Tema is a harbor town in Ghana, where I have a home. The route I take to church in Tema takes you up a little hill, and when you round the corner at the top of the hill, you face the Atlantic Ocean. The view is fantastic. You then come into Sakumono, a fishing village, on your right. When the fishing boats come onto the beach, women buy the fish and then sell it by the wayside in the village. I tend to stop there to buy fresh fish from them, so they know me very well. Sometimes, if they haven’t seen me in a while, they phone and say, “We’ve got your favorite fish! Can you come and buy it?”
When I’m at the outdoor fish markets, which line the shore of the beach, I sometimes have the opportunity to talk to people about God. I don’t see people as poor and deprived; I see the love of God expressed in everyone I see, and in every action. Many of the women in the village go to church, and they know when I stop in the village that I’m either going to church or coming from church, and they occasionally ask me to pray for them. For instance, they sometimes don’t have enough fish to sell because the fishermen haven’t brought them fish yet, or they have so many fish that they don’t know if they’ll be able to sell all of them. The fishmongers aren’t necessarily educated, so I talk to these women about God in ways they understand. I tell them that God, divine Love, “always has met and always will meet every human need” (Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 494).
When I’m at the outdoor fish markets, I sometimes have the opportunity to talk to people about God.
The local tribal language here is called Ga. In Ga, God is known as Mother and Father. Before people even talk about their ancestors, they raise their eyes to the sky and praise their Father-Mother God. So when I tell them that our Father-Mother God supplies every need, they understand that.
I’ve also talked to the women about the time Jesus told his disciples, “Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find” (John 21:6). In other words, have faith in God and trust that right now you have all you need. I explained that to one lady in particular. The next day she told me, “I sold all my fish.” Then a man came to buy fish for his restaurant from her, and although she didn’t have any left to sell him, she directed him to her friends, and he bought their fish.
When good things like this happen, we frequently break out into a well-known gospel song of gratitude right there in the market, and we all sing, “I can’t thank God enough for what He does for me; everything He does is great … .”
One experience, in particular, has stayed with me. When I stopped at the beach to buy fish one day, a man approached me while the fishmongers were cleaning them. He was a youngish man, probably in his 20s, and he had wrapped around him a small piece of cloth—the kind a mother would use to wrap a baby onto her back. He had nothing else on. The fishmongers knew him because he came by frequently, and he would ask if he could help clean the fish. My heart went out to the man, and I asked God to tell me how to help him. I took him aside, and I quietly said to him, “You know, God loves you. I would love to have you clean the fish, but I think you should go home and put on some clothing.” That’s all I said. I saw the man as God created him—in God’s own image and likeness—and I clearly saw that the man could reflect and express only a sound mind and, of course, cleanliness, normality, order—every good quality of God. And I knew that the Christ was active in his consciousness, telling him this.
My heart went out to the man, and I asked God to tell me how to help him.
A few days later I went back to the fishmongers, and the ladies pointed to a man and said, “Look at him!” It was the man who had approached me at the market, and he was now wearing a proper shirt and pants. One of the ladies told me that the day after I first talked to him, he had come back and was dressed normally. She said, “I don’t know what you told that man, but keep it up!”
A year later a guest came to stay at my home for a few days. The guest wanted to swim in the sea, so I took him to the beach, and I sat by the car and read. All of a sudden, a man came over to me, and he said, “Madam, Madam, don’t you remember me? Look at me now!” It was the man from the fish market a year ago. He said, “I’ve stopped drinking and smoking!” He was a very happy, happy man.
