Welcome

This is the first “Official” post to my new blogging home.  After a couple of other tries using blogger and a “free” web host I have finally settled on this spot.  And, to make it official, I even purchased a domain name.  All credit goes to Pastor Dave Barr directing me on the domain name idea!

The name is kind of a play on words.  If you say it fast it sounds like “It’s good your here”.  But I also like it for a couple of other reasons, ok maybe 3 reasons.

1. The “It” in the word “It’s”.  This covers my love for I.T. – Information Technology
2. The “It” in the word “It’s”.  This covers my love for Investing and is the abbreviation for the name name of the site I use:  Investools.
3. The inclusion of my last name – Goodger.  This blog is about me, my family, my job, and the things I learn as I travel through life.
4. Ok – one more reason.  The word “Here’.  If you are there, you wouldn’t be here, taking part in this adventure I call my life.

Ok, so the reasons are corny but if you’ve known me long enough – well, enough said!

The posts that are already here encompass my trip to Ghana and Togo, Africa during the summer of 2006 as well as some random, not so regular posts from my former “family website”.

I pray that through this blog, as I learn, you learn; as I share, you share; and as I grow, you grow.

Enjoy!

Explosion!

June 13, 2006 – 5:46 p.m. Togo Time

Yep, that’s right… explosion. More to come in a few lines.

As I said yesterday morning, we spent most of the morning relaxing. Dr. Phil and I had a nice chat about investment strategies. I enjoyed our discussion and it was good to see throughout our discussion that we each had some of the same philosophies.

We did some site seeing as well. We drove down to the harbor. That was pretty cool. Everyday the women go down there and wait for the fishermen to return from the ocean with their catch and the women then bicker and bargain to try and buy the fish so that they can resell it to stores, on the streets and to restaurants.

Togo was formed under German authority so there is a lot of German influence here even though they are very close with France at this time. We had lunch at a German Restaurant. I had boiled bratwurst. MMM MMM Good.

As we were going to the headquarters for New Harvest International Ministries the Explosion occurred. We had stopped to get some bottled water and upon returning to the van I asked Nathaniel how long until we got to the NHIM headquarters – he said 5 minutes. Well I couldn’t last that long. I begged Nathaniel to find a place to stop – Praise God we were close to his house. I ran upstairs only to find a toilet with no paper and not working water but in times like this you gotta do what you gotta do. Nathaniel brought paper and also 2 huge buckets of water to be used for flushing. There would have been and explosion in the car had we not been able to stop when we did. It hit that quickly. I was not the only one though. It went through all of us – Keith, Linda, Matt, and Dr. Phil as well.

We then were able to continue to the NHIM headquarters. It is a pretty nice little compound and Nathaniel has a great vision for reaching all of West Africa through this ministry. Matt and I are already thinking of ways we can assist the ministry through the use of technology.

Despite all of us not feeling real well – God enabled us to visit a church last night. Both Dr. Phil and Keith spoke. Dr. Phil on sin and the need to cleanse our lives of it while Keith began to cast vision for the Togolese people to reach beyond their comfort zone and to move out amongst the nations with the Gospel.

This morning we were all felling better but we ate a light breakfast anyway to be safe. We began the day by going to the market – wow – what an experience. The second we walked in we were surrounded with people trying to hawk the wares. It was a pretty cool experience though. I think I have learned how to say “no” rather forcefully.

We had lunch at a different German place today by the beach and we were able to buy a few other souvenirs there as well without the pressure of the market dudes all over us.

Tonight we will be visiting another church; Keith will be preaching again. Upon our return to the hotel tonight, Matt and I will be packing up and heading back to Accra to catch our flight. Be praying for us as we will be passing though Frankfurt and the World Cup has that place jammed with people. Also be praying for our visas – we went the Ghanaian embassy today to have our visas changed so that we could enter Ghana tomorrow morning. They said they will not be ready until tomorrow morning. We will need to leave here by 11:00 a.m. in order to be sure we have enough time to get through to Accra.

So, that being said – this will probably be the last posting until I return home on Thursday evening. Once home I will update you on the blog so that you all know we arrived safely.

I thank you all for your prayers while on this trip. Has it been worth it? Definitely! God has shown me more than I could have imagined about reaching the nations for Him. As I reflect upon this trip on the way home, I need to come up with ways to express everything that has occurred. There is no way that writing it in a blog could even come close to reality. Words on a screen just cannot do this justice. I don’t even think spoken words could express my feelings. I’ll share more upon my return though.

I Love You All!
Scott

“Your name, O Lord, endures forever,
Your renown, O Lord, through all generations.”
Psalm 135:13

Update

Ok – is this really a mission trip or a vacation. This hotel is like a resort. We will be staying here for the duration of our stay in Togo. Like I said earlier – Nathaniel feels it would be best for us to stay here due to security reasons. We do have internet access in the internet cafe at a rate of about $4 per hour so I will update the next few days on a regular basis.

Nathaniel is currently out renting a van for all of us. We will probably head out the beach or pool to do some relaxation until he arrives. Breakfast was good – French pastries, eggs, juice, and… instant coffee. AHHH!!!

