Sweet, Sweet Spirit

This weekend we had a three day weekend. Friday was African Unity Day so we had no school. Lindsey, the new mini missionary, had just come in on Tuesday so Joy and I took her shopping on Friday to some of my favorite spots. I taught her how to barter with the people and told her the prices that she should pay for everything. It was a lot of fun. Then on Saturday we (Lindsey and I) had a great outting with Rob and Libbie. They took us to Boti Falls which are two beautiful waterfalls, I believe, north of us. When we drove up to the gate we didn’t really see anything that would lead to any kind of a waterfall and sat in the car going, "Okay, now where do we go." There was no one there and we were told this was a big tourist attraction. Then a man came up and said he would be our guide and was he ever! He guided us to the waterfalls which were exactly 250 steps down from where we were. It looked like the Garden of Eden! It was so beautiful! I could not believe it. The water falls are two streams that split of from the Volta River and fall about thirty feet from each other. One is called the male stream and then the other is the female. I don’t know why, they just are. After that Stephen, our guide, hopped in the truck with us and drove us to "Umbrella Rock" and then guided us to the "Three Headed Palm Tree." It was all in total Ghanaian fashion and I would not have had it any other way!


I was thinking about all the National Monuments that I have been to back home and they all have nice paths to them and some try to look rustic but are really not. Here, there’s no trying about it. They take you through the bush and the villages to get to these places. The palm tree is in some guys front yard and he has banded together and bamboo ladder that you can climb to take a snap in the tree. For the Umbrella Rock we walked through a village, then through the grave for the village, through the bush, down some rocks and then out of nowhere we are standing on this cliff looking out into the mountains! I mean it was breath taking, both the view and the walk.

The best part was nothing was planned that we did. The only thing we planned to do was to go to Boti Falls and the rest was just incidental. Stephen hung with us for about eight hours and took us all around, we even drove through his home town.

This was a tough day, it was my last Ghanaian church service. I cried probably for one half of it. It was really interesting because for the months of April and now May we have bought these little booklets that contain all the bulletins for the entire month. They have all the songs in them that we are going to sing and the speaker. But today they revamped the entire service and so they handed out regular paper bulletins and I know that it was all in God’s plan that they changed the service. Just this morning I had prayed that I would have the strength I needed to make it through not just this day but this week. One of the first songs that we sang was entitled "I’m Devoting All My Strength." The words are very few but very powerful:

I’m devoting all my strength
To serve my Saviour Jesus;
I am giving all my life
To please my risen Lord
Wordly things, I may lose;
Better Far, Christ I choose!
I’m devoting all my strength
To please my risen Lord!

I think the part of the service that touched me the most was when we sang "Sweet, Sweet Spirit." My feelings and thoughts that were going through me completely shifted the song from talking about church to talking about Ghana. It was really the last three lines of the chorus that made me tear up the most. Those are the words I will leave you with tonight. My eyes are crossing so I’m thinking its time for bed!

Without a doubt we’ll know
That we have been revived
When we shall leave this place!

Thank you for taking this journey with me!

Sarah

Not Enough Time

Here I am with only one week left! I can not believe it and I think that is because I do not WANT to believe it. To be completely honest last week I was ready to go home and rest (because this has been anything but a vacation) but right now I’m not so sure.
I have often wondered what it is about Ghana that I love so much and what makes me feel so at home here. I have seen mini missionaries come through that do not like Ghana. They do not like the food or the "abrasiveness" of the people here. If they do not like it, what makes me? Then I got an email from my sister the other day that made it all make sense. She told me that God planted Ghana in my heart long before I ever knew where Africa was. That really helped me understand my own heart. It is not me alone that loves Ghana but rather it is the heart that God gave me for Ghana and that is why I am here.
I know that I am here for such a time as this and I knew coming in that this chapter would end and I would eventually go home. Then I got busy living in my dream utopia and forgot about the going home part and now here it is.
I am filling out report cards for my little ones and it is so cute! As I am filling them out I keep going back and thinking about all the funny things that they have done and what amazing children they truly are. I giggle when I get to the section of the progress report for gross motor skills. I am suppose to comment on things such as can the child "balance on one foot," "hop on preferred foot," or "kick a stationary ball." One of the biggest reasons that I giggle is that I get to think about all the times they have tried to hop on one foot and fallen over into the grass or have run up to a ball to kick it and they miss. But then I also get to remember the first time they kicked a ball or caught a ball that was thrown to them and the joy that shined throughout them. I will always know that I was there for that moment. I will leave and they in time might forget me but I pray they will never forget how proud their madam was of them when they hopped on their preferred foot or wrote their first letter. I know I have turned into a sap but if you were here you would do the same thing!
Today Agbeko was sick so we could not have our one on one time. Instead I ventured out to play football with the big kids. I had not played football since I was probably in the fifth grade so I have forgotten everything except that you kick the ball and try to get it into the goal. Well, these kids play football every free minute of their lives so they know just a bit more than me. They were doing tricks all over the field and here I was the old maid trying to keep up with them. Do not get me wrong I am pretty much a pro when it comes to playing with my four year olds. I beat Joshua every time poor kid. Even with my struggles I did manage a few assist and a very impressive head bud.
I guess that is it for this addition of Sarah (Smore) in Ghana. Tune in next time when I will be leaving Ghana. You should all be thanking God that you will not have to witness that!
Returning to a village near you!
Sarah
Prayer Request:
-Mothers. I know I have not written that lately but it is a huge need.
-The energy crisis. The whole country of Ghana needs rain and fast! The rainy season was suppose to start in April and it never came.
-For the children that are still sick. We had 23 out of school on Monday with malaria and an upper respiratory infection.
-For me as I leave. Its not going to be easy.

Just a few updates

Usually I do not write blogs on Saturday because I like to write about my Sundays but I needed to give some updates on previous stories so that is why you are hearing from me on a not so regular blogging day.

Update 1: Pascal's house.
I wrote a while back about Barbra's worker, Pascal, and his house burning down. I am glad to say that he has been able to get enough money together to put up a roof and paint the walls of his house! He at least has it to where his landlord will leave him alone for a while which is quite a relief. His wife's baby is due at the end of June I believe and by then they should have a nice new house to live in.

Judith, one of the missionary kids, has put on a couple of bake sells at her school to raise money for him and his family. Also his church has pitched in and helped him along.

~Please pray that he will be able to finish his house before the baby comes. Pray for Stella as she is going through all this plus being with child.

Update 2: Madam Comfort
I went and saw Madam Comfort today. Praise the Lord her pin was taken out of her right foot! They finally did it last week. Once again they gave her no medication they just took it out. She said she screamed it hurt so bad and then could not sleep for the next few days because she was in so much pain. Finally, they gave her some pain medication but she said the pain was so much it did not even help. The problem now is that because the pin was sticking out about three inches from her heel she could not properly move her foot so now her leg is slightly twisted and her toes are almost permanently pointed. Hopefully she can get the cast removed soon so that she can go home.

The man that hit her is not being very helpful with paying the bill. She can not leave until the bill is paid but everyday she is there the bill gets more and more. The driver is trying to get the insurance to pay for it but the insurance will not pay the bill they will only reimburse him after he has paid it himself. Today I actually saw a small bit of worry in her eyes as she talked about that situation. She is so scared that the man will never pay and will continue to give her the run around.

The hospital has given her a job while she is there. She sells medical supplies from under her bed. She sells sanitation pads, minerals, and if someone wants to check out of the hospital on the weekends they have to pay her their bill before they can leave. She said they gave her the job because she can not walk so she can't run away with the money. She seems very proud of the fact that she is working from her bed. I am not exactly sure if she is getting something from doing this but at least it keeps her occupied.

~Please continue to pray for her healing. Her right leg does not look good at all and who knows about the left its been in a P.O.P. for close to four months now.

Update 3: Our village.

Everyone on the compound seems to be getting sick. I have been sick the past few days and was feeling so down I did not go to school on Thursday or Friday. We think it was a malaria flareup. Which stinks but I knew it would be possible. Half the village has malaria and the other half has a sinus infection. Meal times are really quiet these days. No one really has much of an appetite and is rather droopy just trying to sit up and eat the little that they can. Tonight at my table we had three kids go to sleep while eating.

~Please pray that we all heal quickly. Illness flies around this village like I've never seen before. Also with the heat it makes being sick that much worse.

Update 4: Energy crisis

I've mentioned it in passing here and there but the energy crisis due to the lack of rain has gotten progressively worse in the past couple of weeks.

Because Accra gets all its electrical power from the dam and the water is low right now they roll out light through the city. The separate the city into little sections and they are all on a certain power roll out schedule. Each section is out of light for 12 hours every 36 hours. When I first got here it was every 4 days they were out for 12 hours and now its down to 36 hours. Even with that sometimes they cut it out during the time its suppose to be on. We are really lucky out here because we are not on the roll out schedule.

The biggest problem is that people are getting really testy about it and are all really up in arms about it. We need rain desperately! Food prices are going up, the price of water is going up, everything is going up because we don't have the rain that we need.

