Last work day

Yesterday was our last day on the job site. After a morning of climbing the over looking hill of the job site, we got down to our last push at completing what we came here to do. As we look back at our pictures of the job site from our first day, we are amazed at the progress that has been made. We started with the footings in, and now the walls are up, and most of the lintel's have been poured. We left the job site yesterday with the carpenters working hard at finishing the last forms on the walls, so that the final lintel's would be poured over the bathroom.

As we left the job site yesterday many of us handed off some of our belongings including boots and gloves. The smiles on the faces of the guys as they received their new boots was priceless to see. The past two weeks these guys have been working so hard, and all in flip flops. They shovel in flip flops, walk through cement and mortar in flip flops, even climb on top block walls in flip flops! It's amazing they all still have their toes!

Today we are off for another adventure. Our plans include visiting the Cape coast castle and the jungle. Pray for our safety on the roads as we travel. Around here we say "plans" because that is all that we CAN say. When ever we set out on the roads around here, we have to be flexible for our plans to change, after all we are on Ghana time. Some times because of road conditions, and other times because of...well who knows what!

Before I sign off for another exciting day, I thought I would share with you a few moments to hopefully bring you into the inner workings and dynamics of our team.

Comical moments to share:

• Dorothea fashioning proper Geco protection as she discovered an unwanted visitor who has taken up residence in her bathroom.
• Allison winning the Ghanopoly trophy at Monopoly deal. Peter created a trophy out of some of the many many water bottles we have gone through. I hold it proudly!
  
• The Menken Monster who has been preying on victims throughout the trip has finally seen revenge. He has been jumping out of trees scaring team members. Last night Jay and Dorothea his previous victims got him good. A scare from the bush and a pail of water seemed to do it.
  
• By the way Liz...John now knows how to do his very own laundry. Don't let him tell you otherwise. Doreen and Dorothea took care of that for you. And if he denies it...we have pictures. Although he may have to resort to doing it by hand, as we didn't have a machine here to teach him with.
• To add to the laundry list, John D actually has blisters on his hands...not from working, but from doing his laundry...what a guy!!

There are many more to share with you all, and we look forward to telling you all our stories when we return.

Allison

Tuesday

Hello again from Asamankese!!!!!

Today was a day with some minor changes from the regular week-day schedule. We woke up early in order to make it to a local school to meet the children and teach them a small lesson on Canada. As we approached the school there were children dressed in blue EVERYWHERE!!!! As the bell sounded they all rushed from their classrooms and lined up in perfect lines according to grade in the center courtyard. There they sang their national anthem and recited The Lords Prayer. Once we had been introduced we met the teachers individually before the children were dismissed to their classrooms. As they left they sang the "knapsack on my back" song marching in perfect unison.
Split up into 3 groups we began teaching the children of the 4, 5 and 6 grade levels. We quickly summed up Canada; the provinces, the 4 seasons and other things specific to Canada. It was so rewarding to see the children listening so intently and hanging on every word we said. They were remarkably well behaved answering and asking questions only when called on. Once the lessons were done we emptied out into the courtyard and interacted with the children. Some took pictures of the children, some skipped rope while others blew bubbles. The smiles on the children's faces were something that can't be put into words. The joy and thankfulness expressed was overwhelming.
The hardest part of the day was leaving the school without all the children coming with us but finally the time had come. We walked home and ate lunch before working the afternoon back on the job-site.
Although we didn't put in many hours at the job-site we could definitely see work being done. The teachers and students as well as the group left the experience knowing that God's work was being done in that place.

Happy Family Day

Greetings home team,

It's not family day in Ghana, but we know that it is back home, so I think we all naturally are thinking of our families and wondering what you are doing today. I just want to take a second to say thanks to everyone back home for all the messages of encouragement and phone calls - we have truly felt the many prayers that are being offered on our behalf.

Yesterday which was Sunday was a very meaningful day for all of us. We had a great service of praise and worship and we all truly felt the Spirit moving powerfully there, which was awesome.

In the afternoon a small group of use spend some time strolling through the neighborhoods taking time to meet some of the local residents. We have done this earlier in the week, and we are still amazed at how friendly and open the people here are to meeting us and saying hello. I'm so thankful that English is the language of instruction in the schools here, because that allows us to exchange simple greetings and "how are yous" with almost everyone.

Especially enjoyable is the enthusiasm of the children. We would stop often, and that would mean that within minutes the children would come out of the nearby houses to meet us - sometimes more than 20 at a time. It's wonderful to kneel down to their level shake hands and see their beautiful smiles.

So again, I thank you for the support so far and ask that you will continue in prayer for the team. We hope to see you all again in just a few days.

