Field Day, Thanksgiving Feasts, and Christmas Presents!

The last month before Christmas break in Ghana was a great time full of giving!

Before the giving started though, there was Field Day!!  On Wednesday November 23 every student (K-12) participated in a full day of games and fun!  16 countries represented 16 different teams on which each student was placed.  The students found out which team they would be on the previous week.  During the week of the 21st-23rd we had spirit week and students received points for their team each day they dressed up.  In the morning before we started the games the students and the teacher leader of their country had to come up with a team chant.  Some of the teams came up with pretty good ones that they could yell throughout the day.
Games for the morning included blindfold wall, big clothes relay, the limbo, Catchphrase, snow ball fight, sumo wrestling, fill potty relay, and fountain cup relay.  After the morning activities the students had an hour to relax and eat lunch.  During that hour the faculty played the students in soccer.  It was a good match, but the students were faster and quicker than us and were able to beat us 2-1.  In the afternoon the students played poop deck and then participated in the crazy, messy relay!  After the relay, the students all came and sat under the pavilion and waited to hear who the winner was!  While the relay was going on I was tallying the scores to determine the winner.  The winner ended up being the Philippines!  The winning team received the prize of buzzing my head.  Turns out that the students had a different plan than just buzzing it all off!

Some of the members of Team South Korea

Blind fold wall

Fountain cup relay

Sumo Wrestling

Snow ball fight Ghana style!

School wide picture on Field Day

Students could also say the Field Day theme verse (Phil. 3:7-8) to give their team more points

Part of the crazy messy relay!

Team Philippines buzzing my hair off

The final result of allowing students to cut my hair haha

The day after Thanksgiving (2 days after field day) Tonya, Christy, and I traveled to the Volta region to help out a family who ministers to the people in the area.  We had no idea what to expect when we got there, but boy were we glad we went.  When we got there John picked us up and drove us to the family's house.  As soon as we got out of the car there were about 10 kids playing outside.  Little did we know that the family we were there to help had 5 kids of their own plus around 10 kids they have rescued.  The family along with other people who come to help has rescued a good number of kids from the surrounding area.  The kids they have rescued are sold by their mothers into slavery.  The family goes out some nights and rescues them from slavery and brings them to a couple of different homes including theirs.  They invited us to come join them during the spring sometimes (I am really excited about this opportunity and hope I can join them on at least a few trips!!). 

We hung out at their house for a couple hours just playing with the kids and learning about how the family ministers to the neighboring community.  The family does SO MUCH!  I can't believe they are able to fit all of it into their schedule.  The family helped start a school this year and are currently building their new house on the property next to the school.  While helping out with the school and saving kids they are also involved with a company for single mothers producing clean water.  This business allows the single mothers in the area to have money to raise their children.  I might even be forgetting some of the other ministries this family runs for the surrounding community.

So we went to help this family with the big Thanksgiving meal they were serving to the school students and their families, but all we really did was learn about this family and how much they love and serve the community they are in.  We were able to give them a lot of rice which they will use to feed the many kids they have saved from the Volta region.  We were there most of the day and enjoyed meeting many of the people the family helps.  The trip made me realize what it really means to give everything (including my time) up to serve others and show them the love of Christ! (check out the video on my facebook of some of the kids dancing after the Thanksgiving feast)

On Tuesday, December 6th we had our last kid's club before Christmas break.  We had told the kids the week before that we were handing out Christmas presents, so instead of the normal 30 or so kids, more than 60 showed up!  We were happy so many came, but we did not have enough of the gifts to give each child.  We decided that we would hand out the gifts to the children we didn't know as well.  In this way we could make sure each child got their gifts because we knew we would see the "usuals" later on in the week.  We handed out to the students a Bible (one per family), cheliwatees (flip flops), and biscuits (cookies).  The kids were so happy to receive the Bible and the cheliwatees!  The smiles on their faces were awesome to see.  Imagine if kids in the U.S. received a Kid's Bible (that they had to share with their brothers and sisters) and a pair of flip-flops for Christmas!!!  Thank you to the Jones' family for giving the money to buy these kids their Christmas presents and also to buy the rice to feed the kids saved from slavery in the Volta region!!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas with family!  I know I am grateful I can celebrate freely the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ!  I fly back to Ghana on the 7th of January and am looking forward to the upcoming semester full of school and ministry!

Carrying the 50 or so lbs of rice on my head while we were switching tro-tros

Some of the kids playing tic-tac-toe outside

The tables holding the Thanksgiving feast

The school's soccer field is nicer than ours!

Some of the students at the school

I let them use my camera, and got pictures of chairs haha

....but I like this picture they took!

Isaiah 58:6-9

I forgot to add this to the last blog post, so I'll add it now.  These verses have been challenging me and the guys in Bible study recently.
⁶ “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: 
to loose the chains of injustice 
   and untie the cords of the yoke, 
to set the oppressed free 
   and break every yoke? 
⁷ Is it not to share your food with the hungry 
   and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— 
when you see the naked, to clothe them, 
   and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? 
⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn, 
   and your healing will quickly appear; 
then your righteousness^[a] will go before you, 
   and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. 
⁹ Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; 
   you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

Do you feel like your light is not shining in the darkness? Do you feel like your prayers aren't being heard?  Well these verses share some very practical advice from the mouth of God to the prophet Isaiah.  SHARE your food with the hungry.  It doesn't say give, it says share.  Its not just about giving out of your abundance, but sharing what you think you need and have.  Provide the poor wanderer with shelter.  How many of us have space to spare and have money to spare?  How often do we use that space and money for ourselves instead of helping out and ministering to those that have less than us?  Clothing the naked.  There are so many people that are in need, and so often we ignore it!  "Not to turn away from your own flesh and blood."  Do you realize that you are the SAME as those who have nothing and are in need......God loves them and you the same!!  So why do we only love the lovely?  And only look to help people that will give us something back in return?

