Made it back safe and sound saturday night! Sorry for the delayed update, but this is the first time I've been on the computer since I've been home. Finally starting to get settled down....
I just wanted to make sure anyone who hadn't heard yet knew I made it back ok. The trip was utterly amazing, but it's certainly good to be home. I'll definitely have some final musings and whatnot to put up either later to day or tomorrow now that I have a chance to catch my breath and to look back over the entire experience. More to come....
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Almost There...
Just a couplemore days til I'm home! This trip has really been amazing in so many ways, and I hope this has helped share a bit of it with you. I definitely want to write some more reflective-type things to be able to share some thoughts and some of the ways in which this trip has stretched me and helped me grow; but time at the internet cafe is always limited, so I'll just have to keep sticking to the basics for now.... But there will definitely be some more to come when I get home and have the luxury of being able to sit down and have the time to write a bit more in-depth stuff lol....
So, let's see, where did I leave off? Everything's starting to blend together lol.... Okay, i'll go with tuesday: tuesday was kind of a day off, so Andrew and I went out for a bit and had a great morning and an... interesting... afternoon. Rather hectic, i guess. Perhaps more on this day later....
Wednessday we met as a team to just have a bit of devotional time since we're nearing the end of the trip here. Andrew and I led the devotional, focusing on looking back (at our time in Ghana and what we've done and had done for us here) and looking forward (to what this trip is going to mean in the context of our lives back home). It went extremely well (easy to lead with such an all-star cast of participants, too). There was a ton of good stuff and I'll be sure to share some more about it in the future as well.
Wednessday night we made dinner for our host family... eventually. We decided to do pancakes and bacon and jell-o for desert. Rich and Gina loved it (they were especially entertained by the jell-o lol). And preparing the food was quite an adventute in itself -- we didn't have quite the same tools as we would have at home, but we eventually made it work. I'd say about every 3 out of 4 pancakes was good enough to serve (we threw the rest away, just to be clear lol). 75% is passing, I guess. We'll take any victory we can get lol.
So, let's see, where did I leave off? Everything's starting to blend together lol.... Okay, i'll go with tuesday: tuesday was kind of a day off, so Andrew and I went out for a bit and had a great morning and an... interesting... afternoon. Rather hectic, i guess. Perhaps more on this day later....
Wednessday we met as a team to just have a bit of devotional time since we're nearing the end of the trip here. Andrew and I led the devotional, focusing on looking back (at our time in Ghana and what we've done and had done for us here) and looking forward (to what this trip is going to mean in the context of our lives back home). It went extremely well (easy to lead with such an all-star cast of participants, too). There was a ton of good stuff and I'll be sure to share some more about it in the future as well.
Wednessday night we made dinner for our host family... eventually. We decided to do pancakes and bacon and jell-o for desert. Rich and Gina loved it (they were especially entertained by the jell-o lol). And preparing the food was quite an adventute in itself -- we didn't have quite the same tools as we would have at home, but we eventually made it work. I'd say about every 3 out of 4 pancakes was good enough to serve (we threw the rest away, just to be clear lol). 75% is passing, I guess. We'll take any victory we can get lol.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Road Trip(s)
Hey! It's crazy that things are going to start to be wrapping up.... I can't beleive I only have a few more days. I'll be home on saturday night....
I just wanted to write something real quick about what we've been up to the past couple of days. On Saturday we went to a Navs conference in Tacoradi, another major city which is to the west, past Cape Coast. Now, as to exactly how far away it is, I'll have to do some "conversions." To just get from Accra to Tacoradi, if it were in the U.S., it would take maybe about an hour and a half. But as it it with the roads and the driving in Ghana, it took us about 4 hours to get there and 6 hours to get back. And we were in the city for like 3 hours (by the way, the conferenece was on "living and discipling among the lost," an element of the Navs' mission statement). So yeah, long day lol.
Then on Sunday we went to Church with Rich again and had a least a little bit of free time in the evenening.
And on Monday [yesterday], we went to go see a dam/manmade lake (the only one in Africa) that's about 2 hours away to the northeast. It was the birthday of one of the other host dads, so he had the day off and was able to take us up there (the city is called Akusumbo). The scenery was really, really pretty. Definitely a contrast to the cities we've seen for pretty much the entirety of our trip. There were mountains and trees and lake and fields. It was really cool. I'm glad we got to see that side of the country as well. (It's kind of closer to the images that come to mind when you think "Africa" -- at least for me lol.) And by the way, I'll definitely be getting pictures of all this stuff up once I get home....
[And this morning we got to gloriously sleep in a bit for like the first time in a week and half or so -- it was much-needed and much-appreciated lol.]
I just wanted to write something real quick about what we've been up to the past couple of days. On Saturday we went to a Navs conference in Tacoradi, another major city which is to the west, past Cape Coast. Now, as to exactly how far away it is, I'll have to do some "conversions." To just get from Accra to Tacoradi, if it were in the U.S., it would take maybe about an hour and a half. But as it it with the roads and the driving in Ghana, it took us about 4 hours to get there and 6 hours to get back. And we were in the city for like 3 hours (by the way, the conferenece was on "living and discipling among the lost," an element of the Navs' mission statement). So yeah, long day lol.
Then on Sunday we went to Church with Rich again and had a least a little bit of free time in the evenening.
And on Monday [yesterday], we went to go see a dam/manmade lake (the only one in Africa) that's about 2 hours away to the northeast. It was the birthday of one of the other host dads, so he had the day off and was able to take us up there (the city is called Akusumbo). The scenery was really, really pretty. Definitely a contrast to the cities we've seen for pretty much the entirety of our trip. There were mountains and trees and lake and fields. It was really cool. I'm glad we got to see that side of the country as well. (It's kind of closer to the images that come to mind when you think "Africa" -- at least for me lol.) And by the way, I'll definitely be getting pictures of all this stuff up once I get home....
[And this morning we got to gloriously sleep in a bit for like the first time in a week and half or so -- it was much-needed and much-appreciated lol.]
Friday, August 7, 2009
Would You Mind Taking a Quick Survey?
The past few days have ended up going extremely well. There was some initial doubt about what exactly we'd get to do after the first half of our team left, but we were trusting God to come through for us and give us some opportunities and He certainly has. We met on Monday to just get together as a team and spend some time praying as well, and to try and see what we'd concretely be doing for the next few days. We ended up deciding that we were definitely going to try and do something with the Freshmen at the university, since they would be registering/starting to move in this week.