~Please pray for the rain to come and come quickly! This is a necessity and an urgent one!

Alright well I think that's all for now. I should hit the sack now so that I can get some rest. Tomorrow is church and I have to be in full swing for that. Also, Rob, Libbie, and I are having lunch with Pastor Peter! He's the music director that I love so much. Us and him and his family are meeting tomorrow around one and I'm too excited!

Always my love,
Sarah

I Remember Why

Yesterday was such an amazing day! I walked outside and it was not sweltering hot! It was actually cool. A nice overcast sky helped me not to melt into a puddle of sweat as soon as I walked outside. The best part of that story is that it stayed that way the entire day!

Not only was the weather fantastic so were my kids. They were good from the time they came to class til they left. Yesterday was the first time we had no time outs the entire day! NONE! We all sat and read the Bible story, learned our letters, numbers, colors, without any time outs. I was so happy and proud of my class. I prayed and prayed for today to be the same but it was another day.

This afternoon I came home from class and it had been a really hard day. My kids were not bad they were just really wild. My threes were especially wild. I came home and sat down at my computer and just seemed to stare at it for while and then remembered that I had my one on one with little Grace. For a couple of minutes I thought about not going. "I am really tired. I’ve had a long day and could really use the rest." Then I realized that was not me talking. Satan knows that my kids depend on their one on one time each week. He knows how much they look forward to it and he uses my weariness to try to get me not to go. Even though I knew I needed to go and that I was going to go I was still not in the most energetic mood. That was until I got to the playground.

All the kids know that my pink backpack means that I’m taking someone to the gazebo to "play" (they don’t really realize it’s a time for learning because I sneak it in). And all the kids that I take to the gazebo know who goes on what day. I was looking through the sea of beautiful brown faces when this little fire ball in a bright pink shirt and deep purple knickers comes bouncing towards me screaming, "IT’S MY TURN! IT’S MY TURN!" She’s running and yelling as though if she does not get to me fast enough I’m going to either turn around and go home or worse yet take someone else with me. She runs towards me almost as if she is going to bowl me over and then she abruptly stops does the proper greeting, takes my hands and leads me to the gazebo. At that moment I remembered why I got off my chair and out of my house. It does not matter how tired I am or how long my day was, Grace does not care. If I had not come would she understand that I was sleepy? Probably not. She just took a nap and to her the whole world sleeps when she does. All she cared about was that she got to be alone with someone that would hug her and love her, just her. She does not have to compete for the attention during that because she knows it all belongs to her.

I love those moments where everything adds up and I just sit there and go, "I remember why." God has given me so many of those moments here and I thank him for each one. His blessed reassurance that I am here for a purpose and a reason beyond what I will ever know is everywhere I go.

Always remembering,

Sarah

Memories I never wish to forget... but might.

This probably won't make any sense to anyone else in the whole world but me. I wanted to write this so that when I got home I could look back and laugh or remember how much I loved this place. Some of the things are funny and some are sad but they have all made up my time here. Browse through if you wish to. If you wish me to elabrate on any of these just give the word.

- Two little boys walking towards each other dancing
- Getting lost in Marcola with two very small porters carrying two very large loads... on their heads!
-Rubbers = plastic bags
-Obruni = white person
-Mary telling me that she loves me
-Agbeko writing for the first time

-Picnic in Abrui
-Manning calling me "Mamma"
-Gye Nyame = Except God
-Susan leaving
-Walking into Calvary Baptist and hearing "He is Exalted" and crying
- Rob telling Libbie "and she’s the only child in Africa that does that."
-Mama Cecilia’s nephew getting his arm chopped off with a machete on Kotoku Road
-Running down the street in Nsawam after a roll
-Taking snaps on the side of the Motorway on wicker furniture
-Finally feeling free
-Frankie’s Fried Chicken... I got a salad
-Haggling with the kiosk people
-Getting off the plane
-Flying over the Sahara Desert at dusk and the color of the sunset
-The slave castle and the intense emotion that pours from it
-Realizing I’m a woman and not a girl or even a young lady
-Falling in love with my parents all over again
-Discovering what I really find important and what is unimportant
-Seeing joy in the most surprising places
-Walking into my first Ghanaian village and not being able to speak
-Uncle Ben on the cell phone
-Almost getting robbed at the Arts Center by the little "Africa Child" man
-Mr. Samson calling me his "dear, dear sister."
-Adwoa Mary crying when Mamma Elizabeth left
-Joshua not letting me go... ever
-Zeekey’s smile
-Grace’s laugh
-Maa Bea telling Madam Libbie "I’ll fight you for it" over a piece of rubber fruit
-Walking through Marcola and being so shocked at everything but not wanting to admit it
-Going mango and pineapple crazy!
-Eating everything with my hands
-Noah and Martha telling me I look like a queen in my dress that one Sunday
-Watching Dereck and Diana grow up
-My green mamba
-Stan in my garden
-Susan and I’s storm documentary
-The tree being cut down and Cathy and I dancing
-The preacher at church talking about hip implants and breast augmentations and her having no idea what any of it meant
-Dancing in church
-Wanting to go home
-Wanting to stay
-Getting offended when anything negative is said about Ghana
-Eating pancakes with Nancy on May Day
-Flying down Kotoku Road trying to get to dinner and laughing the whole way.
-My night out with Cathy and Melissa at the Ghanaian Village
-Explaining my earrings to everyone
-My Ghanaian name is "Abena"
-Sweating all the time
-Lent... it went well
-Lights off during harmattan
-Watching movies with Susan and googling absurd things in the middle of them
-Susan in general
-Hearing little voices singing in a language I will never understand
-Comfort’s heart of gold, courage, and intense faith
-The mammas pride on Ghana Day
-My first kenkey meal
-Not knowing what I was eating for the first two months
-Pastor Pete saying "Funky"
-Mary just wanting to be hugged
-More kisses less time out
-Being called "Madam Sarah"
-Bra = come
-Et te say = How are you?
-E ye = I’m fine
-Madase = Thank you
-Never blinking
-Getting hugs everyday from little people that love me too much
-Obruni faces after playing with chalk
-Having so many sets of parents
-Hearing the kids say the ten commandments
-Holding Janet, Joanna, and Jennifer’s hands under the table
-Having so much love for a child it hurts... times 60!
-Being blessed and being able to recognize it
-Being thrown up on three times in one day
-Holding a grudge over 100 cedi
-"Just let it go girls" - Rob
-Never wanting to be the same again
-Stretchy t-roll
-Urinate= use the rest room
-"Eating your nose"- picking your nose
-Not knowing exactly when I became Ghanaian

This blog is brought to you by the letter "F"

Ah! Watermelon, pineapple, mango and banana... nothing like a big bowl of fresh fruit after a long hot day! I have become the biggest fruit eater of anyone while being here. Its all I eat for breakfast and then my afternoon snack and then dessert after dinner and sometimes in between just because. Oh how I wish I could take back trunks and trunks full of pineapple and mango when I go!


I just came in from teaching my little ones. We had a pretty good day. My four year olds are learning about farm animals this week. It does not make much sense with my kids for chickens and cows to be considered "farm animals" because they have never seen them on an actual farm but just wandering in the bush and in the villages. In the lesson plans that Rafiki gives me it says to talk about farms and the barns where the animals live so today we did. Well, at least we tried

"Where do the cows live?" I asked.
"In the bush!" they all replied.
"Where do the chickens live?"
"In the bush!" they all replied again.
I didn’t argue with them because they were right. Needless to say, the barn concept was not fully grasped.


This past Saturday Rob, Libbie, and I took a road trip to Aburi. Aburi is a wood carving village in the hills. It is the most beautiful place! It took us just about an hour to drive there. We were a little early so not everyone’s kiosks were open but it was still fun to bum around. We actually got a little lost trying to find the wood carvers. I really enjoy getting lost in Ghana. If I were driving it probably would not be as much fun but just riding along- it’s a blast. We ended up walking through the actual carvers themselves and not the sellers. That was amazing! Most of the carving is done with a machete. They have the smallest piece of wood that they are carving and they are chopping into it with this ginormous blade! I was afraid to take any pictures because I did not want to distract them and then have them cut off their fingers or something of the sort. I told myself before I left that I was not going to buy anything because I am 100% full in my suitcases already but then I saw a couple things that I just could not live without. I will make room for them somewhere.

On our way down the hill back home we stopped on a "lookout" to have a tail bed picnic. Nothing out of the ordinary. We had a cooler full of fruit, egg salad, crackers and jelly (that was for me!), and other picnic essentials. Like I said nothing out of the ordinary... except if you are Ghanian. They thought we were crazy! Whole tro tros of people would slow down and just stare at us. We gathered picnicing is just not in the Ghanaian culture. However, we still did and had a grand time doing it. That was probably the most fun of the entire trip.