Do you want your light to shine?  Your prayers to be answered?  Than love the loveless and serve those who can't give you anything in return.  Yes, it may be uncomfortable for you to go up and help someone who looks like they haven't taken a shower in 3 weeks, but in the end do you think it was better to use that 2 dollars on them, or on buying that milkshake from McDonald's on the way home?  I just think we really need to question what our priorities are. Are we really concerned about the people God created and loved, or do we just want to give a few dollars that don't hurt us at all in order to feel good about ourselves.  My challenge (to myself and to you) is to give time and money in loving those that Christ so often bent down to help!  Didn't Jesus always seem to help those that so many people wouldn't even touch?  Lepers? The adulterous woman?

Think about it!

Soccer, Togo, Bode Falls, and ministry.....what could be better?

Sorry for the EXTREMELY long delay in writing a blog post!  Not much of an excuse, just have not gotten to it.  Needless to say, the last month and a half has been quite busy!!  I can’t believe it is mid-November already!

Since my last blog update we have had 3 soccer games!  We have also had about 60 bajillion people skip practice and many more ineligible! But we press on!  On Saturday, October 8^th we had a match against Jack and Jill.  Yes the school’s name is Jack and Jill, you are reading that correctly.  The Jack and Jill match was a high stress match!  We scored first, then they scored, then we scored, then they scored, then we scored, then they scored, they we scored, then they scored, then we scored, then they scored, then we scored!  Final score 6-5 with AIS coming out on top!  Needless to say the defense was subpar on both sides, but it was great to come out with a victory!  The next match was on Friday, the 21^st of October.  This match was against the children and teenagers from the neighborhood around the school.  Needless to say they play a lot more and a lot better than us.  The final score does not reflect how much more skilled than us they were basically because we were a lot bigger than them and could over power them for the ball.  They passed and moved so well, while we basically stood and watched in amazement.  The final score was 3-1 and could have easily been worse!  The third game we have had since the last blog update was today, November 12^th.  We had a match against Agape.  This team was also a lot smaller than us, but displayed so much more skill and knowledge of how to play the game of soccer.  At one point they made 18 passes without us touching the ball (I counted as us coaches watched in frustration at how much we try to get our players to understand how to play this way).  After making those 18 passes they were able to manufacture a wide open shot, but could not connect.  We were able to scratch out 2 goals, but ended up on the short end of the scoreboard at 5-2.  Our season goes through the end of November.  Hopefully we will be able to have a few more matches and learn more and more how to play the game.

Before each of these matches Christy and I have had to line the field.  It has been a fun time of trying to make straight lines and not spill the lime powder everywhere where it is not supposed to be.  By the end of lining the field yesterday, my left hand and arm were as white as the powder and it almost looked like I had a glove on!

Teaching our right back how to make a legal throw in

Shows you how good of a coach I am!! haha

On Friday the 14^th of October we had a day off of school.  So naturally we decided to travel via tro-tro to Togo!  We got up and were on a tro-tro by 5:30 in the morning.  When we arrived at the station where we were to find the tro-tro to Aflao (city right on the border of Togo where we could cross), we had no idea where to find the correct tro-tro.  So we asked and were pointed in one direction.  We walked in that direction and then asked another person.  This time we were pointed in the opposite direction!  So we were quite confused, but eventually after walking towards the light pole we were directed to walk to, we hopped onto the correct tro-tro (at least we hoped!).  After waiting for about an hour for the tro-tro to fill up we departed for our trip to Togo!  The trip turned out to be a lot longer than we had expected!  Our sources had told us the trip took around 2 and half to 3 hours.  It took 4 and half, but we made it to Aflao!  We asked the tro-tro driver where the border was, and headed there.  The border security was not exactly up to the standards of the states, but we needed to follow procedures in order to get our passports stamped and updated for Ghana.  At the embassy for Ghana the worker realized that all of our visas had expired the week before, so each of us had to pay 40 cedis to update the visa.  The school reimburses us for our visa, because we don’t have our work visas yet.  After figuring out all of the stuff in Ghana, we headed for Togo!  Little did we know the next experience we were about to have.  We had been told that you did not need a visa to get into Togo, but evidently those laws had been changed!  When we arrived at the border, we were told that we needed a visa and that we could only get one back in Accra.  We told the border guards that we had been told that we did not need a visa, and also told them that we were only going into Togo for a few hours.  Then the guard told us that we could get a visa for “much money.”  We continued to pester them and kept asking them how much money.  Eventually they told us that we could each get a visa for 15,000 CEFA (around $30).  We counted all of the CEFA we had and it ended up being 42,000 CEFA.  We needed 3,000 more!  They again told us to go back to Accra, and we asked if we could call someone over to exchange some money.  They told us they would call someone over, but forgot amid all the confusion of giving other people their visas.  So we had to ask them again, and finally they called someone over and we exchanged the money.  We paid for our visas and then had to wait even more!  The process for giving a visa is not electronic in Togo like it is in the States.  Each time he gave a visa he had to stamp about 10 different things into your passport and also put how much you paid for the visa.  He did this for several other people while we were standing there waiting, and the process was still not done.  The border official then had to walk (taking his grand ole’ time) across the road into a building and show them all the paper work.  Finally, he came back and handed us our passports (after stamping a few more things in them), and told us we could walk into Togo.  By this time it was 1:30 and we had spent around 2 hours at the border of Togo and Ghana!

