november 7- presence.

If I had to say in one word what God is teaching me right now I would say presence. Opening my senses to see His omnipotent presence. (big word…you like that J)

Ok- this week was great. Monday we got back from Cape Coast. I went with Tatum, Stephanie and Jimmy to the beach for the weekend. It was a nice getaway after spending three weeks traveling. We did nothing but lay on the beach, sit by the swimming pool and read books. Well we did eat and watch two movies on my computer too! It’s funny because as you read this I wonder if the thought, wow spending time on the beach…hard missionary life? I think that’s a natural question, but in reality it was great Sabbath time. All four of us talked about how God’s moving in our lives, what He’s teaching us and Sunday morning Jimmy had a message that he shared! It was one of those moments where you’re thankful for authentic friends who are on This journey.

We left and visited the Kakum Rainforest. It has elephants there, however you don’t usually see them during the day. But we went for the canopy walk. It says in their little guidebook there are five in the whole world, Ghana being one of them. It’s a swinging rope bridge about 120ft. in the air attached to trees. It’s beautiful. I honestly wish I could stop in the middle of the bridge and take in the scenery, however I was focused on making it to the next tree, then once on the tree landing I would soak it in. And the funny part is I did it the week before when we took the North Georgia team, so I should have been a little more relaxed.

We left there and then had the African experience. We were headed home on what was supposed to be a three-hour drive and came to a place where because of the rains the night before a truck had gotten stuck. It was blocking the road, the main road, and no one could pass. After waiting in the line for an hour we found a man who had found someone that we could follow, on back roads (remember back roads have a different meaning in Africa) to Accra. So we set off. I was driving and they pretty much went about 120 km an hour the whole time. That’s oh about 80 mph or so maybe a little less. Factor in lots of potholes and people and it makes for an interestingly fast driving experience. It was then I realized why God put a passion inside me for driving and when I was young some of my favorite Nintendo games were the racecar ones!

So we made it home in a total of 6 hours! We were exhausted from the drive, but the vacation was nice!

Tuesday I had a call from AIS to lead devotional Wednesday morning faithfulness, which was a lot of fun. (read the blog about this one)

Wednesday I ran around town all day and finally got back into language. I wish my keyboard had Twi letters so I could spell some stuff for you guys…but I guess you’ll just have to come over and learn it J

Thursday we had our field team meeting for the Mission Society missionaries. It was great and we talked about our SMART goals. It always helps me to have set goals others can keep you accountable to!

Friday and Saturday were spent getting my house clean, catching up on e-mails, cooking…not too adventuresome. Except Saturday night Ama, my language teacher, called and there was a play going on at Legon, the University.

So Ama, Gifty and I went to the play about a famous figure in Kumasi. I don’t know whether it was sitting in the open air theatre watching Ghanaians play Ghanaians, listening to the AMAZING live African drumming or watching a play which I’m always a fan of, but I felt right at home. I was sitting between my two good Ghanaian friends enjoying something together. We were laughing, they were talking lots of Twi together and I was trying to pick up on at least one word, they were laughing at me trying to speak Twi. It was great. I felt like God was saying this is My presence. This is life. Doing what you love to do together. Now spread it. I felt like He was smiling down on us that night. Three young adults, from extremely different backgrounds, loving on each other. Man God is big.

Sunday we went to an international church and the Spirit was all up in the guy who was preaching. He was talking about being humbled, crying out for God’s presence and through our weaknesses God deals with us. It was great.

I have felt like I’ve been in a dark place for the past four months and I’m starting to come out of that by God’s grace. My friend Anna P. sent an e-mail the other day from My Utmost for My Highest. You know Oswald’s book. And he said in that daily devotional, that sometimes we suffer not for personal reasons but so that we can have more compassion for someone else as they walk through something. I’ve tucked that away in my heart. It’s funny because I know God uses our experiences to walk beside others in love. It’s just neat how He tells you that and reminds you through a friend who e-mails you.

Please continue to pray for Ama and Gifty. And actually all of us as the holiday seasons approach. The Lord revealed to me lately this holiday season is about being family to others. (which is really probably how it should be all the time) But in a very selfish human brokenness way…I wanted to go home for Christmas. I miss my family and before praying about it thought I needed to go home. But thankfully with the prayers of the prayer team back home interceding for me I finally prayed about the situation and know I’m supposed to be here for the Holidays. Neither Gifty or Ama have a whole lot of family support right now, so just be praying that however God’s plan is designed we would see it.

Love to all
m