This past week was filled with catching up. I had a list everyday and most days I was able to cross off everything. We had Phil and Andrea come up on Thursday and hang with us until Saturday. They are going 'round visiting us in the North, Upper West and Upper East Regions.I left Saturday morning for Accra because I wanted to be at my friend Kofi's ordination service at Tesano church on Sunday. I took a coach bus. I haven't taken a bus since...since...I cannot remember but whenever that was it not a pleasant experience. When we send short termers or whoever on buses I tell them three things will happen. #!- They will end up sitting next to a fat lady. #2-They will be forced to watch and listen to Nigerian/Ghanaian movies which are played as loud as possible. #3-The air conditioning will be very high and you will freeze. I prepared myself for all these things.
I was a bit sad to leave but I had a plane to catch to get back up to Tamale. I could have stayed another day but (sigh) I really needed to get back to get me in the swing of things. I felt if I stayed one more day it would turn into another day and then another.
Arrived back in Tamale in one hour. A bit different from the bus and way more expensive but worth it!Language is calling me. I keep rejecting the call but it keeps pestering me:) I need to pick it and get going again this week. Also, I need to start exercising again and eating right. Pray for me!Love you.P.S. When Andrea was here, she checked my cyst wound and found it is pretty much healed! WOO-HOO!! Praisin' The Lord over here people!!!
Arrived back in Tamale in one hour. A bit different from the bus and way more expensive but worth it!Language is calling me. I keep rejecting the call but it keeps pestering me:) I need to pick it and get going again this week. Also, I need to start exercising again and eating right. Pray for me!Love you.P.S. When Andrea was here, she checked my cyst wound and found it is pretty much healed! WOO-HOO!! Praisin' The Lord over here people!!!
we stayed in Sandema until Tuesday and I took Emily and Tara back to Tamale with me. We met up with one of my fave pastors, Pastor Stephen Aputara. He came to visit my family way back in 2004. He fell in love with cheeseburgers, custard, and cheese (you wonder where we took him for dinner??). He knew I was in America for Christmas and he facebooked me and said I needed to bring back cheese for him! I told him it was too big of a sacrifice, he will get zero blocks of cheese. But... (sigh) since I am a christian :) I decided I better give him one. So, we made sure to pass by Navrongo on the way to Tamale and hand over the Wisconsin cheese. When I gave it to him he said, "At last". HA.We stopped in Bolga where Em and Tara went looking for cultural treasures like cloth and bags. They ended up with some good finds. Emily remembered a shop that sold tea and fried eggs when she was little. That shop is still there! We had coffee, Milo, and fried egg sandwiches. Classic Ghana. I asked her if it was what she remembered and she kind of shrugged her shoulders and said, "I think everything is a bit more magical when you are a kid."In Tamale we met up with another woman who helped Emily make bags and dresses. We did not stay very long because we had to stop at home before meeting up with Yvonne for dinner. Yvonne helps christian business owners in Ghana to use their work for Kingdom purposes. She is an amazing woman!Now...work time was over...ok, so I still had to drive BUT...where we were driving...O.MY.GOODNESS! Emily, Tara, and I went to Mole National Park, which is beautiful. BUT...we stayed at Zaina Lodge 
For the past couple months I would visit Lamisi and her apprentices. I would interview them so Emily could get a feel for who they are and their backgrounds. Maybe in the future I can pray with some of the girls or lead a Bible study.Emily has been here this week. She needed to work out details, talk face to face with Lamisi, and look at cloth and products here in Ghana. She is with her dad Jay and his friend Ed and daughter Katie. Ed and his family were also missionaries in Ghana in the 90s. Emily has a friend-photographer who has also come to take photos and make a video of what By Grace is trying to do with women in Ghana and her name is Tara.Jay and Ed made plans to come back to Ghana and I think when Emily found about it she joined in with Katie. Jay and Ed worked in the Upper East Region of Ghana in towns called Sandema and Fumbisi. While they are here this week they are doing a course for Good News Bible Churches in those areas talking about bitterness/reconciliation and also entrepreneurship/finances and saving.I am so glad Emily is here because though, I am just the middle person, I have so many questions about business (I know nothing). It has been good to see her joy about the work God has given her to do and made me proud to work with this organization. Emily has helped them to put up a shelter where they can sew because right now they are under trees. She also had a little dedication party for it and gave the girls certificates for what they have accomplished so far. She and Tara have done interviews. One of the questions she asked to a girl was, "What does the word grace mean to you?" The girl did not answer. Then the translator said to Emily, "She is M*slim. She does not know what grace is." That was very powerful to us who believe in Christ. Grace is favor, undeserved favor. God loves us and saved us by his grace, not by anything of our own works. As if our good things could be good enough...oh, we silly little humans. What an amazing merciful, loving God we have to love us just because He is Love!! WOOOO HOOOOO!
