BREAKING NEWS: Actually, it’s not so breaking, I’ve already updated you a few times about Team Changes and that I am now on an all girls team called the Food Fighters. They’re awesome and I can’t wait for this next season of life with them.
Travel to Ghana: This was actually the easiest travel day yet. We left Cote d’Ivoire in the afternoon and got to Accra, Ghana for our Second Debrief the next morning. We had a Debrief where our Squad Coaches, Phil and Ruth, and our Squad Mentor, Stacy, met us fora few days. It was a time of recapping the last 4 months and giving us a chance to close the season with our teams. Team Hazaq, while always in my heart, is no more. Megan was moved up to a Squad leader, Kayleigh is now a Team leader (Ali is on her team), but the rest of us are all on separate teams. Life is about to change. We were given time in Accra with our new teams before leaving for an overnight bus ride to Sunyani, Ghana. Easy travel days by far!
Location: Sunyani, Ghana.
Sunni is the capital town on the Brong-Ahafo Region of Ghana. There is a population of about 250,000 people here. We’re at an elevation of about 990 ft, so not high at all. I’m 7 hours ahead of home still. Home being Southern California. This part of Ghana is surrounded by forested lands. Its a pretty well maintained city here in Ghana.
Language: ENGLISH! We finally get to speak English to everyone, yet somehow, we’re all still defaulting to Spanish and French. There are some local languages like Twi and Ga, but we have translators to help us.
What Ministry Looks Like This Month:This month is our second All Squad Month! We are working with Elim City Church Sunyani. They are amazing. We are all staying in what is called a Guest House, which is similar to a hostel. The pastor, Dr. Gospel has a team of people that bus us in the church vans from point A to point B. We are evangelizing all month long. This means that they pick us up in the mornings, get us in the vans, take us to a nearby neighborhood where we split into our teams and translator, and just build relationships with the people in the area.
Ghana was an easy place for missionaries to come decades ago because they speak English, so everywhere you look, there are churches of all denominations. Elim City is a Evangelical Charismatic church. It feels like home. So while we create friendships with the neighborhood people, we play with kids, we sit and talk about their families, we offer healing, we as if we can pray for them, anything we can do on the spot, we offer. We invite them to the Church for services on Sunday and give them directions.
Evangelism this month is not what I had anticipated. It wasn’t scary like it was last month. This feels simple, but also not, because we’re still furthering the kingdom.
Weather: I can’t sugar coat it. It’s still hot. Like 89 but feels like 112, hot. But, it’s not as humid. The shade is heavenly, and sometimes it’s almost chilly in the mornings. When it rains, life is perfect.
Currency: The use Ghanaian Cedis. One USD is equal to about 4 Cedis which makes like pretty easy. I can usually do the math in my head! And we all know I’m terrible at math.
A couple nights ago, I was thinking that the month was almost over. That next week we would be packing up and heading to Burkina Faso. Thats not the case anymore. We have been given the opportunity to partner with Elim City for about 3 more weeks. It’s exciting to be able to stay in one place for longer than a month.
I think the last count of squad members who have had malaria was at 19 people, and I think 3 of those people are on their second round of malaria…I am not one of them. Praise the Lord.
Again, sending my love and prayers,
Kelli
