Hi People!

Guess where I am now?  On the plane heading home; I finished writing my journal in Accra, but did not have time to type it up on computer, so here I am!

After we left Savenglu School for the Deaf in Tamale, we went to a university to have a short visit with Mary, Amadu’s girlfriend.  He deserved to see her…. Smile… she is so pretty and real nice.  Then off we went to Mole State Park.  We were on the dirt and bumpy road for 3 hours.  What a ride!  The Ghanaian drivers are crazy!  They sometimes pass by us on the right side and other times on the left side. (One lane)   There were animals crossing the road at times.  We saw a herd of “Steer” crossing the road; Pastor Reinke says that the more “steer” they have, means money in the bank. Pastor Reinke couldn’t come with us because he was busy with the new Vicars back at Kumasi.  We also saw compounds, several huts in a circle. They are made out of wood, and mud with straw roofs.  It looked more like Africa. Enoch kept braking to avoid hitting animals in the street.  We ran over a pig!  Know what… we did not feel a bump; the hearing did not hear a squeal.  It cross the street unharmed.  Sigh... I think I had the best seat in the jeep!  I felt like I was at an amusement park!  Before we got to our hotel, we had to go up to the termite mound to have our picture taken.  Whimper… it was Sandy and my first time; Karen and Linda were at the same spot last year.  Amadu told us later that the queen termite was dug out for a celebration or something like that.  Whew!  We were tired and sweaty.  We were hoping to wash up, but there was only one pail full of water for the four of us, girls when we checked in.  Sigh…The guys gave us one of their buckets and we were able to get one more.  It has been a dry year up in Ghana, so water level is low.  We had a nice dinner with a nice cold Castle Milk Stout and I hit the sack before everyone else did. Oh, you should have seen Sandy’s hair; it was red from the soil and the Harmatton. (Hot and dusty wind from Sahara Desert) We had the windows down in the car all the time.

The next morning we went on a safari ride and had a guide with a gun joining us.  I think we started the tour at 6:30 AM.  We saw a few animals; Antelope, deer, alligators, monkeys and elephants. One elephant rammed his head against the tree so the food could fall on the ground and he could eat it.  We were able to get out of the jeep a few times.  Oh, we also saw wild boars and their families.  We had breakfast before we left.  Down below we were able to see the elephants at the water hole bathing.  We also saw one elephant up close; it was abandoned from its herd.  Poor thing.  Before heading out towards Kumasi, we stopped at a place to visit one of the oldest mosques in Ghana.  It was a white building with wood beams sticking out from it.  Children came up to us and wanted to hold our hands.  We were able to meet a Deaf guy who lives in the village.  He wanted his picture taken, so I had someone take a picture of the both of us.  The Deaf Ghanaians just love getting their picture taken! There was a competition among the Ghana women selling their yams (potatoes) to Enoch and Amadu.  The guys somehow were able to control them.  It was crazy and I was scared for them. Then off we went to Kumasi.  It was a long drive and when we arrived to town, we met Reinke at a busy intersection holding pizza smiling with a twinkle in his eyes! Oh of course he missed his girls! : )  He joined us back to the house and he had me and Linda eat Fu Fu with goat meat.  MMM Good!  Oh Shoot, battery is running low on this computer, will continue after I get home. Stay tuned!

Hi again,   Okay here I go, we met a group called Cross Fire.  They travel around Africa singing songs to children, etc.  They were real nice and a few knew sign language.  Pretty Cool, uh?  Reinke told us we were going to Accra the next day.  Boy, I was getting tired of the long drives around Africa.  It was just that my poor butt felt flat and that I was afraid that my ankles would double the size!  I had a pretty good night’s sleep.