Don’t worry though, the fun was only just beginning!  Since it was already 1:30, we decided we would just walk a little ways and see what we could do for a couple hours.  After walking about a quarter mile we came up to what we thought would be a good place to get something to drink and eat.  Once we got closer, we realized we were mistaken.  For another quarter mile, we walked on the sidewalk next to a huge beer festival!  There were stages set up for concerts and TONS of beer trucks with beer being unloaded everywhere.  Realizing that there wasn’t a whole lot to do other than go on the beach, we decided to walk down towards the water.  When we made down to the water, there were some port-o-potties set up for the beer festival.  I figured I would use one, since it was there, and discovered that it was a really clean port-o-potty!  So we all changed and swam in the very salty Togo water!  The beach was nice, although the sand was a lot of little rocks down by the water.  When we arrived down by the water, there were a few people around just sitting or standing on the beach.  By the time we were done swimming, there were at least 20 people either swimming with us or standing around watching the “yovo” (white people).  That’s not all! While we were swimming, all of our stuff was hit by a big wave and was soaking wet and covered in sand!  You know that feeling you have after being on the beach and having sand on you, well we had that for the rest of the trip!  Nothing important was destroyed by the water, but the fun was not over!  While we were standing there assessing the damage to our stuff and deciding what to do next, 3 or 4 guys came up and were talking to us about why we were here etc.  While we were talking to them, one of them managed to steal Kim’s camera and phone!  We have no idea when, or how he did it, as Kim said she was watching the stuff pretty closely. 

By this time it was around 4:30.  We walked back the half mile to the Ghanaian border and picked up some bread on the way.  The bread turned out to be lunch and dinner, as we had not eaten anything all day.  Getting back into Ghana was much easier than getting into Togo and only took us a total of 30 minutes.  We then started to walk back to the tro-tro station to find a ride back to Accra.  While walking there we were hassled by many taxi drivers wanting us to take their taxis back to Accra.  We told them we were going to Accra, but were taking a tro-tro.  Right after saying that, a man grabbed my arm and asked “tro-tro to Accra?”  I said, “Yes, we have 3 people!”  He said, “Yes, yes you will be last 3.”  He pulled me all the way through the crowd to the tro-tro and told us to get on.  While I was walking to get onto the tro-tro a man came up and gave me a big hug!  I have no idea who he was or why he was giving me a hug, but I guess he was excited to have us along on the trip back to Accra!  On the ride back to Accra I sat in a row with a bigger man to my left, and 2 bigger ladies to my right.  Needless to say, it was not the most comfortable I have ever been in my life, but it only added to the experience of our trip to Togo.  Every adventure we have I learn more and more about the people and the culture of Western Africa.

Sunset from the tro-tro

Before I get to the next adventure (Maybe I should call them Adventures with Kim, Christy, and Josiah.  No one else ever seems to want to join us on our adventures.  I am not sure why! Haha), let me share a few more normal events from the past month and a half. 

On Friday, October 28^th a bunch of other teachers and I went out to eat and then came back and had icecream cake in celebration of all the October birthdays.  (I can’t believe I am 23 now!)  The next night we celebrated Halloween!  This was no ordinary Halloween celebration.  Instead of carving pumpkins, we carved watermelons and had popcorn and watermelon for food to eat.

Me and Katie carving our watermelon!

On Friday, November 4^th the elementary students had parties and character day in celebration of all the minutes they read during reading month!  I decided to dress up as Huckleberry Finn so I could use the awesome hat I found in the storage closet for PE equipment!  It was a great day full of lots of students laughing at me and asking me why I was eating grass! 

 Now for the next adventure!  This past Monday we had the day off of school so we went to Bode Falls in eastern Ghana.  This time we left around 8 a.m. and rode with Gideon, who is the Ghanaian husband of one of the other American teachers, part of the way there.  He showed us around his hometown for a few minutes and then brought us to the tro-tro station where we could get a tro-tro to Bode Falls.  While waiting for the tro-tro to have enough passengers to leave, the driver of our tro-tro asked Kim to marry him.  Also, a little Ghanaian boy (probably around a year and a half old) was crying and yelling because he was scared of us (the white people!).  So naturally, when we hopped into the tro-tro his mom placed the boy on Kim’s lap!  He immediately became quiet and sat there peacefully looking at us with that confused look only kids can make.  His mom sat on the bench seat in front of Kim, and never took him out of Kim’s lap.  He sat in her lap the entire hour and a half we were traveling to Bode Falls and even fell asleep for a little bit.  We decided to take his picture, and after taking the picture showed it to him.  As soon as he saw the picture he smacked my camera as hard as he could!  Luckily Kim caught it before it could go anywhere, but it was a big surprise!  Most kids love seeing their picture, but evidently he did not.  This was not the only time he smacked something that had his picture on it.  His mom decided to take his picture on her phone, and when she showed him the picture he smacked her phone too!  The mom then put the picture as the background to her phone! Haha

