Home and back again! :)

Hello Everyone!!

Ok wow, it has been way too long since I've blogged. So I apologize for the flood of news you will be getting. And I also apologize for how unorganized it may be. I just decided to give you a bunch of visuals and then explain stuff based off them. unfortunately I still don't know how to get this thing to load pictures in the order i want, its always a surprise how they come up. so it may be a little disjointed :-p hehe but I had fun with it so i hope you will too.

So just a quick overview,

I was able to go home for a three week vacation about a month ago (wow! it's already a month ago!). :) It was wonderful. I so enjoyed spending time with my family and friends and my wonderful man, Joey. ;) For those of you that may not be aware I am in a relationship, Joey is the incredible man God has put in my life. We have known each other for 6 years (met him on a mission trip to guatemala for 3 months) we have been dating for about 2 or 3 years, and we will be getting married. ;) Anyway my time home was very refreshing and relaxing, much needed. Now I am back on the ship! and right back in the swing of things, working with the dental team, and many other things. ;) It's been great to get back and see all my friends here again.

Okay, now for the pictures.....Enjoy! :D

Me and my sister, heather when I was home. I guess we were kinda cold ;-p

The family eating dinner out on the patio, dad must be taking the picture.

Dropping Alecia off at the airport. She was leaving for her 3 month mission trip to South Africa like the week before I came back here to the ship.

I love my sisters ;)

This is the view from the top floor of our dental clinic. That little tin roof awning is a little restaurant owned by a local lady. She and her nieces and daughters provide food for our day volunteers. They are the sweetest family.

This is where I work every day! Welcome to Round Point Clinic (it is right of of a roundabout, thats where the name comes from)

Loading up to go out for the day!

So last week a bunch of girls and I went away for a little self-created weekend retreat. It was a really great time. This is the first leg of our journey, 8 people in a 4 or 5 passenger car! ;D Me and Becca took our traditional place squished together in the hatch back. It's a tradition we started in the Dominican Republic ;) hehe

They definitely have rainy season here!

More rain! and that view you are seeing, all the cranes and stuff, is home to me. Its the port!

This is the gas station, I mean lake ;-p hehe

driving out of the port, we were not driving on road, we couldn't even see it. It was just rivers almost as high as the curb all around.

so me and my friend Karen from work, went to a birthday party for Dodgi's mom. He is one of our day volunteers at the dental clinic. There is a picture of him further down.

The party was so fun! Everyone was there, sisters brothers, husbands, aunts uncles, cousins, etc.! It was just great :D

This is Dodgies mom and dad along with a couple of the kids ;)

his mom's sister

so the women kept passing this cute little chunk around and I finally went over and asked to hold her :)

Eventually she fell asleep in my arms.

The Birthday girl! and the wonderful cook!

This is Gini our awesome coordinator for the dental team. She also double as babysitter for all the moms that come in with their kids :)

Marianne and Sandra (my roomy!) beautiful ladies!

me and the girls. The only two girl translators, Delali and Gado. They are awesome!

This is Justin and Dag. Dag is our head dentist from Norway.

Karen and one of the other dentists we had for a few weeks ;)

The screening lines every Monday and Thursday.

Making sandwiches for the patients! we have our own little factory ;) (Gado-left, Comfort-right)

I told you I carry water like an African! hehe Mowuli insisted on the towel, I usually do it without :-p

That's how you do it ;)

Never send me and Mawuli to get water.... ;-p

Our sandwich making factory!

The girls from the restaurant that bring food for our day volunteers everyday.

Gado. Isn't she just gorgeous!

Togo's independance day! Gado made me togalese :-p

So sometimes I get bored and just start playing with our colored tape (we use it to color code the instruments ;-p hehe) I wore this all day. :D

This is Dodgi! who's mother's birthday party we attended.

Me and the love of my life ;)

on the ferry at downtown disney.

