And Then There were Five...

would be a good title for my class this week. I started out with 13 at the end of last week. On Monday I had 2 absent. Tuesday 2 absent. Wednesday 3 absent. Thursday 4 absent and one go home sick. Friday 8 students absent which left me with 5 which would have been amazing but because the printer wasn't working and I was caught off guard by the number of students I had and I was worried about the 8 that were absent, it was not the best day. AIS has finally contracted the H1N1 virus. As of Friday at like 2 we had 4 confirmed cases 3 of which were in my classroom. I found out yesterday that I have another one has tested positive so that is 4 cases just in my room. Which is scary. This week has been full of scary health scares.

I didn't share this with a lot of people but I found out like two weeks or so ago that a person on my flight from London to Chicago came down with Tuberculosis also commonly known as TB, and I would have to go get tested. Well anything with needles is scary here in Africa. So I talked to the Laurie, a nurse that works with AIS and the embassy and she told me where I should go. So she got it set up and in a flash Monday during my lunch I grabbed William, one of the schools drivers, and he took me to Medlab which is where they do all these test. I got the test and went back to school. Then on Wednesday I went back so they could test the results, which by that time you could bearly see the dot. Praise the Lord free from that. Then Thursday I found out that I had a student with H1N1. I am fine I haven't gotten sick yet and I am getting lots of rest and eating plenty fruits. So please pray. The director is in the states so Laurie and the director's wife are dealing with this and they are talking to the Ghana Health Department to see if we are going to have school or not on Monday. Just be praying for the whole situation. I did text all of the students who were absent on Friday just to see how they were and I heard back from 3 of them and they seem to be doing better.

This weekend I have done some pretty exciting things. Friday night I came home and just slept I was so tired. Then I woke up early not on purpose and then at like 8 me and Christy went to the market to buy fabric. We tro tro there which is always an experience and then we went fabric looking. We brought lots of cool fabric and we are going to make some really cool things out of it. THen as we were leaving I saw Bibles and I wanted to get a twee Bible which is what they speak in this region, where I live. I decided that I want to get a Bible from every country I go to. After the market I just came home and watched some Psyche and then went to get Chicken and Rice came back and watched some NCIS with Meghann and then she left and I organized my students papers. Then I cleaned and Daniel was cleaning downstairs so he made his way upstairs and I did my Bible study. After that I just made dinner for myself since I was the only one here which was nice I put in Forest Gump and watched a little bit of that. At 8 o clock the girls downstairs had people over to play games and they invited me to come down to play with them so I did. We played a really fun game called Booche ball and it comes in this bag and has rings and balls and you throw this 12 sided ball and then you throw your ring and your ball and you get points for the weirdest things like being the farthest away. However the more points you get the weirder the way you have to throw it. So for instance i had to throw it with my elbow, bounce it off a body part, sit with legs straight in front of you weird things like that. It was a blast definitely have to get that this summer. Then came up and watch one more episode of psyche and then went to bed. Over all it was a good relaxing day.

Pray that the students get better and that H1N1 does not spread anymore.

Pray that I don't get sick with H1N1

Pray for the meeting with the health department

Pray for my traveling this Thursday- Sunday for a conference.

Pray that my sub doesn't get overwhelmed.

A story about thankfulness

Our chapel speaker on Wednesday and he told us about when he was younger up in the Volta region which is where I was just at and I want to share it with you because this story really made me think about things this week it really hit me hard, so here it is..

When he was little he was I believe out of twelve and they did not have much so a man came and said that he was going to take him and put him into school and give him a better life so his mother sold him to this man so he could have a better life. Little did she know she sold him into slavery. He worked very hard pulling up nets and working from like 6 to 6 or later with one meal at 3 pm. He did hard labor and did not get to go to school or anything that the man said he would do. This boy of 8 years old was beaten and worked hard all day with one meal. He later ran away from this man and met another man who did put him into school. He went through school and became a banker. He later hated being a banker and now he rescues kids that were just like him and helps them out.