One totally different subject-- my wound where the cyst was removed...it was bleeding the other day. Thankfully, near Sandema we have a nurse named Pat. I quickly went to visit her. She said it is not infected but there are 2 little openings yet. It is still not healed. It is in a hard place to heal. Somehow I need to keep it dry. Easier said than done!! You can be praying it would heal and let's hope infection stays away.Love you!
I did not go in the water because of my wound, which is healing quite nice and still pain-free! We enjoyed food and I wanted to get something that I would not get in America and a big ol' ball of banku and huge tilapia were delicious!
It went very well. I went on Monday morning with Andrea. I don't think they had an order or schedule of patients. It was like if-we-told-you-to-come-Monday-morning then it is first come first served. So, I had to wait a couple hours. Then I was put into one of those lovely hospital gowns. Thankfully, this one was big enough I could wrap it around myself and did not have to have the back wide open. And I was really thankful for that because I had to walk down 2 floors of ramps 
to get to the "Theatre Room", which is what we would call an Operating Room. There I had to wait because the doctor came out and said, "Where have you been? I have been here all morning and now I have to do an interview. I will be back in a half hour." Um...Ok... one of the OR nurses brought me a newspaper. While I was waiting, 2 nurses finished up the last patient and then needed a nap so they came and slept on the empty stretchers while we waited for the doctor to come back. I did see another nurse spray with disinfectant the stretcher the last patient was on and then wiped it down. 
I was impressed because really it was about a half hour and the doctor came back in ready to go. The nurses woke up and walked into the OR to prepare. I noticed they wore flip flops and had their nails done. I remember working, just as a file clerk, in a hospital in Chicago and nurses were not allowed to have artificial nails, for the health of the patient. Then they called me in. They did a nice job of making me feel comfortable, but really, how comfortable can you be lying on a table with your rear end for all to see? Ugh...I heard the doctor scrubbing in. The nurse who connected me to the blood pressure machine was not wearing gloves. They found out I could speak Twi so they talked to me a little bit but I kept responding in Dagbani! They all started speaking Ga. When the doctor injected the area with numbing stuff the nurse compassionately patted my arms. I thought that was sweet. That was the only pinch I felt. It took about a half hour. He had to numb more because I could feel it a little and said so. He said the cyst had an extension and he had to really get at it to get it. I think this doctor really knew his stuff. I was impressed with the mostly pain-free-ness of it all.He finished and sutured me up. They covered me up and wheeled me 2 floors up the ramp to where I could change into my clothes. I was all numb so I could have walked and actually did when I got up there. The clerk told me I had to pay my bill. That was on the ground floor. I asked her if I have to walk down there and do it. She was like Duh, yeah. Ok, she did not say it like that :) Andrea offered to do it for me but I was actually feeling fine and kind of sort of wanted to see how much I could do. I walked down and paid and then back up. When Andrea and I were leaving I even told her I could drive! I was very surprised.I felt good all day. I took 2 Paracetamol (Tylenol) and any pain that was hinting at coming ran away. Then Tuesday, I got tired of sitting all morning so I went to take a walk. That probably was too much for me. I took 2 Paracetamol and rested. On to Wednesday, which was very boring, I did not go out at all. How boring! I can hear my mom saying, "You need to learn to be a Mary, not a Martha." (Guess who I learned that from!? MOM!)Throughout these days though, I really had no pain. Of course, when I sat down, I had to do it slowly and I have a donut ring pillow-thing, which really makes sitting wonderful.I went for a dressing change on Thursday and they said it is clean, dry and healing. YAY! This has gone way better than expected. Thanks soooo much for praying!! I just cannot believe it. So, then, since things have been going well...I was able to do other things like finish my prayer letter, write Christmas cards, shop for things I can't buy in Tamale, shop for Christmas presents, visit friends. Friday was a holiday and there was a young women's conference. My friend Baaba spoke. She is so amazing. We then took a trotro to the guest house, with a pit stop for some food, and ate and talked together.