So both the remaining Americans and some of the Ghana Navs met at the university (U of Ghana, at Legon) on Tuesday to discuss how exactly we wanted to go about this. Some of the other guys from the U.S. offerred an approach that they usually use to help get new people involved at the beginning of each year: they simply make up quick Navs-related surveys and basically just going around asking people if this would mind filling out the survey. It's really short, starting with real basic stuff like what are you studying, where do you live, etc., and broad questions like "Do you believe in God?; the Bible?; Have you heard of Jesus?; Who is he?" Stuff like that more or less. And a few questions asking if they'd be interested in joining a Christian group (like Navs), joining a Bible study, or meeting one-on-one with someone. Basically just if they'd like to talk about this kind of stuff more. And if they do want to hear more or start coming to some Navs stuff then there's a space at the bottom for them to put down their name and contact info, and then people can follow up with them.
So we decided to try something of that sort and made up our own quick survey. Of course, the way the we went about things was a bit different than it would have been in America too. For example, a question asking a Ghanaian if they believe in God is beyond superfluous; that's just a given. And people in Ghana are, in general, much more hospitable than in the U.S. Pretty much anyone you try to start a conversation with will take the time to talk to you (where from what the other guys were saying, in the U.S. people just keep right on walking by you 95% of the time). So the plan was basically just to strike up a conversation, help them with anything they may need (they are Freshmen after all lol), ask them to fill out the survey real quick, and just tell them a bit about Navigators along the way.
We went to the university both on Wednessday and Friday (today) to do this, and it went extremely well. We split up into groups of like two or three people and went to the various halls where the Freshmen were registering and whatnot. Almost everyone was very receptive to us
and a good number were definitely genuiniely interested in getting involved with Navs. Between the two days we got back something like 160 surveys. Pretty ridiculous. Especially considering that Navs at the university is currently around like 50 people. And I would roughly estimate that about half the people would legitimately like to get involved with Navs (which is really a phenomenal percentage for that kind of thing). The whole survey thing was new to me as well (at UC Navs does stuff like helping freshmen move in and giving out water at the beginning of the year), and I think each group went about things a little differently lol, but it worked out really really well overall.
It's actually a really exciting thing to see Navs at the University of Ghana poised for that much growth. I'd say they're looking at at least a 100% increase in the mere size of their group alone. It's really cool to see what God is doing at the University of Ghana, and even more awesome to have gotten to play part in it. I'll be anxious to see where things go for them, and any prayers sent in their direction would definitely be great as well.
(And by the way, we got to beach it up on Thursday again -- at LA beach lol. We went with some of the Ghana Navs this time, so it was a great chance just to get to hang out with them some more and have some fun. And we got to ride the tro-tro there too, the Ghanaian mode of public transportation; it's one of those like big 15 passenger van-type things -- except with like 20 in them, of course. Oh, Ghana. lol.)
So both the remaining Americans and some of the Ghana Navs met at the university (U of Ghana, at Legon) on Tuesday to discuss how exactly we wanted to go about this. Some of the other guys from the U.S. offerred an approach that they usually use to help get new people involved at the beginning of each year: they simply make up quick Navs-related surveys and basically just going around asking people if this would mind filling out the survey. It's really short, starting with real basic stuff like what are you studying, where do you live, etc., and broad questions like "Do you believe in God?; the Bible?; Have you heard of Jesus?; Who is he?" Stuff like that more or less. And a few questions asking if they'd be interested in joining a Christian group (like Navs), joining a Bible study, or meeting one-on-one with someone. Basically just if they'd like to talk about this kind of stuff more. And if they do want to hear more or start coming to some Navs stuff then there's a space at the bottom for them to put down their name and contact info, and then people can follow up with them.
So we decided to try something of that sort and made up our own quick survey. Of course, the way the we went about things was a bit different than it would have been in America too. For example, a question asking a Ghanaian if they believe in God is beyond superfluous; that's just a given. And people in Ghana are, in general, much more hospitable than in the U.S. Pretty much anyone you try to start a conversation with will take the time to talk to you (where from what the other guys were saying, in the U.S. people just keep right on walking by you 95% of the time). So the plan was basically just to strike up a conversation, help them with anything they may need (they are Freshmen after all lol), ask them to fill out the survey real quick, and just tell them a bit about Navigators along the way.
We went to the university both on Wednessday and Friday (today) to do this, and it went extremely well. We split up into groups of like two or three people and went to the various halls where the Freshmen were registering and whatnot. Almost everyone was very receptive to us
and a good number were definitely genuiniely interested in getting involved with Navs. Between the two days we got back something like 160 surveys. Pretty ridiculous. Especially considering that Navs at the university is currently around like 50 people. And I would roughly estimate that about half the people would legitimately like to get involved with Navs (which is really a phenomenal percentage for that kind of thing). The whole survey thing was new to me as well (at UC Navs does stuff like helping freshmen move in and giving out water at the beginning of the year), and I think each group went about things a little differently lol, but it worked out really really well overall.
It's actually a really exciting thing to see Navs at the University of Ghana poised for that much growth. I'd say they're looking at at least a 100% increase in the mere size of their group alone. It's really cool to see what God is doing at the University of Ghana, and even more awesome to have gotten to play part in it. I'll be anxious to see where things go for them, and any prayers sent in their direction would definitely be great as well.
(And by the way, we got to beach it up on Thursday again -- at LA beach lol. We went with some of the Ghana Navs this time, so it was a great chance just to get to hang out with them some more and have some fun. And we got to ride the tro-tro there too, the Ghanaian mode of public transportation; it's one of those like big 15 passenger van-type things -- except with like 20 in them, of course. Oh, Ghana. lol.)
Monday, August 3, 2009
A Slip of the Tongue
In the rushed confusion that was the end (~last paragraph-ish) of my last post, I realized (/Fr. Mike pointed out -- thanks lol) that I phrased something in a way that I quite shouldn't have. When I was talking about the vast generosity that Rich and Gina specifically had shown us, I said that I only hoped we could "repay them in some small way." While I didn't even mean financially, I realized looking back that even in any context this "hope" is rather ridiculous. We can't repay them. Ever. Not really. And coming from the American mindset that we do, this is kind of hard to accept. We have a you-scratch-my-back-I'll-scratch-yours philosophy, and the Ghanaians just don't even entertain this mind set. Auntie Linda is an American missionary who has been working in Ghana almost 30 years now, and she told us all something in our first days here that we have all found to be more than accurate: "You can't out-serve a Ghanaian." And you really can't. Give up. Don't even try. Instead, just be grateful, thank God, and love them back.
