~Leaving Ghana~

I was just about to get into the Patrol this morning when I see my friend YaYa walking towards me telling me ‘wait for me, wait for me’.

It was 10:00am on the dot and we were about to pull away. I had told YaYa that I would be leaving at 10:00 and she had said she would be there but with Africa time and her 2 hour walk I really didn’t think I would see her. She put her large bread pan down and handed me a prepackaged loaf of bread. It was fresh from that morning and I was overwhelmed with emotions. This lady that I have bought bread from all summer walked 2 hours this morning to see me off and to top it all off she got there right on the dot Obruni time. I told her I loved her and that she would always be my friend in my broken Twi. I started crying and she said ‘oh sister Akua no crying’. How precious this lady is and how amazing that she would show this kind of love to me. It definitely broke loose the waterfalls. I was with my friends and that helped.

The Jernigans decided to drive us to Kumasi and stay the night along with Abena Rebecca, Michael and James. We had a car full of people. We reminisced and thanked God for what He has done this summer. We had a day of shopping in the market today as well as going to our favorite Ghanaian restaurant Ashanti Home Touch where me and Rebecca shared rice balls and groundnut soup for the last time together.

We walked and walked, visited with people and just enjoyed each others company before having to separate.

When we got home they shared presents with me that they had picked up for me in the market and each one was special to me in a way and I will always hold them dear to my heart.

We got up the next morning and got ready to go to Michael and James’ church in Kumasi and we celebrated Jesus once again with these people and I was able to sing one more time in Africa. I sang ‘Draw me close to You’ and the words ministered to me probably more than anyone else even in the room.

Draw me close to You. Never let me go. I lay it all down again. To hear you say that I’m Your friend. You are my desire. No one else will do. Cause nothing else can take Your place. To feel the warmth of Your embrace. Help me find a way. Bring me back to You.

Thinking about leaving and how hard that was going to be I realized that I had to lay it down before Jesus once again for Him to lead me and guide me just like He always does. We danced and held little babies and then it was time to go.

We picked up take away from my favorite Chinese restaurant Royal Park and headed to the STC station to catch the bus to Acccra. When we started to board the bus I was so thankful that Michael and Abena Rebecca were with me but it was time to say goodbye to James. It was incredibly sad to say farewell to this wonderful friend who loves Jesus so much and my heart started to break a little bit. God is going to use him greatly and I can’t wait to hear all the good reports. The bus trip took us about five and a half hours to get from Kumasi to Accra.

I was very entertained by the Ghanaian and Nigerian films and could not stop laughing at some points which I think the rest of the bus found interesting. When we arrived in Accra we had a reunion party with the Sims, Rebecca Jones and Michelle and our guy friend Daniel. We celebrated seeing each other again by going to a local pizza joint called Mama Mia’s and getting some very tasty ice cream. We stayed at a very nice American style guest house and were up very late trying to enjoy a few last moments together before we cut the group in half. On Monday we had a bit of debrief time and then some time in the market before eating together for the last time and heading to the airport.

I cannot begin to describe to you the feelings of knowing I was leaving these people I had learned to love and the country I have fallen in love with. I felt a gigantic hole starting to develop and the tears starting to pour. I am so thankful I had Rebecca Jones and Michelle with me to keep me sane. They were my rock during this time. I learned so much and gained so much from this summer and that will have to be saved for another blog but what I will say is that God is good, I didn’t deserve to have this time but I am so thankful He chose me and I can’t wait to see what adventures He has planned for me next.

Last Moments at Lake Bosumtwe

Little heads hanging out windows, the patter of little feet on the rocks, the cries of ‘sister Akua’, the sunset over Ancasse lakeside and the stream of children following us wondering where we will go or what we will do.

These are just a few of the things that greeted me as I walked past Atafram and on to visit Ancasse last night.

I saw my salon, I saw the little girl that is always on the front row of the children singing her heart out and dancing and I saw the Queen Mother who sold me some minerals once again. For my last Thursday night at Lake Bosumtwe I was living the surreal life once again. We walked down to the lakeside followed by our entourage of course and I finally got on one of the boats that I had been wanting to try since I got here. I wasn’t bold enough to try it out in the actual water lol but hey I did get on it.

