Day 1 and 2 - I MADE IT!

***Note: Finally, I got a hold of all of my pictures so now I can go crazy on this blog! I will post sections of my journal and emails home. Posts might be long, but no one is forcing you to read the whole thing. Ok? And of course, a lot of pictures. :) Enjoy!!***

Monday, May 2, 2011

So I made it safely to Africa! Phew!

I'll try and give a quick recap of the highlights of the past few days. So it's weird that I left from SLC at 8:20 AM on Sunday morning and got into Accra at 7:00 am on MONDAY morning - this morning! A total of 14 hours of flying, and then a brand new day. And I only slept 2 hours on the plane - it was wretched. So I had 6 hours of sleep spread out over 2 days. But I made it! I'm just way way tired.

Screen shot of our plane flying over all of these African countries. AAAH!! Officially in Africa!

The blanket and pillow that do not make sleep any easier.

Part of our group in the Accra airport. There is exhaustion behind that smile.

On my long plane ride from NYC to Accra I sent next to a guy from DC who was going to Liberia for business. We started talking and he found out I was married. He was shocked I was married so young (23 years old). And Kevin, you would be so proud of me - I used that to bring up the church! I know. I'm one of those scaredy-cat missionaries, but I'm trying to be more brave and not care about offending other people. I told him I was married at a younger age than the rest of the world because of what I believe. That sparked his interest. I told him I was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and he told me he had read a a book about us. Then he paused, "No wait. I read a book about all the polygamists - RLDS or something like that. Man, that Joseph Smith was a womanizer."

Oh awesome. I had to explain to him that the LDS church does not practice polygamy anymore. After delving in a bit more it was obvious he had read some anti-mormon stuff. So then he tried the whole logic thing on me. "Think about it. If Joseph Smith had over 200 wives, don't you think it would be for some other reasons instead of JUST God telling Him to do it?" The only real answer I had for that is that logic is not what makes me know that the Church is true. It's that I've studied the Book of Mormon and prayed to know if it was true, and God confirmed to me that it was true through the Holy Ghost. And If the Book of Mormon is true, then Joseph Smith was God's prophet. I told him that I don't completely understand the whole polygamy thing myself - that I only know that God commanded the early Saints to do it to raise up seed to the Lord. But I told him that I know the Church is true.

He also asked me a lot of questions about the "stuff we have to do" in our church. Like attending church, scriptures, etc. I told him what God has commanded us to do but that I do those things, not because I will be shunned in my community if I don't, but because it makes me happy to be close to God and those things bring me close to Him. It was a very interesting conversation. I don't know if we got anywhere, but it felt good to bear my testimony and talk to him about it a little.

Anyway, we landed in Accra at 7 in the morning and I was dead tired. But we had a whole day ahead of us. We spent the majority of our day running errands before our group split. One group is in Accra and another in Abomosu, and then we switch halfway through. I'm in the Abomosu group first. It's a little village about 4 hours away from Accra. It's in the Asanti region.

One of our errands was exchanging our U.S. money for the Ghanaian currency. The currency is called "cedi". You have one cedi, two cedi, just like 1 and 5 dollar bills. After that we spent a long time doing other errands. It took us a while because it was a public holiday today, so a lot of businesses were closed. It was May Day on May 1st, but since that landed on a Sunday they celebrated today. So a lot of today was getting all situated before we went to our separate areas - half of us to Accra, half of us to Abomosu.

One of our errands was to the grocery store in the mall. We had to load up on bottled water since the water isn't safe to drink in Ghana.

A few highlights I want to share with you:

First off, it is HOT. HOT HOT HOT. And humid. I was sweaty 30 seconds after stepping off the plane. I guess the people here are just so used to it. I saw people walking around in jeans like it was nothing. Crazy.

The first sign I saw when walking through customs was this:

"Welcome!! Akwaaba!!

Ghana warmly welcomes all visitors of goodwill.

Ghana does not welcome pedophiles and other sexual deviants.

Indeed, Ghana imposes extremely harsh penalties on such sexually aberrant behaviour.

If you are in Ghana for such activity, then for everybody's good, including your own, we suggest you go elsewhere."

Isn't that crazy?? (And so awesome??) Our instructor Karen told us that Ghana is VERY strict about that kind of stuff. man, I wish the USA was really like that.

Also, the women really DO carry huge baskets of stuff around on their heads! It's amazing! And it's beautiful to watch, they are so graceful. I've seen one woman with peanuts beautifully arranged and she was selling them. Another woman had tons of fruit in a basket. They have their baby slung around their back while balancing stuff on their heads. It's amazing.

This one is one of my favorites. She looks so mischievous and darling with the Coca Cola.

Another fun fact: there are tons of Christian churches around the Southern region of Ghana. Because of that, the names of shops and other things are so funny! Here are just a few examples:

• Lordship Insurance Brokers and Consultancy
• God Is Able Ent – Dealers in Quality Plywood
• Lord of Life Bakery
• AIDS is real. Use a condom. (Ok, so not necessarily religious, but just straight to the point. Love it.)

The ride to Abomosu was a rough ride on dirt road. And the roads are crazy! Traffic laws are more like guidelines. You drive on the right side of the road… or the side with less potholes. It depends on the situation. Our driver's name is Yao. He's a Ghanaian who lives in Accra with his wife and kids. He has been the driver for the BYU Nursing Program for the past few years. He is SO nice and has been very welcoming. As we drive around he points out topics of interest around Ghana and he also teaches us new words. For example, "Akwaaba" means "Welcome!" in Twi (A Ghanaian dialect). Even though the official language is English, almost everyone speaks both English and Twi - at least in the Accra area. It's really neat to hear both.

The ride to Abomosu. The roads were crazy!!

On our way to Abomosu we drove through a town called Nsawam. Our instructor, Karen, wanted to buy the bread from the vendors. It’s bread that is sweeter than other bread and freshly baked.

So people are standing on the side of the road with their wares, waving at cars. As soon as our car slowed down people ran up to the window. Yao waved them away until the woman with the bread came up. She kept pushing loaves at Karen through the car window and Karen kept taking them and passing out cedi bills. Another woman with bread was behind her, bring to give Karen her bread instead. It was madness! But funny too. Just out of the world (well, out of my white American world anyway).

Here's two videos of Karen buying bread. The first one is longer. In the second, notice the woman running on the side of the car with bread on her head. No hands!!

Also, we saw some vendors on the street holding a huge, dead rodent. Yao told us they are called “bushcutters” and that they’re “very tasty.” It was huge, like the R.O.U.S.’s from Princess Bride. Nasty.

I’m writing from the village of Abomosu – we survived the drive! We are staying in a nice, gated house that was built by a non-profit organization called World Joy. It was started by a man in Utah. It has running water and sporadic electricity. No air conditioning though, just fans. Eeesh. Hot. I feel like it's a mansion compared to what the other people are living in though.

The 7 of us in the "Abomosu First" group in front of the house in Abomosu. Our home away from home. :)

The inside of our house. VERY nice compared to the villagers. I felt spoiled rotten.

The bathroom in the house. That little square on the left is the shower. Notice... no curtain. Just step up there and try not to get the bathroom too wet. The only shower in Abomosu is a cold shower, but that is all you want with the humidity of Ghana!

Man, I wish I had more time! It's weird to be the minority for once. White people are very rare in Ghana, so we definitely stick out. It is a weird feeling. I'm kinda glad I get to experience it though, what the minority feels like.

Mostly I just wanted you guys to know that I'm safe and I'm excited to get started tomorrow on learning more about these people. Thank you for your love and prayers!! I know God will take care of me. I love you all!

Love,

Jess