That's really all they're doing with us. They just live their lives with an attitude of love, and never think twice about doing whatever they can for us. What an amazing picture of the Gospel in action, of a living and breathing Christian community. As I've said, we've experienced this love and generosity to an even greater extent with Rich and Gina, who've taken us into their own home. Just getting to spend time with them has been quite a gift, and all we want to do is to be able to show them the same love that they've shown us, all to the greater glory of God. Easier said than done -- perhaps. It really doesn't even need to be that complicated. Just "wasting time together," as it is put in The Little Prince, is sufficient. Like I said, we're never going to be able to match what they've done for us anyway. We just have to be OK with showing them love in the ways we can, and just thanking God for them.
It's quite a lesson in generosity and love. They have given to us in ways we can't possibly repay, and thought nothing of it. We (or I at least) may claim to give without a second thought at times, but often we just lodge it in the back of our mind, even if unconsciously, a sort of "kindness-coupon" for us to cash in on later. My time in Ghana has definitely opened my eyes even already to this amazing attitude towards love and service. Just do it. No need to question, to think twice, or to calculate the ways in which this might come back to us. Just do it. They truly live this aspects of their lives out as Christ has called us to, and seemingly without even thinking about it. Truly inspiring.
Without cost you have received;
without cost you are to give. --Matthew 10: 8b
Also, I'd like to take a moment to again extend my most sincere thanks to everyone who has supported me both spiritually and financially for this trip. Your help and support has been invaluable, and I'm so glad you could share this experience with me. I pray for God's blessings for you as well. And also, in light of all the thankfulness I've shared about Rich and Gina, who have helped to take care of me and Andrew over the past 19+ days, I'd like to extended a disproportionately small yet heartfelt thank you to my parents, who've been taking care of me (as well as a different Andrew) for 19+ years. Thanks for everything Mom and Dad. I love you.
[P.S. Props to anyone who recognized the heading of this entry as the title of a C.S. Lewis essay. lol]
That's really all they're doing with us. They just live their lives with an attitude of love, and never think twice about doing whatever they can for us. What an amazing picture of the Gospel in action, of a living and breathing Christian community. As I've said, we've experienced this love and generosity to an even greater extent with Rich and Gina, who've taken us into their own home. Just getting to spend time with them has been quite a gift, and all we want to do is to be able to show them the same love that they've shown us, all to the greater glory of God. Easier said than done -- perhaps. It really doesn't even need to be that complicated. Just "wasting time together," as it is put in The Little Prince, is sufficient. Like I said, we're never going to be able to match what they've done for us anyway. We just have to be OK with showing them love in the ways we can, and just thanking God for them.
It's quite a lesson in generosity and love. They have given to us in ways we can't possibly repay, and thought nothing of it. We (or I at least) may claim to give without a second thought at times, but often we just lodge it in the back of our mind, even if unconsciously, a sort of "kindness-coupon" for us to cash in on later. My time in Ghana has definitely opened my eyes even already to this amazing attitude towards love and service. Just do it. No need to question, to think twice, or to calculate the ways in which this might come back to us. Just do it. They truly live this aspects of their lives out as Christ has called us to, and seemingly without even thinking about it. Truly inspiring.
Without cost you have received;
without cost you are to give. --Matthew 10: 8b
Also, I'd like to take a moment to again extend my most sincere thanks to everyone who has supported me both spiritually and financially for this trip. Your help and support has been invaluable, and I'm so glad you could share this experience with me. I pray for God's blessings for you as well. And also, in light of all the thankfulness I've shared about Rich and Gina, who have helped to take care of me and Andrew over the past 19+ days, I'd like to extended a disproportionately small yet heartfelt thank you to my parents, who've been taking care of me (as well as a different Andrew) for 19+ years. Thanks for everything Mom and Dad. I love you.
[P.S. Props to anyone who recognized the heading of this entry as the title of a C.S. Lewis essay. lol]
Sunday, August 2, 2009
A Day at the Beach
In a stark contrast to the past few weeks, the last few days have actually been quite laid-back.
Friday we literally did almost nothing the entire day -- we thanked God for actually giving us a chance to be bored for a moment for the first time in our entire trip lol. Andrew and I got to sleep in a good amount for the first time since we've been here, and spent the day mostly just hanging out, talking, and reading.
Saturday was jam-packed, juxtaposed nicely with the lull of Friday. Rich and Gina took Andrew and me (and their baby daughter Rinna) to a beach which was about a two hour drive from Osu, the part of Accra we're staying in. The beach (called Bojo beach, I believe -- not that it really matters I suppose lol) was really cool; it's actually an island. The shore-side is maybe just 1000 feet from the mainland, but it was extremely cool nonetheless. You get to take a boat over to the island/beach, which is a fairly decent size and has areas to swim (the waves were huge!), play volleyball, or just hang out, and has an area that serves food as well. [And by the way, even though there's a "beach" like five minutes from our house, it's sadly really more of a garbage dump; thus the journey to get to a nicer section of the shore.
And today (Sunday) we got a chance to go to church with Rich (Gina's had to stay at home with the baby lately). It was a really neat experience. The church has a main service, and also a youth service which is made up of kids mostly our age (in university of close to it). And Rich himself actually leads the youth service, which he explained he just recently started. It was cool of get to "see him in action" lol. He's a really smart guy and the amount of dedication he has to not only living his faith but sharing it with others is quite inspiring. I'd say there were a little less than 40 people at the youth service, which lasted for about three hours and consisted of praying, singing, bible study, Rich speaking, and just some general fellowship. Everyone was extremely welcoming to me and Andrew (as usual lol), talking to us after the service and checking to see if we'd be back next weekend.
And then later in the afternoon we attended one of the neighborhood Bible studies that Rich leads (he's a busy man lol). This one was actually a children's study. I guess for the past few weeks they've been going over evangelism and how to talk to people about the Gospel. So today was spent mostly just doing a few "trial runs," with the someone taking a role of an unbeliever and another kid coming up to talk to them and get to run through the course of the conversation. It's really an impressive thing to see these kids (maybe around 10-14, mostly) going through this process and telling the grand story, reciting the verses, and keeping their cool - for the most part lol. But the important thing is that they're learning -- and moreover just doing it at all. [The Nkum mission at the beginning of this trip was really the first time I had even done that type of thing myself. That was definitely an experience in itself, and something I'll talk about at greater length a little later....]
