Akwaaba!!

We have arrived in Ghana! So much has already happened; I do not know where to begin. After a 5 hour flight to New York, a three hour layover, a 10 hour flight to Accra and a 5 hour bus ride to Obuasi, we have made it. This year they moved us to a different neighborhood. The estate we are staying in is called “Precious”. We were so relieved to be home because we were very tired from our two days of traveling. After getting situated we decided to roam about our new house. We opened our shower and came upon a puddle of “mildewy” water. Yes, our drain does not work. Little did I know but my mom’s old use of draino, would have come handy in this situation. I plan to bring some with me next year! Good thing there are two showers in our house. Luckily we all got a shower in before the water decided to stop running. We asked the Ghanian's we are staying with about our water, and they replied, "It will turn on maybe tomorrow." And so we waited.

Later that evening we decided to go out to dinner because it was John's birthday. We had chicken fried rice and Jolloff rice. We were very exhausted so after dinner we straight to bed :)

We woke up in the morning and went to church. We were told that it started at 9:00am so we woke up and 8:00, ate breakfast and patiently waited for our ride. By 9:30 our ride arrived. The Ghanian culture is very relaxed. So it is normal to be late to everything. We arrived at church around 9:45am, only to find out that it really did not start until 10:00am. Church went very well, they sing and dance for most of the service. As well as go up for offerings many times. We were sitting towards the back of the church and they called for offerings the first time, so we all went up and put some change in the box. We returned to our seats and then they all got up and started dancing to the front again, to put another offering. We did not really know what was going on, and we did not have any more money to put in so we sat in our seats. As everyone was singing and dancing us, obroni's (white people), were awkwardly sitting towards the back of the church. Wonderful. Now we know to only put one coin in at a time, because there is a chance that we will be called to put another offering!

We went to the orphanage yesterday afternoon to see the children. They were so happy to see that we have returned. Many of them remembered our faces and names. We spent most of the afternoon with the children there. It was so amazing to see some of the kids that we met last year. There is a young boy named Emmanuel that I met last year, and I was very much looking forward to seeing him again this year. He is a wonderful kid, with an amazing heart and love for Jesus. When I arrived I asked one of the children where Emmanuel was. They brought me to a building, yelled his name, and I waited for the door to open. It finally did, and he walked out, saw me, and ran to me and hugged me for about three minutes. Tears filled both of our eyes as he said "I missed you very much, and am so happy you have returned." He was very special to me because he was the only child that told me his life story last year. The rest of the day at the orphanage was great too.

Today, we woke up at 6:00am to take Curtis, a child from the orphanage to the hospital because he is very sick. The hospital is about an hour away. This was a very interesting but great experience. As we sat in a room full of sick people, at least one hundred people, it really made me realize how blessed we are as Americans. Because some of these people will have to wait days before they see a doctor. God is so good. The Pastor that came with us knew one of the nurses so we got in very quick. Well quick for them, it took about 3 hours! But that is better than 9. We saw the doctor and they weighed him, Curtis is about 6 years old and weights only 10 kg. His heart beat was 140 beats per minute and when you pick him up you cannot help but notice his ribs sticking out of his chest. His is all skin and bones, minus his belly which is from malnutrition. They said that they do not really know what is wrong with him but that it could be congenital heart disease or TB. Thought these are mere guesses. It was a huge blessing that we were able to come at this time, because the doctor said that they needed to admit him to the hospital because his sickness is fatal. So he was admitted to the Pediatric Emergency Unit this afternoon and will be staying there for a while. Please keep him in your prayers.

Well, it is a little after 9:00 and this cafe closes at 9:00 so I will have to stop now. Hopefully we will be able to come back soon.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers and I will continue to keep you updated.

Miss you and love you all!