Taking a Break?

The last few months we've been blessed by having a couple from our home church volunteering with our ministry here in Accra.  When we invited them to come, we thought we'd work together for 3 months.  Instead, they spent their first 6 weeks figuring the city out while we were in the States.  In hindsight, we can see how the Lord's timing was perfect in their visit.

They are leaving soon (too soon if you ask me!)  We invited them to come with us this past Saturday for a picnic just outside the city.  We had a nice time showing them the local botanical garden.

As often happens, when we try to get away, we sometimes become the center of attention.  Random people ask to take their photo with us, simply because we have white skin.  As we sat in the gardens, attempting to picnic, you would have thought we were animals on display at the zoo.  One mother actually brought her children to the edge of our blanket and pointed at us saying over and over "obroni, obroni" which is the local word for a white person.  At first I was friendly, but the longer they stood there, the more I was tempted to roar like a lion and lunge at them.  However, I figured that would not exactly be sharing the love of Christ, so I resisted.  Instead, as they chattered on about us, for no less than 10 minutes (HONEST TO GOODNESS), I looked at the lady who was with us and said, "If anyone ever doubts that folks who do what we do might need a break once in awhile, they need to live through a moment like this."

Here's a glimpse into our day:

 Monkeying around!

 Look mom, no hands!

 Africa's answer to the ice cream truck

 Random photo number one.  Some school teacher thought he needed a class photo with the white folks.

 Just our family.  Notice all of the ponytails?  It is so hot here!

 Africa traveling ice cream option #2.

Wow kids, look at the white people.  Let's take their picture.

 Ryan taking a picture of the people taking pictures of us. 

 By the time we finished the picnic/photo shoot, we were ready to leave.  We had 3 leftover bananas and 3 leftover apples.  We decided to share them with the 6 boys who were watching.  One each, right?  Nope, this is the point where we learned that apples are infinitely more valuable than bananas.  

Of course, no African outing is complete without someone trying to sell you something.  Necklace?  Wood carving?   Leather pouch?  You know you want it!