More than anything in the past few days, I just want to stress how blessed I feel to have had Rich and Gina take us into their homes and into their lives. Their generosity and attitude service have not once ceased to amaze me. I remember distinctly the first night Andrew and I arrived, when they sat us down at one point and told us how they were willing to sacrifice for us while we were here. It's an amazing thing to hear and what's even more amazing -- though at this point not at all surprising -- is that they really live it. Just all the little things they do for us. Andrew and I more than anything don't want to be a burden (an attitude that many would most likely share), but they don't even think about it that way. It's their honor and thier joy to serve, and we've just had to learn to let them. I just hope we can pay it back in at least some small ways. The time we've spent with them has been great. The beach is a fine example too. They set aside the day to spend with us, paying for everything along the way and thinking nothing of it. We took time after first arriving on the beach to read the Word together for a little while. Getting to read the Bible with them like this and to pray together as we have on countless other occassions has really been great; it's really amazing to see how their faith pervades their life and for us to get to be a part of it. They've been great. Simply and truly.
Friday we literally did almost nothing the entire day -- we thanked God for actually giving us a chance to be bored for a moment for the first time in our entire trip lol. Andrew and I got to sleep in a good amount for the first time since we've been here, and spent the day mostly just hanging out, talking, and reading.
Saturday was jam-packed, juxtaposed nicely with the lull of Friday. Rich and Gina took Andrew and me (and their baby daughter Rinna) to a beach which was about a two hour drive from Osu, the part of Accra we're staying in. The beach (called Bojo beach, I believe -- not that it really matters I suppose lol) was really cool; it's actually an island. The shore-side is maybe just 1000 feet from the mainland, but it was extremely cool nonetheless. You get to take a boat over to the island/beach, which is a fairly decent size and has areas to swim (the waves were huge!), play volleyball, or just hang out, and has an area that serves food as well. [And by the way, even though there's a "beach" like five minutes from our house, it's sadly really more of a garbage dump; thus the journey to get to a nicer section of the shore.
And today (Sunday) we got a chance to go to church with Rich (Gina's had to stay at home with the baby lately). It was a really neat experience. The church has a main service, and also a youth service which is made up of kids mostly our age (in university of close to it). And Rich himself actually leads the youth service, which he explained he just recently started. It was cool of get to "see him in action" lol. He's a really smart guy and the amount of dedication he has to not only living his faith but sharing it with others is quite inspiring. I'd say there were a little less than 40 people at the youth service, which lasted for about three hours and consisted of praying, singing, bible study, Rich speaking, and just some general fellowship. Everyone was extremely welcoming to me and Andrew (as usual lol), talking to us after the service and checking to see if we'd be back next weekend.
And then later in the afternoon we attended one of the neighborhood Bible studies that Rich leads (he's a busy man lol). This one was actually a children's study. I guess for the past few weeks they've been going over evangelism and how to talk to people about the Gospel. So today was spent mostly just doing a few "trial runs," with the someone taking a role of an unbeliever and another kid coming up to talk to them and get to run through the course of the conversation. It's really an impressive thing to see these kids (maybe around 10-14, mostly) going through this process and telling the grand story, reciting the verses, and keeping their cool - for the most part lol. But the important thing is that they're learning -- and moreover just doing it at all. [The Nkum mission at the beginning of this trip was really the first time I had even done that type of thing myself. That was definitely an experience in itself, and something I'll talk about at greater length a little later....]
More than anything in the past few days, I just want to stress how blessed I feel to have had Rich and Gina take us into their homes and into their lives. Their generosity and attitude service have not once ceased to amaze me. I remember distinctly the first night Andrew and I arrived, when they sat us down at one point and told us how they were willing to sacrifice for us while we were here. It's an amazing thing to hear and what's even more amazing -- though at this point not at all surprising -- is that they really live it. Just all the little things they do for us. Andrew and I more than anything don't want to be a burden (an attitude that many would most likely share), but they don't even think about it that way. It's their honor and thier joy to serve, and we've just had to learn to let them. I just hope we can pay it back in at least some small ways. The time we've spent with them has been great. The beach is a fine example too. They set aside the day to spend with us, paying for everything along the way and thinking nothing of it. We took time after first arriving on the beach to read the Word together for a little while. Getting to read the Bible with them like this and to pray together as we have on countless other occassions has really been great; it's really amazing to see how their faith pervades their life and for us to get to be a part of it. They've been great. Simply and truly.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
A Taste of the Town
About half our group is heading out on Friday, so we took yesterday and part of today to actually do a few tourist-y things....
The main event of yesterday was a canopy walk. We took a bus (a very small, very crowded) bus to Cape Coast, which is to the west and takes about 3 - 4 hours to get to. We arrived at Kakum national park for the canopy walk, which proved to be quite exhilirating. The entire tour is about an hour long, about half of which is spent doing the actual canoopy walk (you kind of have to walk through/up a trail first to get there. So, for the canopy walk, envision a bunch of wooden planks strung together from one tree to another, suspended from a rope bridge type contraption which hangs from two steel cables about a hundred feet in the air. yep. It was really awesome. There were about seven of these bridges, which went from one tree to another (with a tree-house-like platform at each) and wrapped around back to the started. Rather freaky, really fun.
We were going to try to take a tour of the old slave castle on Cape Coast as well, but it ended up being too late. We did get to stop there for a few minutes though and just look at the outside. And we were about a hundred feet from the ocean too, so we had some really cool views. (Some of us also may have gotten a bit soaked by one particularly large wave that crashed up against the cliffs... about that....). Then we took the four hour bus ride home, got back nice and late, and went to bed. [By the way the road to Cape Coast was the most annoying thing ever -- like every 1000 feet there are two sections of these things half way between speed bumps and rumble strips, but with all the worst features of each lol. just part of the experience lol.]
Then today we went to Accra mall (which is pretty much just a normal mall) for a few hours. Andrew and I are staying right in the city, so everything we've seen so far has been more of the market place vibe, whereas this was an actual indoor mall. It's about 20 minutes away, so we took a taxi to get there. (Me and Andrew have become quite the city-slickers, experts at bargaining with cab drivers lol. We got there today for 4 cedis, or a little less than 3 dollars.) I got a soccer jersey and a shirt that's of the local style (kind of loud-patterned button-up shirts). That'll probably be the extent of the souvinirs I get for myself lol. We also got some well-earned pizza at the mall lol -- we've been sampling the local fair they whole time we've been here, and experienced our share of interesting meals lol (a combination of yams, rice, or plantains with a peice of meat/fish along with this kind of mix of vegetables and this orange oil is usually the normal building blocks for a meal, give or take. then there's fufu. no comment. and i'm pretty sure I was eating intestines last night... probably better not to know lol.)
