Day of travel

Well I'm sitting at the airport in NYC waiting for my flight!  I'll fly all night and arrive in Accra at 7:30am (MN time).  It will be 12:30pm in Ghana.  Hopefully everything goes smoothly getting to the place I will be staying.

Thanks so much for everybody who helped me put this together and those who gave to make this trip possible!

Next time I write will be from Africa!

On the way!

Well I'm officially out of Sauk Centre and on the way!  I'm spending a couple days with my beautiful wife of 6 years, 363 days in Bloomington, but I fly out Sunday at 1:47pm.

I'm quite nervous, but very excited!

Getting ready!

Wow!  Time has just flown by the last couple months.  I can remember when this trip was just a dream - now I'm starting to pack my bags.  On Sunday I'm heading to Accra, Ghana which is located on the west side of Africa.  For 12 days I will be in the midst of poverty, human trafficking, AIDS, and who knows what else.

Please pray for me and my family while I'm gone and don't forget to follow along with me on this blog!

Believing in the God of the Bible

Do we really believe in the same God that we read about in the scriptures?  The God who spoke and created the universe?  The God who split the red sea? The God who sent 10 plagues on Egypt?  and we're only to the book of Exodus.

I'm quick to claim that my God can move mountains, and it's easy to throw out the "all things are possible" line - but do I really believe it?

I don't pray like I'm expecting impossible things to happen.

I believe that God can, but why don't I believe that He will?  maybe that's the problem

"Sodom and Gomorrah"

This afternoon I was preparing for my trip to Ghana in June, and I came across a place in the city of Accra (where I'm going) that is nicknamed "Sodom and Gomorrah".

What I read broke my heart.  Thousands of children are living in slums like this, with no parent, no place to live, doing whatever it takes to survive.  Teenage prostitution is rampant, 8 year olds spend there days fishing through the garbage hoping to find something they can sell just to eat, and violence and crime is just a part of life.  One article I read talked about rape and sexual perversion just being the norm.

I'm scheduled to be at this exact place on June 7th - please pray for these children.

Do you see her?

I was very moved this week by a story of out Luke 7.

This woman, who is probably a prostitute, shows up at this religious guy named Simon's house.  Jesus is there having a meal with other religious men, and this "notorious sinner" walks through the door and throws herself weeping at Jesus feet.  Simon is appalled that she would do this, that she would dare even walk into his home uninvited, and such a sinner.

She's broken, she's hurting, I'm sure she has baggage from her lifestyle.  And she's weeping at the feet of Jesus.

Verse 44 really hit me hard:  Then turning toward the woman he (Jesus) said to Simon, "Do you see this woman?"


Such a simple question.  This religious man saw a notorious sinner, a prostitute.  Jesus saw a broken, hurting, lost woman crying out for help.  "Do you even see her Simon?  Do you even see that she's there?  Do you see that she's a real person?  Do you know that she's a child of God?"


How easy it gets for us to not see the people that God cares so much about.  How do I view the people walking out of the bar?  What do I think when I see the single mom who can't control her kids at Wal-mart?  What thoughts go through my head when I see a business man driving a $50,000 car, talking on his cell phone?

God help me to see people the way that you do

Africa Support Letter

Friends and Family,

Last October, I preached a sermon series at our church on the topic of personal finances and what the Bible says about money.  As I studied, I found myself face to face with the needs of our world, specifically children in poverty.  I found that over a billion people in our world don’t have access to clean water, and that about 24,000 people are dying each day simply because of lack of basic sanitation.  Most of these people are children.

I began studying the Bible and found that it is packed full of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and looking after the orphan.  I began to look for ways that I could help.

At that time, I presented our church with a challenge to raise $5000 to put a clean water well in a village over seas that didn’t have access to clean water.  Also, I began a 6 month commitment with God not to spend a penny on myself selfishly, but to give the money I would have spent on myself away.  This included Christmas when my wife and I chose to not give each other gifts, but instead we gave that money away to a family in need.

In January, I began to feel God leading me to go to Africa to gain a better understanding of what my church and I can do to help.  I was put in contact with an Assembly of God worker in Ghana named Kwame who is head of “relief and development” for the entire country.  Kwame has volunteered to personally take me around the country of Ghana to see firsthand the urban and rural poverty, the AIDS epidemic, and learn about human trafficking.  I will also have ministry opportunities in some of their local churches.

The trip will be June 5-16 and cost around $4,000, which includes airfare, housing, food, and a second “in-country” flight.  I realize this amount is quite high, and maybe even ironic considering the idea of being passionate about the poverty around the world and how we spend our money.  After significant amounts of prayer, however, I feel as though God has confirmed in me that through this trip, I will be able to continue to serve my church community and God with a greater understanding of the needs around the world.

I would like to ask you to help!  I need your prayer, and ask that you would pray for me and my family as I am on this trip.  I also ask that you would prayerfully consider partnering with me financially to help make this trip possible.  If you are able to support me financially, please address your gift to River of Life Church with Kyle Peterson/Africa in the Memo, and send it to 705 12^th St. S., Sauk Centre, MN 56378.  If possible, please send your support by May 15, but any gifts received after that date will still go to the trip.  All financial gifts will be tax-deductible.

Thank you for your love, prayers, and support through the years.  God bless.

Learn to do right!  Seek justice, encourage the oppressed.  Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow  - Isaiah 1:17

Kyle Peterson