From Tuesday to the weekend I have stayed with my lovely friends, Baaba and Amponsah. She cooks yummy food and they give me a room to sleep and chill. It is so wonderful!! And we talk, talk about everything new and old. OOOO how I love them.Be praying about the procedure Monday morning at 8am Ghana time. Pray for quick healing. I fly home December 5th!! Woo Hoooooo!!!
He was very kind and he was able to refer me to a surgeon in Osu. He took me to the front desk and left me in the capable hands of the receptionist. She called Trust Hospital, where the surgeon worked, to see if I could get an appointment. As she talked I could tell they told her I could come on Thursday but I whispered, "I live in Tamale." She then asked if I could come today. They told her if I come right now I can see him. Then she took me outside to where there was a taxi and told him where to take me and how much it would cost. She was beyond helpful!3. I am off, in a taxi, to Osu, a very highly traffic-y area and was starting to let my worries crowd in...but as we got closer...there was NO TRAFFIC!! Nothing!! I said to the driver, "Where are all the cars? Where is the traffic?" He said he didn't know. He has never seen this before. HA! This is my God!4. I get to the hospital and had to do the paperwork/blood pressure stuff and then waited to see the surgeon. He was an older sort of man, not much for talking. He examined me and said he could do it. I asked him how long it would take to recover from this. He said, very nonchalantly, about 2-3 weeks. Ei!! I had to tell him that I would be traveling on December 5th. As he looked at his calendar and openings he said he could do it in December. My heart sank...Nooooooo... I boldly came up with other options, wondering if I was overstepping my bounds but not caring at the same time. He doesn't usually book people unless they have blood work done. I told him I could be down next week and do the blood work but PLEASE book me in so someone doesn't take that spot. He agreed! The plan right now is I will do blood work on Monday, November 20. Then Tuesday, he will look that over and hopefully give me the go ahead and also give me things I need for my insurance to cover this. Then the procedure is scheduled November 27th, the following Monday. That gives me about a week to heal before I get on a plane. He didn't really like that part but I must have been so convincing :)5. I was finished before noon. Since I was in Accra, I might as well see if I can find some celery to go with my stuffing that I would make later in the week. I got a taxi to one mall. and they did not have any :( I took a taxi to another mall and they had some :) YAY!!6. I was back at the airport around 2:00pm. My flight wasn't leaving until 3:30pm so I had plenty of time to reflect and rest. I brought food with me and was just chilling and praising God for all the ways He made this day go so smoothly. I know that if you don't know Accra, you can't fully understand the amazing-ness of all of this going like butter (butt-ah haha). I was just in awe of the power of God and so thankful I did not waste any of my time worrying.Let's fast forward to Friday. Friday, Damary went in for her language evaluation. She was in there for like, 35 minutes! I was wondering what they were doing for so long and that made me nervous. She came out with a smile--she passed!! Ok, my turn. I also was in there a long time. They must have asked almost every single question etc, etc. but I knew all of them. And-- I passed too!! What a weight off my shoulders! Hooray!!! Let me tell you the house was full of screams and rejoicing.And then to top it all off-- Thanksgiving Dinner!!! All the food turned out. Everyone enjoyed themselves. I enjoyed them enjoying :) I am so thankful for my team. How they really are my family here. Afterwards, we each shared about what we are thankful for. What an amazing end to an amazing day...week?!Thank you so much for praying! Thank you, Thank you!! Next thing on the prayer list is for my trip to Accra on Sunday. I will leave very early and hopefully arrive in Accra before evening. Pray for safety on the roads. Pray for police not to trouble me. Pray for a very uneventful trip :) Then, pray when I see the doctor on Tuesday that he would give me the go-ahead and even have an opening earlier like Thursday or Friday. That would give me a longer time to heal before having to sit on an airplane.Praise God with me! Just PRAISE HIM FOR BEING HIM! Love you all.
