Destination:

• Ponderosa Inn

Purpose: Rest & Preparation

Tomorrow: Teaching at a church and hanging around town

Highlights from today:

• Sleep
• The Ponderosa & Wilson
• Christy the seamstress

Quote of the Day: “In Ghana …the weather is hot and the food even hotter!”

Rest

After yesterday’s travel and finally getting to bed around 3am. I slept in till 11:30am. I would have even slept longer but the rest of the team were already up.  I am very fortunate to have my own room. All others on the team are sharing a room.  The team, for the most part, hung out at the Ponderosa and relaxed.  We did some prep for tomorrow, but the focus was rest and I am excited to say I took full advantage of it.

The Ponderosa

We are staying at a wonderful B&B.  This was a huge surprise to me since I was prepared to sleep under a mosquito net and wake up to small critters scurrying off when the lights turned on.  I have an air-conditioned room with a small fridge full of bottled water and my own bathroom.  I feel very spoiled. The Ponderosa has a pool, a nice eating room, and a balcony that overlooks the city. Wilson is the owner of the establishment and has been our wonderful host. He has arranged our daily transportation, has a team to prepare our meals, and has built a beautiful B&B here in Kwabenya (near Accra, Ghana).

Fitting In

So one of my big highlights today was meeting Christy the seamstress. This week we have a few meetings with some key people in Ghana (the mayor is one of them) and it will be important that we dress appropriately.  For me, that meant I needed a Ghanaian shirt or male dress.  Wilson arranged for a seamstress to come to the Ponderosa and meet with the team to take measurements and for us to choose fabrics.  She happened to come with a few shirts already made which worked out perfect for me since two of them fit perfectly!  All the Ghanaian women kept saying, “Ohhh look you soooo nice!”  I also teach tomorrow at a church in front of about 200 people and to have a shirt ready for me was …a miracle. It will take the rest of the team a few days before Christy can finish their clothes.

Thought for the Day

So often there are blessings and gifts given to us and we might overlook: the gift of a beautiful sunset, the joy we are given to laugh with a friend, the opportunities that await us simply because where we were born in the US. Before my journey began on this trip, a friend told me to be open to all the ‘gifts’ that will be coming to me; gifts that require nothing on my part. Two days in a row this has come true. Yesterday, after a long flight, we went to a nice restaurant in downtown Accra. The place was super swanky. As I was walking upstairs the chef was walking down. I complemented him on the restaurant. He said, “Let me show you around.” He gave me a tour of the most amazing place. An open-air patio with walls created by ferns, a speak easy bar with a secret door that opened up to a 2^nd floor cat-walk and a one-of-a-kind wine cellar, to a private Hollywood style circular room whose windows opened up to the room below, to the ‘this is the place to be’ disco-tech, and eventually to the main floor and a private room for our party of 11. A few minutes later the waiter came to me and said the chef would like to provide our appetizers. Now these were not chips & salsa. No, no, no. We are talking Top Chef Richard Blais type of appetizers. Later that night I was given the gift of the Ponderosa & my private a/c room; and then today, to receive two shirts that are already made and fit for me. I am in awe and feel extremely thankful.  I came here to serve and I feel abundantly blessed