Sunday was as grand as ever! We sat in a different pew this week so the "spot the obrunis" game had a little twist to it this week. I realize every blog I write I talk about church but I just can not get over the joy and spirit of this church. It is so amazing and beautiful. I cherish singing with them and worshiping with them. I leave with my heart so full and ready for the week. Without it I don’t think I would survive.

Well, I’m off now. I have to go and clean the school with the kids. A daily chore.

Until next time...
Sarah


Prayer Request:
-Ghana desperately needs rain. The electricity is the city is off more than on because of the drought.
-I am tired. It takes a lot of me to admit that to so many people but I am. Please pray for rest.
-Madam Comfort, there is still no word from the doctor about a discharge date.

By His Grace

Yesterday I went into Accra with Auntie Nancy. She let me bum around with her while she ran some errands. While we were out we went to Military Hospital to visit her house keeper that was involved in a horrible car accident on 23 December. She was standing behind a kiosk and a taxi hit her breaking both of her legs. She was in the hospital a month before she had her surgery to put a pin the left ankle and then to put a p.o.p. (cast) on the right leg. She was suppose to have the surgery on a Saturday but they came a day early and got her on Friday for the surgery. The problem with that was that she had already eaten so they could not give her the anesthesia so she was awake for the surgery. I heard about this in January and it turned my stomach hearing about it I can’t believe actually going through that. Someone cutting my ankle open and putting a pin through the bone while I’m awake! No thank you! But she did it. This wonderful lady has four children (one of which just started working for Libbie and Rob) and no income at the moment because she has been in the hospital for so long. I tell you all this so that when I tell you about our visit to her you will understand my amazement.

When we walked into the hospital room there were six beds in the room all there for different reasons. Madam Comfort’s bed was the second one in the room and I could instantly tell that she was the light of that room. Her smile was so bright and welcoming. For our entire visit she did not have a single bad thing to say about her situation. Instead she gave all glory and praise to God for sparing her life and helping her recover. I sat on her left side and I looked down at her left foot and there was a huge metal pin sticking out of her heel and a p.o.p. on her right leg from her thigh to her ankle and no word of discomfort from her lips. She sang a hymn to us saying that if she ever starts feeling sorry for herself she sings this is hymn and it makes her smile. “God gives me nothing I can not carry, that’s what the Bible tells me.” There is really no word when she will be discharged yet. The doctor did not come last week so hopefully this week they can get an x-ray done and she how she is healing. I tell you it is people like her that make me want to sing and shout glories to God for bringing me so far.

I have met people with more courage here than anywhere I have ever been. People live on top of each other scrambling to sell water for c300 (three cents), taxi drivers giving almost eighty percent of their daily wages to the man that hires them, mothers carrying their babies on their backs everyday to work selling bread on the street. Everyday I see this and when you ask them how they are doing “Oh by His grace” is their response. One thing I admire about Ghanaians is that I have not heard one person take the credit for anything they have. It has all been given to them by God. May it be talent or success or a beautiful baby its all through God and they know it.

I thank God for people like Madam Comfort that show me that God is sovereign in every situation. He is faithful and true to those that follow Him. Everybody needs to be reminded of that and I am everyday by looking at the children that I teach and love. God has been faithful to them by bringing them here to a place where they can be safe and be shown God’s love everyday.

A very thankful Sarah!

Here I am again.

Another week has gone by and I'm still standing. This week has been a little rough with my kids. The weather is changing and I think that has something to do with it. Today was good however. Its so amazing to see how far they have come since the beginning of school! It makes me so excited to watch them write and sound out letters and to watch them actually think things through. Its a rush!

We just got a really nice rain storm. Its still kinda dark outside but its really nice. The breeze is blowing and all the animals are going crazy with excitement and praises! Last night light went off around 11:00 or so. I was already in bed and did not notice until I woke up about one a.m. and was a little warm. I got up to open my windows and the sound that came from the outside was so beautiful I had to record it. All the frogs and grasshoppers and owls were having a grand ole time singing together. I woke up this morning to the same level of sound but it was different. Not the sounds of the night but the sound of night ending and morning beginning. I love listening to the birds here. They are completely different from the birds at home. They remind me of the birds in the opening scene of Cinderella.

I have gotten a few comments from people that I should give you an update on how I'm doing personally... I'm great. How's that? I love it here. I have never disguised the work here as easy and that is because it isn't, I work really hard everyday but everyday I look back on what I did and it was all worth it. Besides my family and friends that are not here I don't miss much. Everything I could ever need I have here. I am healthy and tan and completely and disgustingly happy.

I love you all very much!

A very tan Sarah.

MABA!

Sorry, I had not intended for it to be so long in between blogs but the internet has been funky for a while now so I write when I can.

Last week we resumed school from our two week spring break. My kids were so good the first day but then they went crazy! Needless to say last week did not just fly by like the ones previous. It ended on a good note- Friday was a great day with my kids. I let the three year olds play dress up for the first time and that was a total blast!!! I was worried about them throwing fits and not sharing but just the opposite occurred- they were great! They were so excited to be dressing up that they did fuss a bit. I have one little boy in my class that reminds me a bit of a baby mobster. He's really sweet but the way he walks and talks- its hilarious. Anyway before I knew it he was sporting a pink ballerina tutu and walking around saying "I'm pretty!" I laughed forever!

I'm trying to tell the kids how much I love them so they don't forget then I quiz them, "Who loves you?"
"God loves me."
"And who else?"
"Jesus loves me."
"And who else?"
"Madam Sarah loves me!"
"Very good. God, Jesus, and Madam Sarah love you."
Its rather similar to the Trinity with a slight variation.

Last Sunday I was asked to sing with the Calvary Baptist Church choir. That's pretty much the highest compliment I have received while being here. Rob Seaton and I are going to take them up on their invitation we have decided. Tomorrow we are going to talk to the choir director about joining the choir. I'm only here for a few more Sundays but how many times will I have this opportunity?

It is hot! I'm not talking Texas in August hot either. I'm talking sweating while you're taking a cold shower hot! I go to walk out my door in the morning and sweat before I even touch the door knob. I've grown accustomed to the way I smell which worries me a bit. Not going to lie about that. I've gotten used to seeing myself in the mirror looking the way I do and it does not frighten me as it used to. Being the Texan woman that I am, that frightens me. At the same time I love it and wouldn't change it for the world.

Tonight we are having a going away party for one of the missionaries. Melissa has been transferred to Liberia. Sad for us but this has been the plan for her the entire time she has been here. She will go home first for a little while and then to Liberia. The village there is just getting started and she is so excited!

I am so thankful for the chance to write this to you. I pray you are all well.

Stinky and loving it!

Sarah

Its good to be back... if only for a while.

Hey everyone!

It has been a long couple of weeks without school, internet, and constant electricity. No one has any idea what’s going on with the internet, even the internet people. And the early coming of the rainy season has caused the loss of electricity. We are on generator eight hours a day, four in the morning and four at night. It makes for some really hot afternoons and really hot sleeping but its all good. Because right now the problem is stretched to Nsawam hopefully it will be fixed soon. We’ve been out for four days now and then before that we were out for three days with a two day grace period in between. As Dr. Joy puts it “you don’t really know what a fan does until its not there.” I know it sounds like I’m complaining and maybe I am but it has not been too bad. It gives me a lot of time to read and I have fallen in love with Philip Yancey. (Thanks daddy!)

While I’ve been away we (like most of the rest of the world) had a holiday. Easter. I had not heard too much about Easter here so I did not think it was that big of deal. Silly me forgot that if there is something to celebrate Ghanaians do. The banks were closed for two days: Good Friday and Easter Monday. On Good Friday I went in with the Seatons to Calvary Baptist and had an amazing service there. On Sundays Calvary has three services: the first in Ga, Twi, and Ewe, the second in English, and the third in French and English. Well on Friday they combined them all into one service. I felt like the typical ignorant American only understanding the English. Everyone else was laughing and carrying on with every other language. Most Ghanaians speak AT LEAST four languages and then understand small of several others. It was a beautiful service full of singing and five amazing mini-sermons of which I only understood one. However beautiful that service might have been nothing could compare to the service we had on Easter Sunday. It was so good we ended up going forty-five minutes over but no one minded. There was more dancing in that Sanctuary than I have ever seen. Handkerchiefs waving in the air. Holy hands reaching to heaven. Pretty much a glimpse of heaven.

There are a lot of things I will miss about Ghana when I leave but I think that church will probably be close to number one if not the number one thing I miss the most. I know everyone worships different and I love worship in all types of ways. From a single guitar in an apartment church to a hundred voice choir in an mega church sanctuary to a small Baptist congregation with a heart of gold at 7200 feet to a dancing, foot stomping, amening church on the Golden Coast of West Africa. I love church and I really love church in Ghana.

Today we get a new mini-missionary. I do not know much about him except he has been traveling through the Rafiki villages since the beginning of January and is ending his journey with us in Ghana. By the time you read this he probably will be leaving so I will update you on him in the “p.s.” section at the bottom.

Dancing down the aisle for Jesus!

