international livin'

I wanted to let y'all in on a few cultural experiences I've had over the past week...

On Saturday night, I was invited to go to dinner with the Mozleys, another missionary couple, and one of their very good friends, a Lebanese man that lives here in Accra. I can't even begin to tell you what it was like hearing him talk about the things that are happening in Lebanon right now. His family is there...his wife and daughter were able to get to London safely, but his parents have decided to stay. His father is the mayor of a town in the northern part of Lebanon (the Christian part of the country)...and he told us that 1500 Muslim refugees have come from the south to his father's town and are staying in the churches and anywhere that there is room. Did you read that right...MUSLIM families staying in CHURCHES and with CHRISTIAN families. Did you know that the Christians in Lebanon are the ONLY ones in the middle east who are accepted and even have political power? The Muslims and Christians have been living peacefully there since the end of their civil war in 2000. And although this fighting was started by the Hezbollah (the Muslim extremists in the south), the Northern/Christian part of Lebanon is being attacked and is definitely affected by this fighting. It was so sad to hear our friend talk about how much this fighting has already affected Lebanon, especailly how it has set them so far back economically. Although it was sad to hear him talk about it, it was so good too to hear it from someone who is so closely connected. Do you remember how you felt on September 11th? I remember being so sad and a little scared. I was in Georgia, I had no family or friends in NYC, but it still affected me. And this is SO SO much bigger than September 11th. This fighting is not good for anyone...Israel, Lebanon, the entire middle east. But try to imagine how these Lebanese feel. The fighting is on their territory, in their home. Pray for peace in Lebanon and Israel!

Sunday morning, we went to an "international" church. It was very much like a typical American church service. But we had a special speaker...one of those guys that tears phonebooks in half and breaks cement with his head. It was entertaining to say the least. :) Not very Ghanaian though.

But tonight, we had the opportunity to go to a church service in a small village about 45 minutes away. It's crazy that only 45 minutes away from this big city we live in there is a village with no electricity, probably no running water, where the people live off of their farms. The church there is made from woven tree limbs for the walls and dried leaves for the roof. It was very stereotypical Africa. And it was awesome! Michael and a couple others spoke, Claire and me and the girls taught them an English song, and we had the opportunity to pray for a lot of them. I got to pray for three sweet little girls. They were so cute! I wish you could have all been there with me...to see their beautiful church, to hear them say "Amen!" when they loved what the preacher said, to hear them sing so loud, and to watch them dance around the room as they praise our great God. It was amazing. Many times tonight I thought about how wonderful God is that he let me come here and experience all of this. I love seeing how he made Ghanaians to worship him!!