In the middle of the week, missionaries from Sandema, in the Upper East Region, stopped by. They do a lot of marriage and family training. It is very needed here. They don't really do counseling but they teach and train church leaders about it. Families here are very broken. Church pastors and leaders are not immune. I have heard some very sad stories. I have even had couples tell me their problems and I am like, "uhhh, I got me no ring on my finger. Why are you asking a single person??!" But I was honored they talked to me about it.So, yes, Doug and Heather passed thru and stayed at the Sher-Damar house :) Heather needed to do a bit of shopping and Doug went to get their car repaired. We hopped a yellow-yellow and accomplished a lot.
Then a woman who sells rice and stew or fufu and soup just bought a fufu pounding machine! To pound fufu, it takes a lot of strength and many times young men do it, so for her to have one will really help her. I was amazed by it. You can see the fufu coming out. She will put it into a ball so it will nicely fit into a bowl and then you can pour your soup in it and enjoy . 
Walking around I found out a seamstress, who I have sat and talked with, died in child birth. So sad. People around the area were quiet to mourn with the family. I went to sit with this girl named Mariam. I told her I heard about our friend who died. Mariam said, "So are you afraid of death?" I said, "Noooo! I know exactly where I will be when I die. I know that I will be with God." She gave me a smile as if I did not know what I was talking about and to humor me. The people who live around me have no hope. They have only their good works to get them to heaven. God says those are not good enough. I pray I would have another chance to talk to Mariam about this.One morning I was out for 3 hours and I received 4 marriage proposals. All of them from married men. How lucky am I? ugh...With one, I got into a discussion on how in my country we are all equal and so if you have 2 wives then I will have 2 husbands and OOO! the response I got from that. It is unimaginable for a woman to do that here.The end of the week my neighbor Hamdiya had a naming ceremony for her baby girl. The name is too difficult for me to say, so sorry, I can't tell it to you :)
I gotta start me some of this gardening somethin-somethin' :) They were so generous to give us some to take back to Tamale. Something else I think you would find interesting is they keep their motorbike in their house. Thieves are quite clever and can and will use any means to steal a bike no matter if there is a watchman, big gates and/or high walls. So, they keep their motorbike in the house. 
The new week is here! Be praying for a steadfast heart! Thank goodness God is with me.
Wednesday afternoon, Damary and I went to the market to prepare food for the people staying with us and the meetings. I was planning to cook Ghanaian food with Amama. But, Thursday came around and she had really bad asthma and could not come. I freaked out a little bit because I rarely cook Ghanaian food. Maybe once every 2 years or something because it takes so long to cook and I always mess up. Ghanaians do not use recipes, so everyone"s way of making something is different. It is hard for me to learn. I was excited for Amama to help and then scared when I was on my own. Thankfully, it all turned out well!! I made a big dish of Kontumerie Stew which goes over boiled yam or rice. Damary, Yvonne and I made meals for Friday and Saturday and snacks for the meetings. Also, on Thursday, since Amama was not there we had to clean the house, bathrooms and get the guest rooms ready. It was a busy day. We have a big house!Friday, I went to the airport to pick up Phil, the big-boss-man, (maybe you may get the wrong impression of him when I say that. He is a big man, and he is my boss but he is a great friend and amazing leader. I really admire the wisdom God has given him and he is so faithful to use it for God's kingdom.) Pam also came with. She is the newest SIM Ghana missionary. She will serve in the guesthouse in Accra. I am so glad she was able to come up and see other parts of Ghana.When we got back to my house the Gushiegu team was already there. We had a quick lunch and in the afternoon started in on the meetings. They were strategic planning meetings. Normally, I hate meetings. But, I knew we needed this. I know as I walk around I see so many needs and I wonder how in the world am I going to know how to pick where to serve and who to serve with. I needed direction and hearing from my teammates they were looking for direction too.By the end of Friday evening we had an idea of our vision statement, or the why, for working in the Dagbon area. We also knew we love working as a team and want to continue to work together even though we are not all in the same place.Pam, Rema and Maami, and Baby Ethan slept at Yvonne's house and Phil, Fela and Puii, and Grace slept at our house. Our house was made to be full!! Yay!Saturday, we started again more focused in the what and how of ministry. To be honest, I really wish Phil would have said, "Sherri, this is what you are going to do." And then he proceeds to tell me. He didn't :( HaHa. Instead, each of us had to come up with our own goals and objectives. It was good to think thru. It was good to look at our why statement and then come up with some simple goals we/I can accomplish in 6 months. I feel good. I feel like this is a good focus. I know, at least, which direction to put my feet and that is great for right now. After Saturday afternoon, I was able to pick Phil's brain and ask more questions.