So tomorrow our team leader is meeting with the country leader from Ghana to discuss the trip and future plans for this same type of trip. We've done a ton of good so far (more than we realize I think), but of course things can always get better. Then the first half of the group ships out firday morning. That'll be really strange....
But we're really hopeful for some great things to come in the next two weeks for the remainder of the team. We'll be praying that we God lets us really do some wonderful things in this second half of the trip, and we've got a few cool prospects. I'll let you know what we decide for sure (we'll probably get going at the beginning of next week)....
The main event of yesterday was a canopy walk. We took a bus (a very small, very crowded) bus to Cape Coast, which is to the west and takes about 3 - 4 hours to get to. We arrived at Kakum national park for the canopy walk, which proved to be quite exhilirating. The entire tour is about an hour long, about half of which is spent doing the actual canoopy walk (you kind of have to walk through/up a trail first to get there. So, for the canopy walk, envision a bunch of wooden planks strung together from one tree to another, suspended from a rope bridge type contraption which hangs from two steel cables about a hundred feet in the air. yep. It was really awesome. There were about seven of these bridges, which went from one tree to another (with a tree-house-like platform at each) and wrapped around back to the started. Rather freaky, really fun.
We were going to try to take a tour of the old slave castle on Cape Coast as well, but it ended up being too late. We did get to stop there for a few minutes though and just look at the outside. And we were about a hundred feet from the ocean too, so we had some really cool views. (Some of us also may have gotten a bit soaked by one particularly large wave that crashed up against the cliffs... about that....). Then we took the four hour bus ride home, got back nice and late, and went to bed. [By the way the road to Cape Coast was the most annoying thing ever -- like every 1000 feet there are two sections of these things half way between speed bumps and rumble strips, but with all the worst features of each lol. just part of the experience lol.]
Then today we went to Accra mall (which is pretty much just a normal mall) for a few hours. Andrew and I are staying right in the city, so everything we've seen so far has been more of the market place vibe, whereas this was an actual indoor mall. It's about 20 minutes away, so we took a taxi to get there. (Me and Andrew have become quite the city-slickers, experts at bargaining with cab drivers lol. We got there today for 4 cedis, or a little less than 3 dollars.) I got a soccer jersey and a shirt that's of the local style (kind of loud-patterned button-up shirts). That'll probably be the extent of the souvinirs I get for myself lol. We also got some well-earned pizza at the mall lol -- we've been sampling the local fair they whole time we've been here, and experienced our share of interesting meals lol (a combination of yams, rice, or plantains with a peice of meat/fish along with this kind of mix of vegetables and this orange oil is usually the normal building blocks for a meal, give or take. then there's fufu. no comment. and i'm pretty sure I was eating intestines last night... probably better not to know lol.)
So tomorrow our team leader is meeting with the country leader from Ghana to discuss the trip and future plans for this same type of trip. We've done a ton of good so far (more than we realize I think), but of course things can always get better. Then the first half of the group ships out firday morning. That'll be really strange....
But we're really hopeful for some great things to come in the next two weeks for the remainder of the team. We'll be praying that we God lets us really do some wonderful things in this second half of the trip, and we've got a few cool prospects. I'll let you know what we decide for sure (we'll probably get going at the beginning of next week)....
Monday, July 27, 2009
Another Quick Story from Nkum...
In what I believe was the last village my group went out to visit while in Nkum, we saw some really encouraging things.
This village was one of the much bigger ones we had visited, relatively speaking, but less than 100 people or so; and they seemed relatively better off as well. Most of the people in this village we already believers in Christ (as were some of the other people we had encountered, who had been visited in years past). So we just decided to offer them some words of encouragement, or advice, or scripture or whatever came to mind. There were probably about 20 or so people listening intently and it was a great chance to build them up in their faith journey, since they don't often get the chance to hear things of this sort. So we probably spent about a half hour or so with different members of our team (both American and Ghanaian) sharing with them.
I (as well as some others in our group) noticed in particular this one older gentleman who was sitting towards the back of the group that was listening to us. He was frantically, intently, and eagerly taking notes of everything that each speaker was saying, making sure he got the reference for every verse or passage someone mentioned. It was a really neat sight to see.
And it stirred to mind Acts 17: 11, where it speaks of the Bereans being more noble than the Thesselonians because they not only recieved the message eagerly, but checked the Scriptures everyday to see if what Paul was saying was true. And that's exactly what this gentleman was doing on behalf of his village. Here were people who were not just eagerly receptive to whatever came out of our mouths, but they were genuinely interested in looking into it further, in double checking it, in talking about it more, and in taking it to heart. Their eager faith and desire for spiritual growth rooted in the Bible was truly impressive.
[P.S. I'm going to try also to not repeat any of the stories that Andrew is sharing so that you can get a bigger picture of things. He and I are staying with the same family, so we've spent like at least 90% of the trip together. So check out hios blog too for some of our other adventures and sights lol.]
This village was one of the much bigger ones we had visited, relatively speaking, but less than 100 people or so; and they seemed relatively better off as well. Most of the people in this village we already believers in Christ (as were some of the other people we had encountered, who had been visited in years past). So we just decided to offer them some words of encouragement, or advice, or scripture or whatever came to mind. There were probably about 20 or so people listening intently and it was a great chance to build them up in their faith journey, since they don't often get the chance to hear things of this sort. So we probably spent about a half hour or so with different members of our team (both American and Ghanaian) sharing with them.
I (as well as some others in our group) noticed in particular this one older gentleman who was sitting towards the back of the group that was listening to us. He was frantically, intently, and eagerly taking notes of everything that each speaker was saying, making sure he got the reference for every verse or passage someone mentioned. It was a really neat sight to see.
And it stirred to mind Acts 17: 11, where it speaks of the Bereans being more noble than the Thesselonians because they not only recieved the message eagerly, but checked the Scriptures everyday to see if what Paul was saying was true. And that's exactly what this gentleman was doing on behalf of his village. Here were people who were not just eagerly receptive to whatever came out of our mouths, but they were genuinely interested in looking into it further, in double checking it, in talking about it more, and in taking it to heart. Their eager faith and desire for spiritual growth rooted in the Bible was truly impressive.
[P.S. I'm going to try also to not repeat any of the stories that Andrew is sharing so that you can get a bigger picture of things. He and I are staying with the same family, so we've spent like at least 90% of the trip together. So check out hios blog too for some of our other adventures and sights lol.]