We took pictures of the beautiful sunset and sang songs with the children. It was time for me to say goodbye to this village that I have sang and danced and ministered at. It was a fond farewell. The sky was absolutely amazing! As we left to go we stopped at the Atafram Chiefs house.

I had bought him some rice and some chocolate as a farewell gift and I wanted to stop and talk to the man that has become a friend and encourage him. I was a little discouraged because I could tell he had already had something to drink but I was determined to talk to him before I left. He had mentioned to me once before that he was thankful that I was open with all the people and that the people could really tell that I cared about them. I reminded him that he had said this to me and I told him that the thing that he saw in me was Jesus on the inside and His love being shown to all the people. With Michael as my Okyiamie(spokesperson/translator) I spoke to him about the influence that he has over the village of Atafram and how he can use that for good. I encouraged him in his desire to start a church in his village because there is no church yet in Atafram. I told him that he has the potential to be not only a great physical leader in the community but also a great spiritual leader as well. He informed me that I would be remembered as his second wife and if there was anything I wanted to send to him I could do it through Abena who will be staying till February. I asked if I could pray for him as I left and he agreed. I prayed that God would be glorified in his life and that he would yearn for the Word of God. I prayed that he would lead the whole village of Atafram into a deep personal walk with the Lord. He has great potential to be an incredible leader and I will continue to pray for him always that the Lord will touch his life and empower him to make a difference. He walked far with us that night to send us off and say his farewells. I think it went really well. We went home after this and ate very American spaghetti before walking to the village of Adjimim to order gari and beans for my going away party on Friday. I stopped by to see my friend Grace in Amakom and invite her to my party the next day (which I was throwing for myself by the way lol). On Friday I woke up very excited because I knew that we were having the party and then in the afternoon we had a football match to attend in Adjimim. I bought and cut bread from YaYa in the morning and made sure the waters were on their way to getting cold. It has become sort of a thing for me to buy something for the workers on Friday and sit down to eat it with them. I was very intentional all summer in trying to build relationships with these men to arrive at this very point on this very day.

On this day, before we ate I shared with them how they have made a difference in my life with their smiles, friendship and encouragement with my Twi and the work at the lake. I told them that the most important thing in life is to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. If that’s not in line nothing else matters. Michael went on to tell them that they can never pay me for coming here and encouraging them and that they could never even help as far as when it came to my ticket but that I was not there to receive payment for anything but to just build relationships with the people and tell them about Jesus. They started cheering and after we ate many came to say a big thank you and to inform me that they would write. It was so sweet! They were all pumped up and ready to go to the football match after this and Michael and James let them go early to prepare.

Abena Rebecca went this time and we had so much fun at the football game cheering Amakom on and playing with the children and eating off the women selling things in the baskets on their heads.

I even tried on the local hairstyle to see if it would work for me.

The game was very competitive and the cheerleaders were out in droves. It ended in a tie 2-2 which no one was really happy with but at least Amakom didn’t lose again. After the game some of the guys were walking with us all the way from Adjimim to the clinic side singing and dancing because they were so excited and in such good spirits. They kept singing Sister Akua followed by a lot of stuff I didn’t understand.

Someone told me the song talked about dancing with them so of course I started dancing. I then learned that the rest of the song talks about your sweet work for the Lord and how the person that they mention sits with the Lord as they sit with the person. It was one of the best send offs ever. They shook my hand and hugged my neck and we took a group shot to commemorate our last moments together.

James and Michael came over for dinner and shared with me sermon after sermon about how they have been impacted by my life and what they have seen of my life since I have been here. I was so touched by their kind words and the friendships we share with men of God that are sold out, love Jesus and are not one bit ashamed of it. We talked about how different our cultures are but how united we have been able to become because of the same Spirit we all share.

We shared Scriptures and they encouraged me as I move forward to more ministry away from the lake in America. We prayed together and they let me know that they would be accompanying me away from the lake and it made it easier to know that they would be with me when I left.
So my last night at Lake Bosumtwe has arrived and I am busy packing, doing laundry and saying goodbye to dear friends. What the Lord has for me next I don’t know but what I do know is that he placed me smack dab in the middle of one of my biggest dreams and it was more than I could have imagined.