Most of the kids that go to our school are very well off and have maids and drivers, and they don't have to do anything for themselves. They don't know what it means to not have enough food or are beaten all day and only eat one meal. They get to go to school.

the fact that I have a lot here and take advantage of so much and I complain because something doesn't work. For instance this week I was trying to print out things for International Day on Friday and I want to print out all of my things for Friday and there is no ink and we couldn't find it anywhere, and I was mad. I was mad because I could not print what I needed for Friday instead of being thankful for all of the technology I have in the school. The same day one of my students wanted some water and he never smiles and I told him he had to smile before he went to get water because we are privilege to have a water jug where they can just go get some right outside our room. He would not smile so wanting him to go get water I told him he needed to think about the kids that don't have clean water and have to walk miles to get some when all he had to do was go to the water fountain. These two instances really brought me back to the chapel speaker and really made me think about how thankful I should be and not complain or take advantage of the people and the things that I have.

On Friday we got out of school at 2 pm because it was International Day and we also went out to dinner that night. When we got home I got to talk to our guard Daniel and I wish I could bring him to America so you could all meet him. He is really a blessing to me and to everyone that lives in our house. I am pretty sure I would not be able to function without him. He knew I was having a rough week just really struggling with confidence in my teaching and just being thankful and really having the joy of the Lord all day and we talked about an hour just about how God has me here for a reason and I have been blessed with so much that I should have the JOY of the LORD all day long. How much my attitude affects my students and their attitudes so if I am ready to go home by lunch they are going to have the same attitude. He told me I just have to be strong in the Lord and he made me say it confidently I am strong. He was just a really big encouragement and it was nice because I got to learn a little bit more about him and his family. Daniel also shared how we inspire him and my room is right over his room outside and so he can hear my music and me singing and he told me that when he hears us singing and music he knows that we are happy and it makes him happy and I never thought about that, we are a ministry for him and he loves when we are happy and he loves hearing us do the most ridiculous things just because we are happy. Daniel cleans our house usually once a week and I have on my mirror "Today is a good day because God is good. Rejoice in the Lord always I will say it again rejoice", and he told me that he loves that I have that up in my room because it is an awesome reminder to what we should be every single day because we sacrifice very little to what God gave up for us because he loves us.

This leads me to prayer request:

• My spring break trip to Germany to work with A.J. and Anna, the missionaries I worked with my sophomore year in college. We are going to be buying out tickets this week.
• health, it is getting a lot hotter and here and dehydration is a big concern and a lot of teachers are getting sick with fevers and coughs.
• being confident in my teaching and in myself
• I am leaving for a conference with women of the harvest next weekend March 4-7 pray that I find a sub for my class so that I can go to this conference and really focus on God.
• focus on truly being thankful for all the wonderful things that I have and the opportunities I have that so many people don't, and have the joy of the Lord all day long.

two mountains and a village...a tale of a long weekend in the Volta region of Ghana

Wow, this weekend has been full of wonderful and scary experiences starting on Friday.

Day 1:

I woke up at 4:00am on my day off to travel up north to the Volta region of Ghana. We drove 3 hours and arrived at Mountain paradise. We unpacked and order dinner and then set off on a 4 and a half ours of hiking to the top of the second tallest mountain in Ghana which is Mount Gemi. The climb of the mountain was pretty good. We hiked up on the road through villages. That was a really neat experience because I got to see how Ghanaians that do not live in the city more of what you think africa is then where I live. When we got to the top we had to pay some money to climb all the way to the top but it was pretty cheap. Then we hiked all the way to the top where their was a cross. It was amazing to get to the top where you accomplished so much to get there and you think to how beautiful it is and how amazing God has to be to have created all of it. You just really focus on who God is. All I could think of was the verse where it says "I lift my eyes up tot eh heavens where does my help come from? " Clearly on top of the mountain there was a realization that through Christ was the only way I made it up the mountain. The way down was really hiking. It was so beautiful we went through trees and bushes. I almost fell a couple times going down the mountain but William saved me. God is good all the time and He puts people in our lives to save us in a sense. Then we got back at the hotel which was more like a cabin at a camp at like 2 or 3 and we just relaxed and had some drinks, read, or laid down after showering. Then it was dinner and that was good it was real Ghanian food. After dinner we got the guitar out and we worshiped God.

