western world. london.

I'm pretty sure all those people you see behind me are doing the exact same thing as me...such good little tourists we are! Oh and yes...i asked some random to take my picture...I don't have shame standing alone :).

I wrote a great blog the day after I returned from London, but mistake number one, I wrote it directly in the stinkin’ blog window instead of Word…. and welcome home to Ghana…the internet went out and erased the post. You know once you’ve had thoughts and penned them, or shall we say, typed them you can’t duplicate it … it just doesn’t ever come out the same!

So instead I will tell you that my trip to London was fantastic. Full of surprises. Just the way God works with me. You never know what’s coming next I LOVE it. I made a friend in the Accra airport heading to London so we chatted and she gave me her number and said if I wanted to go to church, ‘drop me a line.’ (say that in a British accent!)

I don’t know if she thought I would really call, but I did. I arrived in London on Saturday morning the 17th around 7am. Was picked up by a taxi. And this was no Ghanaian taxi…this was setup by a friend and was a Mercedes…yes spoiled I am! I do have to say as he was opening the back right hand side door I said, “oh no…I’ll sit up front with you,” to which he gave me a funny look as I opened the right side front door.

Anyway so I took a nap, woke up and walked around the neighborhood. It was a beautiful day around 70 degrees and sunny. Perfect. After shopping at some second hand stores and scoring a great pair of new blue jeans for 5 pounds…I went to the movie theatre. Oh yes, stadium seating, loud surround sound feature film. It was a taste of heaven. Becoming Jane was my pick; I was in London after all! Then I had dinner with Ama’s boyfriend Daniel. Going to London he was the only person I knew, by the time I left God had put several people in my path that I’m sure I will see again someday!

So then I called Grace, the one I met at the airport. I think she was shocked, but seemed excited so I gave her really terrible directions to where I was staying since I didn’t know it well at all, and she picked me up around 11am Sunday morning. We went to her church, not sure what denomination, but when the preacher said after offering, “you won’t be blessed if you coins in the offering plate, only dollar bills.” It made me want to cry. Some of these people don’t have much, we were in South London, a poorer area, and really are trusting the leadership of this ‘preacher.’ I wondered if he had ever heard of the poor widow who gave out of poverty? Then we went over to Grace’s friends house where I had some great conversations with Ghanaians. I walked up and they were a little confused since Grace said she had met me in the Accra airport so they were expecting a Ghanaian. However when I busted out a little Twi…we were laughing and joking and instant friends. It’s amazing how people warm up to you when you try to speak their language…We talked all day till about 7pm about their struggle of leaving Ghana and living in London trying to make ends meet. It was wonderful. I also met and spent the night the next weekend with John and Dorothy. Friends of a friend in Ghana, she gave me their number. I called them; they invited me to dinner and spend the night as they lived in East London. Sunday morning after stopping off at the local flower market and bread store…we worshiped in a small rec building…it was wonderful! John and Dorothy are in their late 70’s I think, so it was fun being spoiled like a granddaughter!

The whole week was full of God stories and my class was fantastic. I learned TONS of information; I’m hoping I will actually have retained some! I just started on a new documentary of a short-term team that came to Lake Bosomtwi for a short-term trip, so we’ll see how it goes!

On a whole it was marvelous to enjoy 10 full days of uninterrupted power, warm almost boiling hot showers, carpet and fast food. Oh yes, I went to London and ate at every fast food restaurant I came too. Well not actually, but almost. I did intake two different meals of MacDonald’s. Now I haven’t eaten Mky D’s in years in the States? I also enjoyed KFC, Pizza Hut and Burger King! I don’t know why, all I can say is that we always want what we don’t have…right.

more london pics on flckr