To Go!

Bea twice a week teaches the fifth and 6th grade a half hour of English. She was using volunteers to show a family which the kids though was hilarious!

La Lumiere which mean the Light in French. This is so fitting!A school, a moto, and the Togolese Flag. This pretty much sums it all up!

Aren't they beautiful?

Beautiful little Abigail in 1st grade. She came running up to me immediately when I came and loved to be hugged. Oh the crazy kindergarten kids! You can tell they have a lot of personality.

I was attempting to speak to the first grade teacher with my French but eventually needed help with the translation. Soon I will be fluent, I hope!

The first grade teacher was teaching Bible to her 40 students. They stayed pretty engaged throughout the lesson.

This shows you most of the class with me in the far left corner. They love to have their picture taken!

If you put these two small words together, it spells a fantastic place that has recently become near to my heart. I hope you can guess it by now.... TOGO! Yes, this past week, I have been privileged to travel to Togo by trotro(never a dull moment!) to explore the endless possibilities to be a help there next year. Once leaving Accra, and seeing the untainted beauty of Ghana and Togo, I am always reminded that I was not meant to live in a city all of my life. The green exotic foliage and jagged mountains seem to stretch on forever bringing hope and new life around every dangerous and bumpy corner. After waiting for a trotro to fill up for two hours, the rest of the trip went by fast to Ho which is still in Ghana but close to the border. I spent sometime with some other missionaries and then made my way to Kpalime with another misisonary. One thing I am realizing here, you just get use to meeting so many different people all the time and sharing your whole life story even if you will never see them again. I love that you can just be honest with people as we all share the same passion of giving the Gospel to the nations.

Once in Kpalime(silent K) we stayed with a missionary who does many outreaches in the village and who takes care of three Togolese children. They immediately latched onto me and we enjoyed the afternoon playing and conversing in the little French that I can use. However, when playing with kids, the same language is not necessary as smiles, laughter, and tickling is a universal language! I did enjoy the moments when they totally understood what I said and vice versa in French. Lightbulb!

On Wednesday, I visited one of the 14 Christian schools associated with the Baptist churches. I had to endure 40 minutes of the students reading the same passage on the board over and over again. The teacher insisted that they must work on pronunciation but this does no good if they don't understand what they are reading plus they are only 7 so as I know, their attention span is small. These are some of the small areas in which I hope to help the teachers in as they are just copying how they grew up but we want them to understand that there are better ways to ensure the students' learning. However, it is small when you have 40 students in the room to do this and every space is filled with a desk, but I am praying that I can find a manageable way to ensure everyone's learning need. Oh the needs are plenty and I feel so inadequate to discover all the answers but I am willing and I know the Lord will provide.

Wednesday night helped me realize the importance of prayer and to not take for granite the chance we have to pray openly. I spent the night at another misisonaries house where she had Togolese company staying for the night. We were talking for awhile until the man said, "Prions" or Let's Pray! He prayed for many things including me and my transition to Togo next year. It was such a blessing and wake-up call that prayer is esential as we must deliver Thanks to our Father in Heaven. Everytime we got into the car, we prayed as travel here is a miracle with the potholes, livestock, and motos.

On Thursday and Friday, I spent more time in the schools. I most enjoyed a first grade room as she was energetic and tried to keep the kids engaged. However, this is a challenge when you have 40 6 year olds and nowhere to go but the small wooden bench but they did well. She proved to have more challenges than this as she had a 4 year old in the class and one precious girl who is autistic and always up to something. I long to work with this class and help find ways to keep everyone active and learning. She did a good job going around to check on the students' work but she had to spend so much time with two in particular that the others proved to be restless. I enjoyed giving her praise in the French I could muster to speak but I got to the point where I needed a translator to express my encouragement. Oh, it would be so much easier if I was fluent in French, but I know this will come if I keep working on it.

Thursday night was a very productive night as we met the the Togolese church leaders to discuss a CEG(middle school) for next year. There is a lot to determine for this project to happen but we are excited for the children to continue their education in a Christian school environment. During this time, I definitely got to work on my French as I had to concentrate to pick up on the gist of the conversation but it was good practice. Bea(missionary) feels really convicted to provide afterschool programs for the students, especially for the girls so they do not become pregnant as a prey to older men. I am in charge of this project which I am excited about. Thank goodness for the years I spent trying a new craft every week! I am also thankful for Nanette who taught me how to crochet and knit after Sunday School. I am more convinced than ever that it is important to remember what you were taught at an early age as it will come back to haunt you later on! This just shows that the Lord equips us early on for His glory in ways that we can't even imagine! Anyways, I will be teaching the girls different skills so they have something to look forward to or make money from instead of thinking their only answer is pregnancy. Yes, I am knee deep in projects already but the Lord will provide as always!