~These Are Those Special Times~

Saturday was another busy day here. The team is here for just a couple more days and they wanted to work Saturday to get more accomplished so all day we continued to hear the noise of the workers. Louise decided to stay on this side of the lake to hang out with us one last night and we were so excited because we have been missing her. She is actually staying another month now but it was the last night for all three of us to be together since I leave this week. I made hamburger pie for her which was her request and she made me boardwalk fries at my request. I even made pepe by myself for the first time and I think it turned out pretty well by the way it was finished off at dinner. Michael and James came for dinner of course even though they were exhausted. They are such special friends. They have been so tired but they say they are determined to hang out with me every minute I have left here and soon after dinner they start dozing off but refuse to leave. It’s so cute! It’s amazing how close you can get to people in such a short time. After dinner we were talking about the things that we loved about the time we’ve had here and all of us mentioned the crusade at Ancasse, ministering in the villages and the game times and dance times and prayer and singing times. We have had lots of good memories. I had to excuse myself at one point because I didn’t want everyone to see me crying. Please pray for me because God has allowed me to give part of my heart to these people and it is going to be very difficult to leave.





Sunday morning Rebecca and I woke up bright and early to travel to Dompa with Michael and Betrum and set up the sound equipment.

It was a little tricky to do since we were carrying our own generator which had a faulty plug in. We left Betrum to watch the equipment and went back to Amakom to get ready and go to the service. Andrew and Michael, the three roommates and James, Juliana and Anas rode in the Patrol and had a good time praising the Lord and praying before we got there. It was a very special time. We arrived in Dompa and I went over to the drummer almost immediately to ask if he knew the Jehovah song I love so that I could sing it for the part that Andrew asked me to do. He got very excited and it was actually the first song they sang. It was an amazing time of worship and dancing in the middle of the square and we had so much fun with all the Dompa churches. I sang a couple of songs with the kids when it came my turn, one in Twi and one English one. It was a lot of fun. The Irish group sang a couple of songs with the people as well and everyone enjoyed it.

Andrew and Michael started praying for the sick as I started singing ‘there is power in the blood’. Many people including the chief came forward in faith believing that God would heal them. I believe He did and will. Andrew brought the word of God and Michael interpreted. Andrew at one point just handed over the rest of the service to Michael and he took over with passion and authority. It was really awesome to see them tag teaming. More people got up to say something and it turned into a sermon each time. Lol.





I turned to Juliana and asked if she was next…I don’t think she appreciated that. We then cleaned up the system and walked to the car. They offered us minerals and cookies which was a very nice, expensive gift for them to give. The sun was fierce but we had a special time of fellowship with our Ghanaian friends. Andrew got a little crazy on the way home jostling us around in the back and Betrum hit his head on the roof many times lol…we could not stop laughing. It’s amazing the special little moments we have together with the people we have met. I cherish every one and I find myself thinking that inside these people will always have a place.

After lunch I walked to Adjimim for a local football match between Amakom and Adjimim. I was so surprised when I got there to see people in official jerseys, warming up, with the crowds gathering.

I had some of the greatest fun I have had here, if that is grammatically correct. Haha.

I teased a guy about being the football police because he yelled at people to move back the whole game, I played clapping games with the children and towards the end moved over to the Adjimim side to cheer with the ladies because Adjimim was beating Amakom 5-2. Being an NC State fan I am tired of losing so I decided to move to the winning side and boy did I ever hear about that. People at the clinic were actually asking which side I was going to cheer for at the match scheduled for Friday. I told them that as long as Amakom was winning I would cheer for them. They just laughed but the coach called a practice today after I told him they needed more practice. That is hilarious! Hearing Akua from the children and the villagers does my heart good and the camaraderie that I felt there is irreplaceable.

This is my friend Atta(Twin) Michael who was determined to hold my things the whole game. I was the only Obruni in the middle of a couple hundred Obibinis and I loved it! I strapped a sleeping baby to my back and got some hooting and hollering once again! When you embrace them just as they are and see them smile it does something inside your heart that you can’t even explain.

