Easter Convention

A church here invited me to help with the children’s program at their Easter Convention. The church started gathering Friday evening but I and Darlena came on Saturday morning. There was a gal named Sarah who was heading up the kids and had an outline of how it would go.

Saturday, there was two sessions one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Sarah took control and led songs, verse memory and the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection. She had songs and little activities that kids were able to interact with. I was a supporter. A child controlle— haha. There were 116 kids in a one room building church on benches. Control was needed!

In the afternoon, they had free time. I thought this was great. I have been to weekend programs where it is just session after session. Here, Sarah and others organized games for the kids. It was nice to see young girls involved. So many times i find girls do not get to participate in fun because they are helping around the house and working.

After game time, we had another session. I had a picture book of the Easter story. Sarah told the story and I showed the pictures. I also had some time to teach some simple songs and games. I led in verse memorization too.

Thankfully, the night before it rained and the weather was cloudy and cool. I am sure that is why i had stamina. It was a long day but I was thankful for Sarah who took the bulk of the work.

What we were doing was a benefit to the kids but also to the adults so they could sit and listen well under the teaching that was given to them. I know how important that is for leaders and I am glad I could serve them in this way.

We slept on mats in a school room and bathed outside with walls around us. There was electricity there and so we had a fan at night. Lovely. But, I did wake up with a real pain in my lower back. My lower back normally growls at me but it is manageable. That morning…eishhhhh…it was hard. I AM GETTING OLD!!! AHHHH!!!! I( have tried some exercises and ibuprofen. Be praying!)

Sunday morning’s session seemed a bit more difficult to keep the kids quiet. It was a chore as they love to hit one another and then a little one is crying and then older kids are talking in their groups. The ages were from 2, to 14 years old. It is quite a job to teach all of them, in one room, no microphone, no movies, no powerpoint, no speakers…God is faithful. This time with the picture book we asked the kids to tell us the story and they did well! We went over the memory verses again and sang songs. I shared the Gospel and had anyone who wanted to, pray with me to follow Jesus as Savior.

It was a full 36 hours. I am thankful people supported me to be here so I could support this church in their ministries in Ghana. I am thankful God’s Word went out and He will accomplish His will with it. I pray seeds have been sown in good soil and they would grow to maturity. I am thankful for Sarah. She really had the brunt of the work but seemed to take it all in a stride. She really has a gift to work with kids.

It was also an adventure for Darlena who is a city girl. She has never stayed over in a village. She coped well. She said the worst part was, “the troublesome children” and the best part was, “joining in the praises and singing with the kids.” Glad she could experience this too.

Godwin

Samuel, who does so much for me, including translating, advising, and connecting me with locals who desire to know more about Jesus, has a lovely wife, Christie and son, Godwin. Godwin celebrated a birthday. He is now 2 years old. A cute, little guy who already walks the way his dad does.

They invited me to their celebration. It was a fufu party again! I love being invited to times of relaxed fellowship. It is not all work, work, work. I get times to laugh and eat cake too. I enjoy being amongst Dagomba peoples also. They work hard, eat hard and laugh hard! A good fit for me. I give thanks to God for the life of this little guy and that I can be part of their family.

Mole National Park

I had been promising some Tamale peeps I would take them to Mole National Park. It is about 2.5 hours from my house. They are born and raised in Tamale and have never been there. It would be like me, in Wisconsin, never visiting Wisconsin Dells.

So, off we went on January 4, Samuel, Rebeka and Thomas. We arrived in time to take the afternoon safari. It was also extra fun because my friends, Janice and Enoch, were there as well. (They were on their honeymoon and we totally crashed it!!) We all got a car safari. We got out of the car a couple times to see elephants. One time was in the bush and another time they were leaving the water hole. Such beautiful creatures.

That evening, while we were waiting for our meal, we played a game with dice. Then, after eating, another family asked us if we wanted to play spoons with them. We had 12 people playing! My friends loved it. Someone from the other family won, but we all enjoyed ourselves.

The next morning, we did a walking safari. We also saw crocodiles, birds, warthogs, antelope, and baboons. (We are warned at the hotel to lock our doors because baboons have learned to turn the handles and go in. They look for snacks.) We did not see elephants this time. It was a good hike. Then we enjoyed a breakfast and headed home.

Praising God for His creation, His protection on the roads, and fellowship with other believers.

Christmas in Tumu

Christmas started with a bunch of parties in Tamale. One with some kids, one with my children’s club, and one with the widows and women that I meet with weekly. Everything went so well. They all decorated Christmas cookies and I have found out later they enjoyed eating them as well. YAY!! (I still have some in my freezer 😊)

But with all that, I was ready for a few days to sit still and enjoy Christmas more like I was used to. I traveled to Tumu. It is in the Upper West region of Ghana. It is 6 hours from Tamale. Since my car has not been so healthy, I decided to take public transport.