My trip home was not too eventful but I guess more so than in the states. In the first trotro, I found myself in an old station wagon sitting in the middle front seat. Ah, this reminded me of the days going to Pennsylvania with all 6 of us crammed in a car and me sitting up front center. However, the scene was a little different as I was surrounded by Ghanaians, we bumped along red clay roads, and I was surrounded by luscious green foliage and palm trees. Oh the memories! The next trotro but even more cozier as I was crammed between two larger woman and a child for 4 hours. Talk about fun! We all survived and I made it home within 6 hours of leaving the house where I stayed in Togo. Going home actually proved another exciting change as they are tearing up our road to put in new gutters. So imagine a dirt road covered with piles upon piles of gravel and dirt along with broken up cement from the old gutter. Than imagine a huge gaping hole between the road and your house and looking down in a muddy pit. Yep, home sweet home. I had to laugh as I walked the gang plank to my gate since we call our house the Palace and now how fitting as I had to walk the drawbridge across the moat. Oh blessed Ghana, never a dull moment!

I guess the real question is are you actually moving to Togo? The answer at this point is yes! I feel that the Lord is making it possible for me to work with the Togolese people to provide Christian education for the students and to disciple the teachers. I feel so inadequate and overwhelemed but the Lord will provide!

Happy Sunday

Decide to Follow

When I was walking Sunday evening, I realized that an ordinary sight to me here, is something quite extraordinary in other cultures. I was turning the corner from my street when a lady was pulling out certain branches from a large pile of debris. She smiled nicely at me when I passed her and then went back to her work. While she was working, I heard the familiar sound of, "I have decided to Follow Jesus." It was such a powerful message to hear because as this woman did menial work, she was still singing praises to her Savior and proclaiming that no matter what the job she has been called to do, she has still taken the stance to Follow Christ. I needed that reminder as I tend to worry about the future and if the plans will work out. However, if I am committed to following Christ, then I do not have to worry about the details. God is in control of the details, I just have to make the decision to fully follow him no matter the obstacle that seems to stand in the way. What an easy concept but a harder one to actually practice.

On Wednesday, we had chapel for the entire school to stay focused on the meaning of Easter. Some students put on a the Easter Story through song, interpretitive dance, and even a scene between the devil and Jesus with the background of the Final Countdown. It struck the kids in a new way and really made them think of the sacrifice God made for them. After one of the songs, I turned to my second graders. One of them was clapping wildly and exclaiming, "This is amazing!" It was very cute! Afterwards, we talked about the true meaning of Easter and one of my girls aksed if we could pray that everyone would decide to follow Jesus. Yes, what an amazing example of childlike faith. Please pray with me that the students will fully understand how they can follow God full heartedly.

I was talking to a friend of mine who is moving to Kenya with her five kids and husband. They are very dear to me and I will miss them emensely. We were talking about stepping out on Faith and trusting God to provide when there doesn't seem away. We so easily say yes, God and then say "but God" right afterwards. If we are truly telling God that we trust Him, there should not be any "buts" afterward as preacher said nothing good comes out of a but. Instead, we should be saying, "OK God!" Yes God, it seems impossible, OK you will move the mountains and of course he will. Will it be the way we envisioned it? Maybe, maybe not, but if we are willing to say"OK God, here I am and take all of me," then what culd go wrong? Yes, easier said than done but each day as we walk with our Savior, we see His goodness a little more and understand a little more how much he really is in control.

This week in my classroom, we put on our fairy tale plays. Leading up to this, the students created an explosion of color and construction paper as they designed their costumed and prepared for their play. I truly love these moments because even though I am running around assisting in anyway possible, the kids are truly happy and having the opportunity to allow creativity to flow. One day we were picking up, which takes a decade!, and I found a shoe under the table. I was looking for the owner when I found the match under the next table. I knew immediately who it was as he is notorious for this and then I had to laugh as I sent this student on an errand to kindergarten not knowing he was missing his shoes! Oh my! It really never is a dull moment in my classroom and I just have to laugh at the craziness so I don't lose my sanity although some of you might be questioning if I ever had any. Good question!

