Ever Tasted Banku?

Hello from Ghana! It's Sunday afternoon - a cool, comfortable 75 degrees. It poured this morning in church - it rained so hard that the sound of the rain falling on the metal roof drowned out Pastor George speaking or the kids sharing about VBS. But we are thankful for the rain, since it fills the water barrels and means we don't have to go fetch water. The cool weather is also a relief - people around here act as if it is 30 degrees. I saw one person wearing a fleece jacket!

Yesterday started out a pretty quiet day. We spent most of the morning at the house. We were invited to Kafui's house for lunch. Kafui (which means Praise Him) is the girl who helps the Mathews with their washing and cooking. She invited her new friends to her home for banku and ground nut soup. Banku is a mixture of corn flour and cassava flour, cooked until it is sort of a firm dough texture. The ground nut soup was poured over the ball of banku. You eat with your hands, breaking off pieces of banku and dipping it in the soup. It is VERY hot, so you have to be careful not to burn your fingers. Ground nut is what the Ghanaians call peanuts. The soup was slightly spicy, and delicious. Kafui's version had dried fish and okra in it. Kafui showed us her home - a simple, block structure with a metal roof and only two rooms; one bedroom is for her parents, and one for her and her siblings. There was no electricity, that I could see. They cook outside in a small, three-sided hut made out of palm branches. There was also an open dirt area that had a little clay circle that served as a stove. Kafui's mother is Sister Bertha (pronounced Beta), the Sunday school teacher at HASU Baptist Church. It was so interesting to watch them cook. I love to cook, and I can't imagine cooking in those conditions. The banku was an adventure for us. It was slightly sour, similar to sourdough. When they work so hard to prepare a meal for you, the last thing you want to do is insult them if you don't like the food. But they served HUGE portions of the banku! Some of us really liked it - especially Jim and Jonnie. Others had a difficult time; I looked over at Anna at one point and I could tell she was struggling. She said to me, "I want to cry, but I'm not going to" and she just sat there smiling and kept eating it. I was really proud of her!

On the walk back from lunch, we saw the local man who weaves Kente, cloth that is native to the Ghanaian people. It was fascinating watching him work with the string and the weaving loom! We hope to buy some pieces from him if he is able to get more string.

We had a meeting at the church at 2pm with Pastor George. He was so kind and really encouraged us. We had the church doors closed during our meeting, but as soon as we opened them, the kids came pouring in. They were at least 20 minutes early! We had over 200 kids at VBS again, which was really encouraging.

We also had youth group tonight. I had to stay back at the house (due to a minor stomach issue), so I'll have to share Anna's perspective. They watched a movie about William Tindale and sang. There were some youth visiting from another village. There were about 50 youth in attendance.

Today is Sunday - and Sundays seem very busy around here. We started church at 8am - Sunday school first, then the service. As I said earlier, it rained really hard during the service. Kurt says that we had a higher number of kids attend today than they usually do. Normally, they have 20 kids for Sunday school; today, they had at least twice the number. During church, they usually have 40 adults and 40 kids; today, it was about 60 adults and 80 kids in attendance.

Amber, Stephanie and I went back to church at 1pm for AWANA. On average attended by about 45 kids, we had 120+ kids today! It was a little tricky with games with a group this size, and a wet, muddy field outside. Vicki did a modifed AWANA schedule today and did a great job juggling everything.

At 2pm, the guys went down to the JSS to have another soccer tournament. They had about 30 players and played six games. There were about 200 people that came out to watch! Mike was able to share the gospel with the players in between games.

We're back at the house now, waiting to head back to church at 6pm for evening service. Tomorrow, youth camp starts. Please be in prayer for us as we prepare, especially for Mike, as he is handling the bulk of the lessons. All the kids are doing well. We've had a few minor cuts and scrapes, a slight fever here and there, a little stomach bug, some diarrhea, but overall, we're healthy and doing well. It has been a tough adjustment, but I have been pleased and thankful with how they have been handling things. I'll try to post some pictures soon!