~Sarah


That was then... this is now.

I wrote that two days ago and since then we have gotten back power and a random source of internet. I'm liking it so far. The new guy, Paul, has actually been touring the world since October. He's been all over Asia and now in Africa and he's going and going until he gets to Antarctica. Cool, eh? Well, not too cool. He woke up really sick this morning, he will live but doesn't feel like it at the moment.

Teachers started back at school today. That was nice to be back. I'm excited for Monday when the kids get there. Get back in a routine at least.

Signing off again... hopefully this time not for good.

Sarah

Prayer Request:
-Paul, that he gets to feeling better
-That the electricity stays on and the internet
-School will start nicely. We've been on break for two weeks so this might take some time getting back in the swing of things.

Pictures of Rainy Season

These are just a few snaps I took of the huge storm that knocked us all out of whack.



This picture was taken at eleven o'clock in the morning. It looked like dusk because it was so dark.





This was taken right outside my classroom after the storm. It was still raining which it did for five more hours after the huge blowout storm.







This last one was the daunting cloud that started it all!

God Feeds the Birds

At church on Sunday the pastor preached on Matthew 6:25-34 and it seemed to really fit my life at that moment. The title of the sermon was “God Feeds the Birds.” All these things have happened all on top of each other lately. The storm that blew out the electricity that blew out the internet and blew out everything else along the way. I got sick and could not work. Then there was another storm and now we are without electricity again (we are on generator at the moment). However I just keep saying, “if God feeds the birds just think what he will do for me.”

Thank you for your prayers. I am getting better. I only ate small small from Monday to Saturday. By Friday my appetite was there but my stomach was not. I know malaria may seem like a huge ordeal but its really common here and very easy to treat. The worst part was at night. That’s when the stomach and head pains were the worst and also when the fever came.

Yesterday marked my three months in Ghana day. I can not believe this. We started our spring break this week. Two weeks with no school. For the next three days we are going to go swimming. We take the kids in groups so it should be fun.

Today I went in to Accra with Barbra on a sad note. She has a man that works for her, Pascal, and his house completely burned down last night. He has a wife, Stella, that is eight months pregnant, a daughter, Cherry, that is four and a sixteen year old stepson. I wish I could explain to you properly the area that he lives in but this should give you a clue: he lives in the most densely populated area of Ghana. The entire country! It is only by God’s grace that his entire district was not burned down. They only have the clothes that they were wearing last night while they slept. The entire compound sleeps outside except for during rainy season so they were saved because of that. Also, it rained last night before they went to sleep so everyone had taken down their laundry from the lines which is a God thing because if they had not that would have burned down a compound that houses about two thousand people. It was devastating just walking around his house. To know Pascal he is such a chipper man. Always laughing and cutting up but today he was all in tears. His wife cannot work because of her pregnancy so she will go out with their daughter and live in the village until the repairs are finished. Please pray for them. Their landlord is on them to pay for the repairs and expects Barbra to because she is white. The Lord has shown them mercy so much already so I know He will work things out and they have faith of that as well.

I know you are probably thinking since I have not been online for so long there must be a lot to write but really there is not. Life here has been good and uneventful except for the storms that bring the bugs. By the way... I hate termites!

Thank you for your faithfulness to pray for us here.

Watching the birds eat!

Sarah.

Praises:
-We got a new mother! She will not start until May first or so but she is coming. Her name is Mama Florence. God is great!

Sarah's dad reporting

Hello, Ghana had a major storm last Monday, 03/26/07, with that Sarah lost internet, electricity and cell phone service, on Thursday 03/29/07 she was finally able to call to tell us why she could not write. Needless to say, she is unable to blog until some of the damage has been fixed. She is fine, the village sustain a moderate amount of damage. She will be able to tell the story a lot better than I can when she is back online. Sarah has another problem, she has a touch of Malaria, she assures me, {her dad} that it is mild and she will be o.k. She has been put on bed rest and given medication. They have a two week break now, so she does not need to feel she has to jump up and go to work. Remember her and the people of Ghana as they recover from this big storm. One other thing, I ask if they had any warning about the storm, she said yeah, they saw a big black cloud.

Thanks for reading
Wayne a.k.a Sarah's dad

New Snaps

Everyone!

I have put up new snaps. Now you are going to have to do some grungin' through some old snaps to find the new ones but I do wish you luck in your endeavors.

Love you all!

Sarah

http://uwyo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025226&l=20e4d&id=45200525

http://uwyo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025428&l=a1cd1&id=45200525

http://uwyo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026370&l=2591d&id=45200525

http://uwyo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2029094&l=4a355&id=45200525

The long awaited blog has arrived...

The longer I am here and the more I learn about this country and everything that goes with it the more I can not understand how someone can not believe in a God. This experience has really tightened my faith even more than it was. Before I came here I believed in God, there’s no doubt about that, but seeing all this has concreted my heart to Christ and all of His creation.

It is very hot here and naturally in the heat people sweat. There are two things that are good to consume when one sweats profusely: salt and potassium. The food here is very salty, not just at the village but everywhere I have eaten has been salty and that’s because that’s how the Ghanaians like their food. God gave them a natural liking for salt because He knew before he even created man that they would need it to survive. Also three of the leading natural sources of potassium are native to Ghana and those are: coconut milk, Ghanaian yam, and bananas. And they are not hard to come by here or expensive to purchase. An entire coconut cost about fifteen cents, and banana maybe ten cents, and I’m sorry, I’m not up on my yam cost. I have no idea if I’m getting my point across effectively but its just amazing how God's provides the needs for people even before they knew it would be needed. He is such a great God.

This past weekend I spent it in Accra with the Kelly family. I went to a youth party on Saturday night as a guest of Judith, the eldest daughter of the Kelly family, and I saw a movie I want to suggest to you. Its called Most. It is a foreign film that looks at Jesus' crucifixion from God's point of view through the story of a single man and his son. It is a beautiful film!

My students are growing so much its hard to imagine them as the same class they were two months ago. I was not sure if I was going to be able to do anything with them when we started our journey together but now they sit and listen. They are getting better about behaving. We can have more fun because I do not always have to be getting on someone. I can see now why teachers love to teach. It is very rewarding in the fruit that it produces. Saying that, I am still glad that I did not follow in the family business of teaching. It is exhausting but I love every minute.

Libbie started working with me in my three year old class this week and it has been so amazing to have her there. I feel I can get so much more done with a second pair of hands. Tomorrow we’re going to try centers. That should be fun. When I leave she will be taking over my class and so we are gradually going to be trying to give the kids fully over to her. I do not feel like I have been here long enough to being weaning my class away from me, however, I think it will be more weaning me from my class

It is so strange, in my head I know that I am in Ghana. Its pretty hard not to know but then I think about it some more and I still can not believe that I am really in Africa. I have looked at this continent so long on the globe longing to walk on it and I really am and have been for almost three months now. In my mind it is just bizarre!

.

Well, I leave you now. It is time for me to go and help clean the school, a daily activity.

Love you too much!

Sarah

P.S. At church this past Sunday I heard a lady says "Most of us in this place believe in God. Now it is time for us to take out the "in" and start to believe God." Funny how one word can change so much.

Prayer request:
-Health for the village
-Mothers
-Our village director’s brother passed away so they left to America, please pray for them as they are there and their return on Sunday.
-Libbie and Rob officially started working this week and there is much to do.
-I’m trying to get classes together for next fall and its been tough, please pray that I can find classes (and get into the classes) that I need.

Quicky

This is just a quick post to tell you I will be posting soon. Sorry, life here has been so crazy. I am going to try to have a post up by tomorrow. Please forgive me. My mind is going in so many different directions its hard to write down a single thought. For now, I pray this photo is enough to get to you tomorrow.

Always my love,

Sarah

Never knew how Baptist I really was.

He is exalted! The King is exalted on high!
I will praise Him. He is exalted, forever exalted,
And I will praise His Name!

I can not express to you the joy I feel in my heart today. My heart is jumping up and down and shouting exaltations to the Lord higher than I have felt in a long time! I have been blessed today. Over and overly blessed. It reminds me of the song my dear friend, Susan, taught the children here:

Running over, running over, My cup is full and running over.

Today I went to church with the Seatons. We went into Accra to Calvary Baptist Church! What we read on the internet for the service time was wrong so we were a bit late but when we walked into the service the fifty voice choir was raised dressed in red and gold robes, the congregation was on its feet, hands were in the air and voices were singing, “He is exalted! The King is exalted on high!” The usher showed us to a pew towards the front that was reserved for guest and I could not help myself, tears started rolling down my face. There I was in my Ghanaian dress, make-up on in the front of the church crying. I did not feel so bad when I looked to my left and saw Libby just like me and then Rob. The spirit was so heavy in that sanctuary and they were singing a song that I knew, it was all too much. I have gone to some really amazing churches here and enjoyed them all however, I felt at home today. I knew the hymns, I knew the choruses, it was my church. I felt like it was my church. The sermon was on imitating Christ by renewing our minds. It had three points like every Baptist sermon I have heard in my life, there was an invitation at the end where three people came forward to accept Christ. I wish you could hear my voice and see my face. I feel as though I am glowing. God has really answered that prayer for me. I followed the sermon so well, the pastor was funny and encouraging. I think my understanding of the culture has grown immensely because some of his illustrations I would not have understood two and a half months ago and now I can laugh with the people. The church even has a little book store where next week I will purchase my Ghana Baptist Hymnal. This will be something that I can look forward to every Sunday! Oh, my heart is so full! Praise the Lord!!!