Of course this blog would not be complete without mentioning our Savior! I love worshipping in a mixed cultural groups with a variety of mother tongues and knowing that the Savior of the Universe died for us all! He is risen! He is risen indeed! This joyful proclamation was started by Christians centuries ago who wanted to make sure they were meeting with other true believers. If a person responded in the right way, they knew they were a true believer and was not trying to infiltrate the Church meeting. Unfortunately, this is very true for many believers today, especially in Northern Africa where Christians must meet in secret. They too, are celebrating the Resurrection of our Savior but alas, they are doing it underground. I am so thankful that our God is bigger than persecution as he has Conquered Death once and for all! I pray that today and everyday you can joyfully exclaim that Our Savior is Risen and He is Risen Indeed!

God's Presence

Fairy Tales, Dinosaur, standardized testing, oh my! Talk about a conglameration of all sorts! This week we had our annual standardized testing in which the kids are forced to fill in bubbles and stay quiet for a long time while I read the same script repeatedly. Sounds like a blast, right? Anyways, I always love to spend the time after the tests with more productive activities like creating fairy tale plays and make fossils to represent dinosaur bones. Sometimes I laugh at the fact that I am a second grade teacher which spends her weekends looking up fairy tale ideas, singing songs about fairy tales to the tune of Jingle Bells, or determining the foot track of a plant-eater dinosaur. It sounds ridiculous but I do love bringing joy and a new twist on life to my 17 creative second graders. During one of these crazy days, I drew a large dinosaur track on a large piece of paper each for the boys and the girls. We then proceeded outside where they stepped in paint with bare feet and made a footprint inside dinosaur print. We estimated and then found the actual number of second grade feet that fit into the dinosaur print. The sight was hilarious as the students would step into the paint, jump onto the paper, and then crawl to the outside sink to wash off. They were dragging each other, scooting on their behinds or hopping on one foot, oh what a sight! We had a good time and realized dinosaur prints are a lot larger than our own feet so it was well worth it!

On Saturday, we spent the day having a soccer tournament for the middle school and soccer kids at the school. It is so important that they have a time to just hang out and enjoy a sport they love. We had over 20 kids and definitely stirred up the sand playing good soccer. Please pray for our students as they are trying to find fit in and live in a world where they have everything but yet nothing.

We have been spending Saturday afternoons with the onion boys. We have really enjoyed getting to know them better although we don't speak the same language. We just share books, and share words either in Zarma, French, or English. I do love practicing my French with them and they are so happy to teach them their precious language, Zarma. Some of the boys have accepted Christ while others still pray on their mats to Muhammad at scheduled timed. We are not allowed to know the ones who are Christians as this could jeopardize their job and livelihood all together but there is one boy in particular that stands out as one who finds joy in all circumstances and has a presence around him all the time. When onions aren't selling, he will just say, "next week will get better. One of these weeks, it will be good!" He is very optimistic and definitely is a pleasure to talk to. This just reminds me that as Christians, we should have a presence about us that is just contagious and filled with joyous times. Afterall, we have the Savior of the World as our Heveanly Father! What more could we want? I need to be able to show Christ in my life at all times no matter the circumstance so He can be praised on high!

We have four more days of school(not that I am counting down) until Spring Break. I will be travelling to Togo to visit the schools and make plans for next year. Please pray that this will be a fruitful time and it will show me how the Lord is leading me to Togo. There are not always signs of transitioning from one ministry to another, but yet we must be faithful and continue to wal the path as the Lord directs each step. I am starting to tell the soccer players that I am leaving and this has been hard but most of them understand. Fortunately, I won't be too far away!

Continue to live each day with the Joy of the Lord!

Oh Lord my Strength and Redeemer

A verse that has been on my mind lately is Psalm 19:14

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart by acceptable unto you, Oh Lord, my strength and my redeemer. "

This has been a tremendous blessing to me the past couple of weeks as I tend to worry about everything else and just ponder about issues I can't control. What a blessing that I do not have to worry about these trivial issues as the Lord is their for strength and redemption. I can praise him through every circumstance. Before I even speak or wonder, I must remind myself that my thoughts and words have to be pleasing to the Lord. Everything I do must be a reflection on his goodness. I am so thankful that he knows my thoughts so I am accountable for my actions and and so I can please the Lord in all I do. No, I am definitely not perfect, but the Lord shows his strengths through my weaknesses.

