She said no

Every girl dreams of that moment when the man they love drops to one knee, pulls out a little box, says a fancy little speech and asks if she will marry him. I envision something that has to do with a beach and moonlight or something equally as romantic, not in the middle of the market on a rainy Ghanaian Saturday.

We've been here for about a month now and its hard to believe that almost a third of this trip is already over. I don't feel like I've been very influential yet. I don't think I've worked over and above what I'm naturally capable of. It typically takes me a few weeks to get comfortable in a new place, fall into the rhythm of life and find my own groove in the local life. I'm slowly getting over the initial shock of a brand new, totally different culture and I can finally start to see where I could be helpful and where I should spend my time and energy. For those of you who know me, you know that I am not a very socially outgoing person. Small talk, not my forte. Deep conversations or opportunities to listen are met a little more enthusiastically. Here, however, it's very difficult to get to know the people that I'm around at any sort of deep/personal level, I'm finding, especially due to the language barrier. (My Twi vocabulary is incredibly limited.) I typically don't get to listen to people here as everyone wants to know what is different between Canada and Ghana, if everyone in Canada is literate, what we brush our teeth with, etc, etc. Despite the fact that being social in the community and going outside with the sole intention of talking to any random person I meet who motions for me to come over, I decided that it's about time I let God's power flow through my weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9 - favourite verse) and go visiting.

I set out Saturday morning and after sitting with some random people who kept laughing at their inability to speak English and my feeble attempts at greeting in Twi and visiting someone's house so they could show off their new obruni friend to their family, I wound up in Vida's shop. She is one of the ladies in my Level 2 literacy class and she has the most amazing laugh which makes me laugh every time I hear it. She invited me in, gave me a little bag full of goodies as a thank you for visiting and handed me some photo albums to leaf through. It gave me some insight into her life without any word having had to be passed between us. I'm very thankful that I have gone through the long, tedious process of learning a second language because I understand what these ladies are trying to overcome while they take the classes and try to speak with me when I visit and I know to enunciate carefully and speak slowly. I ended up talking with her 18 year old daughter for quite some time as she made banku (made of corn flour and cassava) in a pot over some coals. A young man came by and sat down by us and asked me to marry him. First time that's happened here in Ghana, though apparently it can occur quite frequently. I laughed and turned him down and then tried to explain to Vida's daughter why I wouldn't marry him.

I hope that I can allow the Holy Spirit's power to course through me and my work that I'm doing for Him this week (and really, for the remainder of this internship....slash, my life), because I am incapable of teaching my 20 KG2 students properly without Him, and I cannot interact with my literacy ladies or random people on the street, or the workers at the school without Him, and I cannot have energy to run around with the neighbourhood kids who constantly come by the house to play without Him. I feel like Moses at the burning bush when he told God how unequipped he was for the task that God was asking him to do. God responded by proclaiming His character, promising that He would be with Moses, go ahead of him and give him a favour and a sign that would follow his step of faith and obedience. So as I go out into the streets of Asamankese every day, I know that God will be with me, He goes ahead of me and He speaks through me and through my weaknesses.