will also be travelling to Ghana to visit their family around the same time I will be there.
• for my own family as they adjust to my absence for an extended period.
• for the STETS community as a whole as we meet next week for Spring School.
• for all communities in Ghana, a country of affluence and poverty alike.

Thank you for taking an interest.

Patrick