We arrived at Bode Falls around 11:30 and decided to take the hike to the mushroom rock before going down the steps to see the falls.  The hike wasn’t very long, but was quite steep at some points, but it was definitely worth the hike.  When we got up to the mushroom rock there was a beautiful view of the surrounding countryside.  We stayed up at the rock for a few minutes taking pictures and relaxing, and then headed back down to the falls.  The falls were also really beautiful!  There were two falls coming from the same river, and it created a great view.  After watching the falls for a few minutes we walked back up the stairs and ate our lunch under a pavilion.  Then it was time to head back to find a tro-tro.  We decided to start walking back the road we came on until a tro-tro could pick us up.  Well it didn’t end up being that simple!  Nothing ever seems to! Haha  We walked for an hour and fifteen minutes while about 10 tro-tros passed us without picking us up.  While we were walking we kept asking ourselves if we had gone too far, or had missed our turn, but we were sure we were going the correct way!  3 men at this one village we were passing asked us where we were going.  We told them, and they said that we were going the wrong direction!  We had missed our turn and had walked too far!  They told us they would walk us to where we needed to go, but before we could get there they were able to get us on a tro-tro.  We had thought for sure that the turn we had to make was onto a paved road, but it ended up being a dirt road.  That’s why we missed our turn and walked too far!  The tro-tro took us back to Gideon’s hometown where he was taking a baptism course in the afternoon.  He picked us up at the tro-tro station and we headed back to Accra.  The trip to Bode falls was a little less adventurous than our trip to Togo, but adventure never seems to make our trips easy!  It has actually been really fun to experience the different parts of Ghana even if they weren’t all planned!

 Now for some ministry updates.  Remember last blog update when I talked about that 4 year old boy who can only make sounds and cannot pronounce words?  Well I have had several interactions with him since then!  I have learned that his name is Koby and he has an older brother names Kwaku.  Him and his brother walked with me all the way home one Tuesday afternoon.  Continue to pray for Koby and that God would loosen his tongue so that he might speak.  Koby is constantly hitting the people around him to try to get his point across.  Even with his brother it seems like he is always angry and fighting.  It is so hard to see him struggle to get other people to understand what he wants!

Kid’s club every other Tuesday afternoon has been going great!  One week we only had a few kids and decided to draw on their faces! They loved it!

Another ministry that I have recently been involved with is the “Onion boys.”  A man named Gomer who goes to the same church as me has a ministry with them.  The “Onion boys” are a group of about 15 or 20 17-25 year old boys from Niger (pronounced neegair).  He basically started the ministry by talking to them out on the street where they sell onions.  Over time he has gained their trust and now they just come to his house almost every day.  They come, eat, drink water, and shower.  Gomer is also helping them try to learn to read and write in English.  This will allow them to get better paying jobs.  Christy and I are hoping to be able to regularly go and help teach them English while they are over at Gomer’s house.  So pray for these “Onion boys” as most of them are still Muslims and live in great poverty.

One more note of exciting news!  If everything goes according to plan, 4 of us teachers will be traveling to a village in western Ghana over Thanksgiving break.  We will be bringing supplies for the students there and their school.  We will also be working with the students and helping out the village in any way we can.  I will give a whole blog probably about that trip in a few weeks!

Thank you so much to those of you that continue to pray and think of me as I am over here in Ghana.  Thank you so much to those of you that have sent packages and letters! It means so much!  Feel free to send me a message on Facebook or send me an email any time.  I can’t promise I’ll respond right away, but I will do my best! Continue praying for Koby.  Pray for the “Onion boys” and our time with them. Also pray for the upcoming trip to the village over Thanksgiving break!  I am really looking forward to that opportunity!  Continue to pray that the many unsaved students at AIS will be open to the gospel.  

Everything is possible for him who believes

     It's been a relatively normal week here in Accra.  Teaching PE classes and coaching soccer while learning more and more about how sinful I am and how much I need the love and grace of Christ!  This morning has been a great time of worship and growing in my relationship with Him.
    I woke up this morning, a few minutes later than I wanted to, and got ready to go to a meeting for Little League baseball here in Accra.  I will, Lord willing, be helping out with the league and possibly coaching and umpiring.  While walking to the school where we were meeting a little boy all of a sudden ran up and jumped and gave me a big hug!  It surprised me because most kids just come up and shake my hand and say hi, but this boy was different.  After trying to talk to him I realized that it was the boy who had sat in my lap for story time during our last kid's club (September 20).  After he ran up to me and hugged me, he grabbed my hand and walked with me all the way to the school.  At kid's club the other kids had told me that he could not speak well and did not understand much.  I had just thought he didn't know much English.  After talking to him today I realize how little he can speak.  I asked him a few questions in English and he just looked up and smiled at me.  Then I asked him etesan, which is how are you in Twi.  Even when I spoke Twi he looked up at me, smiled, and just made a noise in no way sounding like words.  I also asked him how old he was.  I said several numbers and finally he repeated back to me very quietly "four."  This was the only word he was able to say to me the whole time we were walking.  While we were walking I was so aware of how God uses even  those who can't speak to teach us!  This boy couldn't speak, but he was teaching me how to be joyous and happy even though he had nothing.  His family doesn't have money, he is walking around wearing a Christmas t-shirt, and he can't speak! But yet he still has a huge smile on his face as he is walking beside me holding my hand.  As we were walking I started praying for him, that he would one day be able to speak and become a great evangelist for Christ! Won't you join with me and pray for this 4 year old boy!  I will try to find out his name this upcoming Tuesday from the other kids and kid's club.
      When I got home from the baseball meeting I was still thinking about the young boy.  So I looked up some verses talking about the mute in the Bible and thought about how God used Moses even though he said to the LORD, "I am slow of speech and tongue." (Exodus 4:10)  Moses was referred to as God's servant more than any other person in the Bible and was also included as a great man of faith!  Jesus also dealt with speech problems.  He cast out a demon in a boy who's father said to Jesus, "But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us."  Jesus replied, "If you can?!" (exclamation point added by me).  "Everything is possible for him who believes."  Lord, help me to believe that you can heal this boy of his inability to speak and that your ways are higher than my ways.  Nothing can stop Jesus from shining through us, not even being mute!!
     Join with me in praying for this 4 year old boy, for the students at AIS to be open to the Gospel, for the kids at Pram Pram (tomorrow morning for Sunday school), and for the students at kid's club to be open to the Gospel on Tuesday.  Lord, use me!!