Ghana has been good to me as I have learned to be more carefree, definitely more patient, and more dependent on my Savior. The next few statements I am about to share might knock you off your chair but I promise it is true and it just shows you how much the Lord can work even through our weaknesses. Those of you who know me well will know that I use to be a germaphobe, a horrible one at that. However, I did a rejoiced on Saturday after I realized how far I have come from those bleak days. I was dribbling the ball down the street to play with some of the street kids when all of a sudden I lost control and of course the ball went right in the gutter. Oh no, it couldn't have been a clean, dry gutter but a soppy, green, wet, well you get the picture or want to get the picture out of your mind that I am describing! Anyways, with no hesitation I stooped down by the gutter, picked up the ball with attempt to touch the dry spots but nonetheless touching the wet spots with who knows what on it, and kept on playing after I just wiped my hands in the grass. Who am I? I am not sure but I am thankful for the decrease in worry and more faith in Christ as worrying gets you nowhere. We had a great afternoon playing soccer with the kids and random adults who walked by. They are all such a blessing and it is important to invest in them. It will be sad to leave them, as they have impacted my life with their constant smiles and warm hugs, but I know the memories will last.

Reminder of God's Goodness

What a blessed week it has been! No, nothing unusually exciting has happened but I continue to see God's faithfulness even in the small things of life. Even when the power if off for 24 hours, he allowed it to be on 2 hours to get grades finished. That is a miracle! This week, my friends from Togo came. They brought two of the Togolese principles with them to observe the schools. The did enjoy my classroom which I guess is a good thing since I will be working alongside of them next year. One of them was in the first grade room and he asked the teacher when they were going to do work since they were doing phonics games and such. To him, it didn't look like work but activity based is what you do in first grade. It is just a totally different mindset but they are starting to see that how we do things differently can be effective. I had a really good talk with Bea, the lady I will be taking over for, on Wednesday and am excited for the next chapter in my life. We all spent time praying for one another, which was a huge blessing as all four of us women in the cirle are going through transitions but God is faithful in each circumstance. It truly helped keep my eyes focused on God's great plan as I could see the Togolese excitement to have help in strengthening their schools. I can see Bea's heart and her need for willing hands to come alongside of these teachers. It won't be an easy road, but it is a road that is worth travelling on for my Savior.

In other news, we started girl's soccer this week. I have loved it so far as we have 16 girls willing to work hard and as a team. Some have never played before but they are picking up on it very quickly and never give up. This is the first time we have had so many girls and I know we can do well in all we do. I also pray that we can teach these girls that they can glorify the Lord through their playing. what a privilege we have to minister to these find young ladies.

Yesterday, we had a cold party since we have been studying weather. This happened to land on an ironic day, since both of my air conditioners did not work, thus we spent the day sweating profusely. Thank goodness for the ice cream and drinks to cool us off at the end of the day. The kids were really troopers and when I asked them to say Yippee when we didn't have the AC., they joyfully repeated even though they were truly hot. During our little party, we found ourselves outside throwing ice cubes at each other for ice cube toss, you know like egg toss. The ice cubes didn't hurt anyon but I kept laughing at this sight of ice cubes flying through the air and little hands trying to catch them. Oh what good times we have in second grade! Earlier this week, we had a mission group come in from England. One of the men were talking and his name was John. One of my boys excitedly exclaimed to me across the aisle, is that the real John? No, it wasn't, he lived a long time ago, but it was worth a try! Second graders are so funny!

I love Ghana because you never know what you will see. For example, while Josiah and I were waiting for a trotro today, we saw "chickens in a bag." Yes, two live chickens were sticking their heads out of a black plastic bag which I assume will eventually lead in their death. The term "takeaway" has moved to a whole new level!

We sat with the onion boys today and read with them some. Most of them do not know any English but we are making friendships and befriending boys who are looked upon as the low life of Accra. Even today, a man was buying onions through his car window until he all of a sudden got mad and through down the onions. Noone takes the time to consider these boys and how they are special. They are away from their families and they need love but alas they are just tossed to the side. Please pray for these boys and be in prayer for the minority groups who are neglected as they need the Love that can only come from the Lord. While we were walking back to a trotro stop from the onion boys, it looked like the clouds were going to let loose and the let the "water fall" as the boys said. We predicted when it would fall and Josiah said that it would start while we were walking across a specific busy intersection. A few minutes later, it looked like it was clearing up and we forgot about the prediction. Right before we got to the intersection, a trotro pulled up going exactly where we needed to go so of course we got in. Right when we crossed the intersection in the trotro, it started to rain. What are the chances of that happening, oh we laughed so hard. What a small blessing the Lord provided today. He is working, even from keeping us wet as we all know I will melt in the rain!

