Mission Report
May 2023
Good day to all of you in the name of Christ:
I returned to America from my first tour of 2023, (from late January till early May). This tour was a great success for the kingdom, as it always is. We did two leadership seminars in Salaga with more than 50 participants in each. We also had an area wide gathering in Kuwani that was over two hundred participants the first two days and climbed to 300 by day three. We had decided in one of the leadership classes that we would have an area gathering on each of my tours, rotating the venue to each area surrounding Salaga. The purpose is to not only bring teachings, but to encourage unity among the churches. Everyone worked diligently from the church at Salaga to make the mission a success. I fear to mention names, as leaving someone out is always an issue, but I will tell you that we had men who ran the audio equipment, hauled equipment from Salaga, fetched water daily for bathing and cooking for hundreds of people, preached, taught, and our ladies who helped organize the cooking and serving of all those people. We are truly blessed at the Salaga church with so many talented saints.
Because of our great blessings with so many talented preachers, we have increased our preaching rotation to the villages. We were able to purchase a new motorcycle, giving us five motorcycles in the service of preaching out of the Salaga church. A new 125 motorcycle costs about $1,100.00. It is cheap transportation for the gospel and they last about three years before the cost of repairs outweigh the cost of replacement with a new motorcycle. There are several other preachers, among the 30 churches we are partnered with in service, who have their own motorcycles. We often aid them in fuel and maintenance also. Ulanja has been the main stay preacher during my absences from Ghana, but he has gone the way of all true evangelists and he is spending more time traveling out to the villages than in Salaga. Nathaniel, Diana’s husband, is using the extra motorcycle to travel each weekend to preach in villages, mostly Lompe and Ulknonjabando. Joseph travels to Jambuai, and Gabriel (Martha’s husband) uses the customized pickup truck to gather people for church on Sunday. He is also teaching both in the assembly and in the campus ministry. We also have Richard, who is a prison guard and radio D.J. who preaches, and Bawa, Dan, and Joseph who preach and teach. I am sure there will be others, as I always go back to find a new face that they are training. And yes, I am blessed with a great company of saints.
I traveled to the upper East to visit the churches there that Paul Atibiri is ministering to. I worked with him to establish the church in Yorogo, along with a group from the Kumasi area that came up for some blitz evangelism. During this time, Joel , the young man I have been training as a carpenter and preacher, and my daughter Martha went with me. We preached at the church in Medina and the surrounding area villages. I also taught at the Central Bolga Church of Christ. This church was started with the assistance of Adam Akoramango and Charles Odoi. Sadly, Adam became a casualty of Satan. Charles is a renowned traveling evangelist who is not stable in just one area, and so Paul took over preaching there on Sunday mornings before he travels to teach in Medina Yorogo. The situation there has given me conviction to spend more time in the area in the future in order to train more leaders, as I have done in Salaga. Keep this decision in prayer.
I made the decision to put some money onto the old truck for the purpose of the church ministry. It was instrumental in sending all of the items to Kuwani, and it is valuable for bringing people for Sunday church. We have put about $1,500.00 into restoring it and putting bench seats in the bed.
As many of you will remember, we started a building project in 2021. We are putting up a 30 X 60 two story building. The lower floor is for housing of Bible students and the upper room is an open floor for assemblies. We built the foundation, installed the first floor plumbing, and poured the floor, but we have not been able to move forward since then. Funds have decreased since the pandemic and the poor economic situation and we have directed our spending to the more demanding issues of evangelism and benevolence. To get the project up to a point of being occupied, I have rough figured that it will require about $80,000.00. It was our plan to invest about $10,000.00 each year until the project was completed. You can do that in Ghana because the structures are made from cement and concrete. We are hoping to begin again next year.
Two of the preachers (Ulanja and Joseph) have requested that I reach out to ask for seed money, as they are planting crops at this time. They are asking for $200.00 each for seed. Preaching among the villages does not pay well. The church members can supply some seed for them and some labor to help, but it often falls short.
Keep praying for us. Not everyone is able to give of substance, but no one is prohibited in prayers. Your prayers are more valuable than anything else you can do. There is no restraint with God.
His servants
Bod and Rose Hartman
For correspondence and donations
The Lima/Allen County Church of Christ
P.O. Box 1688
Lima, Ohio 45802