Day 2

On Saturday we went to see the waterfalls which were beautiful but I had to again conquer my fear of heights which was really hard and stressful for me. There were times I really was ready to quit but i just kept going. I held one of the girls hands for the last part of the journey. After all this in the words of our guide this is not hiking this is climbing and that is what we did. We climbed up a mountain. After about an hour and a half of literally climbing this mountain we saw the top of the waterfall. It was so refreshing eating snacks and lunch by the pool of the waterfall, it was just amazing. One thing that really got to me and gave me strength to continue to go back down the mountain was William our driver that took us was telling us at the beginning of the day when we asked him how Ghanians thought about americans coming over to Ghana. He brought up that there is no reason some ghanians don't like when white people come over because with out them there would be no hospitals or schools in Ghana. He also said that we fought for something in America just like they did in Ghana, and we all help each other out. I knew that the girls I was with were going to help me down the mountain and they did. However, lunch was over and we had to go back down the mountain the way we came up. THis was very scary for me but I was determined to make it. We finally made it to the bottom! YAY! By that time I was so tired and sore. We got some water and walked back to the car. Now the best part of the whole trip.

We had found out that our driver William grew up in a village ten minutes from Ho Hoe which is where we went hiking. So we got to go to his village. THis was so exciting because I work with WIlliam every single day and didn't know that much about him. So we drove for about 10- 15 minutes and we got to see Joshua, the associate pastor of the church in his village, and we got some rice from him and picked him up to go into the village. Then we headed to the village where we met the elders of the village and the chief . We got to meet a lot of his relatives and saw the school where he had taken classes, and we also got to see the church. It was awesome to see how he was in his home and how happy he was to be home. It was definitely the highlight of my day. Even though I was tired and sore being there made me forget about everything else.

Then we made the trek back to mountain paradise, where dinner was waiting . We had a good dinner and then we all went to bed. However at about midnight a really big storm came with no rain but thunder, lightening, and high winds. If we were in the states we would be in the basement. It was kind of fun to see weather like that because it is not often in the city that we get weather like that. Overall this weekend I learned more about Ghana, and how to just spend quiet and be with GOd in nature. I also learned more about William and where he is from which has been my favorite part of the trip.

Now I am home on this Valentines day where I can relax and reflect on my day. I get a call from one of my parents and she has a gift for me and so I go and meet her and she has cake and grape juice and clothing it was huge and I didn't expect it.

God is good all the time, All the time God is good.

Psalm 121:1-3

I lift my eyes to the hills- where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord the Maker of heaven and earth, He will not let your foot slip he who watches over you will not slumber.

For pictures http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2078891&id=141301902

the little things in life

today we went to a place called fiesta and they have american food there and things. I got a little taste of home when I bought dr. pepper, it was not cheap but it was a special treat. THen we got some american food however when we were waiting for our food I had a bracelet on that said faith and our server said she liked it so I gave it to her and asked her if she knew what it had said and she said yes it said faith. It was just a good way to share a little of Christ love. I should have expanded on what it meant and the way Christ love is with her. I still think it made an impression on her just with the gift of giving. Plant the seeds and God will work.

Friday February 5, 2010

Today was a good day many things happened. First I decided that I was going to accept the opportunity to be an advisor at Pre Field Orientation in Memphis which is what I want to last year in June. I will be mentoring ladies going into the field for the first time. I am really excited about this opportunity but a little nervous too. So in June I will Be home on the 8th and have to be in Memphis on the 20th of the same month till the fourth of July.

THe second thing was sad and then joyous all at the same time. I had a student leave unexpectedly and really did not say goodbye. I had to inform my class that she was not going to be coming back which was really was heartbreaking and I was not sure what I would say. It was definitely a God thing. After I told them the news we took a while to pray for her and safety back to her country. There were kids that prayed and prayed more than once that have never prayed in my class. My class prayed for about 15 minutes for this student and it was just a time I really felt like my class was truly focused on Christ and the power that He has in my class. It was amazing to just hear my students pray out to God.

God is good and He is working in the hearts of my students Praise the Lord.

Exciting news

I just got an email and it asked me if I would like to be an advisor for new teachers to the NIC's organization. Please just really pray with me about this opportunity. I am going to pray about htis and is really exciting about this opportunity.