Homemaking And Missions

John and Patty Sommer have been missionaries in Ghana, West Africa since August of 2003.  They have 3 little girls.

Carey is seven, Ella is four, and baby Lili who was just born on August 17.  Baby Lili has had to spend some time in the NICU, but is improved enough to go home just yesterday.  Please keep baby Lili in your prayers.  You can go to Patty's blog to see pictures and here more news on baby Lili's progress. You can follow Patty on her blog, Mrs. John in Ghana

 Patty writes...

Homemaking and missions….two of my favorite topics!  If you knew me when I was a bit younger, though, you might be shocked by that statement!

God called me to be a missionary when I was 12 years old, but I was not interested.  In fact, I fought His call on my life for two full years.  I’m so glad I finally accepted the fact that missions was His will for me! From that point on, things began to change in my life.  I began to dream of the day I’d get to go live on the mission field (I always dreamed of Africa).  I even told people that I was going to run an orphanage with 40 little boys all by myself.  Since that was my plan, I often joked about not needing a husband or knowing how to cook or care for a home.  Not quite sure what I was thinking, but that was my idea!  Anyways, God had other plans, and I’m so glad He did!

John and I actually got to know each other on a missions trip we took with our college.  In fact, the trip was to Ghana.  John likes to say that we fell in love there, but I’m not quite sure on that one!  We prayed about where God wanted us as missionaries, and He very clearly showed us that He wanted us to return to Ghana after we finished school.

John graduated from college in May of 2002, we got married in June of 2002, and we hit the deputation trail in July of 2002!  God blessed us beyond measure, and we left for Ghana in August of 2003.  But right before leaving, we found out that we would be having our first baby!

We’ve really gotten to “grow up” on the field!  We had to learn what it meant to be married, have a home, and raise our babies on the field, on top of all the other things that have to be learned when moving to a new country.  I wouldn’t change a thing!

My biggest struggle through all this was the homemaking part.  You see, I didn’t want to “just” be a stay-at-home-mom.  I was a MISSIONARY!!!!  Well, that’s how I felt about it.  I thought I should be trekking through the streets giving the gospel to the unsaved from dawn ‘til dusk.  It didn’t matter what our house looked like or if there was nutritious food to eat.  It didn’t matter if I spent time training my babies, because they just rode on my back doing the work! As you can see, I had a lesson that needed to be learned!  And just like it took me a while to surrender to the call of missions, it took me a while to surrender to His call to be a homemaker. The amazing thing is that just like the call to missions, as soon as I surrendered my will, He changed my heart and my thinking.  I’m so glad I obeyed Him that day!

It’s been such a joy to learn that I can be both a homemaker and a missionary!  God always makes it better than I can ever imagine!  And the cool thing now is that I love both my jobs – not many people are that blessed!

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 KIdZ kOrNEr

Hey kids!  Do you like playing with your food? If you lived in Ghana, you would get to play with your food every day……well, sort of!

In Ghana, most of our food is served in the same style.  Some kind of starch – usually plantain (a banana’s cousin), cassava (a root), rice, or corn, with a soup, stew or gravy (all the vegetables and meat cooked together) poured on top.  AND….you eat it all with your hands!  What do you think of that!?! It’s actually a bit tricky when you first learn, and there are rules about the proper way to eat with your hands.  If you lived in Ghana, your mom would teach you how to eat with your fingers just like a mom in America teaches her children how to eat with a spoon and fork!

Plus, lots of the starches are cooked in a special way.  Some are pounded with a giant wooden stick, some are stirred for a really long time, some are rolled in balls, and others are beaten with a big wooden paddle.  It’s quite a workout to make our food in Ghana!

Doesn’t that sound like fun?  First you get to smash and beat your food, and then you get to eat it with your fingers!  What fun!

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This post is linked with the Homestead Barn Hop #26