I was prepared for an adventure. I packed a power bank for my phone. I packed snacks to last me…well, to last a long time. I had a frozen water bottle to stay cold the whole time. I started from Tamale at 6am in a car that 3 other people were in. We made it to Bolgatanga in good time. At the station in Bolga, I had to wait for the trotro to fill up. Vehicles will sit until all the people fill it. There is no set time of leaving. It is only when all the seats are filled. So, I waited. I met some people who live in Atlanta, Georgia and are in Ghana visiting their families. I love hearing Ghanaian’s perspective of America.

We left Bolgatanga around 10:30am. I sent Charity a message that I was leaving giving her an idea of when I would arrive. But, at 11am, the trotro pulled over because we had a flat tire. We all got off and then they put the spare on, and we entered and sat down again. About 30 minutes down the road, the trotro pulled over again. The spare was now flat. We were at the junction where you turn to go the 100+ kms to Tumu. That is where I sat for the next 3 hours. The driver had to go back to the nearest town to fix the tire (he bought a new one). I don’t know what took him so long. Personally, I think, he stopped to grab some lunch 😊.

Like I said, though, I was prepared. I had enough power on my phone to recharge and watch downloaded YouTube videos. I had food and snacks aplenty. I had cold water. What had I to complain about? I had a pretty good attitude.

So, around 3:30 or 4pm the driver was back, put on the new tire, and we took off. We still had hours to go. The Tumu road is terrible. I really admire my teammates and the roads they have to drive on. Yikes!! Soft sand, dirt, gravel, rickety bridges, and potholes. By 6pm, though, my nice-y attitude had vanished. I kept wondering where we were. The people sitting next to me also did not know the road so they couldn’t help me in “how much longer?” By 6.30 I was thinking we must be on the wrong road. The phone connections are not good out there so I could not call Charity to tell her where I am. She got thru once to me, but I didn’t know where I was so I couldn’t help her to give her an ETA. But, around that time, I started seeing a few lights. Yes, Tumu was there.

Charity picked me up and I was in her house by 7pm. So, what should have been a 6-7 hour trip was 13! But, it only had to improve from this point and it did.

Christmas in Tumu was fab! So, the next day we just chilled. Charity cooked and baked lovely items like cinnamon roles and lasagna. My other teammates, Tejin and Merin and their daughter Besorah hosted me for a few meals also. They are from India and I got authentic Indian food and it was everything everyone says it is. SO DELICIOUS. So full of many flavors. We also played games together, went to church together, and chilled and watched movies together. I was so thankful for them to have hosted me.

Being away from Tamale, I really felt I could relax. I had no house issues to worry about. I had no people knocking on my gate. I had no food to prepare. I had no place to go or expectations put on me. It was a joy. And you know, Christmas is a delight to remember Jesus and what he did for us. So thankful for His gift to us. So I had a double portion of joy.

Charity and I headed to Navrongo on the 27th. We went to a Youth Conference. We were pleasantly surprised to find 260+ youth already there. The speaker was a pastor from Good News Bible Church. He was spot on. He was preaching clearly and enthusiastically. One thing he spoke on was about character. Our character will last longer than our charisma. We can be excited and energetic but that may fade, it is our character that will keep us serving and walking with the Lord.

I headed back to Tamale (with a very uneventful trip home thankfully) on the 30th.

I really give praise to God for the time I had at Christmas. It is not easy to be away from family. I miss them even more at this time. So, being with my amazing teammates, was filling a hole in me at this time.

Thanks for praying.

Updates

Life is just so fast here. Some weeks are like…where/whaaaat?

Random updates on things:

Harvesting is almost over. 2 of the widows that were supported, had a good crop. One had corn and they got several bags for selling or eating. And one widow harvested 6 gunnysack bags of rice. How cool!! So exciting to see and praise God. So, praise with us! Now, 3 other widows received animals. One got pigs. And after they bought it, it gave birth to triplets. Extra blessings. But then, a virus that affects pigs, was going around and the 3 little ones died. They quickly sold the mother so they would not be at a complete loss. Sad. Another woman received 2 goats. One was untied and got lost. The other had a stillborn and then the placenta wouldn’t come out and it died. Another woman got sheep and they are doing fine! 2 out of 3…

The weather is changing from humid, rains, and cooler temps to dry, hot and hotter temps. By December it should be full blown dry weather and dust. I don’t mind the dry it means the sweat evaporates off and things stay dry. I make sure I keep lotion and chapstick at convenient places because things start peeling! My clothes, when I hang them on the line, dry so fast. It is like when I finish hanging the last one the first one is dry. Or when I want toast. I just leave a piece of bread out, 5 minutes later, it is toasted hahaha.

