First weekend in Ghana

Saturday night, all the teachers went to eat dinner at "Chez Afrique," where we saw probably a hundred other foreigners! Dinner was surprisingly good.  I ordered "Gari Fotor," which is made from "some root" ground up with lots of spice, and chicken, which I probably saw running on the street earlier!  The Gari Fotor tasted alot like cornbread stuffing with Mexican seasoning.  I thought my fork was a good sign...

I was able to try a new church this morning! It is another international church, but this one has more Ghanaian traditions -- like the worship was A-mazing! The choir was awesome, and everyone was dancing!   After the first part of the worship, all the first time visitors were asked to stand up and introduce themselves - most people stood and even told a story -- I stood and introduced myself to the whole church and every one clapped and said "Amen."  It was great. Then, they asked everyone to give a testimony or share what the Lord is teaching them or anything to encourage the church.  There was maybe an hour devoted to church members sharing!  It was really cool to hear.  This is so what a church should be - a place to share what the Lord is doing in your life, for His glory and to encourage other church members.  Most of the time, at church in America, I feel like there is much more "small talk" instead of this.  The most interesting/ entertaining/ memorable story was one woman who shared that God had laid it on her heart to tell every man over 50 in church that he should get his prostate checked out!  This was followed by a woman sharing about God miraculously taking away her cancer.  She said that she was driving when she got the call from her doctor, and she was so overwhelmed, that she let go of the steering wheel and ran right into a tree! 

After the sharing, we had more worship - this time there was even more dancing.  Many of the people had white cloths that they were waving and twisting around over their heads.  Some women even took off their head wraps and were waving them around.  Unreal.  Then, it was offering time. Everyone walks to the front - in order as if going to take communion, but quickly, some dancing, to give their offering.  Supposedly, at a real Ghanaian church, everyone dances the whole time and dances down the aisle to give their offering - I hope to a church like this at some point.  I will need to travel out to a village to attend a real authentic Ghanaian church.

The preacher was american - I have heard about he and his family because their kids go to our school and the have all the teachers over for dinner often.  The sermon was from Job - about Holiness in relationships.  It spoke to me about the relationships that I am building here, as well as the relationships with everyone at home, so far away now.  We went to eat with he and several of his friends, and other visitors from the church.  Reverend Mozley is from Georgia and his wife went to Auburn!  Crazy!  He kept saying War Eagle to me and his son knew the whole fight song! I am looking forward to meeting her! 

Tomorrow is parent night at the school - so please pray that everything goes smoothly there, especially if we have to push back the first day of school!