Thank You!

Dear Supporter, Family, and Friends

I would like to take some time out to thank you all for your support you have gave me on missions.  Whether support has been financial, prayers, or continuous encouragement it helps a lot.  Through your support and partnership God has begun a great work in me.  The coming months will consist of starting ministries throughout the community.  Through your support and prayers I am able to be strong in the battle over here.

Some of the ministries that will be started over here will be first of all a Mens ministry.  Then men usually feel left out when it comes to people coming over to help.  Most people seem to focus on women and the youth.  Also one thing that I have observed is that when I attend church here 97% of those attending are women.  My goal is to inspire men to become kingdom men and be the men God has called them to be.  This will include inspire them to be better fathers and the spiritual leaders of  their households.

The second ministry will consist of inspiring the youth.  With the youth I plan on focusing on being committed followers of Christ not merely someone who says they believe.  The youth here are very impressionable and are hungry for the Word of God.  My goal is to help them fully understand their commitment to Christ and be living example and friend to them.

The third ministry is still going through a planning and prayer but this ministry will focus on healthy christian relationships.  Since Aids is still a problem I hope to try to combat this  with God.  The plan is to have a mall group class that focuses on what God has to say about sex and relationships.  My hope is to enlighten the people and inspire them to have healthily God honoring relationships and save sex for marriage.

The last thing that I will do here is I will be preaching on Sundays at a small church in the north.  The north is a place that is mostly forgotten also while most people focus on the Southern region of the country.  While preaching through out the week I will be just making rounds through the community doing pastoral support for the people.  The little church I will be at is a small church that was abandoned and since there is know person to overseer the people must walk close to 5 mile in town to attend church. My hope is while preaching I will be training someone to take care of the people upon my departure.  I have never pastored but have accepted Gods call to help out here.

Again thanks for all your prayers and support.  Thanks for constantly supporting through ups and downs. I know I have had little communication but I do promise to stay in contact more often.  None of this is possible without your on going support I constantly Thank God for each one of you.  I am a extension of your love and support here for the people of Ghana.  I would love to hear from you all from time too time feel free to email me at jusjones23@yahoo.com or justindjones23@gmail.com.  If you would like to donate to this ministry please feel free to donate through The Mission Society Website www.themissionsociety.org and designate to Jones 0594.  Also gifts can be sent to The Mission Society PO Box 922637 Norcross GA 30010-2637 just put Jones 0594 on your memo line.  Feel free to contact me anytime just to say hello or for anything.  I love you all and may God bless and keep each one of you!


Your Brother in Christ,

Justin D. Jones

The Beauty of Darkness!!!

The Beauty of Darkness!

So a little update on how things have been going here in Ghana sometimes things are good some times things are real tough.  But I wanted to share something with you that God gave me through these last days,   So the last few days here have been pretty rough it has been about 4 days since we had power.  During those days it was tough especially because none of my devices had power.  So during the day I was out side the place where I am staying and I noticed that there were a lot of nice plants all over the compound.  When you look around there are many flowers and plants with an arrangement of beautiful colors.  If you even take some time to notice even the trees are bearing all kinds of wonderful fruit from tangerines, avocado, mango, and even papaya.  Yes, you can just go outside pluck one off clean it and eat.  But if you keep looking around in all this beauty you see this regular old cactus.  You know it’s sometimes hard to find beauty in the plant its just tall, green, and sturdy.  But if you don’t pay attention closely to this particular cactus you will miss the definite beauty of the plant.  So the other day I ventured outside during the night and happened to glance at the plant wouldn’t you know at night the whole plant is draped in beautiful white flowers that only come out at night.  Later that night we had a terrible storm the winds were blowing, the rain was torrential and you could see lightning filling the sky from all over.  But one thing I did notice is that through all this I glanced at the cactus the flowers were open and the plant was so sturdy the wind hardly affected the plant it was amazing.  So when I got up in the morning I looked around the grounds and it looked like a war zone, all those beautiful plants looked like they had been through hell and back.  But there in the corner still green, sturdy, and tall was the cactus looking as if it had never missed a beat.  Well your probable saying yeah so what!  What is the big deal?  Believe me I was thinking the same thing!  Until this came to me no matter how dark the days are, things can be worse.  But because you believe in a God who has made you perfectly for your situation you are able to stand firm.  You are able to stand firm when your days are dark and to make things worse its dark and storms roll in.  But in the midst of the darkness don’t forget to pay attention to your situation.  Sometimes God uses the dark places in our lives just to reveal how unique and beautiful we are. 