I am so thankful for this team of people I work with. I love that God knew I would be working with them even before the world began. That is really too much for my mind. On Saturday evening, we went out to enjoy!
Sunday, Damary, Yvonne and I took Phil and Pam back to the airport. Rema and Maami, Fela and Puii headed back for Gushiegu. It was so great having Phil around. When I lived in Accra, Phil, and his amazing wife Andrea, were my neighbors. We would see each other almost everyday. They were people for me to dump on when short termers got difficult or laugh with when I shared a story of the kids at church or go to if I needed eggs, or sugar or something. Andrea and I found it a bit easy to organize meals because we love food so much! I was so comfortable with them when I would come over I would not even knock. I would just open the door and yell, "HIIII" and they would yell back, "HELLOOO" and then we would sit and chat or whatever. They are super busy people and I never once felt like I was taking up their time. OOOOO how I miss living next to them. All that to say it was nice to see Phil, even though Andrea wasn't there, and even though it was mostly meetings, it was still nice :)Next week, we have been invited by one of our pastors who was raised in a M*slim home, which is the dominant religion here, to come to a seminar. He and his wife work with an organization called, Call of Hope. He is going to be teaching about that religion on Tuesday and Wednesday. I have been waiting for this. I want to hear more about it in the context I live. Damary and Yvonne will also come. Pray it will help us understand the people we live with.P.S.-- On the way home from the airport, I got a flat tire. I proceeded to get my spare out and Yvonne was saying she does not know how to change a tire. I told her that I know how but God always brings an angel to do it for me. As I put the lug wrench on the nut a man came by and said, "let me do that for you". Okiedokie! God does it again. This man's name was Samuel and he used to drive taxis. He had it changed in less than 10 minutes. AHHHMAZING! 
I am super-duper thankful for this SIM Ghana team!! We are very multicultural and because of the unifying grace of the Holy Spirit we get to work together and build each other up. LOVE IT.
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red and puffy and gunky. It is a good morning when I can actually open them!In Accra, my allergies were pretty bad too. I was all drugged up on Benadryl or Claritin or something. I remember last year when I moved up here, I was surprised my allergies were ok, but not this year. Thankfully, rainy season has been going since June and my allergies are only kicking in now. That is better than what it was in Accra. The rains should finish by October and I can go back to normalcy.I finished my allergy drops and Mom said she sent some out but they haven't come yet. I went a couple days without and OOOOOO MYYYYYY GOOOODNESSSSSSS I suffered! I even googled how to make my own eyedrops, in which you need chloride tablets...yeah, I don't think I can find them here. I found I could use tea bags and put them on my eyes. That worked for about 5 minutes and then I was itchy again.On Friday I went to the post office to see if the package had come. It did not. There was a pharmacy across the street. I have looked at other pharmacies and no one has had allergy drops but THIS ONE DID!! I almost cried I was so happy! OOOOO how God provides!!!We had some of the Tumu team over. They had to do errands in Tamale and we were their hotel for a few days. We love it. It gave me an excuse to cook comfort food like meatloaf, mashed potatoes and I even baked rolls and carrot cake! I also found a recipe for peach french toast bake for breakfast. I substituted mangoes and it was amazing...can I say it was amazing even though I was the one who cooked it??? EI!! I told them the food was really all for me they were just the bonus :) Damary, the next day, cooked an Indian meal and OOOOO it was delish! We had great times of talking and hearing about ministry and language learning. They are all in the midst of it too. I am so thankful I work on a team!I should have few interruptions this week for language...let's see how it goes...Be praying!
PA and Jemima had a baby boy last week.