Tonight I walked to Amakom to see my seamstress, who has actually become a friend I love dearly, and she was playing Ludo with a guy and we sat in to join them. We had a blast laughing and cheering for each other outside this small room the girl rents with a very dim light to see. It is a custom to see people off and Grace walked us to the bottom of our hill through the village of Amakom when it was time for us to leave. It is such a sweet custom that I love and it makes you feel like your visit was very important and special. She asked us over again tomorrow night and I look forward to the fellowship.

Speaking of customs, I think I would like share with you one of my favorite. It is totally and completely acceptable to pick your nose here and I got a few shots at the football game to prove it.
I know you think these are just children but I can assure you that young and old alike get in on this action with no shame involved at all.

Visiting the local villages

Thursday was such a good day. I have been waiting to go to a village called Dompa since I arrived here in Amakom and met some people from there who continually invited me to visit them. The fishermen at the lake, some of the workers at the clinic, and my friend YaYa are all from there. It is a long walk and about a 30 minute drive so I have been at the mercy of others to get me there. The team from Ireland was going to greet the chief and I took it as my time to visit Dompa. We travelled a very bumpy road to a beautiful village a quarter of the way around the lake. When we arrived everyone was sitting in the town square with all the chiefs and elders there and the Obrunis sitting opposite them.

We greeted them and received the nice gift of a sheep.

The sheep was going crazy and I was wondering what in the world we were gonna do with such a thing. Well we decided to tie him to the top of the Patrol which I thought was kind of crazy but how else do you get a sheep down a rugged bumpy African road. So there he goes thumping along as me and my roommates are in the very back getting sick and all the sudden you see the thing hanging off the side of the Patrol dangling and kicking to get free. He was literally hanging by his neck. We all started screaming and our driver Charles got out and tied him up there better. The next day I found out what you do with the gift of a sheep while I was eating my sheep soup. Yes it was very sad but tasted very good actually and was the most tender meat I’ve had since I’ve been here.

The time in Dompa was awesome though and we announced that we wanted to do a community service there Sunday so I know that will be a blast.
I can’t wait to come back. I even saw the fishermen I had met at the lake and got to talk to them again. We had to rush away after the greeting and of course I was the last one for Andrew to say tell Hollie we have got to get going. That seems to be the norm for me. I think it’s my ma’s fault. Lol.

We were on our way to a village called Nkwatepong way up in the mountains. We were going to greet the chief and we had surveyors with us that were going to check to see if Nkwatepong would be eligible to receive a borehole. When we got there children ran out to greet us and they set us up in the local church.

It was impressive how many people came out in just a few minutes and filled up the place and also how the chief opened and closed with prayer. It was very unusual to see that but very encouraging. They were very welcoming and informed Andrew that they need a borehole because the water is causing many sicknesses and they also need a stretcher to carry sick people the hour it takes to walk to the clinic. Please pray for this village to get good water because the surveyors said the roads were not passable for the equipment it would take to dig the borehole. I’m praying that God will give them mercy for these people that they saw and try to make a way for it to happen.

Juliana saw a snake. It scared me to death. I wasn’t there when she came upon it in the kitchen but I heard she almost fainted and came out running and screaming. She said it was 4 feet long and the size of her arm. It got away before anyone could kill it so I’ve been a little more nervous walking around after sunset. Other than that one I haven’t heard of any around here so that is definitely a blessing.
Friday I went to Kumasi to run errands and boy did we ever run. We ran here and there and everywhere and I was definitely with a couple of Ghanaians eating off the street and seeing how things work here in Africa when it comes to money, supplies and business in general. Michael and Osa argued and negotiated prices for cement, steel rods and frames and I helped shop for fruit and vegetables and other needs.

The highlight of the day was visiting Michael’s family in Kumasi. He hadn’t seen them for a while because he is always so busy when he comes to Kumasi but we decided to stop by for a few minutes. It was so cute how excited they were to see him and have guests in their house. Michael started speaking some English to me to explain what was going on and his dad smiled and told him he had never heard him speak English before. He was such a proud daddy that day.
This is me with his ma, dad and uncle.


We got home by 8:00pm which is very late but got a lot of things accomplished which is good since we have a team here trying to get a lot of work done on the clinic.



