Tissana Trip - November 2009
The mission team from Grace Community Church in Chico, California led by Pastor Dave Workman was in Tissana, Sierra Leone in November 2009. The 3-member team was there to follow up on several past educational and agriculture projects, present a seminar for local area pastors and laying the groundwork for the next G.C.C mission trip slated for April 2010.
This is the fourth trip for the G.C.C mission teams since 2007 and one thing that teams members noticed was Freetown’s appearance has been cleaned up to a certain extent with more shops open for business and less people selling their wares on the sidewalk. The throng of people walking the streets and doing business has NOT diminished. Commerce appears to be on the rise and people appear to be “normalizing” their lives.
Activities while we were in Sierra Leone included: (1) procuring medicines for the clinic in Tissana, (2) meeting with old and new friends in the village of Tissana, (3) checking out the continuing construction of the church building, (4) pastor training seminar, and (5) meetings with our local team leaders.
November is the end of the rainy season but rain did fall on the land very heavily one afternoon and making travel an adventure. The rain made the main road (only road) into Tissana impassable, so the team had to hike in and out of the village that day.
Also on the agenda for the trip were the details of registering the church with local officials, getting a driver’s license for our assistant pastor, and setting up a bank account. What seem like mundane, easily handled tasks here in America are much more time consuming and challenging in Sierra Leone. Multiple trips to government offices are required to complete things that would be a snap here at home. “Minor” details such as no Internet access and lack of ink for a printer in a government office could test the patience of Job.
Overall the trip was a success and another team from G.C.C. is headed back in April to complete several projects and get a couple more started.
Greg Colby
Mission Team Member
Grace Community Church, Chico