Justin

Road Rage!!!!

One of the toughest things to deal with in Kumasi well Ghana is the fact that traffic is terrible.  Traffic here is so bad that you would rather stay home all day in your tucked away village instead of getting out and adventure into downtown.  Me being a American sitting around is just not for me all the time.  In our everyday lives in the U.S. we are just so use to go go go so our lives are constant moving.  If you were ever to visit West Africa you would understand that its not like that over here.  In the U.S. when we get frustrated in traffic we cuss maybe even give the your number 1 sign to other drivers.  Here in Ghana the drivers here just lay on the horn no matter what and if you don't pay attention to horn you may get run over.  On the road of life we all deal with road rage differently some may find security in drinking, sleeping, some may cry, and some may just plain quit.  For me the challenge that I had when I first got here was the fact that I wasn't doing anything just sitting around.  I even got to the point to where I wanted to quit and just go back home, I couldn't believe He would bring me this far just to sit around. But God sent a word for me and has me surrounded by great family and friends who did some good encouraging over the phone.


Well after some soul searching and prayer I was lead to a verse Psalms 46:10 (The Message) "Step out of the traffic! Take a long loving look at me, your High God, above politics, above everything."  This verse helped me to realize a lot about my current situation and the feeling of not being productive.  Some Bibles may say "Be still" instead of "Step out of traffic" but just those phrases hit me hard in my situation.  Psalm 46:10 help me to realize that a little still time is not bad at all.  When I sat back and thought about my life in the states I realized the time I spent on the go really made me neglect looking and spending quality time with God.  Spending time with God and taking a loving look at his words dispite everything else helps us to realize and really see who God is.  A little quiet time in life reading, praying, and listening never hurt but it usually helps us to find what we were always looking for, that intimate direct relationship with God.  Some of the stuff that I had been asking God were finally being answered.  Well maybe they were already answered but now I was at a place were I could finally hear and not have my mess making noise over his loving voice.

Well if you have been asking God to do something in your life I suggest you take some time to be still.  Take some time, really reading Gods word, praying, and meditating on His words and you will find peace, answers, and wisdom in the quiet.

Be Blessed!!!

The Last Couple Weeks!!

K.I.S.S.

Akwaaba (welcome) I wish I could write something long and catchy for my first entry since being in the field.  I wish I could impart some divine revelation to you given to me straight from God himself about what I have seen.  Well you know I guess something’s are best told simple and plain with no need for super overcritical thinking and elaborate intellect.  With that being said let me just simply tell you what has been going on here since I left to enter the field.  I left early December from Atlanta to get some needed reflection and mind relaxing before I actually departed.  While I was at home I was able to spend some time with family and friends as well as meet new friends.  It was awesome being at home meeting others with the interest in the mission field.  I actually was able to leave to the field on December 27^th on the 28^th I touched down in Accra the capital of Ghana.  Upon arrival my host Eddie at the airport whom is a wonderful man of God greeted me.  For the next 2 days I relaxed and met other missionaries as well as prepared to meet a team from River Stone Church of Marietta Georgia.  When the team arrived we left to Kumasi, which was about a 4 to 5 hour ride north straight to the guesthouse to get them settled in.  After a full nights rest we then visited the cultural center for them to do a little shopping since it was New Years eve.   Later that night we went to watch night service which a wonderful African service where David from River Stone charged.  A Ghanaian service is very energetic a lot of praise, praying, worship, dancing, dancing, and more dancing.  You know in a Ghanaian church you can definitely feel the presence of God by their all out worship.  But anyways let me progress on Sunday we attended service where number 1 Donna from River Stone delivered the message excellently.  Through out the next week we interacted with the youth and we also visited an orphanage and were family to those who didn’t have any.  All and all the last couple of weeks have been a great learning experience.  Feel free to email me with any questions at jusjones23@yahoo.com or on face book.  Feel free to have live chats with me via face time at jusjones23@yahoo.com.  Please keep me in your prayers.  

Blessings,

Justin