Atlanta Trip

Tim and I went to Atlanta yesterday to check out more hotels for his 2008 American Academy of Impant Dentistry Meeting. It was really nice. We got picked up at the airport by a limo from the Sheraton (this hotel was my personal favorite). If you ever need a limo in Atlanta, call James at the Sheraton...they take care of people who do not stay there as well and he was a wonderful driver. We were going to spend the night in the Hyatt, which is also a nice hotel, however, after we got checked into our room and started watching the weather channel (which is Tim's favorite channel) we decided that we had rather come back home yesterday than have to worry about thunder storms than were moving into Memphis during the night Friday and on Saturday morning. I do not like to be in the sky with lightening, so it wasn't a very hard decision for me to make. And sure enough, we woke up this morning to rain and thunder and lightening, so I am glad we came home yesteday and didn't have to worry about how to get around the storms to get home today! It's been a nice lazy day! We went to see "the Astronant Farmer" this afternoon. It was a fun family movie and I don't even remember one word of profanity, but you can't trust me too much because since I don't have little kids anymore, I don't tune into it as much as I used to. Hope you are all having a good weekend!

More Ghana photos

Man signing for the deaf in church.
Quite a common sight.
These were a very frequent sight inside and out. They were quite colorful depending on where they had been and would not harm you.
Shops below and people live above in the apartments. This is one of the nicer places of business and living quarters we saw.
Can you believe that these ladies and even little children can carry this huge pans on their heads loaded with all sorts of items from bags of water to yams to wood and still carry a baby on thier backs too?!? Some men do it, too, but not as many as women.
These are some of the Bible students at the Ghana Bible college. I loved hearing them raise their voices in priase to God during chapel. the only thing is that the leader always sings the first line or two of the song and then says, :Go" and everyone else starts to sing. I never got the hang of that...I always stated singing when he did...I even told Leanne to hit me if I continud to do it, but it didn't do any good. Guess all those chorus directors all those years pounded it into me to start with the leader and it is a hard habit to break!

What an Awesome Trip!

We got home from Ghana on Thursday (2/15) in the evning. I made it to Memphis with a pair of hand craved walking sticks that I had bought which they took away from me in the Amsterdam airport to put with checked luggage and I was sure that I would never see them again but no suitcases. They were finally both delivered by Saturday night.
We had a truly remarkable time in Ghana and saw so many sights we will never forget:
The hospitality of Lynn and Augustine Tawiah;
The mass of humanity in Accra and the traffic in Accra and Kumassi - it was like a constant game of "chicken";
The hope in the eyes of the children at the Village of Hope and the energy and encouragment that Tommy Drinnen brings to that work;
The eagerness of all our students at the Ghana Bible College to learn and to be lights of the Lord to their people in cities and rural villages all over the country and the extreme sacrifice they make to attend college there (most of them are in their late 20s to late 50s, many with families who they only see a few times a year);
The sacrifice of a few cents each the students made to buy Leanne and me "farewell gifts" of Ghanaian traditional sandals and kenta cloth;
The street vendors who come right up to the car with any item you might need or want including bags of water, ice cream, Milo chocolate drink, hankerchifs, ANYTHING (Augustine said Lynn is tempted to do all her shopping right from her car window!)-this is the original drive through!
The long and dusty drive to the rural village where Augustine grew up (just 10 miles from the border of Cote d'Ivoire (the Ivory Coast) and the warmth and friendliness of the people there;
The light and obvious pride in the eyes of Augustine's 90+ year old mother when she sees him;
The respect that Augustine commands in his village and those around it;. He took us to meet the mayor who interruped a meeting with a tribal chief to come out and talk with us for about 10 minutes; then Augustine arranged for us to be on the radio. Leanne even got to make a radio spot that will be played over and over!
The school Augustine has begun in his home village and the 391 children who are so eager to learn; they are in a building originally designed for 200 children, but the need has been so great that parents who can afford it are sending children from about 3-4 villages;
The way the children sit so attentively and listen even when there are 85 preschoolers to 1 teacher in a class;
the way the children raise their hands to be called on and then stand to address the teacher with such respect - that just about backfired on us in one clowning skit where Sadie (Leanne) told me to stay put but instead I followed her all around and she couldn't find me. She kept askig the children where I was but no one would be rude enough to yell out that I was behind her. She finally pretended to cry and one little boy raised his hand and stood and said, "She is behind you, Madame."
The sadness in the eyes of so many children who can't attend school because their parents can't afford the $10 per month to send them!! (Education is such a priviledge there)
My gratefulness to Richard, a volunteer children's minister from Accra, who made the journey with us to the rural school to help with VBS. The children understand the King's engish, but they don't always get Southern english so he was so valuable in helping me teach and I learned a lot from him!
Sometimes we had electricity and running water and sometimes we didn't. You just never knew when...The whole city would be blacked out and people would still have their little shops open by candle light or kerosene lamps.
There was huge nice houses, next to little shacks in the city and many of the people had their businesses build right in front of their homes.

It was a truly blessed trip and Leanne and I returned wanting to go back again. Thanks to Leanne for putting up with me and for agreeing to go on this trip in the first place. Thanks so much to all of you for your prayers, your encouragement, and your taking care of our families while we were gone. Please continue to keep Augustine and Lynn and their children, the men and women at Ghana Bible College, and the children, parents, and teachers at the rural school in your prayers. If you are interested in more information about how to help financially at either the Ghana Bible College or the rural school, please let Leanne or me know. And if you ever get a letter from any high school or college kid asking for a donation to go on a mission trip to the Village of Hope, send them some money, even if it's just $5! (Also look at my facebook if you want to see more Ghana photos.)

Ghana

It's hard to believe that we are in Ghana and that it is really February! It is so hot here! and I hear that they have had snow in Memphis! Our flight from Amsterdam was delayed about 6 hours so instead of getting here at 7:00 we got here about midnight. We ended up on the plane with an American doctor from DC who was going to Kumasi to work for 6 weeks. We invited her to come to the hotel with us since she was alone and yesterday, she got s short tour of Accra with us and Augistine and then we took her to the bus station. Leanne clowned at the school where Lynn (Augistine's wife) teaches then we went to eat with thier family. They have 3 precious children. We then met Brett and April and Caden Emerson. They ate dinner while we ate ice cream (of course). Today we're all going shopping together and then this afternoon late, Augistine will take Leanne and me to the Village of Hope. We'll go to church with them tomorrow and Leanne will clown for the kids after church. Sorry I don't know how to download photos and I don't even think I have the right equipment to do it. I'll have to do that later. This is really an adventure!