Mission Life

While we miss our family and friends immensely, we've settled into the extremely happy but tiring life as a missionary here in Ghana. There are so many people, places and opportunities here that teach us that true love comes through serving others, and we're finding joy in every journey. In a nod to one of our favorite musicals, here are a few of our favorite things...

Our children gave us the best present ever by writing 365 reasons why they love us and we open a new one each night! And if that wasn't heart-wrenching enough, they had all of our extended family and friends do the same.
Thanks for all your uplifting words - we love you too!

Cheese! Yes, of all the things we've found we love here in Africa, it's the cheese. Most nights we skip dinner and snack on a plate of cheese and crackers in our bed. It's one of the simple things we've grown to love.

Believe it or not, we're both trying some of the local foods. Yes, this is Sarah buying and eating some food from a street vendor - a Sokomie sandwich we bought on the border of Togo. It's avocado, lettuce and mayonaisse - yummy! 

Ooops - this isn't one of our favorite things. John was "arrested" last week for speeding - nothing that a few cedis couldn't fix. We were also stopped for a random drug search by machine gun-toting soldiers. Luckily, none were found.

The people - we absolutely love the people. They are all so kind and loving and so generous with what little they have. This is Bernice who runs a non-profit called Days for Girls on top of being a mom, wife and business woman. Their organization provides education, training and maturation kits for the young girls here in Ghana.

The children here radiate love and beauty and are especially fascinated by Sarah's blond hair and wonderful smile. They often run up to us to touch our skin, yelling "yevu - yevu" as they run away laughing. 

It's a simpler life when an old, rusted bike rim can provide all the fun you need.
Throw in a few goats and you've got a great game of tag.

We love our missionaries! What wonderful examples of faithful, obedient hard-working warriors for the Lord.

Meet Rebecca, a 15 year-old girl living on her own with her younger sister Happy. Mom and Dad
aren't around much so she has to support herself and her sister. She made this table decoration for
Sarah after we dropped off a loaf of bread when we went to visit her one day. 

Helping to make eternal families! Thanks to so many of you for your generosity in helping these members go to the temple for the first time. This group from the Ho 2 felt like they were visiting heaven here on earth.