I left accra on dec. 27 th for my journey up north. i had not been in northern ghana since march. the past few months have been really busy. but accra is always busy. so it should all be normal. and with christmas there is added programs and such that add more busy to the platter. all i am trying to say is i really needed/wanted to get out of accra and i was looking forward to this trip. one of my associates, brian and i headed out of accra by 5.30am. brian is from northern ireland and looooves his country. so on our long trip i got to hear all about it. for a small country, brian had a lot to say about it :) i am not complaining because i would rather have a passenger who is talking than one who is quiet. it makes the drive faster...even if i am not always paying attention to what is being said.being december, things are very dry. dry and dusty. the land changes from big, loud accra to countryside, bush and villages. the green becomes less and less and the brown more and more. around this time a tree grows with red leaves that look like berries. they could be berries for all i know. i love the color in the midst of brown, dry grass.i know this picture doesn't show it but the reason it is so dusty is because of the harmattan. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmattan. if you don't dust your house or your car you end up sneezing. this year is really thick. it is like a fog and our domestic airlines were even shut down for a few days because of it.the traffic on the roads was quiet so we made good time. about half way up we passed a tourist site called a monkey sanctuary and we decided to go. we met the tour guide who led us into a forest, saw some monkeys, fed some monkeys bananas and listened to his spiel ...though i have to say i think i was taking more photos than actually listening. we continued on our way and made it to tamale safe and with no hassels from police. (police hassels is a whole other blog) we stayed at andrew's house with his new, lovely bride jemima. if you meet andrew, you will never forget him. he is so funny and laughs all the time. and you know how much i laugh, imagine the pair we are! andrew and jemima are so hospitable, big hearted and love Jesus. the next day was sunday so we went to the church pastor andrew (did i mention he is a pastor? he is) leads and then came home for lunch and then helped them put together some food and drinks for a village we were going to visit. now, in this village there are no christians. andrew, another pastor, and an SIM missionary have been going to the village for the past year to do a football club and talk about God. they asked the chief if they could explain why christians celebrate christmas. he agreed. as one of the pastors was sharing about Jesus andrew asked me if i would like to share something. "oh, no, that is ok, thank you for asking" was my response. about 5 minutes later andrew comes back, "ok, you will share something when pastor finishes." he of course laughs. AHHHH what am i going to talk about??!i cannot remember what i said. just a word to encourage them. as i was sharing i was thinking, "this is such a privilege to share in this community!" (i was also thinking, "i hope this is making sense.") afterwards, we shared the rice and drinks with those who came. i pray they would know the love Jesus has for them.the next day we went into tamale to explore. i think it is the 4th biggest city in ghana. another associate flew up from accra so we picked him at the airport and continued hanging out. we went out for dinner with a missionary family and then back to andrew's place for more laugh-time. the next morning we headed up to yagaba. now, yagaba was the final destination but there were a lot of stops i wanted to make on the way. we stopped in chiana (where for those of you who know a.ruby, that was her home for 20 years) and saw pat who is one of our SIM missionaries still going strong. then we came to a village called chuchiliga. i think that has to be one of the coolest names in ghana. we picked up the national youth president over good news bible churches and headed to sandema. we met up with some other pastors and had a great time. i have known a few of them for many years and i don't get to see them or their families often. they are such great people and we had some great times of talking and laughing and they learned a bit from brian about northern ireland too :) james, the youth president wanted to come to yagaba and see the youth camp that was going on. and the youth camp was my reason for going also.when we arrived in yagaba the camp was already in day 3. pastor peter was preaching. let me back up, when i say youth camp, those of you in the western world are thinking camp--like, tents, cabins, lots of activites etc, etc. but that is not how it is here. it is more like staying in a school building and having a lot of times for prayer and listening to speakers. when pastor finished speaking they had a time of praise and did some dancing. thankfully brian and matt are always up to try new things and they joined in on the dancing. yagaba is a small village. mud homes, very few lights, and one main dirt road. we stayed with pastor joseph and his family in their compound. pastor joseph has invited me to come for the youth camp many times and every year there was some reason why i couldn't make it. but this year, i made it! another pastor named francis stayed with us at pastor joseph's home too. as we were settling in i asked francis where the toilet (latrine, outhouse whatever you want to call it) was. he said, "ei! sistah sherri, he doesn't have a toilet here." i know my eyebrows jumped into my hairline "ei!! so...you