Youth Camp Yo
So, we just got back from the youth camp earlier this afternoon (Monday). I'm writing now from some random internet cafe in Accra lol. [Which we got to by way of taxi -- Andrew and I have become quite proficient in our bargaining with the drivers lol.]
The Youth Camp was a really good experience overall. It was made up mostly of people our age -- either in university, just before, or just after. It was interesting to get to see the way they run things: on one side the way they have things set up is very similar to the way they are at the Nav conferences in the US; but at the same time much of the substance/presentation, etc. was very much different. There were some speakers, some Bible studies, some workshops, devotions, singing, games, entertainment, and food. It's funny that the last sentence still perfectly the way things would be at home too, but there's a lot different -- kind of. It's hard to explain some of the subtle distinctions over the computer, but I'll try to at least give a small idea....
Their praise and worship is extremely genuine and really neat to get to see and be a part of. Most of the time when they pray in groups, instead of kind of speaking up one at a time as we usually do in such situations in the US, they just all pray out loud at the same time. It's really cool to hear the room kind of just swell up with the sound of a group of people softly praying out loud all at once. One other slight difference is that they seem to spend a lot more time working straight out of the Bible even in talks and presentations and such. Whereas I'm used to speakers interspersing stories, comments, ruminations, etc., they for the most part just jump from scripture to scripture. It can be good, but personally it was a bit exhausting the first day, with me being used to more of a variety of style. Friday morning I was literally reading the Bible for like 6 or 7 hours stright. The Ghanains like to go straight to the Truth....
Again, it's kind of hard to explain the diffences not in person, but it really was a great experience overall and the stuff they're doing at the camp really was awesome.
One thing that was a bit different from our very few expectations was just how thriving the Ghana Navs ministry is. I (and most others on the team) had gotten the impression that Navs here could really use our help and we would kind of have some leadership role in the camp. But we ended up being participants just like everyone else present for the most part. It's kind of cool to just be able to jump in with another strong community of believers and just be able to live alongside them. While some of our methods of practices may be subtly different, we're all working to know Christ and make him known; it really does feel like one big Christian family (-- again, the fact that the Ghanaians are so incredibly welcoming and friendly plays a big part in this).
Some of the same people whom we went to Nkum with for the missions trip were at the camp (as both officials and participants), so it was also really great to know them going into it and to get to spend some more time with them. We also got to share with the other pepole at the camp (about 80) what went on in Nkum for a brief while on Sunday night. I shared some thoughts and two quick stories, the one about giving the woman and her son a New Testament, and one about this one older gentleman in one of the bigger villages [see next entry....].
The Youth Camp was a really good experience overall. It was made up mostly of people our age -- either in university, just before, or just after. It was interesting to get to see the way they run things: on one side the way they have things set up is very similar to the way they are at the Nav conferences in the US; but at the same time much of the substance/presentation, etc. was very much different. There were some speakers, some Bible studies, some workshops, devotions, singing, games, entertainment, and food. It's funny that the last sentence still perfectly the way things would be at home too, but there's a lot different -- kind of. It's hard to explain some of the subtle distinctions over the computer, but I'll try to at least give a small idea....
Their praise and worship is extremely genuine and really neat to get to see and be a part of. Most of the time when they pray in groups, instead of kind of speaking up one at a time as we usually do in such situations in the US, they just all pray out loud at the same time. It's really cool to hear the room kind of just swell up with the sound of a group of people softly praying out loud all at once. One other slight difference is that they seem to spend a lot more time working straight out of the Bible even in talks and presentations and such. Whereas I'm used to speakers interspersing stories, comments, ruminations, etc., they for the most part just jump from scripture to scripture. It can be good, but personally it was a bit exhausting the first day, with me being used to more of a variety of style. Friday morning I was literally reading the Bible for like 6 or 7 hours stright. The Ghanains like to go straight to the Truth....
Again, it's kind of hard to explain the diffences not in person, but it really was a great experience overall and the stuff they're doing at the camp really was awesome.
One thing that was a bit different from our very few expectations was just how thriving the Ghana Navs ministry is. I (and most others on the team) had gotten the impression that Navs here could really use our help and we would kind of have some leadership role in the camp. But we ended up being participants just like everyone else present for the most part. It's kind of cool to just be able to jump in with another strong community of believers and just be able to live alongside them. While some of our methods of practices may be subtly different, we're all working to know Christ and make him known; it really does feel like one big Christian family (-- again, the fact that the Ghanaians are so incredibly welcoming and friendly plays a big part in this).
Some of the same people whom we went to Nkum with for the missions trip were at the camp (as both officials and participants), so it was also really great to know them going into it and to get to spend some more time with them. We also got to share with the other pepole at the camp (about 80) what went on in Nkum for a brief while on Sunday night. I shared some thoughts and two quick stories, the one about giving the woman and her son a New Testament, and one about this one older gentleman in one of the bigger villages [see next entry....].
Tomorrow we're going to take a day trip with our team and some Ghana Navs friends to Cape Coast to see the old slave castle and to walk some canopy bridge [?] or something of that sort lol. After that, the about half of our team will be leaving on Friday -- which is really had to beleive. I guess the trip is somewhere right around halfway through as of today. So the big parts of the missions work is over now (the Nkum mission and the Youth Camp) and we'll have to see exactly what the rest of us end up doing in the last two weeks.... We're thinking of maybe trying to help out at an orphanage in or around Accra... we'll see....
God bless from Ghana!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
It's Ghana Be Great!
Check out Andrew's blog too: ghanabegreat.blogspot.com
Hopefully between the two of us you can get a better idea of what's going on lol.
Hopefully between the two of us you can get a better idea of what's going on lol.
In the past week I have...
- bathed using just a big bucket and a small bucket
- equaled or exceded my drug intake for the entire year to date
- been (kind of) lost in the city at night
- been (kind of) lost in the jungle at night
- seen a goat dragged on its face
- slept under a table
- used my pants as a pillow
- been a player in a football match that drew almost the entirety of the village to spectate
- been to the beach(/garbage dump)
- washed my own laundry -- by hand
- seen 2 white people who weren't with us
- seen the truth behind the wisdom Auntie Linda (an American missionary who's been with Navs in Ghana for a while) offered us: "You can't out-serve a Ghanaian"
Nkum!
Wow. Wow. Wow.
So we just got back yesterday afternoon (Tuesday) from a mission in and around a village called Nkum, located a bit outside the city of Swedru. The whole experience was truly remarkable and definitely outside of anything I've seen or taken part in before. Again, all 12 of us from the US were there, along with another 15 or so Ghana Navs. This was the mission trip of the mission trip, to give some context.