I have had several nights with no power. Oh, you guys, I can barely function the next day. It is so difficult. There are still no good reasons why my area goes off so often. It stinks. And yet, I know this is the house for me. So, I will stay and be thankful. I know some people would love to live in my house and so I will change my attitude. At least, with the drier weather the nights get cooler.

There will be several Christmas parties coming up in December. I am trying to work on details, which I am so terrible at. I am more like the big idea person. We will color cookies, play games, I will share the Christmas story, and enjoy a fun time together.

Dagbani lessons have been fewer with me being in more SIM meetings and also my teacher had things come up in his schedule but I am still going at it, though, it may be like toe in front of toe. I am the worst.

Thanksgiving was great. The turkey was a local one and a bit gamey and tough, but it was turkey! It was nice spending time with other Americans. I noticed how loud we are. I went back for seconds and thirds and came home full up to here (pointing to my neck). It was lovely.

Will go away for a week called Spiritual Life Conference December 13-18. Our team does it every year. It is a time where we have a special speaker, eat together, pray together, listen to each other’s testimonies, play games, and get away from our normal environments. It is refreshing.

I have a new gal cleaning house for me. I hope she will stay. I will try and not be so bossy hahaha. She is an answer to prayer especially when this dusty season rolls in. She is 15 years old and goes to a church near my house. Her name is Esther.

It has almost been a year since I came back to Ghana. Time goes so fast. Thanks for walking along with me!

Baaba

The Baab-ster, Baabarino, Baabs all refers to my amazing friend, Baaba Antoinette. We have been friends for more than 12 years. I was actually friends with her husband, Amponsah, first and then ended up getting to know her. She is my best friend here. She even came to visit me for Christmas in Wisconsin one winter!

We had a weekend of celebrating her birthday in October. She celebrated her 40th year and I really wanted to do something special for her. (In Ghana, if you want to celebrate your birthday, you do it yourself.) My dear friend does so much for her family, her church, her friends I just had to step in and do something for her. Now, I was on a missionary budget, so we were not able to fly to Dubai or anything. But we were able to go try some new restaurants, took her girls on a day outing to shops, visited a kid’s play park, ate ice cream, and we had cake and drinks after church with the church community. By Sunday evening we were exhausted. On Monday we just looked at each other and agreed we are getting old- hahaaa

Baaba lets me stay with her when I come to Accra. One of my favorite things in the world is to sit with her and Amponsah and just talk. We have been doing it since they got married. Even when they lived in a tiny place, we would sit on the floor and talk. Now, they have a bigger place and they give me my own room! Oh La La! While I was in Accra last month, every night Baabs and I would talk. One night we even talked until 1am. Don’t ask me what we talked about, one conversation just led to another and another. She loves Jesus, tries to help her husband as she cares for her girls, and does random business ventures. She says things to me, even if I don’t like it or agree. We all need people like this in our life. She even wants to be involved in helping with the widows in Tamale. She is such a blessing to me!

Here are some pics from her birthday weekend.

Sandema

Vrony, who I have talked about in previous blogs, a missionary from Switzerland, working with an organization called Frontiers, living in Gushegu (about 2 hours from Tamale), and I took a road trip. We hopped in her “little” Land Cruiser and off we went to visit Pam and Yvonne in Sandema.

Sandema is a small town about 4 hours north of Tamale. They are a different people group than Dagombas, who I work with in Tamale. I have been visiting Sandema on and off since I came to Ghana in 2005. A couple men in Sandema, are good friends of mine, who started out as youth leaders, and are now pastors. So, during their youth-working-days we would collaborate on events or see each other in meetings. We also posted a few short termers in that town. The people were such a big help in getting our new people settled and teaching them culture, how to get going with ministry, and language. It is wonderful to see them following the Lord, seeing their families grow, and walking with the church even when times get rough. I always enjoy Sandema and wish I had more time to travel there.

Vrony had never been to Sandema. Yvonne used to live in Tamale and that is how Vrony knew her. She was able to meet Pam for the first time also. After conversation and conversation and conversation we arrived. We arrived Friday evening. The 4 of us together was lovely.  I was able to greet my dogs! Yvonne and Pam cared for them when I went on Home Assignment and they are much better cared for there. They had a warm meal ready for us (Yvonne and Pam, not the dogs hahaha).