Now... on to the rest of last week.

This week we celebrated Ghana Day. That’s their Independence Day. This year Ghana is 50 years old. It was so amazing to be here for that celebration. Because of the holiday all schools and most businesses were closed Tuesday, for the actual holiday, and Wednesday, to rest from celebrating. In America we would associate that second day from getting over the hang over that one acquired from celebrating, but if you could see how these people celebrate, you would understand that is not the reason. On Tuesday thousands upon thousands of people crowded into Independence Square in Accra for the over the top celebration. There was no place to move and it was hot beyond belief. Those people had no air to cool them off and they were dancing and going on. They must have been completed exhausted when all was said and done with. Top officials, Presidents, chiefs, etc, from all West African nations, and European, and the U.S. were there to help celebrate. It was a day that no Ghanaian will ever forget.

Every year for Ghana Day schools from within Accra are chosen to march around Independence Square for President Kufuor. They march in military fashion and they do it well. While on our field trip last week we drove past many a football field and all were filled with schools practicing. It was pretty awing to watch. They also had native dancers and the head chief of nearly every tribe was there to do a little ceremony from the tribe. Most of those included offering libations to their traditional gods. Some tribes claim not to worship the traditional gods anymore, they just do it to show respect for the tribe, whatever that means. I learned a lot that day by watching this. (The entire compound watched this in the dining hall on a 19" television. Now if you have ever shared a 19" television with 70+ people you know how that goes.) I was sitting near some of the Rafiki Mothers and they were talking me through the entire celebration. Ghana’s view of Christianity in some places is really twisted. It reminds me a lot of the Native Americans and how they used Christianity as just another god to mix into their practices. I feel that this compound has been so blessed to have the Mother's that it does. Mother's that know Jesus Christ and follow Him and His teachings only and show the kids how to love Jesus as well.

We all had a really good time watching it together. The kids do not get to watch television very often so it was nice for them. Even little Dereck, the picture above, got into it. Our guard, Jake, was in the military and Dereck seemed to like his hat.

On Wednesday we had a swim day. All the kids came out in their swimming dress and we played water games, the little kids played in the little pools while the older kids used the slip-n-slide. It was such a blast! It was good for the kids to get out and have a good time with no school no chores, just good ole fun! It was nice to watch them enjoying themselves so much. Like most teenagers, ours wanted to act too cool, but as soon as they got out there they did not want to stop.

Last night Cathy, a missionary, came to the guest house and taught Libbie and I how to make ground nut stew. I can not wait to make it back home! Katie, it taste like the Tai chicken wrap from Love Joy’s!!!

Well, I guess that rounds out this edition of Ghana Girl’s life. Its been a really good week and I pray that it continues on to next week.

Always in Him,

Sarah

Prayer request:
-That the mood of the compound will stay positive
-Mothers
-Rest, I have been extremely tired lately.

Ahhh... nothing like drinking a nice cup of banana tea to end the week right. I picked up some Ghanaian banana tea at the Accra trade fair on Tuesday. Its pretty good. Its like liquid banana bread. What a horrible way to describe something. Sorry. My similes need some work it appears.

This week was pretty good. My students are coming along great it seems. Of course, they are three and four years old so most of my day is full of head banging hysteria. Then I come home and pour myself a cup of banana tea and laugh about everything.

This next week is Independence day here in Ghana. Its so exciting. I’m here for the 50th Anniversary of Ghana!!! Everyone is so excited. There are people everywhere. Yesterday the President even drove by us. Its so cool that I could see the John Kufour himself any day. Next week we only have three days of classes. They are taking Tuesday for the Independence Day and then Wednesday to rest from celebrating on Tuesday. Hey, I like it!

Now, the story I’m about to tell you might not be for everyone and its not something I would usually share with the world but oh is it funny. I’ve been meaning to write about this for some time now but have regretfully forgotten. My students for the most part sit on the floor for everything. That is due to the amount of head trauma that was received from kids rocking back in their chairs and hitting their heads on the nice cement floor. That sounds harsh but most of the time it was funny. Anyway on with the tale ‘o the day. For the children it is really special for them to sit in front next to my chair when I am reading to them or doing any lesson of sorts except the day I decided not to shave my legs. (That last sentence just promises funny doesn’t it?) I have one little student that is so delicate. Everything hurts him. Everything! And he has this really high pitched scream whenever something hurts him and it makes me laugh all the time. He was sitting in front that day while I was reading the story of Noah and the Ark, the children’s favorite Bible story. I had just gotten to the part where Noah and his sons were working tirelessly to construct this monstrosity of an ark when all of a sudden my little dandy lion of a student decided to pet my leg. Without any warning this shriek comes from the mosh pit of four year olds that pretty much made everyone cover their ears within a five mile radius. You would have thought a cobra had just slithered his way into the room and was about to attack. Oh, how I wish that was how the story ended but it isn’t. He looks up at me holding his hand as though blood might trickle out of his finger tips and said, “Madam Sarah, your leg is sharp!” Needless to say then everyone had to feel Madam Sarah’s sharp legs and then continue to tell everyone that Madam Sarah has sharp legs. One of the missionaries told me, “Hey they are just four. To them it’s a novelty.” Well, to me it was just plan embarrassing. When a four year old tells you in a not to subtle way that you need to shave your legs, one tends to take notice.

Yesterday we took a field trip into Accra with both my preschool classes, the kindergarten, and the first grade class. I was really nervous. Being in a classroom with my kids was one thing. There are boundaries there, walls to keep them in and door handles to high for them to reach, but in a city? There are cars, people, open fires and gutters! Not that our kids are badly behaved that is not the case, but they are in fact children. I prayed continuously for a week it seemed about this trip. I did not want to be the mini missionary that lost a kid in Accra. What a legacy that would leave! But, it was so much fun! Really. We went to a pet store. That seemed a little odd to me when I was first told about the pet store but this is not the average mall pet store that has little puppies and kittens sealed behind a glass case. Oh no. This is a Ghanaian pet store. There were some of the most beautiful birds I have ever seen, one called the fantail pigeon (google that!) that was unlike any pigeon I had ever seen walking the streets. They had bunnies and lizards and some weird looking ferret thing that had the coat of a hyena. It was set up more like a zoo setting than a pet store. It had a canopy of vines that hovered above it. There were plants and trees that the pet store was built around. It was beautiful. That was however until we got to the monkey cage.

They have two monkeys there named Sonny and Cher. Clever, eh? Before we even got on the bus we were warned about Sonny, the monkey. Madam Ann said, “Be careful of the monkeys. One is rather frisky so watch it.” And who was the one that forgot about the frisky monkey? Me! The madam! I forgot like a lame-o. We went to the monkey cage and all was going well. The kids were touching the monkeys and petting them. I was taking pictures of the entire experience (which will be posted at a later date) and everything was going well until Sonny approached me. Now, they were in their cage but the fencing was to where they could poke their hands out and grab things. I thought Sonny and I had hit it off quite nicely until he reached out quickly and pulled my hair! Sneaky little bogger. I got some pictures taken with him just to prove that I could and turned to leave. I had started filming the kids walking around the pet store and exploring when out of no where my head was swung and slammed against the monkey cage! Sonny had taken my entire pony tail into his little monkey paw and pulled me back into the cage! I was a bit startled but more embarrassed that I was the one that did not mind the monkeys as I should have. All of the other kids stood their distance but not me. The kids laughed about that for a while. I did too.

I am having such an amazing time here. Its very hard work. Nothing about this place is easy but it is rewarding. My little boy that has trouble with his hands buttoned his knickers today on his own. He came to me today and told me he needed to urinate (use the restroom). Usually that’s my cue to unbutton his knickers for him so that he can go but today he looked at me and said, “and I can undo my own knickers.” Then when he came out of the restroom he buttoned them right in front of me his own self. He was so proud. I have been working with him for nine weeks now on his hands. When I first started he could not button a shirt, zip a zipper, hold a crayon, even swinging was too painful because he had to hold on. Now he can write on his own, he can button his own knickers and he is so proud! If I got nothing else from being here, I got that. Everyday this little boy looks at me and says, “Madam Sarah, God loves me. And Jesus He loves me.” I reassure him that is true but also tell him how much I love him. He never really responded to it until this past Wednesday. We were walking to our tutoring spot which is in a gazebo at the end of the village and like usual he said to me as we were walking hand in hand, “Madam Sarah, God and Jesus love me. And Madam Susan, she loves me. And Mr. Paul, he loves me. And Madam Sarah, you love me. You love me, Madam Sarah. You love me.” Just to know that he knows that is a blessing. I have quite a little connection with this child. I can’t really point out what about him makes me love him so but I do. I just want so much for him and I want him to know that it is possible.