Keep enjoying each remarkable day that the Lord has given us!

New Memories

Today marked a new adventure for AIS as the elementary students played two soccer matches against other schools for the first time. The scores do not match with the caliber of the students' play as they did try their best. They have never played on a large field before and had a hard time with positioning but they did their best until the end. The goals we did score were fantastic and done by some players who were really trying. In the long run, we were very proud of the players and excited to offer more chances for our students to compete and and work together to accomplish a goal.

I guess this week was filled with soccer craziness as on Tuesday while we celebrated Independence Day in Ghana. Josiah and I each coached a team of 5th-8th graders. Again, the scores weren't the greatest, but it was a fun day to share our talents and play the greatest game. After the small tournament, there was a showcase game of the high school players around Accra. We had three students representing our school and I was very proud of them although I ended up critiquing everything did, oops the coach in me!

All of this soccer was a blessing this week to get the kids' minds off the passing of one of their friends. It was a struggle at school but what a blessing that we can help these students cope through a Christian perspective and have hope in their true Savior. On Friday, in my small group of 9th graders, I was able to point to the truth of God's promises. They were fixed on Heaven and what it would be like praising the Lord forever in Heaven. The thought of Heaven to them, was quite scary as they can't imagine the idea of something never ending, however, I tried to instill in them the importance of trusting in Christ now and keeping him at their focuse. It is hard for these high schoolers to accept that God is sovereign, Just, and the Savior of the World but I just pray that these girls can see God's higher calling their lives and want to live for Him even in the tough days.

Nothing else is going on, just living each day for my Lord. Yes, this is easier said than done but I am so thankful for God's comfort in all we do. Praise the Lord on High!

Throw off the Snake

Wow, what a title right? You might already be clicking off this page or maybe your curiousity will get the best of you and you want to find out why this is my title. Last Sunday morning, I was really struggling with the idea of leaving Ghana and friends here. Then, of course God spoke to me directly at church. The visiting pastor was talking about how Paul got bit by a snake on an island while he was travelling to Rome. The people there thought he must be a murderer and that he would die. Paul shook the snake off and was fine. He wasn't even worried and didn't allow the other people to discourage him as he knew he needed to go to Rome. This was such an encouragement as I can't be down trodden by the fact of leaving here or worried that the future plans won't work out. God is sovereign and has all the details worked out. If I keep my eyes focused on Him and Him alone, all worry will surpass.

This past week has proved to be another difficult one, emotionally speaking. Friday after school, I heard the tragic news that a missionary family with FIM(mission I am joining) lost their 15 year old son. He was good friends with many of our kids at school and we had to tell most of them after they got back from a basketball game Friday night. There was no easy way to tell them and yes they were very confused. We are just praying that the Lord will continue to show his Truth to these students and instead of turning their backs on God, they will run closer to Him. Please pray for this family as they have to make a lot of decisions in the next week. Also, pray for the staff at AIS as we know how to best comfort our students in this time of loss.

I was suppose to be in Togo as we have Monday and Tuesday off for Ghana's Independence Day. Unfortunately, plans did not work out so we went to the beach instead with a group of teachers. This was relaxful(yes I relaxed some!) and of course fun as I spent a good amount of time in the water just floating. I have probably mentioned this a million times but I love watching the waves as they just remind me of God's power and that he can control the wind and the waves. What a powerful God we serve! On Sunday, the waves were very powerful and I was taken under too many times for my comfort. When we were knocked around, sand covered every inch of our bodies, even my ears! I tried to get it off, but obviously this was impossible when I was washing it with sandy water! This reminded me of sin and struggles as we keep trying to pick the grains off one by one while we are still standing in the trouble. This will never work! We only become clean when we get out of the water, out of the sin, and wash off with clean water, or the forgiveness of Christ. God doesn't want us to be stuck with sand on us, we need to get out and wash off in his mery and goodness. We all need to be thankful for the rich blessings the Lord has bestowed upon us!