Sorry!

I find joy in reading so many wonderful encouraging letters and emails, and knowing all of the prayers from friends and family that are surrounding me and everyone here even when the internet does not work for three weeks so I am unable to answer J

Fighting for Joy

Sometimes it can be hard to be joyful, it seems like I too often find myself feeling discontent or frustrated with one thing or another in my life, things that didn’t work out the way I planned, expectations I didn’t meet, times I felt hurt. I feel like I am learning from the people here what it really means to seek joy. This doesn’t mean just ignoring or not facing hardships but it does mean choosing not to dwell on them but instead to find yourself consumed by the joy that God has brought into your life. Today we encountered some unexpected adventures; we had a slight delay in our plans when our van got stuck on a dirt road in between two villages after a hard rainstorm. About three hours later due to the assistance of many good Samaritans we made it out, and although I am sure that staying overnight in our van in the middle of the jungle would have been an adventure I have never been so grateful to return safely home to Kasei. My friends here have been showing me lately that being joyful depends more on how you choose to live out your life than on whatever circumstance you find yourself in moment to moment.  Today was definitely a trial in that but honestly I know when I look back I will always see today as a precious memory, not wasted time. God helped me find joy in today and in so many countless other places already this summer. Today I was humbled by the selfless compassion of the three men who came riding up on a motorbike and not only stopped to help us but also stayed with us a couple of hours and recruited more help in order to make sure we made it out. I was blessed by our conversations in a combination of Twi and English and much shared laughter as these strangers willingly became coated in dirt and mud helping us dig out our van.  I am in awe of the grace and joy shown to us by them despite the fact that we had suddenly interrupted their lives and become such an inconvenience to them.  Even in places where we may be tempted to let negativity, worry, or fear creep in we can instead let faith and peace take its place, trusting that whatever may come, our God is still in control. There is so much joy and life surrounding me here in Ghana even amidst more struggles and brokenness than I have ever known. I find joy in sweaty little hands holding onto mine even though I wish I had enough shoes for every pair of bare feet caked in dirt and food to fill all the empty tummies, I find joy in playing volleyball at my friends home even when we lose the ball down the well, I find joy in spending more and more time with them even though I am made aware of the of the hardships they face every day, I find joy in sharing peoples lives with them even as I am broken by the poverty that surrounds me, I find joy in singing along in church even though I can’t understand the words, I find joy in helping people feel better even if I have to stick them with needles, I find joy in working in the hospital alongside the staff even though I wish I was capable of doing so much more to help, I find joy in playing cards with some of the patients at the ward in the hospital even though I know I will have to see some of them tomorrow when I help out in surgery, and I find so much joy in the friends I have made even though I know the life they lead is very different from my own and that I cannot be sure after I leave when I may get the chance to see them again. Some blessings here are obvious and easy to see like knocking down a ripe papaya from the tree outside our house or making our friend Solomon his first birthday card for his 25^th birthday, others not quite so much like having plenty of hydrocortisone cream to put on all of our bug bites or being able to get an IV in on the first try. I am grateful for every moment that I have been given here, both the difficult and the wonderful ones, and the joy that I have found in them all. Romans 8, Philippians 4:4-13, Psalm 103