Run Obruni, Run!

      It has been two weeks since I last updated the blog and a few interesting events have happened.  On Monday September 12th we started soccer practice.  On the first day we only had 3 players who were prepared and could actually come to practice.  Over the past two weeks we have had up to 11 on some days of practice, but it has been disappointing the number of players who have shown up to practice consistently.  The students at AIS love to play soccer, but as a whole do not understand the hard work that goes into fielding a competitive squad.  They want to just be able to play and not work too hard.  As coaches, we are trying to instill in them a willingness to work hard to become better at the sport, not just have fun playing.  It is tough when so many students want to "just play" soccer instead of become a real team.  I am not sure how the season will end up if we cannot get more students to come out to practice willing to work hard.  Many students even talk about playing in college, but just do not understand the hard work and effort that students have to put forth in the U.S. even to play a game.  Pray that the boys would begin to understand the concept of team and the idea that hard work produces good results over time, even if you don't see it right away.
     Moving on from soccer to one of the most random things I have ever done.  Two weeks ago, on Friday, September 9th, 3 of us teachers decided to run a half-marathon.  Originally the main reason we were running was because one of the students (Asantewa) wanted Christy to run with her, and me and John decided to join in on the fun.  Well, it turned out that we would not be running with Asantewa because everyone under 15 had to run in a different category of the race.  We decided to still run, and trained during the week and half we had to prepare for the half marathon.  We ran 3 times for over an hour and came into Wednesday hoping to run a half marathon in around 2 hours.
    This marathon was one of the funniest things I have ever been a part of.  I think it might be one of those things that is really only funny if you are there, but I will still try to help you understand how funny it was to all 3 of us that ran.  On Tuesday the 13th we all went with Asantewa's mom (she is the K4 teacher at AIS) to sign up for the race.  We parked on the side of a big highway which is under construction and walked over to this parking lot near a hotel.  We asked the guard and he said that we could sign up at this plastic table that was out in front of the hotel.  There was no one at the table, but as we walked up to it a few people standing over by this van on the side of the road came walking over.  There were no signs saying this is where to sign up, and the people who were working the sign in table weren't even where we were supposed to be.  This should have given us some insight of what was to come, but we were still oblivious to the madness ahead.
   Tuesday before the race was a busy day which left no preparation time for the next day.  School, then faculty meeting, then Kid's Club, then men's Bible study, and then bed!  Wednesday morning I got up at 3:10 and made myself an egg sandwich in preparation for the upcoming marathon.  At around 4 o'clock John and Daesha and I walked to the school to be picked up by William.  We arrived at the starting line at 5 am and there was no one around!  We were wondering what was going on!  So we took some pictures of us at the starting line.

After a few minutes of asking questions we were able to figure out that we needed to go back about a quarter mile to where everyone gets their jerseys.  By the time we got there, lines of Ghanaians were everywhere.  Luckily our friend Daniel, who plays guitar at church and comes to soccer practice sometimes, saw us and invited us over to stand in line with him.  After waiting for half an hour they finally started handing out the jerseys while people fought for a spot in line.  During that half hour several times a man came over a loud speaker saying that people needed to "remain calm" once they received their jersey.  Apparently there is a usually a mad rush to run to the starting line when the first people get their jerseys.  This should have been another hint that this was not your well run, organized American marathon.  This was a Ghanaian run marathon!  After receiving our jerseys and putting them on we took some pictures and I got interviewed by a Ghanaian TV station!

Me, John, Christy, and William (one of the school's drivers who drove around trying to follow us with Daesha in the passenger seat taking pictures and video)

Being interviewed!  I was asked by 3 or 4 other stations to give them an interview!  But one was enough haha....also check out that farmer's tan!!

Twi.  The whole time we were waiting we talked to the people around us and had a great time laughing with some of them.  While we were talking, all of a sudden the gun went off and everybody quickly turned around and started running! It was the craziest start I have ever been a part of, no one in the back where we were even knew the race was starting!

