I honestly do not know where to begin this post. So, I am beginning. My trip to Ghana and visiting with my family was more refreshing than what words could ever express. I suppose that I shall start by hitting some of the major highlights. Forgive me for being so informal.

- I woke up at 4am to prepare myself for the journey ahead. My flight to Ghana was suppose to leave at 9am, placing myself in the airport at about 6:30.  I was to first fly to Togo, and then from Togo to Accra. We boarded the plane on schedule, and took off. I was asleep before we even left the runway. However, I awoke to the plane landing and the pilot explaining that there was a problem with the tires and breaks, but that they thought it would be easily fixed and we could be on our way. Well.. About four hours later, we finally took flight. Because of this, I missed my flight from Togo to Accra. Mind you, few speak English and I have no clue what I am doing, or where I am going. When we got to Togo, they said that they would be putting us in a hotel for the night and then would fly us to Ghana the next day. To which I replied with a big “No Sir!” After using multiple people’s cell phones, learning by force how to get my Visa in an airport, and finding my luggage, I found myself sitting in a waiting area for nearly three hours while the Pastor that we were staying with in Ghana drove to come and pick me up. (So thankful that where he lived was within driving distance.) I found a rather uncomfortable seat and decided to read. There was a small family sitting fairly close to where I was and when I looked up and saw their baby girl, I couldn’t help but smile. As soon as I grinned they were up to come and sit where I was sitting, and placed their baby in my arms.  I spent forever holding and loving on little Gloria.. While communicating in Frenglish to her mother and aunts and uncles. As it turned out, I ended up being proposed to, to which I swiftly declined. :P  After sitting for what felt like an eternity, a Pastor showed up with my name on a piece of paper, and said that I was to come with him and that he would be taking me to the Ghana border. I’ve honestly never been so happy to go somewhere with a stranger in my entire life. Relief started to flood every ounce of me, and I couldn’t help but laugh and cry. We took about a thirty minute taxi ride to the border, where I filled out more and more paper work. I suppose for most people, their first view of a country is the airport.. No one ever really knows where the actual lines of a country end and begin. But, I was able to walk across the border into Ghana. My first experience of that charming place was the people, the smells, the sounds.. It was one of the most surreal feelings that I have ever experienced, and it was proof that regardless of my strenuous day, God turned something awful into one of the most incredible experiences of my entire life.  We took one more taxi ride and stood outside of a petite gas station, and when my parents finally rolled up, I ran as fast as I could into their arms with tears, laughter, joy, and relief. It was a beautiful reunion indeed. I’m so thankful for the Lord’s continual provision in our lives.

-The week in Ghana was filled with my dad preaching, my mother teaching, my brother and I doing human video, him teaching a class on worship, myself teaching a human video where the teens actually got to perform it with us, and Caymen Grant experiencing his first missions trip, and then begging to stay another night. Demon’s were cast out, people were delivered, Ghana was prophesied over, we met the King in Keta, we experienced being alone in a foreign country with a flat tire and no cell phone, we spent hours together, learned together, grew together, ate Fufu together, and then flew back to Mali together. We had a lovely week here, and I was truly sad to have to say goodbye to my family today. But, I can really only rejoice for the time that I got to spend with them. I’m so, so grateful for the parents and siblings that the Lord has blessed with me. Perfection could not have been expressed more clearly.

And so, I am back in my Bamako. I am striving to head full force into my next few months here. The Lord does not desire mediocrity for his people, He desires greatness. Again, forgive me for being so informal, in some ways long, in other ways short. But I just really don’t have words for all that the Lord has done. His goodness is everlasting.