All ready to go out! ;D Somebody cleans up good! hehe

"You don't walk like a white person"

Yesterday was Saturday. At 10 o'clock my day began. I met Gado, my friend and coworker at the gangway. She had told me a week or two ago at work that she wanted to take me and show me around Lome, and today was the day. so we walked down the gangway and through the port. Outside the Port gate we walked to the traffic roundabout five minutes further. Then we got some Zimmy jons (which she later informed me the locals call "Olea") and we were off. I had the whole day and she was my guide. ;)
First we went to a village where one of her friends lived and saw his house and met his sister and hung out there for a while. Of course we were given soda's and some snacks. Then onto another Zimmy that took us to Togo's independance memorial. A concrete structure with the cutout of a man showing strength, and pictures of all the presidents. The rest of the day was a wonderful time of walking the streets of Lome, talking, riding in taxis and oleas, walking the beach, and meeting up with friends.
We met with another one of our friends from work, Dodgi. He took us to his village, and showed us where he lived, though we couldn't go inside because he had locked himself out and his brother was not back yet. :) then we sat under a palm tree and talked to some of his friends for a while. after that we went to his mother's restaraunt and relaxed and talked with his mother, sister, aunt, and little niece who was deathly afraid of me and my white skin. By the time we left. She had watched me long enough that I could see she was less terrified but still quite wary. :) I so enjoy my african friends God has blessed me with. And I loved spending a day letting Gado show me around her world.
At one point as we were walking, we were talking about our other friends from work and all the fun we have. As we talked and joked, Gado told me with a smile, "Feda said, you are not really white. He said, Leah is white on the outside, but on the inside she is African like us. No one else does things like us." What he meant is that I have enjoyed trying the things they do. I've learned to carry a bucket of water on my head (though I still have to steady it with one hand;-p), as the water in our clinic has not been working for about 2 or 3 weeks, and may not for the rest of the time here. So every day in the morning we go get our water from a spicket downstairs. And throughout the day we go and refill our bucket. I realized that if you can learn to balence, it is actually lighter to carry it on your head as your whole body is supporting the weight instead of just your arm.
I've also had Gado show me how to carry a baby on my back with a big piece of cloth like all the women do (I think I mentioned this earlier in my blog). I enjoy trying to learn words in their language (Ewei) and French and greet with the typical hand shake/snap. Also I learned that everyone in Togo, and other African countries as well, give everyone a name for the day of the week they are born on. So they figured out that I was born on a Monday. When they asked me, I didn't know, which made them all burst out laughing. It's like not knowing your birthday in the US. :) They figured it out by asking the year I was born and looking at the calenders on their phones. So my name is Adjo, Monday, or Adjovi, Little Monday. Pastor Arnold, who gives the patients instructions before and after their treatment, always calls me Adjo, to which I respond, "Kodjo." That is the male name for Monday, because Pastor Arnold was also born on Monday. After he says my name, he often tells the patients, as I come up and down the stairs during work, "elle s 'apel Adjo." (pardon my french and my spelling ;-p) "her name is Adjo." He has told me, you are not American Leah, now you are Togalese Adjo.
I just enjoy really getting to know my african brothers and sisters, and for me part of the fun is learning and trying things that are part of them and their culture. I was touched to hear how much they felt I was a part of them. I thanked God that he would allow me to have such a close bond with people that live so far from where I do, and live so differently than me, and yet God has given us a love and friendship with eachother where we truly can see and accept eachother as brothers and sisters. Like Feda said, our skin may be different but in our hearts God made us all related.
As she told me this I laughed and said "well thank you." And she laughed, and said "yes, so you are half black."
And at the end of our Saturda, around 3:30pm, Gado, Dodgi, and I were walking along the edge of the beach and Gado and Dodgi were talking to eachother in French. Then Gado said, Dodgi says you don't walk like a white person. I laughed and said "what!? How does a white person walk?" Dodgi laughed and said, "we have a joke that white people maybe from England or other places, have dancing in their walking." And he demonstrated. It was so funny. And we all started laughing. I so enjoyed the day. It was a blessing. And I am realizing more and more, how much I will miss these special friends I've made here when I leave. But as everyone says here, "God is good, all the time. And all the time, God is good." I pray he blesses my friends here and leads them to great things and I pray he blesses me in whatever he leads me to next.
I know that we have touched eachothers hearts. And even if we only see eachother again in heaven, I know I will remember them, and I'll still laugh and smile as I think back on the memories we've made, and I believe they will remember me as well. Even if it is only for a short time, I am so thankful God blessed me to know them, love them, laugh with them, work with them, and learn from them. God knows everything and he knew we would make a mark on eachothers lives; and they, like every other significant person God brings across my path, is part of his plan to mold me to be all he created me to be. Thank you Gado, Mouwli, Dodgi, Tekko, Feda, Simiou, Sosou, Delali, Emanuel, and Pastor Arnold (you guys can help me with all the spelling ;-p) for your friendship, I feel so blessed to know you all. :)