     We tried to keep the same pace throughout the whole race, so most of the people started out ahead of us, and we passed a lot of people as we went along.  I don't think the majority of the people racing had trained at all.  I ran for 2 hours and 12 minutes and then walked until John and Christy caught up to me.  From my calculations I assumed that I had run a half marathon as there was only one marker that I saw (25 km left).   After walking for almost an hour William found us and picked us up.  We only had about 8 or 9 more miles left and thought about completing the whole marathon, but decided against it.  All 3 of us were very sore and tired after running for over 2 hours and completing half the marathon plus!

10 Interesting Facts/Happenings from the Milo Marathon:

1. It rained for the from the time we got our jerseys to about an hour and half into the race!  Even if we were soaked, it helped keep us cool! PTL!

2. Mud puddles were everywhere! The roads were paved for the most part, but Ghanaian roads are not known for being too smooth, so it was fun trying to stay out of the mud.  Trying to stay out of the mud and puddles was impossible at some points and so all 3 of us were muddy and soaked by the end.

3. Apparently traffic is not very important to get out of the way of the runners.  Actually it is probably not possible for them to stop traffic in Accra because it would create mass chaos, but it did add an extra element to running.  We had to try to avoid being hit by the cars that were driving past and also sitting in traffic right in the way of where we were supposed to run.

4. The Milo Marathon is not really an international marathon!  We only saw 2 other obruni's the whole time we were at the race, and I think that is why so many TV stations asked me for an interview!  I think Christy was the only white girl in the race!

5. There is no need to warn people that the race is about to start! Just shoot the gun!!

6. Shoes are optional when running the Milo Marathon!  We saw so many people who had either taken their shoes off or lost them and were running in bare feet.  Also, flip flops and socks are a perfect combination for running a marathon.  I saw at least 10 Ghanaian's wearing flip flops and socks and trying to run! It was so funny!!

7. Everyone running in the green uniforms creates a great view from the back of the pack.  I don't know if you can really tell from this picture, but there is a huge mob of green heading up the hill in the distance.  It was really cool to watch while we were running.

8. Going to the bathroom just off the road is not strange during a marathon (or at all in Ghana, I can't tell you how many men I have seen peeing into the gutter on the side of the road, and apparently women do too, but thankfully I have not experience that yet).  Since it is ok to go on the side of the road, me and John took advantage and stopped about an hour into the race haha.

9. Although getting on the back of tro-tro's while they are driving by is not viewed very highly by other Ghanaian's who are racing, some people still do it!  I saw around 10 people riding on the back of a tro-tro wearing their green jersey.  Daesha even got a picture of one of them!

10.  Even if it is not the most organized marathon in the world, it still can create great memories for the obruni's involved!

The past two weeks have been busy with school and the above mentioned things, and I am excited about the opportunities I am starting to have with talking to students.  One interesting comment a little 1st grader made to me on Thursday was this: "Mr. Jones, when I was at home a red ant bit me on the wee-wee!"  What can you say to him after that?! haha

Continue to pray for the students and the opportunities the other teachers and I have to be a witness to them. I am learning more and more how I can relate to these students who have been through so many things that I can't imagine.  I will tell you about some more opportunities I have with students in the next blog!

One month and counting......I'm basically Ghanaian!

    The past two weeks have been ones of growing more and more accustomed to living in Ghana, teaching, and learning more and more about my Savior.  School is now in a routine and has been going relatively smoothly.  It is still not too hot here, but today and yesterday have been the two hottest days since I have been here.  So I know it's coming!!  As of now I can still be outside for PE all day and not be drenched with sweat!
    Last Saturday I went on my first trip to Medina.  Medina is the market where you can buy basically anything you want.  Wednesdays and Saturdays are the main market days when people go to buy anything they need or want to sell.  The vendors on the streets generally go to Medina on one of these two days to get their supplies.  Medina was definitely a new experience for me.  Even though I have been to Ukraine and Costa Rica, I have never been to a market like this one.  There were people and vendors everywhere and traffic was rediculous.  You could get almost everything and anything you could want, and smell almost everything you want to and don't want to smell!  While I was there I bought several things I needed including a broom and dustpan, matches, cutting knife, and welcome mat.  Check out the broom handle wrapping:

    While I was at Medina I had an interesting experience while trying to cross the road.  I had just walked across the busy street to ask about the price of a broom at the place where I eventually bought mine and was getting ready to cross back over.  There was a car coming so I tried to start jogging.  As soon as I started to jog I ran straight into a Ghanaian man.  I'm not sure if he got the worst of it, but I ended up with a sore forehead and a mark on my chin.  When I ran into him he started yelling at me, but I couldn't understand a word he was saying.  The vendors behind me were laughing and so were my friends watching on the other side of the street.  I just told him I was sorry and didn't mean to run into him, but he was still quite upset when he walked away.  I thought it was funny, but evidently he didn't have the same view of it as me!
   The container for the school finally came on Wednesday, August 31st!  There were so many things on the container including: lots and lots of books, chairs, house furniture, and some soccer balls and playground balls.  I also found some Nerf footballs in the office!  Wednesday also included another adventure.  While walking over to A & C (shopping mall where I get most of my groceries) after lunch I met Godwin.  I said good afternoon and he asked if we could be friends.  I was hesitant at first, but eventually said yes.  He walked with me and followed me the whole time while I bought groceries.  On the way back I told him what I was doing over in Ghana and asked him what he thought about me being a missionary.  He didn't have too much to say about it, but eventually we started talking about God and who He is.  We were almost back to my house and so I asked him if he would stay outside and wait while I put my stuff away.  He surprisingly said yes, and so I took my groceries and everything I was carrying inside.  I brought my Bible and went out to meet him.  We walked for about 45 minutes toward where he lived.  We talked about everything from Creation to Jesus and overall he seemed to know and understand everything.  I am not sure if he really applies  his knowledge of God, but Godwin has a solid understanding of what the Bible says.  Before we arrived at his house I told him that I needed to head back to meet some of the other teachers.  He told me that he needed money and I told him that I didn't have any to give him (I didn't, I had put it all in the house when I dropped off groceries).  He seemed very disappointed, and I told him that he could call me anytime if he ever wanted to talk again.  I gave him my phone number and we took our separate ways.  This past Wednesday (September 7), Godwin stopped by Accrib and wanted to talk to me.  I came out from reading and we had a good conversation about our families and also about trusting God for everything.  Again he asked me for some money. This time I had planned on him asking me for money so I was prepared.  Godwin does not look like he needs money by the way he dresses or acts and so I am suspicious of him actually needing money.  I think he might just think I have a lot of money because I come from America, even though I have told him that I am not here to make money and am just being paid enough to live.  Because of my suspicions I only gave him a small amount of money.  It will be interesting to see if he comes back to see me and talk to me to ask for money.  I also prayed for him and encouraged him to be proactive in searching for a job.  The Lord tells us to give and I am looking forward to the opportunity to give to those that I meet in Accra who have less than I do and need the love of Christ!

      After my first conversation with Godwin I went to a birthday scavenger hunt for Kim.  We had 4 people on each team with each team having the same list of tasks to accomplish.   You can see the list above.  Some of the list that I participated in included being a mate on the tro-tro (which means I was yelling out where the tro-tro was going to anyone who was walking by while every Ghanaian laughed at me and told me I was doing it wrong!), pushing a fan ice cart, and wheelbarrowing for one minute on the new field.  It was a great way to celebrate Kim's birthday even though both teams accomplished everything on the list in the set amount of time.
     On Saturday September 3rd I was able to Skype my family for the first time since I have been over here in Ghana.  It was great to be able to see them and talk to them for a while!
    On Sunday a group of students and other teachers traveled about an hour to Pram Pram.  Pram Pram is outside of Accra and really close to the beach.  In Pram Pram there is a children's home where students who are not able to be taken care of by their parents live and go to school.  On the first Sunday of every month a group from the school goes and runs Sunday school for the little ones.  We talked about the parable of the talents (Matthew 25) and how God wants us to use our talents and gifts for Him.  After several lively songs and teaching we did a craft with the students.  The students decorated their crafts and some even wore them!

    This past Wednesday (7th) and every Wednesday I attend a men's Bible study with a couple of men from the school and others outside of the school.  Usually we have 4 or 5 men there.  This week we looked at several passages and discussed purity and having a strong devotional life.  Several lessons I learned include attempting to get to the point in devotions where I am enjoying the presence of God, not just reading and studying to complete a to-do's, and also focusing on the good (Philippians 4).
    Friday night was another interesting experience.  A group of people from AIS traveled out to the Korean church for their Korean Bazaar fundraiser.  They had food and performances for a few hours.  I ate a few Korean dishes including chap chae (picture below), bung-a bbang, and hoddok.

    Some side notes from the past two weeks: 1. Whenever the power goes out (which happens at least once most weeks) during school I have to deal with the extremely loud generators right beside the field.  It is very hard to get any student to listen to you when there is a constant loud noise! Here is a picture of the field after only 2 1/2 weeks of playing on it (the generators are in the shed in the background).

2. Last Friday night (September 2) a few of us teachers and a friend named Mark went out to eat.  On the way back while we were walking I was talking with Mark and decided to hold my hand.  I had heard before that it is Ghanaian culture to hold hands with close friends, but never had expected it to happen to me!  I was quite uncomfortable, but it was interesting to say the least!

3. John, Christy, and I have decided to run the Accra International Marathon which is on September 25th! We only have two weeks to prepare! Yesterday we ran for an hour (about 8 miles), and today we ran about half of that as a rest day.  We are hoping to complete the 13.1 miles in under 2 hours and I am already looking forward to when (Lord willing) we cross the finish line two weeks from now!

Prayer requests: 1.  Christ would continue to be shown in my life and the other teacher's lives and that the light of Christ would be clear to the students.  (Muslim parents of a 3 and 4 year old at school are already contemplating taking their children out of AIS because the 4 year old is praying to Jesus after just 3 weeks!!)  2. Pray for Godwin.  I hope that I can continue to talk with him and find ways to help him out in his struggle to  find a job and grow with Christ.  3.  Soccer IS starting this week!  Pray that the start would be smooth and that the other coaches and I would have many opportunities to teach skills in soccer and also life!  4. Pray that God would break my heart for what breaks His!  (You should also pray that for yourself!)

School has started!

Last blog I left off right before school started.  So here we go!  The first day of school was Monday August 15^th.  The day started out with a quick chapel service to start off the school year.  They also introduced the new faculty.  When they told everyone I was the new PE teacher I received loud applause!  Everyone loves PE!!  The first day of school for me was very easy with only 3 classes to teach.

