When we first got in the taxi, his name was Music, by the end of the ride, he confessed his name was really Jason!

Greetings!! My title is a pointless story about one of our taxi drivers that had a whole theme to his cab and Mariah Carey playing, a perk to taking public transportation! :)  

So today is October 2^nd; we have been in Ghana for just over a month now! I’m sorry if you haven’t gotten my newsletter, I would love to send it to you, so please send me your address to KatieHanson916@gmail.com!

Alright, we just got out of our Campus Crusade for Christ meeting, and a few women I met this last week came, as well as a about 60 other students! We had a speaker talk about relationships and how to glorify the Lord through them, and the question, answer part was the most comical! We meet at the Aquafo (meaning farmer in Twi, which is pronounced chwi J ) Hall Chapel every Saturday from 7-9 pm.

I’m pretty exhausted, but we take Sunday and Monday off here, because we are usually preparing, and going to the meetings on Saturdays. So sorry this is my first update!!

So much to say, I will try to make this both entertaining and informational! It has been raining here, at least 4 times a week, so we stay cool.. er then I was expecting! I hope you’ve been able to see the videos of my room, and also campus! They are on youtube, I’ll try to attach them!

The exchange rate is 1.43 Cedi fro every dollar, this is something we bartered for; they wanted it to be 1.45, I know we’re pro’s J

So a typical week, and every day looks different, but here is a main idea:

Sunday and Monday we have off: Laundry, Mall (internet, possibly pizza, also a coffee shop, and a grocery store!) There are 10 regions in Ghana, and we are looking to going to the Volta region to see their huge waterfalls; we plan on traveling out of Accra at LEAST once a month, I hope more! J

Tuesday: We have a team meeting to plan out the week at 9 am! We have a bible study with a few women in Aquafo hall. This is an enormous hall, with 3 courtyards within just this hall. Thelma is a part of the CRU leadership team, and lives here, so she’ll be helping us lead it and invite people! We haven’t actually had one yet, and are still in the midst of reaching out to students in this hall. I also help lead the Athletes in Action meeting at 7 pm. During the rest of the day, I go out sharing!

Wednesday: We go to the Accra Polytechnic school, which takes us an hour, at least to get there by tro-tro.  The best way to describe a tro-tro is a 15 passenger van (that’s even too nice) that’s really beat up and packed with people, and large sliding windows on the side. We pay about 20-40 pesos (about 15-32 cents) and drive almost all the way there. During the way there will be sellers coming up to the windows the whole time (balancing all sorts of things on their heads, we saw a chicken coup with 5 chickens one time!). They sell everything: bags of water, Bob Marley posters, “How to learn English,” textbooks, and my personal favorite: plantain chips! Similar to a banana chip, only better! Really, anything you think of, they probably sell it! Last Wednesday, I bought ten rolls of toilet paper on my way home! And my room mate: A huge map of Ghana! We were like, “who would really buy that….wait a minute...” We take a taxi on the way home because it’s normally a 2.5  hour trip in traffic, and the tro-tro’s are very hard to get… it is so hilarious to watch 40 year old people elbowing each other to get into the tro-tro’s, we take the taxi for about 10 cedi’s.

            So at this school, they just started a Campus Crusade movement about 3 years ago, and only have about 8 committed members. We try to get there at about 2 pm and evangelize in the dorms. The women are so nice to let us in; so easy to talk to, most times! A lot are already involved in there church, and love the Lord, which is really encouraging! But many women we ask, only think there is a 70-80 % chance they would get into heaven. So Becca and I find ourselves explaining how Jesus offers us a 100% assurance to living forever with him. We also learn a lot about Ghana through their eyes, all sorts of things, sorry I got side tracked!

Thursday: We had our first Volta hall bible study last Thursday at 7 pm, and no one showed up which was a little disappointing. We have spent I think 5 days evangelizing in Volta hall, which is the size of Aquafo hall, and is all women. I think this week, I’m just going to call a lot of the women that we made friends with through our time there, and just hang out with them; build a relationship and then possibly create a bible study or help them grow in their faith in other ways!

Friday: We meet with the CRU leadership team from 7-9 pm (it’s so odd, a lot of students study on the weekends, so they prefer to meet on Friday nights.) Other then that, we go out sharing, play basketball and meet people that way, make copies of various flyers or bible studies, go on prayer walks… etc

Saturdays: We meet with Richard, the director of the Legon campus (which is the main campus), and tell him how our week went! We usually have to plan a few things for the meeting and then go invite people in the dorms to our meeting and try to get in to spiritual comversations! The meeting is from 7-9/10 pm.

Ghana Man’s Time! (GMT) I just wanted to mention this, because I illustrated a normal week, but the GMT always mixes things up a bit! J If you tell a Ghanaian that you want to meet at 6 pm, they will leave their wherever they are coming from, or possibly start getting ready at 6pm, and get there at about 6:30 or 6:45 pm, patience is virtue! J

**** Because there hasn’t been anything really laid out for us, a lot of our time here is just trial and error! God has been teaching us patience, and my room mate pointed out that we have nothing to complain about! We have so much, I pray I can embrace and be thankful for being here, Ghana and it’s people are exciting to be part of!

My team mates are so hilarious and we have so much fun together! Even though there’s only 3 of us J   We play a lot of cards when the power goes out by flashlight, and watch movies, hang out with the Ghana leadership team, etc! A lot of things just take a lot of time! Making dinner, doing dishes, hand washing laundry, mopping floors each week, so we don’t have a ton of down time J Also,

God has been teaching me a lot of things, about relying on him completely and not other comforts in my life. To put his reputation of higher importance as opposed to mine. Ghana is a very spiritual country, and I’ve asked the Lord many times to open my eyes why he sent us here of all places. One of the staff on Campus Crusade said that most pastors he has talked to aren’t 100% sure they are going to heaven, so what are they teaching the students? We meet many women that go to church to earn favor from God, that ask him on their lives everyday. I am really praying for the students to see Jesus in our conversations and not a white girl that wants things her way. I want Jesus to get all glory and love he desires, and from these students he loves! Actually, today as I was praying it occurred to me how arrogant I was in thinking the Lord should show me any results in the services we’ve put in. But who am I to have the privilege? Because of the truth and grace he’s given us, we just have to trust in to remember Jesus has already completed the fight, and we want everyone to know about him. The Lord’s timing is perfect, and we don’t have to worry about controlling our ministry (whew!) here because he not only created it, but is perfecting it as I type. All I can do is keep having faith! And having fun, hey hey!! J    

A few funny things:

Instead of saying, “Come here!” or “Hey you!”  They just say “SSSSSSSS,” similar to a snake, which I have a hard time taking seriously

I was in a family portrait last time we went to a grocery store, they asked me to jump in with their young girls, awkward, but I guess the moment was monumental! J Also when I was running someone snapped a shot, but then I thought of all the random Ghanaians I’ve taken pictures of, and it’s fair J

We are being taught on Tuesday how to cook by a few students! So excited to get away from rice and chicken!!  

I’m so excited to be here! Thanks for thinking of me, I apologize if I can’t get any pictures on!: ) Would  love to pray for you, let me know!!! Katiehanson916@gmail.com

Love, Katie

“…and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very ends of the age.” Matthew 28:20