Little things like that make me realize why I am here. I do not really feel qualified to teach. I don’t know what I’m doing teaching little ones. Its quite daunting really. I mean you think preschool, how hard can it be? Just letters and numbers and colors. Yes, that’s true but if you really think about it that’s where you learn to share, to sit in class, to respect your teacher. How can you learn to read if you don’t know the alphabet. How can you add if you don’t know numbers. I might be reading a whole lot more into this than I should be but its just things that I think about while I am teaching.

I am so pleased with my four year old class. They are coming along so wonderfully! They are learning to behave and to listen. They are learning to identify letters and associate them with words. I can be holding up a story book and they will point out the letters that they know. Its fun to watch them learn how to learn. I had one little girl the other day that wrote her name. It was a little slanted and two of the letters were backwards but it was clearly her name.

God is so amazing how he creates. I see these children and they are so young but already they are so different. Even my triplets its amazing to see where they differ. How God programs us all so different and how he creates so perfectly and teams people together so perfectly just shows how big and great God is. He never fails to create beauty. One of the Mamas and I were talking tonight about the differences in where we live and the climate and people and she looked at me and said, “How does someone look at this world and these children and say that there is no God? How?” I don’t know. I just can’t even begin to imagine what that would be like. I told her that I know people that don’t believe in a God and she just looked befuddled. “Where do they drawl their strength from? Who do they thank?” It reminded me of that quote from G.K. Chesterton: “The worst moment for the atheist is when he is really thankful and has no one to thank.”

I praise God everyday for this place and the time I am having here. I thank him for his creation and his faithfulness to this place. Nothing here would be possible without the love and mercy of Jesus Christ. There would not be one shred of hope for these children without the mercy he bestowed upon them. No, they don’t have gameboys or top of the line sneakers. They don’t get to pop into the kitchen and grab and bag of crisp. However, they get to eat three meals a day, have a different change of clothes, they get to shower, have clean water, electricity, an education and they get to hear the word of God. For that they are truly grateful.

Always my love,

Sarah

Prayer requests:
-More mothers.
-For the Seatons that they will continue to transition smoothly to their new home. -For everyone on the compound. That God’s grace will be poured out all over and that Satan will be bound from this place and these children.

The internet has been down since Thursday so this is my journal entry from Saturday.

February 23, 2007

Today I had my tro tro adventure! A tro tro is the public transportation system in Ghana. They have similar ones all over Africa but in Ghana its called tro tro. It’s a 15 passenger van that a man owns and then hires someone to drive it and then someone who is the mate of the driver. The mate sits in the seat behind the driver on the passenger side and yells out the window where the tro tro is headed to and if there is room on the van for any more passengers. There has been a big change in the past few years when it comes to tro tro laws. Used to be they would cram as many people on a tro tro as humanly, and sometimes not so humanly, possible, so now the law is there can only be four across on each seat. They are older vans and do not last too long after being used as a tro tro. I am (as usual) getting ahead of myself. Let me start from the beginning of my journey.

This morning around 8:15 Dennis came and picked up Rob and I to begin our adventure into Accra. We walked about a mile to Kotoku (the village behind our little village) and then caught a taxi to Medie Junction. This is probably not that exciting to read about I know, but next time I will video tape it because everything done here in Africa is so insanely funny! This taxi ride was like none other! It was only about a 4km trip but took forever because the little taxi has to dodge all the 5000 pot holes up and down Kotoku Road because if it does not the taxi could easily be swallowed by a pot hole. So we finally made it to Medie Junction and then caught our tro tro. We were at the very back of the van which was nice because no one had to climb over us and we got a lot of air! The tro tro was actually a really nice one, we were really lucky. I have seen so many times tro tros turned over on the road on fire so I was glad that this was a newer one. You know thinking about it, I probably should not have included that last sentence, but hey that’s life in Ghana. We took the tro tro to Achimoto which took about 30-40 minutes and then caught another taxi to Shangri-La Hotel. Libby, Joy, and the other Sarah took the car into Accra and we met them at Shangri-La.

Shangri-La is my favorite hotel because of the shopping. I have so many friends there. I walk into the little art market and people walk to me saying “Oh Sarah, you have returned!” and then we talk about their weeks since I have seen them last. I have a really good friend there named Yaw and when I went to talk to him he gave me a painting that he did for me (no charge) that included all my favorite colors. It was really nice. People here in Ghana depend so much on their daily income that people do not usually give things away. It is so beautiful. I have become an art collector here. Paintings in the States never really interested me, probably because you do not ever get to meet the artist and if you do they are so aware of their talent that its disgusting, here its not like that. I love talking to people about their art and the process they go through to complete it and where they get their supplies to do it, and who buys it. I just love to talk and so do Ghanaians therefore, we get along great!

After our quick stint at Shangri-La we (Libby, Rob, Sarah, and I) took a taxi to the Arts Center in Accra. The Arts Center is a market of paintings and original cloth, jewelry, machetes, t-shirts, etc. OH MY! There is so much. Mom, its like Canton only newer things and in Ghana! People are always on you to buy something all the time and sometimes you do and sometimes you don’t. What I like to do is find a vendor that I really like and can talk to and then purchase from them because a lot of the stuff is the same as every kiosk?. When we got to the Arts Center this guy came to Rob and was all over him talking to him about being an African child and where are we from, it was really weird from the get go. Anyway Rob, Libby, and Sarah went one way and then I went to another part of the market. The guy that was all over Rob decided to follow me. He followed me and talked to me for a little. He was really short, like my height and rather gruff looking. Like I said he was a little weird and I tried to get him away from me but it was not working. Well I found a jersey stand because I wanted to buy someone a Black Stars football jersey (not saying who). I was looking at some jerseys and this guy was still talking to me. Before I knew it this swarm of men surrounded me like hippos do to their young. I was in the middle of this circle of men and they were all yelling. I was not scared just a bit confused. Finally, one man turned around to me and said, “Do you know this man?” and pointed to the guy that was following me. “No, he just followed me over here.” Then the yelling continued. Finally I saw the guy running away and fast. An older gentleman turned to me and placed his hands on my shoulder and said “That man is a hooker. He was just trying to rob you. We saw him with you and knew he was going to rob you and that’s why we were around you. We did not mean to scare you.” I thanked them all generously and then bought my jersey. I have never been nervous about my surroundings here, I watch out for myself and do not let my guard down, and that’s why. People here do not take stealing lightly and because there are very harsh punishments for those that do steal not many people do. So that was rare but I thank God that he put those men around me to protect me.

I walked around the market and did not find much that I could not live without but found some things that I knew other people in my life could not. Needless to say, I made some purchases. I finally met back up with the rest of the gang and we met so many interesting characters! I need to write a book about the people of Ghana. They are so amazing and so funny! One man I met was really amazing. His name was Yosef and he is 23. I met him while I was eating my coconut. He just came and stood by me and helped my figure out how to eat my coconut and we started talking. The rest of the time he followed me very closely and we talked quite a bit. We were on our last leg and he looked at me and saw my cross and said, “Sarah, do you go to church?”
“Yes, please. Every time I get a chance I go to church. Please, do you go to church?”
“No, my father is Islam.”
“Are you Islam?”
“I try not to be but my father is. I hear so many things about Jesus.”
“Yes please, Jesus is our Savior.”
“Please, white people they come here. They watch us dance and make our drums. They tell us we should follow Jesus but never tell us about him.”
“Please, I will tell you about Jesus.”
And I did. He seemed a little scared to be talking about it and I do not blame him. There are very big consequences for those Muslims who are caught talking of Jesus. We did not get to pray but I told him I would pray for him and he gave me his email to email him more about Jesus. It was so exciting but still I worry about him. If his family finds out it won’t be good for him.

On my journey with Yosef I met a woman named Felicia. She was an older woman but she was so beautiful! She was sitting under a tree on the edge of a wall looking out to a football field. I saw her profile and immediately asked her to take a snap of her. I could not resist. She was so gorgeous. Something about her really grabbed at me and made me go to her. I sat with her under her tree trying to convince her to let me take her snap. She kept saying she was ugly and old but laughing and blushing the entire time. Her family was teasing her a bit for all the attention she was drawing to her. We talked for a little and she showed me some jewelry that was gorgeous! Probably the most beautiful I have seen since being here. She asked my name and then told me I was her new daughter. She hugged me and kissed my forehead before I got up to leave. I got three beautiful photos of her. Two of just her and then one with me in it. I showed them to her and she was so amazed that I could show it to her that fast. She just kept saying, “That’s me! That’s me!” It was so cute. I have the links at the bottoms for you to look at.