Rock, paper, scissors and George Strait

I am still getting used to certain things here, like the fact that I have been asleep by 9 PM every Friday night so far this summer or that my new workout buddy, or buddies to be more exact, are a bunch of guys that work at the hospital who blow whistles, play finger castanets, and sing songs while they go for a run at 5:30 am on Saturday mornings. I still miss my running buddies back home very much but I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world but here right now. Although we have already been here for over three weeks now this week has definitely held a lot of firsts, not just for me though but also for some of the friends I have made, like when I tried to teach the kids the game rock, paper, scissors (much more difficult than I anticipated but it kept us entertained for quite awhile at least), or when some of my friends listened to country music for the first time while I kept them company working at the hospital on Saturday night. As for me I can now say that I know how to gut a fish, not sure if I want to ever put that skill to use again, and that I have participated in my first communion here.  Sunday during the communion service I couldn’t help but feel blessed by such a clear picture of the unity of the body of Christ right in front of me. All the way over here in Ghana, where many things are so different and so new to me this was still the same, we are all saved by the same sacrifice and I felt so much joy surrounded by so many new friends lifting up praises to Him, as I thought of so many friends and family back home doing the same this morning. As I get to know more and more people here, hospital workers, teachers, and many others, and hear more about their lives, the difficult paths they have taken to get where they are and their struggle to continue on or even to return to school I see just how very different most of their lives have been from my own. We were talking about school and jobs one day and I asked one of my friends what they would choose to do someday if they could, he stared at me confused and said he had never thought about that before. I hadn’t realized before now how truly blessed I am to be able to dream about what I want to do someday, and what I want to be. I am so fortunate for all of the education I have received so far and for all of the opportunities I have for the future, to pursue the things I desire to learn and do the things that I am passionate about. More now than ever before I have seen that I have been given so much but at the same time I am also reminded that I am not my own and that this world is not our final home. I hope that I can learn from the things I have been able to see and experience here and that I will trust God’s plan for my life and allow Him to use me wherever He may lead, seeking His will not my own. Romans 12:1-8, 15:5,6 Luke 12:22-48 John 14, 15 Matthew 6:19-34 Mark 8:34-38

Two weeks in Ghana

Well these past few days have been filled with more dancing and singing and of course laughing than I have done in a long time. From teaching the kids at school “This little light of mine”, to dancing in front of church with tambourines while wearing our new African dresses, to dancing around in the halls of the hospital with one of the doctors and some of the other hospital workers during one of our rare slow moments (probably their efforts to teach me how to dance after seeing my lack of rhythm and coordination in church). The beginning of this week has certainly been filled with its fair share of pleasant, unexpected moments including spontaneously leading devotions at the clinic and sharing my shower with a lizard this morning. I am not sure if I would necessarily consider that last one pleasant, although I would much rather find a lizard than a spider any day. Audrey and I also attempted to cook here for the first time this week we figured we would start simple and prepare one of the packs of instant muffin mix that we brought along with us (the ones where you just add water and bake). Unfortunately after an unsuccessful two hours went by we gave up and ended up just eating the batter by lantern light in our kitchen. Fortunately a couple of days later we had much more success when we borrowed a friends oven, had some help learning how to light it, and remembered the conversion equations between Fahrenheit and Celsius (never would have thought when we learned those in chemistry that they would actually come in handy some day thank you Dr. Arnett J).  I feel like I have been so blessed by the people we have met here, I am learning so much from them, and not only things like how to light ovens and wash our clothes. They have been a daily reminder to me of God’s greatness. The last day of work this week was more hectic than normal, one of those days where things kind of seem like they are going downhill from the start. Patients seemed to just keep crowding into the waiting room as the day went on and I could feel myself getting frustrated that I couldn’t do more for them, frustrated that people were waiting, frustrated that people were sick, frustrated that everyone at the hospital works so very hard and sometimes it still doesn’t always seems like enough. As I stood there holding a little boy who seemed to be content to sit there and look at me and feel my skin, one of my friends who works in the hospital turned to me and said “Isn’t our God wonderful”. I have to admit it caught me off guard I thought of our surroundings and in the midst of all of it he asked isn’t our God wonderful and it stopped me in my tracks. He had been watching me holding the little boy who was so entertained by the color of my skin, and despite everything else going on around us right then in that moment he was reminded of the awesomeness of God, the creator and sustainer of each and every one of us. It was something so simple and so obvious, the different colors of our skin, but in our uniqueness he saw the hand of our creator, and in it he saw the display of God’s power. I long for a faith like this that sees God in the ordinary, and in the hard places, places other people might not even want to look, like in a crowded hospital waiting room. I want to see God in all these places and to never stop being amazed by Him. I am so grateful for my brothers and sisters in Christ here who every morning remind me “God has given us each a new day aren’t we blessed.”  Psalm 139:1-18, Colossians 3:15-17, Ephesians 1:15-23