Saturday morning of January 27th was another day of traveling.  We were hoping to leave Kumasi around 10am, but we had jeep trouble, so Enoch had to fix the problem.  We just had to wait.  I decided to take out my braids.  Boy, I had trouble!  I found out that when my hair was braided, the girls put artificial hair with my hair and tied them in knots at the ends.  Here came Reinke with a knife.  Yikes!  He used it to cut the knots out of my hair.  Linda being my “ears” described the sound of the blade cutting through my hair, snip…snip…snip…whimper it took Linda, Amadu and two Ghanaian girls about one hour to unbraided my hair.  I had about 120 braids!  We left the house at 12pm and Reinke decided to give Enoch a break and drove the jeep. The traffic was crazy!  A lot of stopping and waiting, etc.  Hey, Reinke, you drove the jeep just fine!  We were able to get to Accra before dark and that was our goal!  Food was waiting for us at the Mission house!  The owner had a meal of lasagna, salad and garlic bread waiting for us at the house.  We started our Bible studies with Reinke about Jonah, took turns saying our prayers, and then I went off to bed right after that.

Sunday, January 28th   another day of traveling…We had to make a detour when we were heading for Mampong.  The road was closed.  We had to travel through the back roads (bumpy) We stopped and Reinke and his buddies helped a group of women change tire of their car and then off we went to a Deaf school.  Reinke had us split up.  He went to preach the older kids during the service and Linda and I were to do Bible studies at the other school with the younger kids.  Karen and Sandy came with us.  We wish we could watch Reinke preach because last year he made sure the Gospel was told, not only Law.  We had fun though.  We talked about the color bracelet and also sang songs in sign language.  You should have seen the kids.  They all were dress in white.  I met a Deaf and Blind girl. She had to feel my hands and fingers to communicate with me.  She is a beautiful girl.  I had fun being with the kids and they want to become pen pals with me!   After meeting up with Reinke, we went to the “Deaf” village in Adamorobe.  Reinke has been working hard to have the Deaf people set up corn miller and a building for it, so they can earn a living.  Well, when we got there, the roof was not done and the machine was not in it.  We had to go down and meet the contractor and the carpenter.  While Reinke and the guys went to get more materials for the building, Linda and I started our Bible studies of Moses with the women.  Wow, these Deaf people have a different way of signing when they communicate.  Every time I tell the story in sign language, they copied every sign I made.  I decided to do it with them when it was Linda’s turn and I had fun!  All of a sudden Linda looked at me and said “rooster crowed” in sign language and a funny face and all these women did the same thing!  I felt like we were playing follow the leader!  Their signs are kind of different from other Deaf people at the schools or Deaf adults at the house in Kumasi.  We got back on time for dinner of fried chicken and rice.  Continue with our Bible studies on Jonah and then off to bed.

January 29th was a day of doing errands.  We had eggs for breakfast with toast and hot tea.  We went to the market to check to see if our order was ready, but the lady forgot the list.  Sigh, we have to come back the next day.  We went to see Akorful’s business.  Akorful (Deaf)         is a Vicar now and plans to become a pastor someday, but he has to have a job, too.  You really do not make much as a pastor in Ghana.  After several errands, we went to his home and his wife cooked us a meal.  We were served minced meat with rice and salad.  We took a risk and ate some of the salad.  We were glad to be back at the house.  It was just a long day of going places, sitting, and waiting in jeep.  Know what?  After getting back to the house, I was very restless from lack of exercise, so I played a game of football with Sandy and tried to get the others to join the game.  Sandy and I also played volley ball.  We used toilet paper since we had no football or volley ball.  Got some on the ceiling fan!  We continued with our 3rd evening of Bible study about Jonah, then off to bed.