That night it rained. From about 10 pm to the next morning. Our electricity went out. (Not a surprise to any of us.) The weather was cloudy and cool. We had plans to explore different sites, but we waited and let the weather direct us. It was a relaxed morning. We were told to head to the main road and see the flooding. Unfortunately, Sandema gets flooding and it even uproots chunks of the road and huge trees.

The flooding was extensive but by evening was already receded. The interesting part is that some people from town come out and see how much rain has come. They watch and see the big trucks trying to get thru the waters from one end of town to the other. I was a bit nervous watching!

After that time, we headed to the crocodile pond in a different area. Crocodiles are a sacred creature in the land of Paga. There is a pond where you can see a crocodile and even sit on it, or even hold it’s tail! The caretakers of the place always say the crocs will never kill a human. They themselves wade through the waters. Vrony and Pam had never been to this place and they each got their fill (and pics!) of crocodiles.

Then we headed to a slave camp. Unfortunately, there was no guide because of a funeral in the area, so we just walked along the signs and Yvonne and I tried to remember what we were told from previous times. The slave camp is just terrible. There is a rock that you can see where the chains rubbed it from where they would tie people who are causing trouble. There are small “bowls” in the rocks where they would put food to feed all the slaves. Then those slaves would walk down to the coast!! That is like 400 miles!! I cannot imagine. The heat, the bugs, the chains, the being with so many different tribes and not speaking the same language. Brutal. What man can do to man…

Then we found some lunch, a classic fried chicken and rice meal, to strengthen us as we headed into Navrongo. Navrongo is a bigger city in the area of the Nankani-Kasena people. They have a very old Catholic Cathedral made up of mud bricks. Inside the church is decorated with traditional imagery. The church says it was founded around 1906 by missionary Fathers and used for service around 1920.

We all enjoyed the day. The evening included some friends joining us for dinner and talking and talking and talking! Oh, so lovely.

Sunday morning, we went to church, had lunch and then headed back to Tamale. Thankfully, we had safe drives up and down. Thankfully, Vrony was able to see all that she wanted. Thankfully, Yvonne and Pam are such amazing hosts. Thankfully, I did not have to drive and enjoyed being driven 😊. Thankfully, (so many reasons to give thanks, eh?) we were refreshed to get back to our normally-scheduled-programs 😊.

Hens

It is better to give than receive. I know this cliché phrase. I believe it. I say it, and during greediness, I think, “no way, this is all mine!” Then I give or buy something for someone, and I think, “this is such fun!”

 I had some visitors a couple weeks ago who stayed at my house. They thought they needed to bring me gifts to equal out the free room and roof over their heads. I was on the receiving end. Boy, did I receive! I received whipping cream in a can (didn’t even know they had this in Tamale), cheese sprinkle for popcorn (heaven!), caramel sauce (didn’t know they had this in Tamale also), and a beautifully written calligraphy thank you card. I was so thankful. I love me some goodies, I think we all do. I enjoyed these things.

But, when I am able to give here, there is this sprinkle of somethin’-somethin’ in my heart that makes me want to do it more. Joy floods out. I have to remember that response of the Spirit in me so that I will keep on doing it.

Samuel talked about helping the Bible Study women with something. He suggested getting each one a hen. I was like…a hen? I have had up to 20 women come to Bible study. 20 hens?? We took attendance the next month to make sure women who get hens are really coming and taking part. Yep, about 20.

I had money from some peeps at home who told me to give it to women. I put money aside every month to add to that. And we had money from the motorking account to use. And we left it up to the women to pay to get a chicken vaccination on their own. (Yes, chickens are vaccinated too 😊.) So, let’s buy these hens!

We needed to do it during rainy season, which started in June, because it gives the hens a better chance of survival with all the grass and plants available. From November to April it is very dry and hardly any greens to find.

The leader of the church went to several markets to find enough hens. In the end, we had to give money to several women to buy their own because there was some sort of hen shortage…or they were too expensive.

But 20 ladies got hens!! They all shook my hand thankfully. We took pictures together. (And as of yesterday, 2 months since they received the gift, their hens are still alive and running around. Two ladies even told us that their hen laid eggs and hatched 7 chicks. YAY!!)

We talked about how starting with a small hen can be used for the Lord. I tied it together with the parable of the talents that we studied.

When Samuel and I drove off we were so pumped, it was so cool to hand them the hens. The Spirit in us produced JOY and it was overflowing!! We were laughing and wishing we had more things to give away!

Fire Festival 2021

Fire festival here in the Northern region is my favorite Dagomba festival. It tells of a story where a boy was lost. People went with fire torches (grass wrapped together and on fire) looking for the boy who they found up in a tree. They then threw the torches to the tree and came back to the chief’s palace to celebrate with dancing and drumming. And that is pretty much what is recreated every year for the festival.