mean...we go...um...ok. no problem". let me just say a few things. one, there are no tall trees in yagaba, small bushes no higher than my knees. and two, the moon was bright and white people...we somehow glow in the dark. three, snakes.that evening the youth met together and matt shared something about his life and following the Lord and brian also shared his testimony. the next morning the youth met for the last time before heading back to their various homes and i gave a message about faith. pastor francis translated. i grabbed a volunteer for one illustration. i hope i didn't freak him out. afterwards we had a time of praise. and these people, i tell you, they know how to sing and dance! for our coming and taking part in the youth camp they gave me a gift. let's all say "awwww" together...or maybe we should say, "YUM!" (notice how i am wearing a sweatshirt? the mornings and evenings are a bit chilly with the harmattan).the afternoon we spent driving to other villages to see the work that is going on. one village was way out there. i mean, way out there. as i was driving on this small, narrow dirt "road" i thought about the verse where it says "...and to judea, and samaria, and to the remotest part of the earth." this was remote! i was very humbled by hearts of people who serve God in difficult areas. some face persecution, some face hunger, some face sickness. this village has to travel very far to get clean water. sometimes they just use the water that the animals use. people go blind and are sick. the chief asked us to pray for them that they would get a borehole or help somehow to fight against these sicknesses. right before we left, pastor joseph asked me to pray for this young woman who was pregnant. she was in a small room just laying there. i was told she had diarrea and could keep nothing in. she looked so tired and worn. i prayed for her. i walked away with a heavy heart.that evening was 31st night. at the small yagaba church we had a time to worship and time to thank God for how he has seen us thru 2014. i gave a short message that evening. i shared a bit from brian's testimony about how he used to be an alcoholic and how God saved him-spiritually and physically. i pray they were encouraged and i pray they grow in God's Word. it was God's Word that changed my life and i love sharing it! that evening pastor joseph got a phone call from a man in the village we visited. the man said the woman who had diarrea got up and went to fetch water after we left. she feels much better! i was soooo thrilled!!! God is so gracious to hear our prayers!!!the next day we had to say our goodbyes to this lovely family who cooked for us and made sure we had all our needs taken care of. it was a drive of 95 kilometers on dirt roads to get to walewale where i dropped the boys into a trotro (ok, not literally into a trotro) so they could get to tamale and catch a bus down to accra. they had a great time seeing the north. it is opposite of accra life so i am glad they got to experience it.more dirt roads were in my future as i headed from walewale to gushiegu. a village i have never been to before. where we have a church and missionaries serving. i had such a nice time with them. and their little girl!!!!! ahhh!!! so cute. and yes, that is all her own hair!they took me around gushiegu and we met up with a fulani group of people. they gave us fresh milk from their cows. they took me to the market, and to a friend's home. fela helps with a football team and they asked me to share a word of encouragement with them before they started. i am getting used to this, so this time i was ready! after i spoke they played football and pui and i stayed on the sidelines where her baby is the center of attention to the women and girls passing by to get water. fela and pui let me rest. instead of helping them with whatever they would just say "oh, go and rest". i didn't realize how much i needed it. yes, i get a day off in accra every week, but to have consecutive days off...wow, it was really nice. i felt refreshed and unwearied (i think i just made up a new word). in accra if i have a sec, it is like, i almost feel guilty for taking a break. like i have to be busy all the time and plan, and visit, and teach blah, blah, blah. in gushiegu i didn't feel busy because there was nothing for me to do! it was wonderful!!! i really thank God for those few days of rest and fellowship.from gushiegu i traveled with some pastors to our annual pastors conference which was held in tamale. there were a lot of church leaders and pastors from the good news bible churches all over ghana. this year's speaker was rev. enoch thomson, who had been a lecturer at maranatha university college for many years. he. was. amazing. he was. i don't know what else to say i was so encouraged and fed. i got to talk with pat and penny, my other SIM teammates. penny and i also had a small excursion to find a new seamstress in tamale!! i hope she is good. i should have a couple new dresses soon...i digress...back to the conference. in my opinion it was one of the best ones. in the photo is my friend felicia.and then, the next morning...with 3 people i made the way back to accra. again, no police hassels, we made good time, we had great conversation. it was a nice way to end the trip.so THANKFUL for safety in the many, many kilometers i drove. so THANKFUL for the people i got to connect with. so THANKFUL for the new people i got to meet. so THANKFUL God uses me. so THANKFUL for the church i partner with. so THANKFUL for the life God has planned for me-- "to give me a future and a hope" so THANKFUL for your prayers.Happy New Year!

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