We’re head out…

Scott

“Your name, O Lord, endures forever,
Your renown, O Lord, through all generations.”
Psalm 135:13

The Next Morning

June 12, 2006 – 8:25 a.m. Togo Time

Ok – it’s a great day after a great nights rest. Matt is just getting out of bed and waking up as I type.

Yesterday morning began with worship at Adonai Chapel. Matt and I, along with almost everyone else from the US (the GCA contingent), we shuffled on stage and we each had a chance to greet the congregation. I also sang “We Fall Down”. Their music was LOUD and there was some dancing during the service. They also took up a special offering for the Student Missions division of Global Evangelical Church – this is the ministry that sent the students earlier in the week to the northern Muslim areas for evangelism purposes. Overall the worship time was sweet and we even sang a familiar song in “Agnus Dei”.

After service Pastor Bright summoned us to his office for a visit. I can assume that there was no real purpose to this time as we were in there for about and hour and a half and probably spoke with him no more than 10 minutes total as he was attending to his flock and their needs.

We checked out of our hotel and then were taken to Lunch at the local Mobil – On The Run filling station. Matt & I split a pizza with Dr. Phil. Oh – it wasn’t quite pizza from home but it was enough to fulfill the craving for home.

After some time at Emmanuel & Mary’s home we, (Keith, Linda, Matt, Dr. Phil, Nathanial and myself) all boarded up on the van and a car and headed for the Ghana/Togo border. This was to be a short 3 hour trip and as I said last night turned out much longer. Keith and Linda’s driver got lost and we waited for them at the border for a little less than an hour and while waiting there were hustlers all around us fighting over who was going to assist us in taking our luggage across the border. They were literally screaming at each other as to who had rights to us. Kinda scary.

Dr. Phil and I also went to the immigration office to see what the process would be to get across the border only to discover that K, L, M, & I all had single entry visas for Ghana; meaning that once we crossed the border into Togo we could not come back to Ghana without paying $100 each. Eventually we did find the others and we decided to go to the local Global Evangelical Church there to see if they had any advice or could offer us assistance in getting across. Let me say that God is good. The pastor there was very welcoming. It just so happened that he has a member of his church that works on the border and she was able to assist us in getting across. Once though the paperwork we had to “Bribe” the gate keeper to go through the last gate to the main road. I’ll just say this – There is no way I can type out and describe the experience – just let it be known that God gets all of the Glory for bringing us through there with no harm.

As we were driving toward the boarder God gave me a great analogy. I was watching the moon rise over the horizon – it was full and beautiful. As I watched the moon I saw that at times my view was obstructed by clouds, then clear, then clouds, then clear, etc. What I saw was this: As sin enters our life (the clouds) our view of and relationship with God becomes cloudy. As we repent the “clouds” go away but this is a never ending process. Sin will always creep into our life no matter how hard we try not too – Christ is the only perfect one without sin. But no matter how often we sin; just like the moon rises again each night reflecting God’s Glory, so is God’s grace and mercy new each morning when we wake up.

The hotel we are at in Togo is very secure. Nathanial has told us that Togo is a very corrupt country and that we should not try to speak or build trust with anyone. He has chosen this hotel for us because it is one where all of the governmental officials stay frequently. We walked in the front door and couldn’t believe we were actually staying here. It is very beautiful. Nice rooms, gorgeous artwork in the lobby. By the way – everyone here speaks French so this will be fun.

Since I had access to a phone I called April, Kendyl and Logan. It was so good to hear there sweet voices. It has really made me miss them even more. I am excited to get home Thursday to anxiously await their arrival home on Saturday evening. I can’t wait to hold them in my arms and be a “whole” family again. As I called they were getting ready to go for a horse and buggy ride – something I never got to do while being at the farm! To my girls: mellowoo’ (I Love You in Ewewe).

Today we will be going to the Ghanaian Embassy to try and rectify our Visa issues so that we can reenter Ghana without paying additional funds. Please be praying for us as we do this. We do not have a lot of money with us and do not want to have Nathanial pay for this either.

We are trusting in God for his will and provision while looking forward to what he is going to show and teach us in the next few days. Our great desire is to see Psalm 135:13 revealed to us: “Your name, O Lord, endures forever, Your Renown, O Lord, through all generations”.

Off to breakfast.

Mia Dogo!
Scott

“Your name, O Lord, endures forever,
Your renown, O Lord, through all generations.”
Psalm 135:13

Worship to Worry

June 11, 2006 – 11:06 p.m. Togo Time

What a day… I’m not going to go into to much right now as it is late. We began our trip to Togo at 4:00 p.m. and arrived here about 10:30 p.m. – this was a trip that was supposed to take less than 3 hours. Let’s just say that Matt and I swear that we were smuggled across the border from Ghana to Togo even though we know that’s not really what happened.

We are tired and going to bed soon. I’ll share more in the morning.

Love to all!
Scott

“Your name, O Lord, endures forever,
Your renown, O Lord, through all generations.”
Psalm 135:13