Greetings from Angie and me. We arrived back in Ghana to officially begin our second term on August 19th. Four days before leaving, we loaded a 20’ container with scriptures, Bible Institute books, clothing, and some much-needed personal supplies. We praise the Lord for a large group who helped us load the container. We also thank you for giving for the shipping, port, duty, and delivery fees of the container. It should arrive in port on October 2nd.
Five days after arriving home, we hosted our third annual pastor’s conference. What a blessing to have pastors and workers participating from all over Ghana. Several other missionaries also participated. It is wonderful to work together with good men in the gospel. The theme of our conference was “Rooted & Built Up in Christ”. The Lord blessed every aspect of the meeting. Pastors and workers went back to their villages encouraged in the Lord at the end of the conference. My wife also hosted a ladies meeting with well over 100 ladies in attendance. God used her and several other godly ministry wives to exhort these dear ladies.
The young man who is interning with us has been a great blessing to our ministry. It is hard to find self-motivated, hard-working, spiritually minded young men in these days, but Colin is all three. We are so thankful for how the Lord is using him both in physical work and music ministry. (He is teaching trumpet to a couple of our young men). We need our church and Bible Institute to become proficient in music.
A huge “thankyou” to every one of you who have prayed and given toward the construction and the startup of our Orphanage/Christian School. Calvary’s Hope Academy officially opened its doors on Tuesday, September 16th. We currently have eleven enrolled students and one abandoned child. We have the possibility of having two more abandoned children within the month. Until the second and third stories of the Academy are built, we cannot house children at the boarding school. Currently, my wife and I will board the first few in our home. While there are many abandoned, homeless, and needy children in our villages, we cannot take more until we have the next two floors complete. We stand amazed how the Lord has provided for the foundation and the first floor in exactly one year. God has already provided $31,500 toward the second story, and the men have begun building. We need $57,500 to complete that floor and an additional $112,402 to complete the third floor. God Can! One of these floors will be schoolrooms while the other will house children and a house family. We are currently operating the school in our Sunday School building.
I know that we have asked folks to give toward many various ministry projects, and we are asking again. But when we see the need with these children, it compels us to ask our friends to pray and give. If the Lord touches your heart to give toward either the children’s needs or the construction of the building, please mark the memo in your check or online with the following numbers:
374 – 08 Giving toward the children’s needs: (food, clothing, medical, school fees, etc)
374 – 05 Giving toward the construction of the Calvary’s Hope Academy: (Children’s Home)
For those who prefer to give online, you can go to www.mwbm.com and click the Online Giving tab on the main page. You can set up an account for a one time-gift or a monthly recurring gift through your checking account or a debit card. We are praying for the Lord to give us many monthly supporters of the Calvary’s Hope Academy.
On Saturday, September 27th, the Fall Semester of our Bible Institute begins. We anticipate a good number of students again and look forward to seeing four of the students graduate at the end of this school year. Please pray as we are looking to send men who are called of the Lord to plant churches in other areas of Ghana. May God bless you as you continue serving Him.
Your Missionaries to West Africa,
James & Angie Ruckman
