I first met Stephen yesterday at the little church Conrad and I attended. He was personable from the first moment.
Today I had the honor of riding along with him for the day. Stephen is a loan officer for a microfinance ministry that is very similar to what Mission Resource does but under a different organization.
I should have known that my assumptions were going to be challenged today when Stephen picked me up around 11:00 am and he was wearing a dress shirt, slacks, and ... boots.
The boots were a safety precaution. You see, we were heading 2 hours out of Elmina into some remote villages. And some of the roads aren't so great.
Here's a photo of one of the better stretches:
In the backseat of his pickup truck, Stephen carries the saving and loan records of everyone he plans to see that day. He meets weekly with 17 different groups in 17 different villages.
500 people altogether.
Today we made stops in Teiwankanta, Onomakwa, and Apokwa. The first two groups met in churches.
The final one met under a tree in the village center.
And Stephen offers them a safe, community-centered way to save money and to access small loans. This is what smooths out the tenuous finances of the poor. It makes it possible to buy a larger inventory for your little shop or to visit a doctor when a health crisis hits.
There's a lot of bookkeeping involved.
But he says his favorite part - the thing that brings him joy and gets him on the roads day after day, is the chance to preach the Gospel and teach the Bible to each group, each week.
You can see the passion for teaching the Truth on Stephen's face.
Each meeting took from 90 minutes to 2 hours, then Stephen and I would jump in his truck and drive - carefully - to the next location. We got home about 6:30 pm.
This sort of dedication week after week and year after year is pretty rare. And pretty heroic.
It's gotta be the Holy Spirit, because tomorrow Stephen will wake up and do it all over again.
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