Greetings from Ghana, Africa!
We have arrived safely!! Yes, I know, this post is only about 2 weeks overdue.. but it's here now, finally.
So many things going through my brain, and I'm not sure where to start and where to stop. The hubby is hoping this won't take too long, since he is so kindly taking care of the little girl while I do this.
For starts, I'll give a bit of info on our traveling. All went very well, and we praise God for no major delays, and a little girl that seemed to enjoy flying! There were definately moments where we wondered to ourselves "Why, oh WHY are we doing this with a one year old?!" But it all went fairly well. We gave her some medicine that made her drousy, so on the long 10 hr flight she slept for 5 hrs or so. We were quite grateful for the bassinet we recieve, but disappointed that it had to be at our feet. Yeah, no leg room!
We got back to our house in the evening (I don't even remember what time) and were fed supper and then unpacked most of our things. The weather was nice and we were able to sleep well, but not for too long. It gets daylight around 5:30 or 6, so we were up early. Add that to the fact that there's a moslem prayer call every morning at 4:00 that still wakes us most of the time.
I'll give a bit of information to those of you who may not know what we are doing here, and also explain some things that will make future posts less confusing. There are two orphanage houses here on the Living Hope Ministries compound. Both houses are occupiec by a native family and 10 or 11 orphan children, plus a few biological children that the family has. The orphanages are called the Blessing house, and the Love house. Then on the same compound is another house called the Hope house; the administrator's house, where the office is, and it's kind of the headquarters of the compound. Levi and Mindy stay there, and they are the American administrators. Ema Interpreter as we call him (short for Emannuel) is the native administrator, and he is also the dad of the Blessing house. There is also a school on the property where all the orphanage children go to school, as well as some village children, a warehouse, shop, and our house, the Mercy house. A single guy from Oh, Mark, is also here for 3 mo and is doing just anything that needs done around here. Our job here is not real specific. One thing we are here for is just to be with and encourage Levi and Mindy. They are a young married couple from IN who have been here a little over a mo. It gets very lonely on a foreign mission field, and we are here to help make that less painful. Also the hubby is here to work on painting the inside of the orphanage houses. Quite the job, I assure you. He's been doing well and seems to be enjoying it. ( I say seems to be, because he doesn't have much to say about it yet. It's taking him time to get adjusted to life here, but I think it is safe to say that he is enjoying himself.) We are also helping out with the different avenues of ministry that the mission has going here.
So far I feel like I don't have much of a mission here besides taking care of my family. I know that they are my first priority, and it has been a bit challenging to get used to the fact that the orphanage children that I so dearly love are not my main mission. I don't get to interact with them every day, but I do get to see them from a distance as they play at school. (the school is right next to our house) I enjoy hearing them play throughout the day. I go up to the orphanage houses as much as I can to play with them, and they love when I do. They love the little girl as well, and she really enjoys playing with them. I see that I can still be a blessing to them, but it's just different. I think by now I'm adjusted to the fact that it is just going to be much different than it was before. I also enjoy interacting with the native ladies that are here, although it is a bit challenging to communicate with some of them. Justina, a lady that has been with the ministry for years, lives next door to us, and she cooks lunch for the school every day, is such a joy and a blessing. She is married and has 3 girls, and she comes to our house almost every day. She has been helping me with cooking (that's a whole subject in itself) and is a blessing to be around. I love to be able to learn to know her better. And I'm really enjoying learning to know Mindy as well. I know I will miss her very much when we leave!
Like I said, so much to write.. I should update on our Christmas activities, share some pictures and much more, but for tonight I will refrain. I shall have to put more effort to posting more often. With no computer at our house, it is challenging to always have to come up to the Hope house to use the computer, plus be sure the little girl isn't getting into things.
Yes, it is a JOY to be here. I'm soaking it all up (well, maybe not the being out of water often, like now, the always dirty floors, the lack of cooking utensils, and such like) and know that the time will go by far too quickly. It has taken a while to adjust to the changes, but I believe that by God's grace, it is coming, as the Ghanaians say. There have been a few bumps in the journey, such as a teething little girl (toothie numbers 7 and 8 arrived since we're here!) lack of water for a few days, power outages here and there, and so on, but all these things are so good for us. We have been here for 2 weeks now, and already I could do an entire post on the things I will be much more thankful for when we get back to America. God knew I needed this trip, and even though it's not all pleasant, it's oh so good for me.
We appreciate your prayers! Pray that the little girl will start to be happier durring the day (she has had days where almost the only time she wasn't fussy was when she was eating, or taking short naps) that we (especially me) can be gracious in our attitudes toward things like being out of water. Ok, I said that a few times in this post. Hm. Yeah, it's reality for us right now. Pray that we can continue to be able to bear the heat. So far it hasn't been bad at all, but we can tell that it keeps getting warmer each day. And pray mostly that God would continue working through us, and that we can be a blessing to many during our time here. We praise Him for His protection so far, and for what He's done for us. I would like to post some pictures and update on some of our recent activities here this week yet. But no promises.
Blessings to all, and we wish you a happy New Year!
