We had people staying with us from Sunday until Tuesday. It was a really great time. We went on yellow-yellows to town and did some used clothes shopping. We did some Ghana cloth shopping too, of course! The Ethiopians cooked their food for us and we loved it. Injera. Have you had it? It was good!
Tuesday and Wednesday were out looking at houses. Unfortunately, they were too expensive. Really nice but wayyy too much per month. (Sigh...) we will just keep looking.Earlier in the week my friend from Accra, Dominic called me. He called me the week earlier and told me his wife, Linda, went into the hospital. They did not know what was wrong. Their new little baby (one month old) was no longer able to breast feed because of all the drugs they were giving her. When he called me on Wednesday he said it was bad. He told me that the doctor told him, "your only hope is God." I told him we would pray and we were.He called me Thursday morning around 7am and told me, "God called Linda home." And then he started sobbing and then I started crying too. It was so hard. Linda and Dominic and I would all go to church together for about 3 years. I was in the choir with Linda and I helped Dominic with SS class at Fishpond Church. She was so young. It must have been a liver problem because Dominic said, before she went into a coma, her eyes were yellow.At 9am I was at a funeral for a mother of one of the girls in my Tuesday Bible study. I was on the verge of tears. I went and talked with Tuntaya afterwards and just told her I was sorry. I gave her some money too. As I turned to leave I knew I had to say something more. I found out her father died in January and her sister was saying things like how can God be loving etc, etc. So, I said to her, "God loves you. You need to remember this. All this stuff is very difficult but God still loves you. You need to say it out loud everyday." I saw her lip start to quiver and I knew if she would cry I would too so I hugged her and left.I feel that in the US death is so covered up. Someone comes and takes the body away and prepares it. Someone handles the details. The funeral is usually done with in 3 days and then that is it. In the southern part of Ghana, families keep the body in the morgue until they can organize and pay for a funeral. That can take up to a month to a year! In the north, they bury the body within the day and then within 3 days do a service around their house. If they are Christians, they wait for another time to do the funeral in the church, also, to get money together to pay for it. So, they have quite a time to think and grieve. They wail and cry and do not feel ashamed. Many times the families prepare the body for burial. It is more "in your face" here than at home. I see people going to the cemetery almost every day. People are always praying for long life. (During language, I am always praying for God to take me now-take me now!)Also, with Baaba's mom passing away a couple of weeks ago, she was telling me she has been grieving and it has been getting better daily, but the separation is so hard. And that is it. We are separated from these souls until heaven. (Thankfully, all these people who died were believers.) Romans 8 says "our bodies long to be released from sin and suffering" and "creation will join with God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay" that will be a glorious time.What do people hope in when they don't believe in Jesus? I just cannot understand. My mind rests in His hope. We, who have accepted Jesus, have hope. HOPE PEOPLE!!!Love you. Life doesn't get any easier, does it? Praising God for HOPE!!!P.S. Rafia told me after looking at my sewing lines that next week I could start a skirt. Wooooo!!! There is hope there too ;)