After that we hopped in a taxi and went back to Shangri-La, met with Dennis and Joy. They stayed at the hotel and swam in the pool. Then we all hopped in their jeep and headed home.

This morning I said good-bye to Susan. I ran out of the house quickly after hugging her to avoid crying. Then when we got back we were happily surprised to see that she had not left yet! I got to hang with her for another hour. However, the last good-bye was not as smooth as the first. I cried big. Then when we went for dinner the kids kept asking me “Madam Sarah, where is Madam Susan?” I told them she had left and they were really sad. They knew she was leaving, they wrote her all cards, but I think knowing that she actually left was difficult for them. Then they just kept saying, “Madam Sarah, you are not leaving yet are you?” I have really grown attached to these children as you can probably tell. I’m so attached to them that its easy to get on to them. I know them well enough to tell them what to do and what not to do. At dinner Prosper looked at me and said “Madam, I really like you. Please don’t go.” I reassured him that I still have three months left so I was there for a while longer. He seemed pleased because three months to a five year old is a long time. Sad thing is that it isn’t long at all.

Well, enough of my Saturday adventures. All my love.

Sarah

Some of the pictures at this link you have already seen and some you have not. I hope you enjoy them.

http://uwyo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026370&l=2591d&id=45200525

Here I am sitting at the end of another week. When I’m in the midst of it it seems to go so slow but then I look at it and say “Its already Friday?!” But it is and I ain’t complaining.

This week was really difficult. My three year olds are just about impossible to handle at times. I had a few times this week that I really got discouraged because I do not feel as though I am teaching them anything except “Sit down,” “Get in the line,” “Don’t run in class,” “Please stop eating the blocks.” Maybe that’s all that a collective group of three year olds can learn, I’m not sure. All I know is that disciplining is exhausting!

It seems in some areas of school things might be clicking just a bit. My fours are getting better. They are realizing what to do when and how to behave. Now its just the nit-gritty things I have to polish.

I mentioned up there that I really get discouraged here sometimes because I do not feel as though I am qualified for this and that I have no idea what I am doing most the time. I was thinking about it the other day while I was trudging home glassy eyed and half dead and all these songs and scriptures started popping in my head that really comforted me. I felt a little more at peace with everything and then I woke up this morning and school went better today than it has in two weeks! God is so great. He always speaks to me (I know everyone else too) in a way that I understand. He gives me a song to comfort me or to pep me up just when I need it. There are a lot of songs that have really spoken to me here but the one recently has been “Something Beautiful” by Natalie Grant. I am including the words here because I want to share this with anyone that I can. I think this is such an important song for anyone that is in a situation and they do not know quite what God has planned for them or why they are there and what they should be doing.

“Something Beautiful” – Natalie Grant

This is a song for anyone whose ever been
Knocked down ; can't get back again
Stuck in the corner, can't move forward
All alone and you think you're going nowhere
This is a song for anyone whose ever stood underneath the sun
And felt so small-two feet tall and so out of place
He sees you - He knows you - He loves you
And He wants you to know that

The life you've been livin, the days that you've been givin
Were made for something beautiful
Life - Don't let it pass you by
Because you were created for somethin beautiful

Heaven holds a dream that's just for you
There are things only you can do
So step by faith, put the past away
It'll take you to a better day
Seconds to minutes to hours to life
Time always seem to fly
It's on the go and before you know your days are through
But He sees you - He knows you - He loves you
And He wants you to know that


The life you've been livin, the days that you've been givin
Were made for something beautiful
Life - Don't let it pass you by
Because you were created for somethin beautiful

This has been quite an uneventful week. Nothing big or shocking has happened. Oh, wait, yes something happened! We got a new missionary couple! They are going to be here in Ghana for at least two years and they are great. Their names are Rob and Libby Seaton. Some of you in Garland might have met them when they had their reception. They are a great couple full of energy and raring to go. Libby will take over my class when I leave, maybe sooner and Rob is going to work on the grounds with construction and what not. They are staying here at the guest house until their house next door gets a new roof and they get some furniture put in. I fell in love with them the moment I met them!

My dear roommate that I love so much is leaving this weekend. I do not like to talk about it because she has been such a big part of my time here. We have “coffee dates” every night and get to share our sorrows and our joys. Its really important I’ve found to have someone that understands what’s going on. Susan is here and gets to see all the ups and downs and so its really easy to talk to her about it all. I am going to miss her terribly. Susan, if you read this I love you so much. You have been an absolute angel to me. You have been such a rock for me and I will miss our Frasier nights. I love you. (That was fun to say!)

I did get some good news this week. My scholarship was renewed for next year which is really exciting. I guess I had a funny feeling that it wouldn’t be. But God is great and it was!

This has not been the perkiest blog so long on this journey but I guess that’s the way life flows. Sometimes you’re riding the waves and other times you’re getting bit on the toe by a crab.

Wishing you more wave riding than bites!

Sarah

Prayer request:
-Mothers! We need them and quick!
-Health. Some of the missionaries are sick and there’s always a kiddo not feeling well.
-That I can find some way to teach my three year olds.
-For Rob and Libby. They’ve had some obstacles so far getting registered and getting their driver’s license.

::WARNING TO ALL READERS!::

This blog is long. Very long in fact. So much has happened and I had no time to write. Feel free to read in stages. Make a nightly reading assignment if you wish. I would. By golly I should have separated this one into volumes. Please enjoy!

Last Saturday I wrote about hearing the drummers off in the distance. African drumming is so amazing me to even more amazing is the dancing! On Sunday some of the kids, Aunty Barbra, and me went on a walk to a village that is a ways away from Rafiki. I was walking through with one little girl on one arm and another on the other. We walked through the entire village and talked to people, watched some people pound fufu, ground gari, fun stuff like that when all of a sudden my heart stopped. I heard drumming! I followed the sound until I came upon four men playing the drums and singing! There were children all around them dancing and singing. I held my camera up to ask if I could take a snap and/or film them. They more than agreed and so I did. I filmed for a little bit and took a snap. There were these two young ladies that kept jumping up in my videos. They were amazing dancers and seemed to be dying for some attention. As the rest of my group was watching the football match across the street I stayed and watched the drummers. I met the young ladies and there names are Regina and Christiana. It was amazing! Almost everything has been checked of my to do list in life and I am not even half way through here.

I was sick on Wednesday. I woke up vomiting and just plain not feeling well. I stayed home from school so they cancelled pre-school because there’s just no one to take my place, and you would have thought I had died! All the kids in the village picked flowers for me and sent them home with Susan. Susan said in every class she went in the kids wanted to pray for me because they missed me. This was really just one day that I was sick. On Thursday I walked up to school and was in the street talking to Barbra and this roar went up “Madam Sarah is here!” from every cottage. It was really funny. I told Barbra that they were acting like I had been gone from months or that I was lying in my death bed. When I walked to the flag pole kids, not just mine, came running up touching me, kissing me, telling me they prayed for me all night and wanted me back. It was really sweet. I guess I did not realize that they liked as much as I love them. It was a little upper got to admit it.

On Saturday we, Susan, Sarah (the new roommate), and me all went to Cape Coast. It was such a blast! We got picked up at 6:15 in the morning and started our journey. Our driver’s name was Patrick (he was born on March 17th) and he was fabulous! He even taught me a little Twi while we were driving. It was so funny, we listened to country music the entire time and not Dixie Chicks or Tim McGraw, it was Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson and Allen Jackson. So, it was real country. Finally we asked him, “Patrick, do you enjoy country music?” He told us that his father listens to country music and always has so that’s how he got into it. He said with their accents he does not hear all the words but he understands most of it but mostly he likes the music and the tone of the voices. It was so funny though, here we were driving through the hills of Ghana, driving in and out of small villages listening to country music!

Our journey to Cape Coast was just over three hours. Our first stop was the Cape Coast Slave Castle. It reminded me a bit of the Alamo. It was originally a fort for the British that turned into a monstrosity of human trade. But that’s not why it reminds me of the Alamo. It was just there in the middle of the city. No big deal really to the people that past it everyday. The thing that was different about this from the Alamo was that it did not seem to have that huge tourist feel to it. It seemed more real. The dungeons that the slaves were held in were not air conditioned for the comfort of the tourist or lit properly for the safety of the tourist, it was what it was in the 1700-1800s.

Words can not describe the emotions that I felt for this place. If anyone has been to the Killing Fields in Cambodia or to Rwanda or Concentration Camps I can imagine the feeling would be the same. It was pretty intense. We walked in the dungeon where the male slaves were held and it was complete darkness. The room was no bigger than an average master bedroom that was house to over 200 men. They were chained to the walls and to each other. No ventilation, no light, barley any food, just men. They urinated there, defecated there, vomited there (mostly out of fear), slept there, they lived in that room with all that. It was sobering to say the least. I believe the number that they gave was something close to 3 out of 10 did not survive five weeks in the dungeons. The women’s dungeon was just the same as the males but they had two rooms that held over 150 women each. I think the most barbaric thing was that over the male dungeon is where the first British Church in all of Africa was built. Right above where they were holding innocent people in conditions that now a days people would get arrested for keeping dogs in they were reading the same Bible that I read today. They were singing songs, praying, and listening to sermons of Jesus’ love while the people below them were literally killing themselves for freedom. The oppression was still very much in the air of that place. There was one room that the tour guide said no one is allowed to go in. The horror that occurred there they said it is beyond speakable and the feeling of the room is still so frightening that they stopped letting visitors in. All this below a church.

