Emily VanHuis:
Another long but rewarding day in Africa! More beautiful smiles. More friendly faces. More joyful greetings.

We woke up in Walewale for the last time this morning. Pastor Joseph and his beautiful wife met us at our guest house while we were finishing up breakfast to record a video to send to our American supporters. His joyful spirit proclaimed his people’s thankfulness for the work that we are doing as a team, both American and Ghanaian.

After wishing Walewale goodbye, we crammed everything into Wofa Ray’s truck. The rest of our day was filled with driving (stops along the way)…but the continual conversation made the many hours fly by more quickly.

Our first stop was in Tamale, where we met our friend Grace (Pastor Joseph’s daughter) for some shopping and lunch. The Beckmans knew of a Batik shop that they had wanted to visit for many years, but every time they have tried, it had been closed. Finally, this time, it was open! Mrs. Beckman (or Auntie Beth :)) and I were able to get some material for the seamstress there to make dresses for us. We intend to pick them up at the end of the week. Poor Mr. Beckman was a good sport…waiting for all the girls to finish their shopping. It’s a tireless event, to be sure. But even he was able to pick up something fashionable.

After eating lunch at the Luxury Restaurant, we all got back into the car again and drove to Zamashegu, where we stopped to greet an old friend, Pastor Paul, and his family. Along the way we saw many beautiful people and landscapes.

As it was getting dark, we drove one more leg to Gushegu to meet Pastor Matthew, our contact for the Dagbani language recordings. After discussing with him our plans for the recording process of this language and checking out the location where we will be working the next few days, we checked into our guest house to bring our day to a close.

While we were eating dinner in the lobby of this house, we noticed two furry little friends scurry across the floor. Of course the whole rest of the meal was spent with the pranksters (Mr. Beckman and my dear mother) touching everyone’s feet, pretending the mice were back. I broke a little common courtesy and put my feet up…just too risky to leave them down. :) At least we haven’t seen any cockroaches like this morning!

We’re just praying for good health and endurance to make it through the rest of the week. As hard as it may seem, God is sending little reminders to be joyful always. (Philippians 4 comes to mind.) The signs at the house at least brought us some good laughter: “No Smooking” with a cigarette crossed out behind the words led to some hearty laughs. Our personal favorite is the sign above the toilet that reads: “Please Flash Me!” Hmm.. Ironic? The best part was listening to sweet Auntie Beth explain to Wofa Ray why that was funny to us Americans. He answered by saying, “These people need to do a spelling bee!” How relieving it is to laugh. :)

All in all, we had another successful day and are looking forward to continuing the recording process tomorrow. Even though this hasn’t been necessarily easy, we know that what we are working for will have an eternal impact on many lives. The faces of my many little friends, always eager to smile for a “snap”, make me remember why we are here. What an experience.