The clinic looks great! There is so much work going on. Everyday the hill is filled with workers and there is constant noise and action going on til 3:30 every day. It’s been cool seeing the excitement that is going on and to talk with the workers and community about everything at night when we walk into the villages.


Everyone wants to be a part and that is special. This is going to be an amazing addition to this area. I was handed some screw drivers and pliers today and given the job of taking out all the electrical switches, lights, fans from the old portion of the clinic.

It was a hot, gruesome job and so much fun. I even had a little apprentice with me named Gideon who just wanted to hold the tools for me and hand them to me as I needed them. He was
so cute.

I was a mess when I got done but glad that I could help.

Campaigning in Africa

I’ve been sitting down in the office for the last 4 hours waiting to hear the news from the District Attorney race that my brother in law Christian Coomer is running in. I brainwashed my housemate Rebecca into wearing a Christian Coomer tshirt and sitting down in the office with me while everyone else at the lake has been asleep for hours. Lol. I have been calling and getting the updates and have been anxiously awaiting the results.

Christian didn't win but I am confident that God has a plan and a purpose through all of this and I know that the better man for the job was not selected. We never know what God's divine will is we just have to rest assured that God knows and we just have to put our lives into step with His plan. I know many people helped by giving time, money, and much of themselves for something they believed in. The results can be discouraging but I am proud that my family and my church took the time to stand up for something they believed in and desired to see a change not only in the church but in our community as well. This is not a failure but a success in my eyes and I am thankful to be part of this body. It is time we took a stand and this is only the beginning!

Visit from Efrea

These last couple of days have been absolutely amazing. On my way from the north through Kumasi I picked up a dear friend that I met in Accra at the very beginning of my journey and she came to the lake with me.

We caught the boat over with the team on Sunday morning and went straight to church. She has been such a blessing and the last few days have been blessed because of her. Sunday I was itching for some fried yam and pepe which we didn’t have any of the ingredients for and so our first adventure was searching through the streets of the villages to find tomatoes, red pepper and yam. We found the onion but nothing else lol. We had a change in plans. Rebecca ended up making French toast and Efrea made fried eggs with the onion. It was very good. We were soon tired though because of the long day and went to sleep. The next morning I was on a mission to get some of my cloth sewn and Efrea helped me find the seamstress that we talked to at church on Sunday and try to explain what I wanted. We walked all over Amakom looking for different things that she needed. After lunch I was determined to take Efrea down to the lake and boy did we have some fun. She quickly realized why I love the villages and the lake so much. We talked to many fishermen and ended up buying plenty plenty fish most of which to give Efrea to take home with her to her family.

Some of the boys at the lake cleaned the fish for us thank God since I’m not too good at that and we were so thankful.


We played ludo and mancala and took some pics.


We came home very tired and on the way up the hill Efrea informed me that the hill to the clinic was much easier to climb down than up. Lol. I think the city girl got a run for her money on all the hills around here. She was such a help though…she fried the fish for us and made some rice. It was a very good meal. We had a very fun girls night with a small visit from the guys and turned in.

This morning Efrea was at it again making eggs with tomato and onion. We travelled down into the villages again to find water and talk to some people. I enjoyed using my small small Twi and learning more from Efrea. I introduced her to the chief of Amakom and also YaYa. We then travelled to Ancasse to go to the salon so I could get some braids. On our way the rain came and the chief of Atafram's wife saw us and begged us to sit on her porch while it rained. We had good fellowship with her.

After the rain we continued on to Ancasse. It was a lot of fun sitting and talking to the ladies there and seeing what it is like to hang out in an African salon.

I finally got my wish and Efrea made fried yam and pepe before she left. It was so hot but so good. I was so very sad to see her go and I begged her to stay longer but she doesn’t have much time left in Kumasi before she heads back to Accra and she has a funeral this week. We had such a blast though and it was a God thing that she was able to come. I know I will be asked where my friend is many times in the days to come. I walked her to the lake for her to catch a ride over on the boat and the rain came hard. She said later that the boat almost sank. lol I grabbed a plantain leaf and started walking but was soon surrounded by obibinis who thought I should not get wet at all. Rebecca of course somehow saw me walking past the office up to the house and was camera ready. I thought the shot was so cute and an amazing photo op!

