Encouraging words...

Today was another amazing joint service at church today. It is the last week of Italian vacations. Traditionally the entire month of August is when Italians go on vacation. So while the church is down in numbers due to this tradition, our church has been holding joint services. The Ghanans join us for the morning Italian service. All parts of our service are held in Italian and Twi and some English. The service runs a little longer because most things are said 3 times.

The best part, however, is the song service. Today, Stefano led songs in Italian and I think Abraham led the singing in Twi and English. Of course, we follow along in the Italian song book the best we can. We enjoy the English portion as well. We do not know the songs they sing in Twi but it is so encouraging to sit and listen to them sing. There is so much power and emotion in their voices that it brings tears to my eyes. Words really cannot say how moving it is to be a part of a worship service like that.

When talking to Sakyi Fastfriend, a Ghanan brother in Christ, he told me about some videos on youtube.com. I am posting the link here so that you can listen to this amazing music.Ghanan concert

I hope you enjoy this as much as we did.

PS. We had a BBQ at our house last week and many of these people came to our house to fellowship. In the front row the tall guy with the glasses is Sakyi, the gentleman on the far end is Isaac, the guy in the "toga" also came to our home but I cannot remember his name right now. And, YES, the ladies do dress like that for church in their traditional Ghanan attire.

Hot, Hot, HOT!!!

The last few days here have been smoking hot. Really it is just so uncomfortable at times. Not the same as when you can go from your air conditioned house into your air conditioned car and then into an air conditioned building. Our house only has 2 air conditioners so the entire house is not kept cool. Fortunately, the bedrooms are the 2 air conditioned rooms so we can sleep comfortably.

The lack of air conditioning does make working around the house quite sticky and sweaty at times. Not to mention trying to get your workout in.

Last night when we were preparing dinner for our Sunday evening English bible study we were just so hot. We were making fajitas and it was just roasting in the kitchen. I think it was around 87 in our kitchen when we were cooking. We did have fans going but it just didn't help.

We are thinking it might be good to just have sandwiches and fruit smoothies for dinner from now on. At least until the heat breaks and it starts to cool down. We have heard that in September it does start cooling down. So hope that is true. I would really enjoy having some cooler temperatures to enjoy.

Because it is so hot right now we are waiting until it cools down before traveling. James and I have no desire to walk around in the heat with a bunch of other sweaty people (many of whom do not use deoderant). I know we will enjoy seeing the sights more when we are not sweating to death.

There are quiet a few places we have on our list of must-sees. Rome, Cinque Terre (again), Mt. Pasubio, Croatia, , Pompeii, and more. The first place that I know we are going to see is Mt. Pasubio. Mt. Pasubio was very important during WWI. There are a series of 52 tunnels that were dug into the mountain as a way to keep supplies giong etc. The view is supposed to be amazing and I can't wait. We will be hiking the 52 tunnels 2 weeks after school starts.

Well, just wanted to give a quick update.

Ciao for now!