Second day was when school really seemed to start.  I found out that day that some secondary students considered me a mean teacher haha.  I think it was actually a good thing to start out the year as I am the youngest teacher on staff. I do not think the students were expecting it at all.  In the past at AIS the PE teachers basically allowed the students to play a lot of games.  The students did not have to do too many drills, and were allowed to play the sport they LOVE! That of course is futbol. My plan for teaching is completely different and it is taking a little while for the students to understand that. 

Overall the first week went as well, and maybe even better, than I had hoped.  Lessons I had planned went smoothly and most of the students understood my expectations of them.  AIS was able to start off school with a great first week! Praise the Lord!

Friday night I moved all of my stuff out of the Crosby’s house and into my second temporary residence! I am now staying by myself right next to the place I will eventually be moving into.  The place I am staying in now has two bedrooms and two and half baths! Way too much space for me to live in by myself.  So I am happy that  I will be moving into a smaller place, even if it isn’t as nice as the place I am in now.

Living with the Crosby’s was great in the area of food, as I almost always had a well cooked meal for dinner.  I thank the Crosby’s so much for their hospitality to me for the first 3 weeks here in Ghana.  My first meal living by myself in Ghana: Crackers with peanut butter and some dry cereal!  Both staples of any good meal. 

Saturday I cleaned up the kitchen some and got some errands done. (Construction here is very different than in the U.S.  When they are done they leave the place very messy.  They also do not have the high standards that we do for plumbing and other important areas, as you will see in the next couple of paragraphs).  Saturday afternoon/evening we went out to celebrate Christy’s 25^th birthday.  We went mini-golfing and ate at the Turkish restaurant.  Then came back and had icecream and fruit!  Pineapple here is so good!

The weekend flew by and turned into a great Monday full of classes.  Tuesday morning did not fly by as I was rudely awakened at 3 am by what I believe was food poisoning.  I threw up at 3 and 4 am on Tuesday and felt very week all day, but was still able to teach.  It was the first time I have been sick since I left home for college, and it definitely made me miss my Mom very much!  My stomach felt weird for a few days, but it wasn’t too bad and I didn’t have to miss any school.

Tuesday afternoon I helped with a Bible club that some of the other teachers run.  Monday night I helped put together the boxes of school supplies that we handed out to the 52 students that came!  When we were walking up to the compound where they have the Bible club around 10 Ghanaian kids came running up to us and jumped on us while yelling “Obruni, Obruni!!!” (Obruni is the Twi word for “white person,” I hear the term at least once every day while walking to and from school)  It is a blessing the way so many young students and children here in Ghana quickly love you, but sad to know that so many of them do not have good male or female role models in their homes.  During the Bible club we sang songs and shared the story of Creation with the children.  Then we handed out the boxes of school supplies and some cookies and water.  The hour that they were around went so fast and I look forward to the Tuesdays when we are able to share Christ with these searching young Ghanaians. 

The first two weeks of school are over and I am excited about the many opportunities I will have to share the love of Christ to so many students and also adults around Accra.  During the first two weeks I shared Galatians 1:10 with the secondary classes.  I challenged each class several times with the same challenge I need to hear each and every day.  I am not to be seeking man’s approval, but I am to be seeking to please Christ!

My room for now, still not able to unpack everything

My fun for the first night living by myself

My dinner for that first night

The washing machine hose that came off and was spraying water everywhere!

All of the boxes we made for the children who came to  Bible Club this past Tuesday

Now for some interesting side notes on my first two weeks living in Accrib (the new apartment’s nickname given by me and the other new teachers):  On Sunday I put in a load of laundry when I got home from church.  By the time I had walked over to my bedroom to put some stuff away the water pipe going into the washer had popped off and was spraying water everywhere into the cabinets below the sink.  I quickly ran over and tried to find the valve underneath the sink to turn it off, but what do you know? There was no valve underneath the sink!  I searched all over the area to find one, but could not find a valve anywhere.  By now there was a river running out of the back kitchen door (thankfully the house slants back and the water did not run all over the house!!).  I tried turning off the pump which was outside, but water continued to flow!  Finally, our guard realized what was going on and showed me that there was a valve on the outside wall which controlled the water to my kitchen.  Nothing was really damaged, but there was a lot of water that flowed out of Accrib on that day.

That is not the only flood that has happened in Accrib though! The other apartments have all had some type of leak, and a couple of them have been worse than that one.  The plumber evidently was a taxi driver who had no idea what he was doing.  He did not pressure test the system at all.  Almost everywhere that there is a joint, there is a problem.  It is not boring living in the new apartments we fondly know as “Accrib.”

Hopefully I will be able to update again early next week and actually catch up on the blog, but until then here are some more prayer requests! Thank you so much for your prayers!

1. God would continue to show me my need and dependence on Him for everything.  2.  For the other teachers and I, that we would not grow weary in doing good!  3. God would lead me in my decisions for where to serve outside of school (church youth group or leading a high school guys Bible study or anywhere else God may have in mind).  4.  God would continue to bring the many non-Christian students and families to Himself.

Something quick to encourage you which has been encouraging me recently: Christ is not always looking for you to glorify Him in spectacular ways, but He simply wants you to obey and glorify Him in “everyday” moments that He can turn into spectacular moments.

One more thing.  My Ghanaian name is Kwabena.  Which means I was born on Tuesday.  Many families in Ghana name their children based on the day they were born.  I tell people my Twi name and they just laugh and then tell me their name.  It is fun learning the culture and learning a few of the words so I can have short conversations with people in their original language.