People dress up, white powder, traditional cloths. There is drumming and dancing. In Tamale city I have found over the years people get a little out of hand. I got nervous last time with the fire, explosions, and machetes. This year I went to a friend’s village, very rural. It was so calm and joyous. I marched out with everyone and threw my torch at the tree. My friend’s little son, really did some dancing. So cute.

It is nice to not always have to be in a church setting. I enjoy being with people with no agenda or lesson to teach. Just out, food, culture, (fire), and talks.

Encouragement

I finished teaching from Matthew and Mark to the widows and the Bible study women. We looked at parables, healings, and teachings of Jesus. I mentioned before that I gave a quiz and I was so surprised at all the lessons they remembered. This time I made each one share their favorite lesson and why. I recorded what was said. Here are a few:

Story: Turning the other cheek.

I learned not just turn to allow a slap but if someone wronged you, you should not move away from their needs. It means that when someone does something wrong to you you can still help them and talk with them. I learned a lot about forgiveness. In every situation we can forgive each other. Also, to accept we are weak. Even if someone does something to us, it may show society that we are weak, but it means that we really are not weak but walking in the purpose of God.

Story: Matthew 5, Beatitudes:

Blessed are the poor in spirit the kingdom of God is for them. I liked it most because I know and agree that I cannot do anything by myself unless with God’s help. I know I have nothing to boast of, poor in spirit. I depend on God. Also, I like blessed are the merciful; meanings if God doesn’t have mercy on us we can’t get to heaven. If you really understand that God has mercy on us then we need to respect each other. We need to put God first.

Story: Jesus Loves the Little Children:

We don’t sack children. Some people have in mind that it is only adults that are to worship God but not knowing also children can also come and worship God. And they even grab things easier.

Story: Salt and Light

I learned that when we cook food and there is no salt inside someone will know it is not nice. We the Christians should be an example, even if you are absent, people would feel like something is missing.

Story: Jesus healing

Even though not a particular story or point, but the past 10 years I had a disease and it separated me from my husband. What happened was everyone lost hope I would survive the sickness. But then a crusade came and I gave my life to Christ. By God’s grace I started going to church and God healed me and I was even able to give birth. This is why I liked the stories of Jesus’ healing.

Story: Healing of the Greek woman’s daughter

Jesus loved her and healed her daughter. If the daughter was a student, she could go back to school or if she was a tailor she could go back to her work and continue everything she was doing before to take care of her family.

Fufu Par-tay!

I had a lovely birthday this month. And I had an even lovelier time of celebrating it. The day itself was a normal work day and I was out visiting some ladies who are such a joy to me. A few days later I celebrated with my friend Christi since her birthday is just a couple days after mine. I told her and her husband that I would buy all the ingredients and all the food items for a party. They would just have to cook it. Fufu was on the menu!!

Fufu is eaten all over Ghana. In different areas they use different foods. In Accra, they use plantain, cassava and yam or two out of the three. In Tamale, they use only fufu, which I have found to be my favorite. And in northern areas they use yam to cook it as well.

They boil the yams and then they pound the life out of it using a pistol and mortar. Since this party was going to be big, instead of all of the work of pounding, we took the boiled yam to a fufu pounding machine. It did all the hard work for us. It was fast and got the job done without any of us sweating. JOY!!

When they put the fufu in the bowls, which I wondered where they found all these bowls, the woman will beat it with her fist just a little bit to smooth it out and then they poured a soup on it. My choice was Light soup with goat meat. SO DELICIOUS!!! It really is like the largest bowl of mashed potatoes you will ever eat.

I baked a cake and brought candles so after our fufu feasting they watched as Christi and I blew out the candles. There were 25+ people who passed by and “chopped” with us. JOY!! (The evening started out with rain but we ended up being thankful for it otherwise they think more people would have come and we had just enough food as it was. JOY!!) I was able to see my youth girls who I used to do a Bible study with. They sang happy birthday to me which was sweet.

It was one of those times where you drive home with a full heart (and full belly), being satisfied, even though, it is not necessarily a physical satisfaction, but more of a sense of wonder that experiences like this come my way. JOY!!

God is Good

Back into life and the randomness of every day. I do appreciate not having a set schedule. I do work hard to build relationships and show Christ’s love in whatever situation that comes up. I do enjoy the small things—like consistent water and lights! YAY!! I do smile at God’s favor to me in this land. Here are some pics of things that happened this past week.

