Last Saturday was a joyful occasion to celebrate because I received the best Chistmas present ever! I received new clothes and cereal!!!! Alright, just kidding, even though those were great gifts, the best one was meeting my sister at the airport! Yes, she is here and still alive although I have kept he pretty busy. I want to first of all thank you for all those who donated Christmas gifts for the children or other items. I will talk about my Christmas party soon. It really was like Christmas opening the suitcases and finding love from America. You were all very giving and I thank you so much for that! Cathy seemed to have a good flight and she wasn't even tired so I decided to get her exposed to Ghana right away. There is no better way to do that than to ride on a trotro! She is so adventerous, a couple hours in the country and she was already on her way to the market in a beat up van. I think the market was overwhelming to her but it is for everyone as there are so many people trying to get you to buy their things. We went to look at fabric which is gorgeous but hard to choose just one! Then we boarded another trotro for Kitase to help with Auntie Jean's Christmas program. Cathy did well but she said that she got to know here neighbor well as they shared the same sweat! Sorry, probably too much information!
Up at Auntie Jean's, we gave her Christmas presents by bringing candy canes for the progam(you can't even get candy cane here!) and plans for her land. Just in case I did not explain this well enough, Aunie Jean finally has the money to buy the land she wants for her ministry. Her next step was to make plans for a pavilion she wants put there so I recruited my dad to help. No, he didn't go to Africa but thanks to technology, we used skype so he could talk to Auntie Jean and Ben, a teacher at our school, to make up the plans. I am so proud that he could be involed in that way! She loved the plans so she is taking them to the Australian government today to see if it will be approved. Please pray for this matter so we can start building on it shortly. Also, the land is down a narrow path so getting supplies down there will be tricky but Auntie Jean doesn't let anything stop her and I know she will find a way to get down there wih everything!
The Christmas program is coming along nicely but we only have two more days to practice! Cathy got to hang out with the kids while the other ones were practicing their lines. One girl kept trying to take off Cathy's freckles and then compare their skin color. I must say I am so happy she is here!
Sunday brought a long awaited day that I have been planning for awhie. As you might know, whe have a bible club for kids on the street every other Tuesday. I decided for Christmas to make dinner for the kids and give them Christmas presents. Liz, another teacher, and her friend Gideon, who is a Ghanaian, made Jollof Rice and Fried Chicken. Everything here is labor intensive as Gideon bought everything at the market, chopped up the chicken, ground the fresh ginger, and slaved over the stove for a least 4 hours! It was well worth it though as fifty kids came for our club. We did not tell them ahead of time that there would be food because than we would have had a thousand. We began the evening with the usual singing of songs and acting out a bible story. Hmm? I wonder what story we chose? I hope you said the birth of Jesus because you would be correct! I read Luke 2 as the kids acted out the story. Surprisingly the kids stayed very quiet which is unusual for them! Afterwards, I brought out a present which was the Bible. I told the kids that this was God's greatest gift to us, first sending his son to die on the cross for our sins and then writing the Bible so we could follow his commandments. I then told them that we had a present for them and that they would be having dinner with us. Fortunately, I had many helpers as Jonathon, another teacher at my school, came with his visiting parents and three girls from school graciously came to help out their soccer coach. I kind of bribed them with phsyc episodes afterwards but that is besides the point!
The children all lined up nicely as they received their food and joyfully ate it. THey were so quiet and so well behaved. I loved that moment! Most of these children live as squatters in homes, meaning they live in unfinished houses until someone kicks them out. I am not sure how often they eat but they do have to work hard all day with a family who does not have a lot of resources. After they helped clean up, we lined them up again to give them Christmas presents as they headed out the door. This caused a little more chaos as they all crammed up against one another in line to wait their turn for a toy, but it was more organized than any of us anticipated. THe kids loved everything and the evening was a success. God definitely blessed us that evening as we had just enough food for all of the kids and for us. We also had just enough presents too! God was working in a mighty way to show his sovereignty and grace to His precious little ones and to us. I do struggle with knowing I have a lot more than these kids, like electricity, or more than one pair of clothing, but God has placed me here so I can use my resources to help others. However, I couldn't have done it alone, and I am thankfu for all of the help from Cathy and my friends to put this crazy idea into reality. God is great and forever needs to be praised!
We are now getting ready to leave Accra for Kitase where we will help with the Christmas Program on Christmas Eve. Please pray that the children learn their lines and that ultimately God is glorified through this program as the children describe the indescribable gift that God gives us each day. We will return on Christmas morning where we will skype my parents and have Christmas together! Later, we will go to Laurie's house where we will have dinner and have a gift exchange. Merry Christmas to you all and thank you for being loyal in reading my blogs. I miss you all during this Christmas season but do know I am praying for you all and am there with you in spirit. The summer will be here shortly!
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