We arrived in Nkum after dark (the sun sets around 5:45 this time of year) on Thursday, after a long [cramped, hot], but still enjoyable, bus ride there. We were all staying at the house [ "house" ] of this one family. The part we stayed in was one big room, which was kind of where we hung out anytime we were inside (which wasn't all that often lol); there were a few small rooms attached, each with a few beds. The girls all slept in one room and a few guys in the other, but most of us just slept on the floor in the main room, moving a few pieces of furniture to the sides to lay down some sleeping pads. The first day we basically just settled in and then went to bed.
The second day, similarly to the remainder, started nice and early -- around 6:30 or so (which I of course loved -- factor in the time difference and that's when I'm usually going to bed lol). We were quite the spectacle in village. All the children flocked toward where we were staying, and I (and some others) spent the majority of the morning playing with them -- tons of fun.
Then around noon we set out to do what was to be the heart of our work, going around to talk to different outlying villages about the Gospel. It was really incredible. You talk about the hypothetical village in the African jungle where the inhabitants have never heard of Jesus, but it's just an idea -- I never thought I'd get to see such a thing myself. We split up into two groups, around a dozen each, a mix of Ghanaians and Americans, and headed out into the bush with our respective guides and translators. Most of the villages we went to had less than ten people with the exception of a few; between the two groups we visited around almost 30 villages. Most of these people knew very little about Jesus, if anything (I'd say the average response was that they recognized the name, and then that was about it...). We would simply tell them we wanted to talk with them about Jesus and then briefly and simply explain the Gospel along with any other relevant scripture or comments that came to anyone's mind. Virtually everyone was very receptive to what we had to say, and many came to accept Christ. Really amazing to be a part of. I also talked with children in some of the villages (which was usually just a small handfull at a time). And some of these people had been visited the past year and accepted Christ, so we just offered words of encouragement and prayed with them as with the others.
Saturday went much the same as Friday. One really cool experience I had was in one village -- which was really just one family -- where they had just heard the gospel for the first time and subsequently accepted Christ into lives. We had actually already just left the village, and I was probably about 100 yards into the path (behind most of the team) when one guy on our team who had been saying goodbye and whatnot came running up behind me to catch up. He told me how he had been talking to the woman and her son and how they wished they could have a Bible to be able to read (but we hadn't brought any along because we didn't have a ton with us and most of the people we're visiting aren't literate -- at least in English). But I had an extra New Testament in my bag, so I was able to run back and give it to the woman. It was a great feeling. You hear people say it's often better to give than to receive, but when it's a gift like that, the feeling's even more intense -- talk about the gift that keeps on giving. Plus this New Testament happended to be the one that Navs had given out at the beginning of the year, and it was really cool to think that it had made it from welcome week in Cincinnati to a tiny village in the Ghanaian forrest that had never seen a Bible before.
Sunday we also went to a (very interesting) (and long) church service, and talked to people in town later that night. And Monday we spent kind of just hanging out and then held a crusade at some other larger village that night (think "revival" type thing -- but on dirt soccer field instead of under a tent lol). Then we packed up and headed back to Accra on Tuesday.
There's a lot more to say, but I've got to go. One other thing that really hit me was then real poverty of Nkum -- suffice it to say our house with our host family in Accra now seems like a luxury suite. We also got to know a lot of the Ghana Navs really well, which was great.
We head to the Youth camp tomorrow, which should be great (kind of a retreat/conference for high school/college students). I probably won't be able to write again til after that (it ends Monday morning).
Everything's still extremely well. And I thanks everyone again for their prayers for us and continue to request them as well. Thanks a ton. Till next time.
In Christ,
Matt
So we just got back yesterday afternoon (Tuesday) from a mission in and around a village called Nkum, located a bit outside the city of Swedru. The whole experience was truly remarkable and definitely outside of anything I've seen or taken part in before. Again, all 12 of us from the US were there, along with another 15 or so Ghana Navs. This was the mission trip of the mission trip, to give some context.
We arrived in Nkum after dark (the sun sets around 5:45 this time of year) on Thursday, after a long [cramped, hot], but still enjoyable, bus ride there. We were all staying at the house [ "house" ] of this one family. The part we stayed in was one big room, which was kind of where we hung out anytime we were inside (which wasn't all that often lol); there were a few small rooms attached, each with a few beds. The girls all slept in one room and a few guys in the other, but most of us just slept on the floor in the main room, moving a few pieces of furniture to the sides to lay down some sleeping pads. The first day we basically just settled in and then went to bed.
The second day, similarly to the remainder, started nice and early -- around 6:30 or so (which I of course loved -- factor in the time difference and that's when I'm usually going to bed lol). We were quite the spectacle in village. All the children flocked toward where we were staying, and I (and some others) spent the majority of the morning playing with them -- tons of fun.
Then around noon we set out to do what was to be the heart of our work, going around to talk to different outlying villages about the Gospel. It was really incredible. You talk about the hypothetical village in the African jungle where the inhabitants have never heard of Jesus, but it's just an idea -- I never thought I'd get to see such a thing myself. We split up into two groups, around a dozen each, a mix of Ghanaians and Americans, and headed out into the bush with our respective guides and translators. Most of the villages we went to had less than ten people with the exception of a few; between the two groups we visited around almost 30 villages. Most of these people knew very little about Jesus, if anything (I'd say the average response was that they recognized the name, and then that was about it...). We would simply tell them we wanted to talk with them about Jesus and then briefly and simply explain the Gospel along with any other relevant scripture or comments that came to anyone's mind. Virtually everyone was very receptive to what we had to say, and many came to accept Christ. Really amazing to be a part of. I also talked with children in some of the villages (which was usually just a small handfull at a time). And some of these people had been visited the past year and accepted Christ, so we just offered words of encouragement and prayed with them as with the others.
Saturday went much the same as Friday. One really cool experience I had was in one village -- which was really just one family -- where they had just heard the gospel for the first time and subsequently accepted Christ into lives. We had actually already just left the village, and I was probably about 100 yards into the path (behind most of the team) when one guy on our team who had been saying goodbye and whatnot came running up behind me to catch up. He told me how he had been talking to the woman and her son and how they wished they could have a Bible to be able to read (but we hadn't brought any along because we didn't have a ton with us and most of the people we're visiting aren't literate -- at least in English). But I had an extra New Testament in my bag, so I was able to run back and give it to the woman. It was a great feeling. You hear people say it's often better to give than to receive, but when it's a gift like that, the feeling's even more intense -- talk about the gift that keeps on giving. Plus this New Testament happended to be the one that Navs had given out at the beginning of the year, and it was really cool to think that it had made it from welcome week in Cincinnati to a tiny village in the Ghanaian forrest that had never seen a Bible before.