On behalf of the team - John Blaauwendraat

Sunday, February 20

Botanical Gardens

The Volta Dam

We are getting ready to go to church this morning and will be visiting a different church than last week. While we thought that last week's service was lively, we are told that it will appear subdued in comparison to what we are in store for today -- more singing, more dancing, more clapping.

Yesterday we took a break from work and all packed into an 11 passenger van to hit some of the popular tourist destinations and see what Ghana has to offer. Our first stop was the Botanical Gardens. However, a drive that would have taken no more than a couple hours in Canada, stretched into a 5 hour marathon due to heavy traffic and poor road conditions. If you thought potholes were bad in Canada, you haven't seen anything! Some of us are even nursing bruises from our heads hitting the roof. After visiting the Botanical Gardens we stopped at our guide's house for lunch on the mountaintop before heading off to see the Volta Dam and Lake Volta, the largest man-made lake in the world. The dam generates 65% of Ghana's electricity. It was an impressive sight and we received a guided tour of the dam's inner workings. On our way back, we made a pit stop to the one thing that most of us had been dying to see -- monkeys. Unfortunately, our first sighting of Ghanaian monkeys was was not in the wild but in a zoo. After another long drive home with a few wrong turns along the way we arrived back at the guest house exhausted after spending 16 hours on the road.

-- Daniel

Power is out...

We sit here all gathering for breakfast, ready for another day. Last night brought us another interesting challenge, when at 12:00 in the morning the power has gone out. The computer is on its last bit of battery, so we thought a quick post was in order. The team is all working well together and getting to know each other well...maybe a little to well even!

There have been some really cool things happening over the last couple days, where we have been able to connect with our local community. Jay posted yesterday about following the drums to a small local church, and last night we did the same. We wandered down into the village and found another small church gathering for what seemed like a youth meeting. We shared some time together singing, sharing about ourselves and why where here, and prayer. One of experiences that has had the biggest impact for me so far is experiencing the genuine worship and communion of believers here in Ghana. Although some times it is hard to tell what exactly they believe, the fact that they worship the same God as us is amazing and brings excitement to me. We exchange email addresses here constantly as everyone wants to stay in contact. Despite the fact that we may never see them here again on this earth, we will share eternity together!

We may not post for a bit, but don't worry we are doing great here in Ghana!! The power is out, but our drive for the mission and the work here has not been exhausted!

Allison

Thursday Feb 17, 2011

DRUM HUNT DRUM HUNT Last night we heard the sound of drums......we had to follow. Wandering through the jungle we came to a small hut where a group of 4 men, and old woman and a small girl were playing and singing. We asked them what they were doing and they told us that they were The Church of African Faith and they were worshiping. We sat among them and listened, some even danced. Before we left we asked if it would be ok to pray with them so we joined hands in a circle and prayed. A group of Christians from two different worlds united in one common bond, Jesus Christ.



This is the job-site at the end of day 3. The walls have the majority of their blocks placed forming the classrooms, bathrooms and storage closet.


We were praying for the rain to come to us and give us some relief from the heat......but it always seems to just miss us, just like Georgetown.



Today we worked until noon and then attended "sports day" in Asamenkese where the various schools compete against one another in an annual competition. They participated in javelin, shot put, discuss and netball a.k.a. basketball. We watched a few football matches....uhh, i mean soccer. The sheer joy after a victory was overwhelming causing near riot conditions.


There is a small mountain where some of the locals live just behind the job-site. Tuesday after work our foreman and another worker (evos) took us up the hill and we came through a village where all they had were mud huts and a few benches. Here are a few of the children.

Wednesday Feb. 16

First Day

Morning of Tuesday

Boy it is so good to hear from everyone from home - it is really encouraging! So thankyou! Today is our third day on the site and boy is things moving right along! We started on Monday with just footings and now we are working on 5-9 th layers of block depending on where on the school you look.

We are discovering sore muscles in places that we didn't even know we had -but for the most part we are good - God is answering your prayer for health and safety. Please keep it up!
We are taking time to visit and learn about the town around us. The work pace here is much different from back at home-which is nessecary for us white folk that are not use to the heat. On average we drink around ten water bottles a day and sweat most of it out! We are thankful for the occasional breeze and a cold shower and the use of the fans at night.

The kids here start school at the age of 2-3 and we have meet a few people that are still in school at the age of 20. This week is "sports" week for all the kids in Asamankese. So no school subjects - just a lot of soccer!! ( Wouldn't our kids like that!) Each religion has their own uniform and we see about 5-6 different ones already.

Today we got a internet stick and so we can check out what you are writing and we will be on this blog a bit more. We look forward to keeping you up to date on the process that is happening here. Blessings, Dorothea