Unless you change and become like children.....Matt. 18:3: December 2011

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!