January 30th was the last day for us to be in Ghana.  Well, we had eggs again.  Poor Sandy was getting sick of eggs!  Reinke and I went to “7 eleven” which is across the street from the house.  It kind of looks like a small stand.  That is where we get our eggs and cream from.  They also sell other kind of stuff.  We also bought cookies with chocolate filling.  Some of the people in the group crave for chocolate!  After breakfast we went to meet Dr. Fynn at the Evangelism Lutheran Church of Ghana office.  Again, we were not able to meet with him.  We ended up meeting with Dr. Yung.  Pastor Reinke talked about the lessons he did with the Deaf Ghanaian students and what we girls did and other information.  It was a good meeting, but I started to feel hot and tired.  When we got into the jeep, I had to rest my head on the back of the front seat.  Karen handed me mineral to drink and I just took a sip.  All of a sudden water was splashed on my face, and a wet rag on my head!  I then knew that I might be dehydrating and they were trying to cool me down and have me drink water.  I keep telling them that I was ok, but I kept getting water on me!  I slept for awhile, then had something to eat like beef jerky and boy, did I feel better.  We went to the market and I made sure I had a hat on.  We went out to eat at La Palma.  We ate there when we first came to Africa and the last night, in Africa, too.  We had crawfish, rice and tapia (fish) then for dessert, we had fried plantains, nice and hot.  Linda and I went down to the beach.  We were at the Gulf of Guinea.  Oh my, the breeze felt good after a very hot day.  The water was cool and the sun was going down.  I found small shells to bring back home. I am not sure how it happened, Reinke and I got into a water fight and got soaking wet.  He said I started it!  He tried to get Karen and Sandy wet by the pool at the hotel, but failed!  We got back to the house and started to pack everything up.  Oh, there was no water in the house….sigh…..  I tasted salt on me sigh…. I had to use a little bit of water from our water bottles to clean up.  We did our last part of Jonah story before we hit the sack.  I felt sore from all the traveling (my back and my poor behind) I decided to take Motrin and sleep on my stomach all night!  I finally had a good night’s sleep.  I was the last one up the next morning!

January 31st, Oh yes, eggs again.  Karen made veggie scrambled eggs or was it the day before?  It doesn’t matter…. WE HAD EGGS!  I better have my blood cholesterol check.  Karen, Sandy and I stayed at the house while Reinke, Amadu, Enoch and Linda went to the Deaf village to check out the building and to make sure the building was done. It was nice for a chance just to have a prayer session with Karen and Sandy, do some cleaning, and do the final packing and NOT sitting in the jeep!  I was told that the water was back on!  I got the chance to take a cold bath brrrr, but refreshing!  Poor Sandy, she was last one to bath and there wasn’t any water left for her.  The guys seemed happy when they got back.  The corn mill project is getting done.  We got to the airport early to make sure we all have seats on the plane since we switched planes after we heard that British Airways might go on strike.  We took the Lufthansa airline.  Reinke kicked us out of the airport to have us get lock for Sandy’s bag.  I think it was because I started dancing with the luggage cart!  Oh well, we had plenty of time on our hands and nothing to do except to WAIT!  We head to the parking lot to the jeep; Amadu and Enoch were nowhere to be found.  We were able to get the jeep open, but then the guard came out.  Maybe the guys had paid the guard to watch the jeep bec they couldn’t close one of the windows.  After Karen explained who we were etc, he let us get what we needed.  Karen did not look good; I had her to go in the restaurant to cool off and had Sandy get her bottled water.  She got better and then joined us at the airport.  After we got our luggage checked in, we went back to the restaurant and had something to eat. I made sure we all had a group hug with Amadu and Enoch before we entered the airport.  These two guys took good care of all of us and we had a fun time with them and learned a lot about things in Ghana.

Wow, what an experience I’ve had.  I have grown spiritually and umm I am drawn more to teach the Gospel to the Deaf children, but not only them, to all Deaf people everywhere!  I thank the Lord for keeping my gang safe while in Ghana, I also thank him for leading us to meet people who possible are interested in helping out with the Deaf there.  I pray for the Vicars that they continue with their studies and share the good news to the Deaf people in Ghana with God’s help.  I have never taught a large group of people before (100+) and I know that He was with me when I was sharing them the story of Moses and applied it to every day life.  I am finally able to lead a crowd in a prayer!  I am laughing right now because when I first was in Ghana, I really was too shy to say or lead prayers in front of a group of people except for Linda alone.  When Reinke asked me to pray, I was lost of words, I froze. Oh yes, I was embarrass, so I ended up with the first thing that came into my mind; the Doxology.  Sigh. But then I went away to Tamale and broke that fear with God’s help and it gets easier to do it every time.

I thank the Lord for people like you.  Your support and prayers made it possible for me to accomplish my mission that God wants me to do.  Maybe some of you are wondering what I plan to do next.  I still love helping out at Immanuel Church / School in Palatine, IL, volunteer work at the Lutheran Church Charities in Addison, continue my studies in the DIT program and  if it is God’s will, I will continue to go out there (Ghana) again to spread the Good News among the Deaf children, Deaf adults…..and hearing, too!

With love in Christ,

Betty Jo