Sunday we also went to a (very interesting) (and long) church service, and talked to people in town later that night. And Monday we spent kind of just hanging out and then held a crusade at some other larger village that night (think "revival" type thing -- but on dirt soccer field instead of under a tent lol). Then we packed up and headed back to Accra on Tuesday.
There's a lot more to say, but I've got to go. One other thing that really hit me was then real poverty of Nkum -- suffice it to say our house with our host family in Accra now seems like a luxury suite. We also got to know a lot of the Ghana Navs really well, which was great.
We head to the Youth camp tomorrow, which should be great (kind of a retreat/conference for high school/college students). I probably won't be able to write again til after that (it ends Monday morning).
Everything's still extremely well. And I thanks everyone again for their prayers for us and continue to request them as well. Thanks a ton. Till next time.
In Christ,
Matt
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
I'm in Ghana!
Alrighty. This is going to have to be a quick one, sorry..... I'm writing from the Navs office in downtown Accra. We just finished with an orientation type deal and we're about to head back to or house which is about a 10 minute car ride away.
So, just to be clear lol, I've arrived safely! The flight wasn't bad at all. I went from Hopkins to JFK, leaving Cleveland at like noon and arriving in New York a little after one. I was greated at the airport by Mike, our team leader who is on staff with Navs out in Eugene, Oregon, and about four others. (Our team has 12 people total, 5 from UC.) I had a couple hours to get to know them before our second flight, straight to Accra, leaving at 5:30 (and all the planes were right on time too!).
So we arrived in Accra after an 11 hour flight and were greated by a number of our Ghanaian hosts, including Richard who was holding a sign for Andrew [Jarrel] and Matthew. Everyone is incredibly friendly and welcoming. Andrew and I are staying with Richard and his wife Georgina (and their 3-month-old baby daughter, Rinna [!] ).
We leave tomorrow for a village called Swedru, where we'll be ministering for four days (definitely no internet out there!). Prayers for the we do here would be great. I'll be working with children there mainly.... And about 30 of us are going, 12 from the US and 15-ish from Ghana Navs.
Everything is great so far! I'm fine and well and having a blast. I'll write again as soon as I can.
Peace,
Matt
So, just to be clear lol, I've arrived safely! The flight wasn't bad at all. I went from Hopkins to JFK, leaving Cleveland at like noon and arriving in New York a little after one. I was greated at the airport by Mike, our team leader who is on staff with Navs out in Eugene, Oregon, and about four others. (Our team has 12 people total, 5 from UC.) I had a couple hours to get to know them before our second flight, straight to Accra, leaving at 5:30 (and all the planes were right on time too!).
So we arrived in Accra after an 11 hour flight and were greated by a number of our Ghanaian hosts, including Richard who was holding a sign for Andrew [Jarrel] and Matthew. Everyone is incredibly friendly and welcoming. Andrew and I are staying with Richard and his wife Georgina (and their 3-month-old baby daughter, Rinna [!] ).
We leave tomorrow for a village called Swedru, where we'll be ministering for four days (definitely no internet out there!). Prayers for the we do here would be great. I'll be working with children there mainly.... And about 30 of us are going, 12 from the US and 15-ish from Ghana Navs.
Everything is great so far! I'm fine and well and having a blast. I'll write again as soon as I can.
Peace,
Matt
Friday, July 3, 2009
Here We Go...
Hey Everybody!
So it's been a while since I've written (sorry to anyone who's been paying attention so far lol), but things are finally starting to happen, and they're only going to start happening faster....
But first of all, I'd just like to thank everyone for all the support I've received so far: prayers, donations, words of encouragement and the like have all meant a great deal to me and I'm glad that you could all be a part of this experience. [And by the way, thanks to your generous help, the fundraising has gone really well: I've raised more than enough to cover the $1841 plane ticket (!), by far the biggest expense of the trip. So we'll see as we go just exactly how the other expenses pan out.]
There's just over a week now until I depart and I'm finally starting to get excited. The idea has obviously excited me for a long time, and I've felt a strong calling to do this all along. But I'm the kind of person who's passionate about where he is at the moment, and organizing and participating in things first at school and now at home have kept me more than busy. But the trip is finally looming into sight and the more I think about it the more excited I get.
I got all my shots and medications just the other day. Vaccines for Polio, Typhoid, and Yellow Fever, and prescriptions for Malaria (that one was quite a headache to get sorted out and filled lol) and, of course, traveler's diarrhea. woohoo [in sarcastic monotone].
Like I said, I should start to have plenty to write about soon enough, and I'll continue to do so as much as I can.
Continued prayers would be much appreciated, not just for me but more importantly for the people I'll be serving, whoever they may be, that they're minds and hearts can be open to the love of Christ as we begin our work with them.
Goodbye for now! (And Happy Fourth of July!)
So it's been a while since I've written (sorry to anyone who's been paying attention so far lol), but things are finally starting to happen, and they're only going to start happening faster....
But first of all, I'd just like to thank everyone for all the support I've received so far: prayers, donations, words of encouragement and the like have all meant a great deal to me and I'm glad that you could all be a part of this experience. [And by the way, thanks to your generous help, the fundraising has gone really well: I've raised more than enough to cover the $1841 plane ticket (!), by far the biggest expense of the trip. So we'll see as we go just exactly how the other expenses pan out.]
There's just over a week now until I depart and I'm finally starting to get excited. The idea has obviously excited me for a long time, and I've felt a strong calling to do this all along. But I'm the kind of person who's passionate about where he is at the moment, and organizing and participating in things first at school and now at home have kept me more than busy. But the trip is finally looming into sight and the more I think about it the more excited I get.
I got all my shots and medications just the other day. Vaccines for Polio, Typhoid, and Yellow Fever, and prescriptions for Malaria (that one was quite a headache to get sorted out and filled lol) and, of course, traveler's diarrhea. woohoo [in sarcastic monotone].
Like I said, I should start to have plenty to write about soon enough, and I'll continue to do so as much as I can.
Continued prayers would be much appreciated, not just for me but more importantly for the people I'll be serving, whoever they may be, that they're minds and hearts can be open to the love of Christ as we begin our work with them.
Goodbye for now! (And Happy Fourth of July!)
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
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