A Change For the Better

The trip to Ghana has forever changed my life. I found the love of my life/ my one and only/ my best friend while in Africa. His name is Matt and we will be getting married May 19, 2012 and I couldn't be happier! My life plans have changed, but they have changed for the better. I will no longer be going to the Peace Corps. Instead, Matt and I will be getting married and following the Lord wherever He leads us. Right now, Matt and I are filling out applications to be work & witness assistants at Sun Valley Indian School in Sun Valley, AZ for this coming summer. We are praying this is where the Lord wants us to be. Our motto is to say yes to doing the Lord's work unless He says no. We want to start this motto for our married life as soon as we can.

Graduation and Off to Ghana

Graduation was this past Saturday; it was bittersweet. I will not miss all of the papers, projects, and tests, but I will miss all of the amazing people I met during my college years. I tried my hardest not to cry, but I couldn't help myself when I was saying my final goodbyes. It was hard saying goodbye to the people who were close to me during a time of my life that has changed me forever. Who knows when I will see some of these people again... I can only hope it's sooner rather than later!


I am leaving for Accra, Ghana on Tuesday! Here is a tentative schedule:


Tues. May 10 - Depart O'hare headed to Accra, Ghana
Wed. May 11 - Arrival in Accra and settle in Baptist Guest house, Evening Orientation
Thu. May 12 - Bus Ride to Kumasi and settle in at Arena Guest House
Fri May 13 - Children ministry at Hope Nazarene Church
Sat May 14 - Children ministry at Hope Nazarene Church
Sun May 15 - Worship at Hope Nazarene with visitation in community
Mon May 16 to Wed May 18 - Ministry in Several churches in Kumasi - School visitations and delivery of books
Thu May 19 to Sun May 22 - Ministry out in Akumadan (2 hours drive from Kumasi) - New church plants where you will work with children and youth - possible Jesus Film Showing
Mon May 23 - Return to Kumasi and free day - excursion to cloth market and interesting spots
Tue May 24 - Return to Accra by Chartered bus
Wed May 25 - Fri May 27 Ministry in Accra Coastal Churches and school visitations
Sat May 28 - Travel to Cape Coast for a few days od R and R until Tues May 31
Tues May 31 - Leave Cape Coast and travel to Accra flight home about 10:00 PM
June 1 - Arrive back to O'hare for bus transportation back to Olivet

Ghana

I found out about an hour ago that I will be going to Ghana instead of Burkina Faso. So many places wanted us, but this was the only place United Airlines will fly us to. The following is an email from our mission trip leader:

Dear Team, As much as some of us were hoping for Malawi because the tasks at hand seemed a “good fit,” we are going to Ghana because United Airlines will only fly us there! But the Lord is bigger than the airlines, so we trust in this decision as something the Lord has planned for us.
At this time I have no details: where we will be going within Ghana, what work we will be doing, when we will leave and come back. As soon as I have more details, I will be in touch. More than likely, the only activities that we have planned that will be usable will be our cultural nights and our Sunday School lesson. We will probably need to do quite a lot of planning in the next few days. Be sure to check email, Blackboard, and Facebook frequently!
More to come----
Dr. B-R

Wait What?

My mission trip team and I have put the finishing touches on our lesson plans and university workshop materials. But wait... we can no longer go to Burkina Faso? Wait what?? We just did all that work! As of right now, there is turmoil and political strife in Ougadougou, so we are in the processes of finding somewhere else to go in West Africa. We will most likely go to either Ghana or Senegal. Oddly enough, I am excited about this last minute change of events. I am perfectly fine with just going with the flow. I'll let you know where we end up going!

One Door Closes, Another Door Opens

Graduation is almost here, which means the door to my undergraduate schooling is about to close. However, there is a door that is about to open. Behind this door there are many unknowns, adventures, trials... the stuff behind this door will force me to grow and stretch in ways I never thought I could. Student teaching is over and I am about ready to graduate from college. These next two weeks are going to be exciting and a little hectic.

Two days after graduation, my mission trip team and I will be flying to Burkina Faso for a little less than a month. Tonight I will be meeting with four of my team members to go over writing workshop materials and lesson plans. While in Burkina, we will be helping students from the University of Ouagadougou (wägəˈdoōgoō) write their final English research papers. We will also be teaching and assisting with ESL (English as a Second Language)lessons. We pretty much have all of those lessons written. On Sundays, we will be attending a local church and helping with Sunday School.


Not only is there the craziness of moving out, packing for Burkina Faso, graduating, and graduation activities, I also have an interview with the Peace Corps on May 5th! Peace Corps reviewed my application and they have decided to move forward with a formal interview, so I will be traveling up to Chicago that day.

Well, that is a little snippet of what my "Life in the Real World" is looking like.

Graduating and Heading Out to the "Real World"