Spring Break Mission Trips

hello everyone!!
five weeks left until graduation (for myself and tracy) or the end of the semester for all you other college students!!! :D

just wanted to introduce myself. im ricky and im a senior at uwm and will be graduating with a degree in criminal justice. i was able to go to ghana, africa through a organization called campus crusade for christ (cru). (if there is one on your campus, check it out!!)

its been about three weeks since i've been back from my vision trip in Ghana, Africa. i still can't believe the opportunities i was able to have in serving others on the other side of the world! it still catches me by surprise to think that i spent a whole week in Ghana. we(five others and myself from UWM) left friday march 13 and arrived the 14 at about 6:00pm. we spent the night in accra (capitol), which was just a beautiful city. we went to mass on sunday the 15 and it was like none i have been to. everyone was so friendly and everyone made an effort to know who you were and talk to you. we left and took a three hour drive to Cape Coast. we talked about the plans for the week and got familiiar with the city. monday we learned about the battle for africa. this is a spiritual and at times a physical battle between christians and muslims. this is taking place between the 10 degree and 40 degreee area north of the equator. muslim men are forcing young christian girls to marry them at gunpoint. this results in the girls converting to the islamic faith. we need to send more christians to those areas to redirect the people being misled by the islamic faith. we went to the university of cape coast in the evening and got to pray with the students there who were part of cru. tuesday we spent three hours on campus sharing the gospel. then had down time and went to a bible study on campus in the evening. we learned about prayer and how big of a role it plays in ones faith. (prayer is important and powerful!!!) wednesday was the same except in the evening we were going to watch a movie...but the power went out. funny because all day things were happening to us that were either tempting or testing us in our faith. the ghanaian CRU staff on were doing a 40 day fasting period and we joined them for one day (today, wednesday). i fasted breakfast and lunch and was going to have dinner. well when we were on campus we took a little longer sharing and missed dinner at a restaurant near the place we were staying. so we headed home and went to cook dinner when the power went out. so we got flashlights and cooked dinner and ate and 15 minutes after we finished eating the power came back on. it was just awesome to see the many trials we were tempted with that day. but god is good and will not tempt you beyond what you can bear!(1corinthians10:13). that day was also really cool because i got to participate in soccer practice for about 15 mins. it was very intense and now i see why the U.S. got beat by Ghana in soccer!! hahaha. it was fun hanging out with the kids and playing soccer with them. we also got the privilege to talk/communicate with a couple of deaf/mute people. one of the girls that was with us on the trip is majoring in sign language so we took them to where she was so they could talk. its awesome to see that no matter where one is one can always communicate with others...god is so awesome!!
thursday was by far the best day. after our 9:00-1:00pm session with the students at cape coast and our down time we went to a nearby village. in that village we got to share the jesus film. this film depicts the life of our lord jesus christ from when he was born to when he resurrected. the film lasted two hours and in that two hours i was asked to pray for a teenage boy (his name was emmanuel.) i also got to play with alot of kids and talk to many people living in the village. the best part was playing and seeing the unconditional love that these children had for us. one girl did not want me to leave and as i did a tear rolled down her cheek. this girl broke my heart more than i could have ever imagined it could be broken. she was just such a sweetheart!! and many people ask if i'll be back and i tell them i promised this girl i would so a promise is a promise! :)
friday we headed to the kakum national park and the elmina castle. in the national park we got to take a canopy tour. but here's the thing...we had to use a ladder with a wooden plank attached on top (no more than a 8 inches wide) suspended by hemp ropes and a couple metal cables. the further we advanced the higher it got!! it was something else!!! :D then we went to the elmina castle where the first slaves were held. it was pretty intense to see the conditions we have made our brothers and sisters of christ go through. i pray we may never see such things again. we toured those places until about 2:00pm and then headed back to accra. stayed overnight at the university and got to enjoy hearing a lot of studets worshiping and praising god that night. saturday we went shopping in the city and by six we were on a plane heading back home. we arrived in milwaukee on sunday at 6:30pm.

some of the most memorable things were the sunset i got to see from chicago to germany. it was about 530am and everyone was sleeping and i had a window seat and looked out to my right and saw the sun rising with the sky turning that purple-redish color and the rays shining throught the clouds. i looked to the opposite side of the plane and saw the sky still dark and the moon shining. it was beyond category!!! :D (thank you god for your creation and allowing me to see it!)

the next thing that i got to experience was the swiss mountains on our way to accra from germany!! again i had a window seat but this time it was on the left. i looked out and saw the mountain range and i woke my friend up because i couldnt let him miss this one!!!!

besides those things the best part of the trip was talking and sharing the gospel with the students at the university of cape coast. i also enjoyed playing and hanging out with the kids in Abura(the vilage we stayed out throughout the week) and the kids at the village where we showed the Jesus Film. the friendliness, welcomness, and hospitality were amazing and unforgettable!! overall we talked to about 40 students in the four days we went to the university. two accepted Christ and we talked to a few muslim students. one in particular went from saying that Jesus Christ was just a prophet to Jesus Christ was the son of God after an hour and a half of conversing with him. he wanted us to go and talk to him on monday but we would be gone by then so we got his contacts and gave it to the Cru staff to talk to him. it was very exciting and encouraging to see this happen.

God really moved us and taught us about compassion,trust, faith, and unconditional love. i will forever remember this trip and i know i will be back again sometime soon.

God Bless and thanks for reading this.

Take care

Ricardo Dominguez.