"Shaving your head is like baptism, it signifies a great life change."

Get ready. I always write a lot. I just have so much that I want to say because this is the first time that I have REALLY gotten to share my thoughts with you. I will break it into pieces and you can just read what you are interested in. FIRST, thanks for checking out our blog. It means more than you know.

TODAY'S Adventures:
As you may remember, we were on National tv (SKYY television) two days ago. I guess they liked us a little bit because they invited us back this morning from 5-6 am for the worship and prayer segment. So come 4 am, we all fought the desire to stay asleep and we woke up about 4:00 am to get ready for our worship music debut on tv. It was interesting. We'll leave it at that. We sang for about 20 minutes before they went to some African worship. Our pastors and four other random Ghanaians sang after we did...they put us to shame. Good thing God cares about the HEART of worship and not how we sound.

After our early morning, we all went back to bed and slept until about noon. It was great, not gonna lie. The afternoon was filled with preparation for tonight's long awaited "Youth Variety Night." We wrote a skit, learned a song, and practiced the Jada-line--a very productive afternoon. Our bus was to come at 4:00, but Francis was a little late and so we did not arrive until after 5:00 to the church. The plan was to do more follow-up evangelism for a couple hours before the Variety Night. Plans were altered slightly and five of us went out for about 45 minutes to talk to people we had already met in the area. It went well and both groups ended up sharing the gospel to people who were not believers (both are slightly intersting stories for another time). One thing I found really fascinating was something that happened as we were walking down the street. We were on a mission to find John, a man that Marty and Jac talked to the other day. We walked by a tiny store with several people sitting in front. We waved and kept on our way, but they hollered at us. They ACCUSED us of not stopping and talking to them (in the words of George). They thought we were being rude because we did not stop. They called us out and so we went back and shared the word with them. It was one of those moments that I thought, "We are not in Kansas anymore." The value on relationships and hospitality is so different than at home.

When the five of us returned to the church from our jaunt around the city (side note: I have rarely felt as comfortable and at ease walking around a city. The peace, hospitality, and friendliness of this country is something that I have never experienced.) we just waited until the event began. We thought it was supposed to start at 6:30, but it was about 8:00 before anyone showed up--it happens. About 7:30 the team and the pastors began praying and worshiping for the service. Pastor Daniel at one point leaned over and asked if I would dance. Who could say no to that man? So the dance line formed. It started with part of our team and then grew into a chain of about 50 dancers as people arrived for the variety night. I won't mention any names but Daniel even got two of our boys (whose names both begin with 'M') to join in the dancing line. THAT was quite a feat! It went on for a good 23 minutes...we were nice and sweaty by the time we ended and the service began! It is so freeing to just release any worries about people judging you and to just dance for the Lord. No one cares what you look like.

Come 8:00 the Youth Variety Night started. I thought we would be going last, but Daniel had other plans. We were first on the schedule. I was a little nervous because what we had planned was crazy/fun but I wasn't sure how it would be recieved. I gave an introduction and made sure to say "We enjoy having FUN as believers in Christ and laughing. We want you to join in with us. As wierd, crazy, or awkward as we might be....please laugh with us!" It worked. Within 5 seconds, the entire place was rolling in laughter--more laughter than I have heard since we arrived in Ghana. We performed four different things: 1) 'The Jada-Line' where we each yelled a different phrase and did a corresponding action. It was ridiculous! You go one person at a time until you add everyone--until all ten of us were yelling and doing crazy actions. The people did not know what to think, but they laughed. We made each of our sayings for the jada-line about Ghana and things we love about the country, so I think we built a connection with the people. 2) We sang a song we have learned in Fanti (the native language) and Kennedy rocked the house! 3) We sang "Great is He" which is a three-part song that we learning just hours before. Even though we are not a choir we were able to keep our three parts and it sounded AWESOME. 4) We performed another slightly ridiculous skit about how to pray. It was performed at a Convocation at Sterling last Fall and we did it. To summarize the skit Emily, Seth, and Jake had to scream really loud, repeatedly. People were really getting into it and Pastor Daniel even got up and jumped in a circle because he was laughing so hard. The best part about that skit though was seeing the children mimick Seth, Emily, and Jake after the service. I don't think they will forget the meaning of the skit for a long time. :)
After we finished, different churches performed different things including several songs, a poem, and a couple messages. We were all inspired and felt lifted up afterward. I think that about wraps up our day!

Now there are a couple other things I want to mention while I have control of the Blog. :)


GOD WORKING IN OUR TEAM:
I could not be blessed with a better team. We fit perfect. We love being together (so much that we spent 4.5 hours the other day after devos just hanging out together in one of the rooms). We have grown together. We support one another. I have been absolutely awed by how God has been working through this team. Each person has completely blown me away at different points throughout this trip. People are stepping out of their comfort zones and the holy spirit is working like crazy. Each person has talked at least once in front of a congregation. Each person has shared the gospel message. Each person has carried this team in some way at some point. Each person has prayed for countless Ghanaians. I have specific stories about each person that I would love to share, but that would take a lot of time and blog space. I just look at this group and I am proud...like a mother with nine children (wierd, I know...but it's how I feel). My desire for this team is that each person will fully realize their potential IN CHRIST and how much God has used them/will use them. This team has impacted my life. God is at work.

I want to share just a couple quotes from the team which will show where we are at:
"I don't WANT to take a free day. Well, I guess we can still talk to people on the beach anyway."
"I asked that God would give me a heart of this country and the people. I have fallen in love. I want to stay, I want to come back, I just want to people these people."
"There's no place else in the world that I would rather be."

God is the reason we can do anything we are doing. I was really moved tonight during a prayer when the pastor said, "We CANNOT do anything unless you do it through us. We NEED you to do everything." We need to be reminded of this. I think our team has experienced this. This lesson of being a vessel has really been on my mind a lot. If you realize that you are just a vessel, nothing you do is of you or for you, then you can REALLY give God the glory for what is being done.

Thanks for letting me boast about the team and what the Lord is doing through the team.
I just had to do it.
Much love.

Erin-I'm listening to Times and missing you.