Monday, December 6, 2010

Hi everyone!

It’s been a while, so I’m not sure where to begin, but a brief synopsis of the last 2 months: J

October was a harder month for us with our water going out with about 20 of the 30 days, had a few illnesses, money stolen, trying to plan with our director and mixing our cultures (I think tougher then it sounds ;) ) and little T.V. and internet… (ok, we have a T.V. in our public living room across the hall, so that’s more of our choice) We met a lot of cool students that we still keep in touch with! It almost took us 2 whole months to get kind of a routine schedule, which I thought would happen faster!

November was much more uplifting, the highlight was that we found a church we LOVE going to! It’s called a New Testament church, and we had to go to a “member’s class” to join, and all their beliefs are very bible based. Honestly I’m not really sure how they got the name, Agape House New Testament church, but I really look forward to going! Their choir kind of sounds/looks like sister act, a lot of dancing, and loud, harmonizing songs, most in English! Twi (chwi) is their native language. The pastor and his wife are from Virginia, moved to Africa in 1982 and have been planting/ministering at churches since then. They had us over for Thanksgiving! And it was JUST as good as Dan and Sandy’s! J Well pretty close I think… so delicious!! I think my room mate Becca will join the choir and I will work with the kid’s ministry, it’ll be a good way to have a life outside of ministry because our team is so small J

We also made our Christmas tree in November!! It’s made out of filled up water bottles with lights going through the layers, reflecting off the water! Fake Christmas trees are really expensive here, and we don’t have a ton of extra storage space.

What else? I met many new students in November, more then any other month! So the first time I meet a student in the dorms, we will share the four spiritual laws with them (when we tell them we are missionaries they normally ask if we have any papers or “tracks” for them, it’s super easy to share the gospel! ) About a week or less later, we’ll knock on the same door (this part is much easier, most students are excited we actually thought to visit them! We’ll normally just talk and then ask them about what they think of the Holy Spirit, and explain how to walk with Him each day!

I’ve met some pretty awesome women!! One of my friends is Emefa, and oddly the first day I met her, she came to a meeting and she connected with many people right away! Some people just have that gift J She wants to make us Norwegian waffles? She grew up in Norway, but is 100% Ghanaian. Her parents had her and then went to college in Norway. My other friend, Sandra told me of her dream to become a pastor and has already started writing sermons! She is very involved in her church, but super encouraging to talk to.

We still run into this problem, where we are not sure if students are just answering questions so they sound good, or if they actually believe what they’re saying. For example, my team mate David had been talking to this room for a long time, and asked them, What do you think happens after you pass away? Both the guys answered, “It depends on if your Muslim or a Christian..” David said, “what do you think?” Without knowing David was a Christian, they told him they would go to heaven! But it can be really deceiving, not knowing if it’s the truth you hear J

They are starting their finals from December 11 to January 6! They get 2 days off fro Christmas, and New years off, but could have an exam on any other day! So we may have a few friends to spend Christmas with!! We’ll probably spend Christmas day with Richard and Nelson’s family; they are both on staff with Campus Crusade, and then Christmas Eve with students! We were told that New Year’s Eve is a much bigger deal here; and most go to either church, or the clubs… but New Years is much more the focus then Christmas!

Everything has been more exciting with Christmas music and Christmas parties! We had a Swallowship part, which was a time to eat and celebrate the almost end of the semester! I would describe it like a big BBQ in July with about 60 plus people and a big tent to sit under! The men killed a goat! That was really sad, I didn’t see it but could here him screaming L Anyways… we also had Jollof Rice, fried plantains, chicken, Granite (Peanut Butter) soup with Goat meat, Fufu (which is plantains, like a banana and cassava, like a yam, pounded together in a big wooden bowl). We played a lot of games! Mancala, Ludu (Ghanaian), Spoons, Handmade Checkers, a card game named Spa, and many more! We put up tons of decorations of all colors of the rainbow; I’m going to attempt to put up a video, but in case not I took tons of pictures too!!

Last Friday, I was able to go to an orphanage that out church started! My camera died after 3 pictures L But I’m sure we’ll have many more visits!! They have 59 children and a huge garden all the kids planted! Later that night we had all the students leaders over for pizza! We wanted to show them our Christmas tree and say thank you for all their hard work!

 Today is Sunday, we had our last Campus Crusade meeting this afternoon which was all worship and prayer! About a month ago, 3 students came together with Becca to start our “praise band,” they are so awesome!! I’m really excited for this because I will be just cooking, doing bible studies, and just visiting with students until their finals overtake their time! On average, each student has 1 or 2 papers or finals per class, so they could have anywhere from 5-10 finals over a 3 week period!! So we might take this time to start organizing for the speakers and events for next semester!

We also have  10 day vision trip of 7 students that are coming to visit us from January 2nd to 9th!!! We’re soo excited to see them! Hopefully God will work in their hearts to come back next year!

What the Lord is teaching me, I feel like is something slightly new each day, which is a great thing! I bought a planner for next year so I’ll be really good at documenting all I’m learning! J He has been letting me know lately that he is indeed listening, and loves us so much! He has calmed my heart a bit! My lifestyle this year has a lot more time to relax then at home ironically, with little internet and T.V. so he’s teaching me to relax and remember I’m hear for his purposes. Just the other day I remember thinking, how humble it is to think that I still pray to the very same God in Minnesota that I do all the way over here? And he still is so excited to hear my voice! Our voices, all of them, it’s so crazy!! Also, sometimes I feel like when people ask me questions about Jesus and Christianity in general, I want to just say, I will show you his true scriptures, but until you give your life to him, I can’t really let you know how great it is to have freedom and hope in Jesus. But we have a lot of fun meeting so many different people! Definitely a perk about being a missionary J

Merry Christmas to all!!!! We are listening to Christmas right now and are going shopping for our presents tomorrow! Also, here is my room mate’s blog for more pictures, videos and updates! J

Bvonebers2.blogspot.com

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark



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