What Happens in Africa... STAYS

We woke up at 5am with everything packed and ready to go. What a strange feeling. We had to strap the back seat out of the trotro on the back of all the luggage so none would fall out: it was quite the sight! We then took the 2 hour drive to the airport in Accra. We were all exhausted from barely any sleep the night before, I managed to make it on the airplane though! : ) Both flights were pretty good.. Our first flight was 2 hours early so we had plenty of time to go through customs. After saying goodbye to Canadian George, it was off to SLC! It was so fun to arrive home and be on American soil again. It was weird seeing so many white people but I got use to it pretty fast.

PARTY IN THE USA!
It's weird being home and I am having withdrawals. Taking showers is amazing, I can't seem to take one long enough! I keep forgetting its winter and I am freezing to death every day here! I miss the nature and landscape of Africa. It's so green and luscious wherever you are. I miss the students always brightening my day and giving me countless reasons to smile and enjoy the moment. I miss is all. I feel like i have just been thrown back into reality into the same old day to day routine. I never thought it would be this hard. I miss serving every day all day- I went from loving from the inside out with my whole heart and to now focusing on my selfish life and what I need to do to get ready for school. I wonder how my kids are every day...
I am excited to take everything I learned in Africa and make it build me to become who God wants me to be. I know God is mindful of them. I know he is watching over them. What a blessing to know this. I know my Savior lives and loves each of us, we are all His children- even across the world in AFRICA!

SPORTS WEEK

This is a very special time of year to be in Kibi, Ghana. All the schools in Kibi get together once a year for a week long sports tournament. They have Football (Soccer), Net ball, Running, and Volleyball. The Friday before the week starts the kids all get in huge long lines and have weigh ins. They each are weighed to see if they are between 50-54.5kg. They must be in this scale or they are not allowed to play. The week is full of loud music, dancing, lots of food vendors, and kids who can't get enough sports! We sat in the hot hot sun from 7am-5pm every day to watch! I felt like I was back home at soccer tournaments and I grew a greater appreciation for my mother who spent year after year watching all of us every Saturday. The deaf are looked down upon in Ghana and this is where I saw it first hand. The deaf were last every day.. The hearing kids make fun of them and the refs are biased. A lot of the hearing teams cheated as well and got students from the High School to come play on their team. It's sad the extent they go to to win, however, they never do! DEAF ALWAYS WINS! KibiDeafs older boys soccer team won the entire week! They won the "cup" in the end and we were all SO proud of them! It was so much fun to celebrate with them and see their hard work turn into an accomplishment. They are the sweetest kids and deserve that trophy! They practice so much and so hard, I love watching them. They are each so talented.

It's Nice To Be Nice & Good To Be Wise

Today we went to Accra to attend the temple and what a beautiful time it was! This was a day I will never forget. I loved being in the temple and feeling beauty all around. It keeps life in perspective and makes me even more grateful to be here, experiencing all that I am.After the temple we went back to the Culture Center in the center of Accra and boy was it cultural! When we got there I got swept away by Humble Lyle who wanted to sell me sweet painted shirts for 45 Ghana Cedis. I literally only had 5 so I was trying to think up ways to bargain and he took his shirt off of his body and gave it to me for 5...plus my SOHI water bottle. He was fascinated with it, the fact that it was blue and could hold a liquid.. was awesome.

After that encounter I met my Rastafarian soul brothers. Fuzzy, Daniel Djembe Drum, Denis Rap Dee, and my favorite: Antiga Martin. They are the greatest people. They invited us to come "make music" with them in their shop, so I spent about an hour playing the drums and dancing with them. It was a blast! Martin gave me a necklace to always remember that "we are one" and he wanted me to stay and hang out with him all night and he'd bring me back in the morning... yikes!!! no way!! These guys definitely had Rasta-vibes! They were awesome and it was very fun to learn how to play the drums.