July

Hello friends! July was a big month for me. Many beautiful blessings and many challenges, mostly physical. I am amazed at God’s goodness through all of it and cannot wait to continue diving in to life here.

First, traveling here was stressful due to some requirements in Ghana that were potential problems for me. It took intentional mindset shifts for me to turn away from worry and anxiety to trust in God’s unfailing plan. I was nowhere near perfect at handling this, as my family can attest, but I am beyond grateful for their support in finding solutions to road blocks. Praise the Lord, I made it successfully! And I already have my official non-citizen’s card! Could not be more grateful.

This first month included several physical challenges that make me laugh when I think back on them. There are certain things that I expect to deal with when I arrive such as breakouts and the common cold due to decreased vitamins from the food. Both of these occurred, of course! Not fun, but manageable. The other injury that surprised me was a deep cut on my finger from a broken mirror. I saw depths of my finger that I never wanted to see! Praise Jesus for the intelligent nurse on campus, he has been so wonderful caring for me. Everything is healing up well. I felt so defeated in those moments but now I can enjoy laughing at the ridiculous series of events within just one week.

Now for the most important part of this journal entry, the blessings! I won’t be able to list all of them! The most notable blessing to me has been reconnecting with friends. So, so special to tell stories, listen to stories, make fun of each other, eat together, and play games. These friends have been so sweet in caring for me and checking in on me when I was feeling sick, and ensuring I experience more of what Ghana has to offer. Several friends that are in university have visited home in the time I have been here and that has been so wonderful. One friend in particular I hadn’t seen in several years due to the timing of my trips so it was an exciting reunion! Another big blessing is school! I am here to work in all things math and, wow, it has been so great! Connecting back into school is intimidating to me but I have felt challenged to step into a confidence beyond myself to dive into these relationships. So far it has been so sweet and fun, and there have been many opportunities for me to use my skills beyond what is on my schedule. Woohoo! Answered prayers. Also, this month we had a field day and I was forced to play volleyball and basketball ha! I had a lot of fun. I learned how to wrap a baby on my back and it was precious, especially because I miss little Murphy so much. I also got to meet several other American women living around Accra when I went out with Autumn. So fun!

Overall, the month has been about settling in and finding my place again. God has been revealing new things about myself already and opened me up to experience care and love from people in fresh ways. It’s sometimes so challenging to be pushed down new paths but I am grateful for the growth that comes from it. And coming to the end of July means the start of Coming of Age! I got to be part of the team last year and it was so special, I am so excited to be part again! The group of kids is very different than last year so please join us in prayer for students to hear God’s voice and dig deep spiritually. Several students are not interested in having a spiritual life so we are praying in anticipation of what God will do.

To my financial supporters, THANK YOU. I could not be here without you. To my friends joining in prayer, THANK YOU. God has been so good. And I will continue to ask for prayer on these requests:

-Coming of Age

-Physical health continuing to improve

-Opportunities to support students in school

-Peace for JHS 3 students who are studying hard for their big exams in October

I am including a few pictures from this month. I apologize for the very few pictures, I hope to be better at documenting in the upcoming month!