North to Lawra

I have just arrived back home at the Lake and am so excited to be back. We caught the boat on the other side of the lake this morning because there is a team staying there taking a boat over every day and it saved us about an hour thank God! When I saw Betrum and Isaac on the boat I could not hold back my excitement. And they were so excited too! I loved it. I brought a friend with me for a couple of days and already today we have had so much fun. We got here just in time for church. I decided to go to Amakom Assembly since that is where I feel most at home. We had so much fun! At one point they motioned for my friend Christiana to come forward in the middle of someone singing and she was like ‘they are calling me’ and I said ‘ok go’. They asked her to ask me to sing again and this time I sang a song that I have grown to love and I knew they would know as well. It starts by saying ‘All other gods, they are the works of man…’ and then the drums started and everyone started singing. They motioned for me to get the dancing started and me and Christiana started to dance. I motioned for everyone to come up and we soon had the whole church on their feet at the front doing their traditional dance. It was a sight to see. After lunch Christiana, James and I went on a mad hunt for tomatoes and some yam all over the villages. I was in desperate need of my new favorite food fried yam and pepe, but we were unsuccessful. It was fun adventures though and we got to talk to lots of people. One lady said she had sent me over some bananas last week as a gift and people told her I had gone to Kumasi. I thought that was so sweet. People were calling out Akua and it made me feel at home again. The language up north is so much harder than Twi and even though I have complained about Twi being difficult I told my Twi teacher today that I was so thankful to come back to the land of Twi because it truly is easier than other languages here in Ghana. Which brings me to the main point of this blog, my trip north to Lawra. I have journaled while away this week and just thought I’d share some of those entries with you.

Ok so today I began my big journey up north. We loaded up at about 7:30 and put 10 people in the tro-tro with us, which made it very packed. I was sick almost the whole time due to my wonderful disease of car sickness. The scenery was beautiful. It looked like an African movie. It was so typical of how everyone views how Africa might look. We made a few stops along the way to meet a Methodist Bishop and to buy groceries. The road was much better than I thought but much longer as well. We had really good conversation in the car and I was wishing I wasn’t so sick so that I could enjoy it more. When we got here (Lawra) the orphans were out singing and John was playing the drum. It was the warmest welcome I have ever received. The Esofu Mami actually picked me up off the ground when she greeted me. I was so surprised lol but turned right around and tried to pick her up and to my embarrassment did not succeed. We did all the formal greetings then went over to view the nutrition center where the children usually hang out and they followed us as they continued to sing. They were precious. On our way to eat I strapped a baby to my back for the first time and started walking.

I was a little scared to drop him and I noticed he didn’t have a diaper on so I was a little anxious about how that all worked since the kid was only a few months old. He started crying some and we were about to eat so I moved him to my front and tried to comfort him.

He rewarded my efforts by urinating all over my lap. It was amazing! Lol I just kept right on going like nothing had happened. It was completely hilarious. We ate some white hard pasty substance in some kind of leafy stew with guinea fowl and mango. It was interesting. After dinner we went to a church service where they do a dance that I don’t know if I could ever get. You have to move your bottom and top in different ways and it was a little too complicated for me but of course I tried it and probably looked silly but as I sat down kids followed me and sat on my lap.

I love it! We sang and danced often and children held onto our hands desperate for attention and love and we were more than willing to give it. We came to our guest house which is quite nice and are settling in for the night. I cannot wait to play and minister with the children tomorrow.

Today has started out interesting. This morning after breakfast we went over to the Aids part of the compound where any child or adult that has aids lives. They wanted us to speak to them and some of them had travelled far to come and have us pray for them believing in faith that they would be healed. It was amazing to see their faith. Esofu Nicole, one of the missionaries to Ghana, spoke very well about how Jesus does not hold people’s sins over their heads to punish them but that He loves everyone and is a very forgiving God. When she went around touching the ‘untouchables’ I was shaken to the core at the power of that and the imagery of Jesus she was showing and the Agape love she was representing. After this very special time together the rest of the team left to get passport stuff done across the border and only Courtney and I stayed behind. We hung out with some of the kids at the orphanage and tried to feed a very young child peanut butter and water. It was very difficult with no bottle or baby spoon but we made it work. I met two boys named Sam and Nad who petted my hair and touched my skin.