Richie's Wedding

So, I lived and worked in Accra for 11 years. During those years, I was asked by a church member, Richie, to lead a fitness club. We met on Saturday mornings for prayer and then exercise. At one point we had 30 people coming. It was one of those things I never thought I would do, but really enjoyed doing it. Richie and Sasu, another leader, and I, would sometimes go and visit church members afterwards. I thought that was one of the most special times I had with people.

Well, Mr. Richie just got married last week!!! I went down for the wedding. It was a great celebration. I did not know the bride but she is a solid, Christian woman and I hope together they will love and serve the Lord.

In Accra, they do a traditional wedding, they call it the engagement. Then, they do a church wedding.

Enjoy the pics!!

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Engagement

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Wedding

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Sacrifice?

Why is it so easy to focus on the negative? Why can I not be so excited to say: We have had really good electricity? or Darlena and I have been learning a lot in our Bible studies? or friends are here visiting me with their kids? or I found Almond Milk in the store? or a widow giving me two doves?

Instead, I want to go off on how, as I type this now, we don’t have electricity. or my toaster is dead, along with my microwave. or i had weird bites on my leg that were so itchy. or I have difficulties in what i am doing this week. or that it is hot.

I guess, i want people to feel bad for me. I want that pat on the back of, “you are doing such a good job.” or “look at you and all your sacrifices.”

But then, i read a quote from a missionary, David Livingstone.

Forbid that we should ever consider the holding of a commission from the King of Kings a sacrifice, so long as other men esteem the service of an earthy government as an honor. I am a missionary, heart and soul. God Himself had an only Son, and He was a missionary... A poor, poor imitation I am, or wish to be, but in this service I hope to live. In it I wish to die. I still prefer poverty and missions service to riches and ease. This is my choice.

True. Let me prefer poverty and missions service to riches. What sacrifice? I remember a missionary telling me, “I GET TO DO THIS!” and I have thought about that over and over. I get to do this. I get to be here. I get to have adventure. I get to meet people different than me. I get to use my gifts. I get to walk by faith. When I think of all I get, all I get to do, there is joy. Then it is easier to turn from what I think is sacrifice and to turn to the Lord and say, “thank you.”

Doves…before.

Doves…before.

After…yummy, but not much meat on these little things.

After…yummy, but not much meat on these little things.

Got a Haircut

It’s a small thing but a necessity. Getting a haircut. Who can do it? Where do I go? It was in my mind to look for another Caucasian woman with short hair and ask her who does hers. Then, I saw Mandy again at a meeting, and yep, she has really short hair. I knew Mandy from before. I met her in Buipe where we have Ethiopian missionaries. Her and her husband and kids have been in Ghana a few years with another organization focusing on discipleship training. When I asked her who cut her hair she told me her mom is a stylist and gave her, and her husband Bobby, some tips. Bobby seemed to have a knack for it, and he cuts hers. Her hair looks nice. And to be honest, even if it did not, I was desperate. My hair was starting to go down my neck and, in this weather, you do not want anything on your neck. I knew I would never be able to cut the back of my hair without noticeable bald spots and so, if anyone could help me, I was grateful.

Let me back up. My friend Janice and I were each invited to a Missionary gathering by different people. Apparently, the group started so Missionary Kids (MKs) could hang out together, but I was told the adults enjoy it more. All the people at this gathering are foreigners, except for a few Ghanaian spouses, and they all serve the Lord with different organizations in different areas of the North. They come together at someone’s house once a month for fellowship. It was fascinating to hear what people are doing and how God led them. I was glad I went. And…of course, there was a breakfast potluck, and you know me and my love for potlucks. But I digress, this is about a haircut.

… So Mandy and Bobby were there. Mandy volunteered Bobby and when he found out he was giving me a haircut, he gave that look to his wife… You know, that one that says I-will-kill-you-later. He told me several times he is not a professional and he does not know what he is doing. I mentioned the I-am-desperate-part and told him my hair is curly and if it is uneven no one will really know. I also said, some days I wrap my hair with a scarf, so no one, including me, can tell. AND I told him that anything he does would be better than what I could do. ANY.THING.

He shook his head but agreed. They were staying in Tamale for the night and said I could come to their place. Janice lent me her scissors. Another missionary even had a cape to wrap around my neck! I was all set.

Bobby was quite nervous, but he did a great job. I mean, honestly, I was expecting the worst. I did not even have to tweak it. I was thrilled!! I felt like a new person. The style is the same just shorter. I told him his new name is Bob-ster, the Barber.

You guys, sometimes it’s the little things.

