Ghana Adventure

 Here it is, Tuesday and I need to do some catch up here before we leave and I don’t have any service for a while.  Sunday we left for church about 8:30. It’s a mystery to me how people ever else. Their way around these roads, paths, and walkways. It doesn’t appear to have any rhyme or reason to me! But dad turns here and there and bumps and bangs around and gets to where he wants to go. We picked up two other ladies in route to church. One older lady and one paralysed lady. Martha, the paralysed one has the cutest little baby girl ever.  After sitting on backless benches for a couple hours, this soft American was ready to stand up or find a chair! Was neat to meet folks’ church family. Right after the service, we sat down with a 16 or 17 year old boy and read through the next doctrine study lesson. Came home to a late lunch. And then it was time for a nap. Thank goodness for cool bedrooms at least. Wimps that we are! About 4:30 we headed over to eat supper with Ben and h...

 So today after doing laundry this morning, we and Hoz and Jana Doolittle along with their family, a niece and a nephew who are with them, and Charles and Matilda, a young married church couple here went to pour cement around a bore hole they drilled earlier. We sat and watched that process. Very interesting. Hot Africa Sun. Black sweaty hard working men. Shovels. Hot sun. Sand. Hot sun. Concrete. Hot sun. Head pans full of water the ladies bring from some where a ways away. Hot sun.  Big rocks. Hot sun.  Cute babies. Happy happy people. Hot sun. ☀️ Back to folks for lunch. Then over to another bore hole to put a pump on. Another bunch of happy people. To see fresh clean water come pouring out of a hole in the ground.  No more walking for 1/4 mile or so to get water. After the pump was installed and working, Papa Harvey and Hoz told the story of the Two Ways using a big picture attached to the side of the van. Hoz illustrated a point he was making by doing a coin tri...

 It was a long long journey to get here. But it’s great to be here at folks’ house.  Ghana, Africa…. Red dirt Traffic Trash Beautiful sunsets Black skin, white teeth  Trees…teak, baobob, eucalyptus.  Cows, goats everywhere  Potholes BIG ONES Beggars  We constantly compare to Bangladesh 🙄 B has more people and more traffic than what we have seen here yet  B has more tangled electric lines😁   G houses seem a little poorer maybe  or more poorly constructed. 

 Happy Birthday to Erika! An unforgettable way to spend her 16th birthday… We arrived in Accra on time and feeling a bit bedraggled and weary. We had to wait a while for all our luggage to get through but it all arrived and customs were a breeze. Mostly just glanced at our passports and vaccination card…  Piled into a small taxi and got to the hotel. A/c works, yay! Pool was too inviting to pass up for a few of the crew. Showers had hot water. Beds were big and clean and comfy.  Nicholas thought that “something stinks!” as we walked off the plane. 😁 Up this morning at 6 or so to eat breakfast in the hotel. Quite a spread was laid out. Back to the airport to catch h our África flight up to Tamale where Mervs folks will pick us up.  Definitely not the tight security we are used to in the states, but hey it works.  Warm muggy air… bright pretty flowers… hustle and bustle of people and traffic…  More later.  Just got a message that my dear grandpa Giesel ...

 Here we are in Amsterdam. Had an uneventful and smooth flight from Minneapolis. Our flight from Cleveland left just a few minutes late due to repair of potholes on the tarmac right behind the plane!! They quickly put sand down to hopefully help the new asphalt dry out faster so we could push back and leave! Made connections just fine. Flight here to Holland was very full. So you know how well that sleeps. But we all managed a few hours of shut eye. Nicholas says he slept good but just mentioned how his eyes don’t want to stay open. “But I am not tired at all”😅  I couldn’t resist buying some Dutch chocolate. Haven’t tasted it yet. Thought about buying some bulbs until I saw the sign that says “not for US or Canada”. Oh ok.  Am popping my No Jet Lag pills😜. Will see whether they actually help or if perhaps the racing reviews were just planted there by the company.

 Here it is, a couple days before our planned trip to finally see part of Africa. Merv, Erika, Nicholas, and I are going to see Merv's folks in Ghana. The vaccinations are received, and hopefully making us all immune to the Yellow Fever disease, (that was an adventure in itself!) The visas have arrived, and the pile in the bedroom is growing to alarming proportions and one wonders if it actually will all fit it! And now that our school is almost done for the year, the busy week of getting work ends sewed up is almost past, we can allow ourselves to get excited. Our travel plans are to leave Cleveland around 6:30 in the evening on Tuesday, the 23rd, and arrive in Tamale on the 25th i think!! Its all a little fuzzy in my mind, the dates and times and flights etc. We fly through Amsterdam. Wish we had a long couple day layover there. Would love to see the city. Someday. Maybe. k will keep our trip journal here and if you are interested, you can follow along with us.