We read books to them and they loved the pictures. We even got someone to interpret them into Degardi, the Northern language (which is extremely difficult by the way) and that was very cute to see. We saw a boy who has TB of the bones. He was 8 years old and looked like a 3-4 year old. He was very small and his face was a sad one. I wondered if he was in a lot of pain.

Courtney and I walked off to the market at Lawra to check it out since most of the kids were in school. There was a ton of campaigning going on since the Ghana election is upcoming and I got a picture with some of the campaigners for proof that I can’t get away from those kind of crazy people.

I got distracted by a daycare with many kids out front and went over to greet and hang out with the children who were out playing.

Courtney got held up with a mental person who ended up on her knees a couple of times to pray and every time Courtney would tell her that she had a friend named Hollie that she needed to catch up with the lady would either break out into a ‘Hallelujah’ or a ‘Holy’ song most of which seemed to be written on the spot.I could not stop laughing at the situation at the time but felt a little disturbed and a little bit like the disciples that were being followed around by someone claiming to serve Christ and be doing a good thing but really being possessed and causing a great distraction. We headed back to the orphanage as the kids were being let out of school and we played with the children, read more books and made all the girls necklaces and the boys bracelets.

I thought it was so cute how all the girls ears were pierced. It was very helpful though because everyone, boy and girl, had short hair cuts and wore a variety of clothing that was not necessarily gender matching. It was a very special time together and I was shocked just by the way they slept and what they called a kitchen and play area. It was so completely and utterly heart wrenching. I am blessed by these children however because their joy is so much in the middle of so little and they are intensely happy at just standing or sitting close to us. The ones that made me the saddest were the ones I didn’t see smile once the whole time I was there. What have they gone through in their short little lives? What have they already faced? What does their future look like? Will they ever have a reason to smile again? These questions flow through my head and I am begging God to take care of them. Give them a comfort only He can give and send someone to love and care for them in a tangible way.

I preached tonight. We had a little acting involved and it went very well. I talked about David and Goliath and how all of us have Goliaths in our lives. Be it sickness, disease, lack of food, financial difficulties… I talked about David’s faith and the power of our testimony. I talked about relying on God’s strength to overcome our giants and we prayed over many people. It was very good to hear testimonies at the end of how God had worked in people’s lives and I think it made everyone’s faith grow. After the service we went out the back of the church to pray over an area that sees a lot of demon activity in this village. The story was that a fetish priest or witch had sent a curse to this place and the demon would manifest himself in many different ways tormenting the people of this village and late at night a demonic crying would occur. We prayed against this and it was a very powerful time of casting this demon away and shutting up whoever sent the curse. I have been involved in much spiritual warfare since arriving in Ghana. Ghanaians are very open and aware of the spiritual realm and what is going on it. Many times I have felt the services were over the top and there was a lot of showing out and drama. This night however was very different. They were very serious about it and knew the power they had in the name of Jesus. There was no playing around and many prayed very powerful prayers and they sang very anointed and powerful songs. My faith was increased and I believe that this village is free of whatever curse has been placed on it and this spirit of Python has been cast out.

Once again today we have visited with the Aids patients and gone to speak at the house that many of them live.

A few of us bought strips of woven cloth from them, which they weave to make money for their livelihood and I even tried to use the machine they use to make the cloth.

I wasn’t very good at it. Again it was a very special time and we prayed for healing and protection for these people. As we were leaving they draped a piece of their cloth over us and it was a very special gift that we all loved.

We left part of the group behind which was hard and got on the road today. The children were there to see us off and I noticed the 5 year old little boy who danced at church in just a t shirt and underwear in a way of worship to God that would put most people to shame. I looked at the little boy with TB of the bones and wondered how long he would live and once again thought about his pain. I saw the little girl who never smiles and wondered what would happen with her and I looked at Sam…so full of life and energy and I hope that he stays like that forever and that nothing takes that away from him.

I am being touched and changed…seeing things I never imagined I’d see and going places I never thought I would ever be able to experience. Boy is it a bumpy ride!

P.S. I didn’t get sick on the way back! God is so good!