Weekend Getaway

I had a fantastic weekend. This past week Vronny was passing thru Tamale and stayed at my house. Unfortunately, the power was out in the day and all night. She found a mat and slept outside. I felt so bad but the breeze in the back of the house was enough for her (she’s a trooper!!). In the morning, over breakfast, I shared about the difficulties with the light and water and she was like, “you should come to Gushegu. We have both!” We laughed because Tamale is a big city, where you’d think we would also have those things, and Gushegu is a village. As she left, I was thinking I do need to get away and recharge. I talked to my team leader and got permission to run away, “to a place where I have friends with light and water.”

Gushegu is a couple hours away from Tamale. I stayed there back in 2018 and 2019 to work on my Dagbani. There are Frontier missionaries working there. One, Vronny, who I mentioned, is from Switzerland. She is a nurse and her primary job is serving at a Nutrition Center. It is a great outreach in the community. The other is the Boon family from the Netherlands. They are also doing health work and Dr. Gerbon hopes to establish a maternity clinic serving women. They stay on a compound together in different houses. Usually, they have short termers coming to help for a few months and while I was there I met Martina, from Holland, who is helping at the Gushegu hospital.

I was/always is treated so well. I got to rest, I had meals prepared for me, times of prayer, times to sit and chill. I took a nap. I read a book. Gerbon and Dorien had a third baby boy boy in Holland and they planned a naming ceremony in Gushegu. (side note: would anyone want to come and help Dorien with homeschooling and taking care of the kids?! She would love you for it!) It is normal for all Dagban children to have a naming ceremony and then a celebration follows. Because of COVID, they decided to just do a naming ceremony at church and hand out packs of food and drink afterwards. The Dagbani name they gave their child, named Aron, is Timalma. It means we have an answer, or he will solve…or something like that 😊 It would be compared to a dedication service in our churches. It was lovely. I was so glad to celebrate with them.

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If you could get a close up, Dorien made cinnabuns that looked and tasted bake-shop-quality! What a nice little morning break in the shade of the mango tree (where one of the kids was playing).

If you could get a close up, Dorien made cinnabuns that looked and tasted bake-shop-quality! What a nice little morning break in the shade of the mango tree (where one of the kids was playing).

Vronny

Vronny

Pastor dedicating Aron.

Pastor dedicating Aron.

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The man of the hour.

The man of the hour.

Gushegu Girls

Gushegu Girls

If you would like more info on the medical work of the Boons check out their site. It’s in Dutch, but if you wanted to contact them you could.

https://www.booninafrika.com/?fbclid=IwAR0A6mTbikolSQAaKCxgjFpgZZ7Kc-9uL0GkvD7PL78cP7KaBioFcCg3Jhc

Surviving

I knew it was coming. I knew I would have to deal with it again. I really wanted to be prepared. I really wanted to be thankful and rejoice and skip around with daisies singing, “la-la-laaaa”. But, alas, those wants did not come about.

I am talking about electricity and water. They cut out power here, for whatever reason, no one really knows. My area always seems to go out more often. I am not saying that to whine louder, but at night, I can see, my area has no light but other areas have lights. They say in our area there are a lot of illegal connections and it causes the transformer to blow and workers have to come out and replace it. How long does it take to replace? This week I was 42 hours without power. Then the next day I was off 8. The other day 5 hours. Who knows.

It was a tough week. When you do not sleep well at night, it is hard to function well in the day. And the heat, it just pulls even more out of you. I try to keep a good attitude. I try to remember that eventually the light will come back. I try to go thru all the things I am thankful for. I try praying. I try…but sometimes, frustration still flows, thoughts of why am I here pop up, and just plain ol’ crankiness rolls through.

We are in the hot season and rains should be coming by May. Everything is brown and dry. Water is short and so the city shuts off water to areas of town and then opens different areas for a day. I can always tell when the city opens our area because women are out with their big bowls to go and fetch it. I have two tanks to store water. When the top one, which is connected to my house is empty, as in, no water comes out of our taps, I have a pump which electrically pumps water from the bottom one to the top. So, this past Sunday, the top one was empty and I had just enough in the bottom one and I pumped up to fill it. THEN…Monday evening came. I had no water flowing out of my taps!! I did not use a whole tank in one day!? It seemed one of my toilets was leaking and it took. the. whole. tank. of. water. Brutal. I had just a little left in my bottom tank so Darlena and I got a few buckets and filled them so we could take bucket showers before sleeping and have some to wash dishes the next day.

Water rarely comes during the week. They seem to open the taps on Saturdays or Sundays. Again, I do not know why, no reason. But I prayed on Monday night. I prayed that water would come and fill my tank. I sent a couple texts out to people to pray.

Tuesday morning, I went and i looked at the road and saw women rushing with their buckets…I thought, “really??!!!” and checked my tank and it was half full!! Yippee!! (Insert the daisies and singing!) Real Miracle. So thankful!