My African brothers and sisters

Today is Sunday. And I went to church. When we first arrived in Togo I tried two different churches. The second one has become my church home while I'm here. It is called the fisherman village church. This is because it is literally in a village of fishermen. This is how they make their living in this village. This village is at the edge of the water and the church is situated a way back in it. I still find it quite comical every sunday as we drive back into this village with our convoy of 3 or 4 big white mercy ship land rover's full of "Yovos" (whites). As we go we are accompanied by many waves and shouts from the people and children of the village. At one point their are some sort of electical lines that are too low for us to cross under so one of the men from the village always finds some sort of long pole or piece of wood to lift it for us to come in. And after a short drive we arrive at the church.
This beautiful body of believers is different somehow. This church was started by one of the African crew onboard named Lawrence Adje. Lawrence and his family, his wife Gena and their adopted son Daniel, are from Ghana. They started this church when the ship was in Togo years ago. At that time, Lawrence felt God leading him to transfer leadership of the church to a Togalese man who worked as a dayvolunteer on the ship. This man had no special qualifications but Lawrence saw something in him and God led Lawrence to approach this man. His name is James. He is the man who now pastors at the church.
Pastor James, is an anointed and humble man of God that is again a dayvolunteer on the ship this outreach. He works on the deck crew doing one of the lowest jobs. Though he could have moved to something a little more prominant, He manages the paint locker. I've talked to other deck workers who have been surprised and then touched when they find out his job. And they tell me that he is one of the most joyful workers they have come into contact with and they have never heard him complain, even in this lowly job. He truly shows the face of Jesus in his daily life.
This church has been such a blessing to me. I love the African heart of worship. They are worshipping in a half finished church building with no roof and three walls. In the middle they have constructed a temeraray structure, a simple tin covering supported by rough wooden poles and plastic chairs set up for the congregation in the sand. They have a simple sound system to support a few mics, that are constantly out of EQ and feeding back. ;-p
This church building was once fully built and thriving. But a horrible storm completely destroyed it. Now they are faithfully rebuilding it as they have the resources, little by little. It is so encouraging to go every week and see noticeable improvement. When I first went, I think there was one wall up. Now there are three! God is so good.
Every Sunday we worship God with african songs, several of which I have come to know well. the singing is accompanied by drums and shakers. I have come to love the freedom I see in their worship as they lift their hands and dance for Jesus. What beauty God has made in the diversity of his people around the world. I wish that every American or European or any westernized person could experience an African worship service. I have learned (though I'm sure I still look like a "Yovo" or white person, trying to dance like an African :) their dances and I love jumping into the dance lines that form during the worship. First the women will dance up into a circle and then dance back to their seats. A little later the men will form their line and wow can they dance! :) It is so much fun to worship God in this culture. Shouldn't it be this way everywhere? Then the children will go up with some coaxing from the lady who is in charge of them. It is such a joy to watch them. I think Africans are born with rythm haha :). I came to decide this must be the case as I watched a 2 or 3 year old dancing his heart out and clapping on beat.
And this church is so welcoming. Pastor James sees us not as just whites, but as brother's and sister's. And every Sunday he makes it a point to have one of his own congregation or himself pray for us crew on the ship before we leave.
He says things like, "This week one of the men I work with on the ship came to me and said 'God is so good James! I didn't know what I was going to do, I didn't have money to pay my crew fees. But then my dad sent me money to pay! Isn't God good!' And then," pastor James will say, "I knew white men have troubles too, they do not always have money, they have struggles, or miss their families... they need our prayers just like we need theirs." And then they will pray for us. And they really pray. I am so blessed by their prayers. This is the first African church that has taken on a responsibility to lift us up in prayer as they ask us to do for them. It is humbling and I feel the love of God through them. I truly feel they are my brothers and sisters.
I am so glad that the family of God is so big and diverse and that we are all connected by his love wherever we are from. This is something I hope to experience for the rest of my life. getting to know my brother's and sisters throughout the world, learning their culture, seeing another facet of our majestic, breathtaking God, his creativity, his incredible and beautiful artwork of diversity infused with his love....his people, his children, my brothers and sisters.