Dear family and friends,

What an experience I am having here in Ghana!  Linda Zoiss and I stayed at Cape Coast Deaf School for 4 days and three nights. But before I share you my experience at the school, my group and I went to Kakum Park to walk across the rope bridge.  There are six sections that go from one tree to the next. The bridge is about 150 feet above the ground the width of the bridge is about a foot.  The fear of heights hit me at the 4th or 5th section.  Sigh. I decided to go ahead of my group and then I looked down, whoa!  I had to kneel down.  Pastor Reinke came to my rescue. When he came toward me, the bridge was going up and down  whimper.. And then he had to pass me (narrow bridge)..whimper.. and finally got in front.  He was able to get my attention and have me to concentrate on him while walking to the end of the section.  I had one more section of the bridge to go and he told me I had to cross the next one right away..whimper..  I did better at the last section.  That is what I get for trying to be too brave.

We met the headmistress and she had the children (4 or 5) to take us to a 4 story building and of course it was on the top floor ...whimper..  The children were great!  Very well mannered and respect adults.  They were scurrying around sweeping the floor with sea reed brushes, getting dust off the mattress, etc.  The apartment was very simple. Hardly any furniture except for bed, table and chairs. The place overlooked the school campus. You could see the girl's dorm and the boy's dorm.  I got used to the height after 2 days of our stay.  Sunday morning we had church service at 7am until 9am. Wow!  A boy named Joseph was up there leading the service. Wow!  He was really good. We did bible studies in front of 100 kids!  We did just fine.

Every day food was brought up to our room.  Well, we had fish (mackerel) for lunch and dinner every day!  Breakfast, we had oatmeal, wheat meal  or bread with nut
butter.  We also had plantains.  I am drinking tea now.  A big change from a coffee addict to a tea person.  Surprisely, I am handling it very well.

Life is very simple at the school and it is very structured.  The children get up at 5am every morning and do their errands.. Can you imagine them sweeping the grounds
in the dark at 5am! They eat breakfast at 8am then off to class 9am.  They all take naps one time a day. School is closed at 2pm.  The older kids have class in the evening from 7:00pm to 8:00pm. Joseph showed us around the grounds one day.  They rear pigs, grass cutters, roosters and hens.  They also have vegetable garden eggs.

Linda and I have enjoyed playing with the children and teaching them the gospel.  I wish I could stay a little longer because I have a friend whom I became close to.  These children are beautiful and are hungry for God's word.  I was sad when we had to go and I am hoping I can see them again!

Right now we are staying at the Lutheran Missions House in Kumasi, Ghana.  Linda and I are doing biblical studies with the Deaf adults.  In two days, we will be
taking the bus to Tamale which is a 6 hour trip.  We will be fine.  Amadu, who wears many "hats" will be going with us to make sure we arrive safely. We are fortunate to have him and also Enoch, our driver (actually he is more of Reinke's mechanic)  I hope my ankles won't swell up.  Oh guess what!  I got my hair braided!  My head feels naked for some reason.  It is going to take some time for me to get use to my new look!

We need you in our prayers because the place we are going to is very poor and might be kind of rough for us. We look forward to meet the children though and touch them with God's Word.  I do not know when you will hear from me again because we will have no accessible to the computer for 5 days. 

Love in Christ to you all,

Betty Jo

P.S.  Amadu calls me
Teddy Jo!