There are so many good things about being here. There are so many good things about following the Lord. There are so many good things that I forget to mention—like, at least I the power did not go off at the same time my water ran out :)

I am not writing so you feel bad for me. I am writing to keep you updated on life here and that it is not all Bible studies and Dagbani learning. Some days, it is just surviving!

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Buckets next to the sink for dish washing.

Buckets next to the sink for dish washing.

Darlena

In Accra I used to do a kids club. At first, it was insane. Kids were just going mad. I had no control. But God gave me ideas, and with helpers and short termers, I was able to teach and kids were attentive and learned. I grew to love it. One of the kids in the group was Darlena. She and her brother Nii are part of the church where I would serve. Their parents lived very close to the church. If I would come early I would sit at their house and Ruth would cook up some snacks or I would play with other kids. Her and her husband David now have 4 kids. They were a big help to me.

Now, Darlena is 15 years old. Secondary school here is boarding school for most kids. Usually students are posted near to the city they are in, but not always. Darlena got posted to Tamale Girls School. She and her parents have never been to the north of Ghana. They tried to change her posting but it was too late. This was her only option if she wanted to go to High School.

People and friends from the church called me and asked me to check it out for them. I went and took pics. I met a woman who works there and she gave me extra info. I relayed everything back to the south, meaning my friends and David and Ruth. They then sent me Darlena’s admission form and off to the school I went again. I was able to pick up her uniforms and get info on what comes next.

David and Darlena came up by flight (first time in an airplane for Darlena) on Thursday, which was the reporting day. They sent their things up on the bus which would arrive Friday morning. We went to the school and they told us she could not register unless she has all her things. Schools require students to bring a list full of things like certain kinds of shoes, socks, or products like toilet paper, and brooms. So, since they did not have these things they had to stay at my house.

I was so unprepared! My guest rooms still were not cleaned. The bathrooms not clean. I had no food to prepare. But they were very flexible. We just went down the road and picked up some local food. But poor Darlena was not in the mood. She did not like the school. She did not want to go there. She likes Accra better. The comparison would be a girl from Chicago moving to Medford, Wisconsin. She is definitely a city girl. We all prayed together several times. It was hard for her.

David went to the bus station Friday morning and picked up all the bags. They arranged it all and headed to the school. She was able to register and move in. David came back and needed a flight to Accra because his wife was starting birth pains for baby #4!! So, I got him to the airport and he made it in time for their baby girl.

I am kind of excited to have Darlena around me. Though, the school has tight policies. They cannot go out of the campus. They cannot have phones (they use a teacher’s phone to make a call). Because of COVID restrictions no one can visit them. But, there will be small breaks from time to time and then she will stay with me. She is a sweet girl and she knows me very well. I pray she will adjust to the ways of Tamale and study hard.

An interesting week for sure!

David and Darlena, with all her things, before heading to the school.

David and Darlena, with all her things, before heading to the school.

Gettin' Going.

Small small I am figuring things out, getting back to hot weather, and trying to be a part of my community. I had a days of workers coming in and out of my house repairing things like kitchen drawers, leaky sinks, and painting a couple rooms. I went on a big shopping expedition and found that Tamale really has so much, even coconut flour and soy wheat bread. (I do not need to eat things like this. It is just cool that the options are available.) March and April bring in HOT season and daily it is over 100 degrees and if I am out and about I am wearing a mask. It seems church is more difficult to wear a mask, I don’t know why. Maybe because walking around a breeze can float through unlike sitting in one place.

Speaking of masks and COVID-19, here in Tamale there has not been a lot of cases. One Dutch doctor I talked to has a theory about Vitamin D and how plenty of it, keeps COVID cases low. I thought it makes sense being in a country with sunshine everyday. Maybe 2 out of 10 people wear a mask in the neighborhood and maybe a bit more in town because to go into shops most have signs saying masks must be worn. They also have soap and water stands to wash your hands before you enter. I do not know of anyone who has died from COVID, though accusations abound.

I have been so thankful for the water that has filled up my tank from town and my electricity has been mostly on. Yesterday, I think the whole country was off for about 5 hours. I was so ready. I had my phone charged up, a mosquito net, and battery powered lights. Then, the light came on around 7.30pm. YAY!!

Starting up the women’s Bible study tonight. Maybe tomorrow off to meet a woman to start discipling her. Later in the week I can join in on a Literacy meeting and see what all is involved in that. Things are gettin’ going!

My quiet times have been so alive! i know people have been praying for me and I am so thankful!! So thankful to meet with the Lord with enthusiasm and sit quietly before Him. What a privilege.

Love you. Thanks for praying!