Greetings from the Village of Hope from Bobbie Lynn!
I hope this finds everyone doing well.
We are all doing fine. It is very, very hot here as always, although we have found our house gets a good breeze because we have windows all around the house, unlike some of the others.
I wanted to share some more observations. We haven't really had too much trouble with bugs, yet. (It has rained twice since we arrived.) We have tiny ants and the flies are pretty relentless! I'm still looking for a fly swatter here! We just have to spray the house daily whenever we leave. We have had 4 small lizards in the house, Danny managed to get rid of 2 of them, I don't know where the other 2 went! Hopefully, we won't bring them home or find them dead in our stuff! I did see one snake the first week. I was walking down the sidewalk between the Asare's house and the guest house, it was right beside me slithering along and I about jumped out of my skin. I grabbed Camille behind me and stopped her. It went down Tommy's walkway and into one of his trees! I told Latisha at the guest house what I saw and asked who to tell. She said, "Don't tell me, I'm afraid of them!" I'm glad I'm not the only one! I have not seen any more, thank the Good Lord!!!!
Our days are pretty set for us with the rising and setting of the sun. You really don't need an alarm clock at all. It starts getting light around 5am and by 6 it is light. By this time you hear birds singing and children singing. It starts getting dark around 5:30pm and is completely dark by 6:30! If the electricity is out, it is very dark. You pretty much go on home and start getting ready for bed. We have all taken showers by flashlight, which can be quite interesting, you are never sure you get all the dirt off! We have breakfast around 7:30 or 8, lunch at noon, and supper around 5. The kids and I have been trying to go to the library twice a day to record all the books the kids are reading. For every 10 they read, they get a free book, and when they reach 100, Tommy will take them out to eat in Accra!
Please keep praying this week for the JSS3 students (meaning 9th graders). They are taking their exams this week to get into high school. It is very serious and competitive! We have had prayer services galore, which has been very meaningfull! One of the things we prayed for specifically was the environment of testing, meaning the room, furniture, conditions, etc. I must say I was very surprised. I went along Tuesday morning with Tommy to see where they test and to encourage them before we headed to town. It is taking place the the Fetteh public school nearby. The examiners had tables set up outside under some trees. They used rocks for paperweights. The test themselves were just like ours in the states with bubbles you have to fill in, etc. The classrooms are concrete floors and walls. Two sides of the walls have decorative type concrete block with openings in them for windows. No glass in the windows, no fans, no electricity, no lights. THe desks were very old and the examiners had written each student's number on it with chalk. There were also chickens walking around! It was all very organized, just really different. The VOH staff brought our kids chairs to sit on during breaks and food to each for lunch, plus cold water to drink. It was very obvious the VOH kids were blessed because all the other student (there were about 150 or so total from all the different schools around the area.) So, please pray that they all pass with flying colors!
Did I mention it was hot here?!
I have to tell one really funny story! Well, it was not funny at all at the time. Last week, the kids and I were in the house reading. I realized Camille was not in the room with us and sent Davis to see what she was up to. He came running back saying she had locked herself in the kitchen. Now, each door in the house has a lock with keys hanging in them. We removed the ones we needed, exterior doors, but the others we left. She wanted something cold to drink from the fridge and closed and door and partially turned the key. Now, there is a very small pass through about shoulder height on me from the dining/living room to the kitchen. It measures about 2 ft wide by 1 ft tall. But it has 2 sliding glass windows which leaves the opening about only 1 ft by 1 ft. We kept taking turns sticking our heads in and trying to explain to Camille to turn the key. She could't/wouldn't. Davis had his head through while standing on a crate. Ellen and I lifted him up and started pushing him through. Fortunately there was a plastic table underneath on the other side. We managed to shove him through and got Camille out. That was a close one! We kept wondering why that window was even there, you can't pass plates through it! Now we know why God had them put it there!!!!!
Camille has found lots of friends! She is always sought after and usually walking down the street holding hands with them and playing!
We still do not have water at our house. Please pray that it will come today! We are just using the guest house to get cleaned up and cook and eat.
We love you all very much and miss you terribly. We have all been fine, just very hot, did I mention it was hot here?!
God bless you all and thank you for your prayers!