Wait? How many days?

Am I actually writing down days until I am leaving Ghana and not months? What a weird concept! I remember the day I left my family, embarked on a journey for West Africa, not sure of what I was getting myself into. Now, ten months later, almost a year, I can communicate with my Ghanaian sisters and brother, hear Sister Christy anywhere on the street, actually control a classroom, and travel on a trotro for hours to share sweat and smell with Ghanaians. What could be better in life? God has sustained me through an incredible year of my life to stretch and grow me and now I am on the home stretch. Howevr, it is still my obligation to bring Joy and love to my students each day. Te worst feeling is thinking that one of my students does not know the Lord and I would hate for them to slip through the cracks. Instead of looking for the week to be over, I am looking forward to each day where I have four more chances to imprint Christ's love, share His message, and bring JOY to these children's lives like they have never experienced. I will never get these moments back with them again thus I must make the most of it. You never realize how amazing something is until it is almost over and I hate that but I have no regrets from this year. God has taught me patience and to continuously pour out to those around us. Life will be empty without my kids even though my new kids will be great. It is just that these are my first ones and nothing will replace that. This past week I had a kid say, "no I don't want to go to PE, I want to keep learnign math." Wow, what an amazing thing for a kid to say, he definitely got an A. I had another kid during prayer requests pray that all of the students would know how great of a teacher I am and to remember all that I have taught them. Another student who left on Friday prayed that he would keep his friends and teacher in his heart for ever and never forget them. He prayed that he would always pray for them and that we would pray for them." Could they be anymore precious? Okay,I guess I am not humming this tune all the time but these moments come up all the time and it is so important for me to stop and recognize them as it is only the Lord who can work like this in these children's lives. Children are so honest and are not shadowed by the world's evil yet. I have learned many life lessons from them and I will always be thankful for them.

Last Tuesday, we passed out essentials to our the kids on the street. We gave them, bibles, underwear, popcorn, and tampico(orange juice type drink.) After passing out the bibles, one girl opened the cover, saw Jesus and kept yelling, "I have Jesus, I have Jesus, I have Jesus" this is real folks I don't make it up! In a world where death and suffering is reality, the children rely on their heavenly Father more and just realize how vital he is for their existence. How many times have I gotten bibles in America? Was I ever jumping up and down to know God's love letter was tucked neatly under my arm?

This weekend I had the amazing opportunity to go back to the Ashante region where I spent spring break. One of the other teacher's wanted to teach the girls how to make paper from recycled paper so of course I had to go. We left Friday at noon, which was hard leavin my students behind, my babies, I was like a mother giving the sub, ( more than capable teacher) last minute directions. Anyways, we spent 6 hours on a trotro, sharing sweat and literally laps with the guy next to me, oops fell asleep on him, you can say awkward! Saturday was glorious as I actually got 8 hours of sleep and woke to the luscious greenery, instead of disgusting, smelly Accra. We traveled to the village where I taught and it didn't take theh kids longto realize that we were there. While they made paper, I spent the day singing our favorite songs, making glow in the dark bracelets, and reading books. I gave them paper books and then when that ran out, folded white paper which was in big demand. I intended them to color on it but they just wanted the paper. Can you imagine? It doesn't take much to entertain them. So here I am on the porch in amidst of 15-20 children, passing out paper, remembering names, making them smile, and breaking my heart by their preciousnesss. Here are kids that have spent the day at their farms, have blood on them from cutting chickens but still want to color like the next kid in America. My heart is with these kids and I am praying for more ways to be involved in their lives next year. To be able to train the teachers of Accra, I must first understand the thinking of teachers and their students which will take longer than a year. God is in control and I am excited to see how he will lead in the following year.

Tonight we got together as teachers to share our years and sing songs to our Lord with a joyful noise. One particular chorus that kept with me;

Your all I need
Your all I want
Your my everything

Duh Christy? What more do I need in life, obviously nothing! So you mean even when the power is out, my classroom is hotter than a sana, my kids are sweating like pigs(their favorite simile), or a ten minute project takes two hours, God is still sufficient enough for me? Yes! Then why do I forget that so easily. This will all pass away, maybe even tomorrow but God will stand as my strong High tower for everlasting to everlasting. Amen.