We walked through the door that countless slaves did when they were boarding the ships to start a whole new journey of pain and endless grief. They called the door “the door of no return” because obviously when someone exited that door they were never to return to the life that they had lead before this. Walking through wasn’t easy. All I could do was think to myself, “this is the door that was the gateway to so much pain for hundreds of years for these people.” The ship that they boarded was named “Good Ship Jesus.” It makes me so sad that these wonderful people’s first impression of Christianity was being chained, beaten, raped and ultimately killed. What's worse is that it was not the first time that impression was made around the world.

When we exited the door it lead of course to the ocean. There was a sea of faces and people there. I know I talked about the market having so many people but the market has nothing on the Cape Coast beach. I don’t know how they put their boats in the water or pulled them out, there was no where for them to go! There were fishermen knitting nets and women selling water and carrying fish to be sold. There were children running on the sandy beach playing football in the water. It was so much to take in. I felt I was in a movie. My mind still is having a hard time grasping the thought of all those people.

The tunnel that lead from the dungeons to the slave ships no longer exists because when the slave trade was abolished in 1844 the people of Ghana sealed it with stone so that it could never be used again! That made me proud. Proud that they would seal it so that not one person tourist or otherwise would have to walk that trail that lead to the demise of so many.

(Sorry about the change in mood, I thought for a long time how to transition here but just couldn’t come up with anything.)

Next we went to the rainforest. It was beautiful. I had never been in a rainforest before. The thing that I did not like about the rainforest so much was I had to watch the trail so close that all I really saw were my feet. That was until we walked above the canopy of the forest. They have a “bridge” thing that swings 30 meters above the ground over the trees. Looking down on the beauty was undescribable, but you know me, I’m going to try. Everything was fresh looking. Like the produce department of Central Market or Whole Foods. Everything was misted just enough to make it shine. The tops of the trees were impeccably lush. I felt like a was flying above God’s easel of green paint. There was dark green, lime green and everything that goes in between. Can you imagine God’s paint collection? What a thought. After the 15 minute hike in mid-air we hiked back down and that was even more incredible. The day was so bright but the canopy was so heavy that the ground was dark. There were pockets of light that shown down on the sea of green. The plants were so unusual and I am so sick that the batteries in my camera died while walking across the bridge. I think the camera was nervous that I was going to drop it when the bridge shook so it saved itself by dying. They say that they have elephants there but I didn’t see any. They also said that they had six different species of monkeys but I didn’t see any. They didn’t say anything about ants but that I saw in plenty.

It was about 3:00 when we packed in our Toyota Carola that started out silver but by this time was a nice shade of terra cotta. We were a little hungry by now. We had not eaten since around 5:45 or there about. Patrick took us to the most beautiful hotel to eat. We ate outside on the beach! It was flawless. The hotel was called Coconut Grove. The food was scrumptious beyond measure. I had snapper with paw paw sauce and sauteed potatoes with a tomato and onion salad. I ate and ate and ate! It was so delicious.

I had heard that Cape Coast had some of the best pineapple and kenkey around so you know I had to have some. The pineapple here is so amazing you can eat the core! That’s how good it is. And kenkey is my favorite Ghanaian food of all time! Patrick took me to the stand where he buys his kenkey and loaded me up. I bought eight balls of kenkey for 15,000 cedis. That’s just over $1.50. Then I bought six pineapples for 20,000 cedis! About .25 cents each. Isn’t that insane! Oh, how I love Ghana.

Well that is enough. Whew! I’m exhausted!

Love you tons!

Sarah

Prayer Request:
-We need mothers desperately!
-The children that they will be calm this next week and willing to learn.
-The health of everyone.

Today I had a first. It was quite a big first to me. I was walking home from talking to Barbra and all of a sudden off in the distance I heard drumming. At first I thought it was just a truck harvesting some sand. Then I realized it was not. I went back and got Barbra to ask her what it was. She said it was probably a funeral procession. It was the most beautiful sound I have heard since I have arrived in Africa. Drumming, real African drumming! It was somber and deep. The beats were slow at first and then started to grow with intensity and speed. Eventually there was a sound of horns that joined the drums. I sat on the step of my house for a while just listening to it. I have heard African drummers before but it was in a university setting, never before in actual Africa. I had the thought for a second to run out the gates and follow the sound. However, I did not. Still it was amazingly magical!

Last Sunday Susan and I joined the Madisons for church. I am constantly surprised by church. I had been to this church before so I thought I would not be as overwhelmed but no. It was completely different than the first time. It was communion Sunday. Susan and I were excited to partake in our first African communion. When they passed the bread it was the wafer thing that I always associated with the Catholic Church. White, flat, round, kinda like a crushed packing peanut and tastes just about the same. Then the drink came around. I have been involved in some very unusual communions in my travels (Remember Missouri mom?) and this was one of them. When they passed the tray with the cups in it I noticed it was a brownish color and I had no idea what to expect. Even when I took my cup I still did not know what it was. Then it was time to take it. Susan and I shared a look of “here we go!” It was coke! They served coke in symbolism of Christ’s blood! I thought that was so cool. I mean, I don’t drink coke and haven’t in about six years or so but it was different for sure. Church was fun because I have met some people at different churches while visiting with other missionaries and some of them were there at Accra Chapel on Sunday. During the greeting part of the service I walked around like it was home hugging and kissing people. I got back to my seat and Joy and Dennis looked at me and said “do you know them?” “Oh yeah, we go way back” I said. We all shared a laugh.

For a more serious tone, we got some bad news last week. One of our mothers is leaving. Mama Elizabeth is leaving in about four days. I don’t know the details of why or where but she is for sure leaving. She has been here for four and a half years and her oldest child is nine years old. About five of my students are her’s and I’m really worried about them. They aren’t telling the children yet either. I actually cried yesterday for the first time for these kids. Not like a single tear trickled down my cheek, I’m talking seriously cried. Adwoa Mary, who is four and one of Ma Elizabeth’s children, is one of the toughest little girls I have ever met and smarter than anyone at least three years older than her. She is a little fireball but very rarely disobeys me in class. Well yesterday I was reading an alphabet book to my class and out of no where Adwoa Mary stands up and walks over to me. I told her to sit down, thinking she had to use the restroom, but she just kept coming. Then she sat next to me, put her head in my lap and just started crying. Like I mentioned above they haven’t told the children but Adwoa is so smart and she knows that something is going on. After a couple of minutes I let the other children color and I took her and put her in my lap and asked her, “Adwoa, what is it sweety?” All she could say is “I don’t know. I don’t know.” But the thing is, she does. The only mother she has ever known is leaving her and she can feel it. It tore me apart completely. My heart breaks for these children because I truly love them. I love these children more than anyone will ever know. I would clean the entire compound with a toothbrush if that meant that I could play and talk with these kids when I was done. Their joy and excitment for life is intoxicating.

when I went to visit Barbra she showed me pictures of the kids when they first showed up to Rafiki. Most of them were pretty skinny and then some were pretty round, just because of eating the wrong types of foods, but when I saw Agbeko’s picture I literally got nauseous. He had these white spots all over his skin, his hair had fallen out, he was 18 months old and barley 13 pounds. I came home and compared it to the pictures IIf you have looked at my pictures that I have posted you will notice that there are a lot of pictures of Agbeko in there. He is four years old and just like Adwoa Mary he is off the charts smart. However, because of the malnutrition he suffered as baby he barely has any muscles in his hands and therefore he can’t write, tie his shoes, button a button, nothing. This makes him very frustrated in class very often. It is even difficult for him to hold a crayon just to scribble. Also he has a little bit, I think, of a social disorder. Whenever we have our one on one time he’s great and outgoing but as soon as he gets to school he withdraws a bit. He gets very nervous with big sounds (that are not of his own making). Any way I have labeled him my hero. Today have taken of him and the difference is spectacular! I just thanked God over and over.

With a full heart and a stomach full of rice and fish I wish you a fine night!

All my love!

Sarah

Prayer Request:
-For Mama Elizabeth as she goes and for her children.
-That we can find a mother to take Ma Elizabeth’s spot. We thought we had one but she called yesterday and said she was not coming.
-We are getting a new roommate on Tuesday. Her name is Sarah as well. She has already been in Kenya for a month and now she is coming here. Pray that she comes smoothly and safely.

These are the links to all my albums.
http://uwyo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026370&l=2591d&id=45200525

http://uwyo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025428&l=a1cd1&id=45200525

http://uwyo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025226&l=20e4d&id=45200525
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