Trusting God in Africa: A first hand look at the African Culture

On Saturday, a few of us decided to join a group of people going to the Maison Bethel, which is one of the orphanages in town. I was not really sure what to expect but was excited to see what was there. We drove in two vehicles to the orphanage which housed children age 2 to 18 at least those are the ones we worked with. Driving there we had to again drive though puddles that looked like lakes in the middle of the road but in most places there was no way to go around them. The kids were outside playing when we got there but they were excited to see us. The little ones were easy to communicate with because you could have a conversation with your eyes and by playing peek-a-boo. There were a few of them that I would have loved to take home with me. I just loved being there and playing with the kids.

Saturday evening I watched the USA vs. Ghana Futbol game. It was quite the game. On one side of the lounge the Ghanan people and those cheering for them sat while on the other side were the US and those cheering for the US. The Ghanans had drums and flags. The US had laptops and a flag. When our national anthem played some of us sang but when the Ghana national anthem played the Ghanans all sang and stood. They have so much country spirit. When they scored the first goal the all came running over to us. They repeated this after the second goal as well. Here is a little of what it was like after the game.

This is Max. His parents are from Florida. He was pretty into the game and cheering

On Sunday, we went to the Fishing Village for church on Sunday. It was a beautiful day and I was excited to worship God in a different culture. When we arrived it was like we were famous people being followed by the paparazzi. They were filming as we entered the village and ran alongside the vehicles as we drove through the village to the church. The church members had already started worshiping even though the pastor was with us. It was amazing to be part of the worship. Even though I could not understand what they were singing, you could see and feel the spirit moving. At one point the pastor got up and said that they were going to teach the white people how to African Dance. While dancing us all said it looks like the chicken dance. After we finished dancing a little girl was waiting for me, and we walked back to my seat. She climbed up on my lap and sang with me. She sat with me the whole service but another little girl came over to sit with me at the same time, so my friend Julie pulled her on to her lap. At one point we had three little girls sitting with us. Sunday was Children Day so they had all the children in the church come forward. There had to be at least 50 children if not more in the church. I would say they were the majority of the culture. It was pretty amazing to see so many children praise the Lord.