A Few More Pictures

And just in case you didn't have enough, here are just a few more pictures...




This is Barb, Vicki and Lynn Ann, excitedly looking over some of the goodies that GBC sent them.





This is the GBC team saying goodbye to our new, very good friend, Kossi, or Joy. He is from Togo and a student at the Bible college in Accra. Kurt invited him to come out and help with VBS and youth camp. He was a blessing to all of us, and we were sad to see him go, but he needed to get home to recuperate before going back to school.





GBC team with the entire Mathews family, including the puppy, Suzuki, and the cat, Ashes.

Home!!! Our arrival at Dulles Airport.

Pictures from Life in the Village

Here are some more pictures from life in the village.

The climb and the view from atop Adaklu Mountain.

This is a termite mound. You see these all along the roadside. I wish you could get an idea for just how big it is - They stand much taller than a man, and as you can see, this one is very wide. Kurt says that if you were to run into it with a vehicle, you would probably total the car!

The following are pictures from around the village of Helekpe, just to show you the homes that they live in.

Some of the GBC group posing on the main road in front of Adaklu Mountain.

This is one of my favorite moments - Jim became good friends with this little boy, Brite. I couldn't find Jim one night anywhere. Then, Christopher came up to me and asked if he could use my camera because he had found Mr. Bice. Jim had gone outside to read and this little boy came up to him and they began drawing pictures together in the ground - it was a fun game for Brite. After this, Brite came around often and followed Jim around, and always helped him to carry something.





This is Kafui in her kitchen. She invited us all down to her home for lunch and she cooked banku and ground nut soup for us. It was a tremendous effort on her part, and we were humbled by all her hard work to serve us. It also made me very thankful for the kitchen that I have here at home.

This is Sister Bertha (pronounced Beta), Kafui's mother. She is stirring the banku over an outdoor clay stove.

This is the store in Helekpe, right on the corner of the main road.

This man is weaving Kenti, the traditional Ghanaian strips of cloth. This was a fascinating process to watch - I could have stayed for hours watching him weave.

These last two pictures are from market in Ho. I am posing with two ladies at one of the fabric stands, where I purchased MUCH fabric!!!

Pictures from Youth Camp

Youth camp was a very rewarding experience for all involved. This is where we really built our friendships with the Ghanaian youth. It is the first time they have ever had a youth camp in Helekpe, and I know all the teens really enjoyed it. Here are just a few highlights.

Mikey did an excellent job leading the music for both VBS and youth camp. Christopher jumped in with much enthusiasm to help sing a few of the songs.

The three ladies in the back are church members who fixed all of our meals for camp. They worked very hard to keep 42 people fed. In the foreground is Kafui, a teen who attended camp and also helped with the food. Kafui also helps the Mathews at their home, and became a very special friend to us all.

Our first camp craft was friendship bracelets. We broke into five groups and taught them how to make different styles. Several of them picked it up very quickly and continued to make bracelets during their free time at camp. We were surprised how excited they were to make them, but we had a lot of fun with it!

This is Pastor George, deep in concentration as he works on a friendship bracelet.

The end result - lots and lots of friendship bracelets!!! The nicest part was to see someone making a bracelet and then promptly giving it to a new friend.

A friendly game of Win, Lose or Draw - everyone shouted so loudly with excitement that it was very difficult for our judges to determine the winners!

Rock climbing up the hill behind the Mathews' home.

Morning devotion time

Our 3 ladies who cooked for us sporting their new GBC Ghana team t-shirts. They received HUGE applause during recognition!

With our new friends:

Pictures from VBS

Here are some pictures from Vacation Bible School. We averaged over 200 kids per day!






Craft time - it was very interesting having crafts for 70 - 80 kids at a time!





Christopher organized all the games for VBS. Here, you see him singlehandedly take on a group of Ghanaian kids....who do you think will win???

Can you spot the yevus (non-African people) in this picture? There are three!!! If you are wondering why all the kids are laughing - it was tough at first trying to get them to smile for pictures. They loved to pose for the pictures, but they would just stand there with straight faces. We would try to tell them to smile, and we'd point to our teeth to indicate that we wanted them to smile and show their teeth. Nothing seemed to work, until we figured out that if we said, "ha ha ha," then all of them would immediately break into laughter and repeat, "ha ha ha" as we snapped our pictures full of smiling faces. They also loved to see the picture after you had taken it, and they would crowd around you and shriek with excitement at the sight of their faces. It was so much fun to see their reaction, I spent a while just taking pictures and showing it to the kids.

This little girl captured my attention one morning in church. She very gently cared for her little sister, sitting beside her with her arm wrapped around her.

The Ghanaian youth are singing a song that they learned at VBS during church time.

More happy faces!

Pictures from Wli Falls

Finally, some long-awaited pictures. Hope that you all enjoy seeing just a little bit of what we experienced. This first group is from our trip to Wli Falls.

The bus ride to Wli Falls

This is the road between Helekpe and Ho!