24 hours

As I sit here in the backyard of my suburban house in Courtice, listening to the song of an obnoxiously loud cricket and gazing at the tiny stars of Cygnus that are peaking out in the blackness above me, it is hard to believe that in 24 hours I will, Lord willing, be within a few minutes of take off for a new continent. It has been a whirlwind couple days as I came home on Monday from my summer in Hamilton, saw my brother (who I wasn't expecting to see until Christmas), spent time with family, unpacked, re-packed, bought, organized, yada yada, and tried to find some time alone to prepare my heart and mind for what is about to happen.

There have been emails sent back and forth about baggage allowance, money, plans for the weekend, etc., but the most interesting thing that sticks out for me in all the chatter is the fact that we are going to be met at the airport in Ghana by soldiers! We have connections to a colonel in the Ghanaian army who will be sending soldiers to meet us and escort us through customs and immigration quickly and easily and then bring us through to our ride. What a way to enter Africa! We'll be spending this weekend in Accra, the capital of Ghana, getting acquainted with our contacts there and drinking in the first few days of life in Africa before we head north up to Asamankese on Sunday night.

A few of you have been asking about my address for Ghana. Here it is:
Cheryl Ritskes
P.O. Box 180
Asamankese, Ghana

As much as I love snail mail (who doesn't?!), I also love prayer and if my travels last semester in Europe taught me anything, it's that the prayers of those back home make a WORLD of difference! So if you can spare a couple minutes with our heavenly Father for me, please pray that our transition into Ghanaian life will go smoothly and that all the kinks and uncertainties will be ironed out before us. I know that God goes before us and with us into Ghana...thankfully, or else we'd be lost.

Some of you know that I love the Lord of the Rings movies ... which includes The Hobbit. At the beginning of the movie, as Bilbo leaves his comfortable hobbit hole and the conveniences of home and embarks on the adventure of a lifetime to lands he's never before seen, dear, wise Gandolf tells him one of my favourite lines in the movie:
"Home is now behind you. The world is ahead."
And doesn't that ring true. In just over 24 hours, home (wherever and whatever that really is - whether Courtice or Hamilton or whatever) will be behind me and life's adventures in the whole, wide world will be ahead. I'm looking forward to seeing what chapter 1 will entail.