February

Technically this post kicks off at the end of January! The end of January was spent in Spain with my friend Katie! She is living in Madrid for a year, and she was so kind to host me! This started as a nugget of an idea a long, long time ago and I am so grateful that it actually happened! My parents did not know that I would be traveling to Spain until I surprised them at home so it was fun to get to add that to the surprise! It was, like it always is, hard to say bye to family and friends but I am so thankful for them and the time I got to spend with them at the beginning of the year. Okay, so Spain!

The travel to Spain was smooth, besides the girl in my aisle passing out with 20 minutes left of the flight! I had to call the flight attendant and then stood for the rest of the flight until landing when I was placed next to this older man who loved to chat. He was traveling with his wife and was happy to share a bunch of their travel stories! The girl in my aisle got oxygen and was taken off by paramedics, but she is okay! Anyways, I caught an Uber at the airport and made my way to Katie’s apartment! Her roommate let me in, I rested for awhile and then walked around the streets for a bit until I met up with her after work! To summarize the week, we shopped, ate good food, stayed up very late with her friends who were super fun, and walked a LOT. My favorite day was our day in Toledo! We took the bus out of the city, enjoyed exploring the city, ate an early dinner, took the bus back to Madrid, and then went late night bowling! It was awesome! On Sunday, I met up with my friend Trevor to go to his church! Of course everything was in Spanish, but I understood nearly all of it! What a blessing! Overall, the trip was so surreal and I am so so grateful that I got to experience Madrid in the way that I did. My first time in Europe! Very memorable. Thank you so much, Katie!!

In the first few days of February, I traveled back to Ghana! It was so nice to be back after feeling cold for a month straight! That positive attitude towards the heat here quickly changed. Since arriving, I have been jumping fully into my role at the school! This has included observing teachers in their math classes and providing feedback, conducting a training on the reteach program for this year, providing resources, and co-teaching! It is not an easy task to get all the teachers bought in to all the ideas but it has already been such a growing experience for me. I am excited to see how the rest of the year progresses! Please keep the school in your prayers! Prayers for passion, energy, and commitment for me and for the other teachers.

Outside of school, it’s been a pretty slow, relaxed life! We have been doing morning workouts and evening walks and that’s pretty much everything I do during the week outside of school and campus programs! It is nice to sweat on purpose, as opposed to sweating just because. The power has been in and out due to the power company so it can get extra hot sometimes! But we are all good and happy.

This past week has been fun because we had a girls day out and university/senior high students have been visiting! Stacy, Autumn, Ava, and I went to Accra to the spa, a delicious lunch, and the grocery store. I am so grateful for them! Then with the kids we had a couple pool days and it was a blast!! Lots of laughter and many attempts to teach some of the kids to swim. I had one request to teach her “how to swim like a mermaid”, so I obviously said yes.

These days, I am working on staying very present in each moment and trying to really take it all in. Sometimes it is hard to understand why I am in the position I am in, so it is super important for me to recognize the opportunities that are growing and challenging me. God has placed all of this in front of me so purposefully and I could never describe all the things that have pushed me out of my comfort zone, to the point where it is not even worth attempting to stay in the comfort zone. I am certain that my time here is changing and blessing me, so I pray that I am able to bless others too. I am making my way through Psalm right now and came across Psalm 27:14. It says “Wait for the Lord, be strong & let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord.” This was a powerful reminder for me this week and I hope it blesses you too. Our plans are never as perfect or good as God’s plan for us. He has us in His hands through every pain, joy, and heartbreak. The Kingdom is being prepared!

Prayer requests!

- CORM has been having a thief (at least one, we aren’t totally sure how many) that comes frequently in the middle of the night. Some of the guys go out and patrol and have been close to catching him a couple times but this thief is very persistent! He comes pretty much every two days! The problem is less about the material things being taken and more about the safety of everyone with this guy around in the middle of the night. So please pray that this gets resolved soon!! And that those who are out at night, giving up their sleep to watch over everyone, would be blessed!

- Prayers for peace, comfort, and provision for all the students away at senior high school, especially those who have just begun their first year!

- Deepened passion to know God among all the students and staff

- Changed hearts through the work done by outreach teams

Thank you for following along and praying for us!!