We've got a couple days to catch up so this will be a collaborative effort.

This is Bonny reporting:

Many of us were feeling some concern about how we would survive a three-hour worship service on Sunday morning. By God's grace (my favorite Ghanaian phrase), the time passed enjoyably and quickly. As I recall, the first hour was filled with joyous music--the organ, the instrumental combo, the choir, the congregation. And then the dancing--when Jack Turner entered the aisle to join the dancers, we all followed. What a delight to dance with our fellow workers and members of the congregation!

The preacher at Wesley Methodist Church in Aburi was engaging and offered his sermon in an indigenous language and in English, shifting from one to the other effortlessly. The scripture followed the lectionary; I felt very connected with First Church, knowing that you would hear the same scripture several hours later. Our youth and a few adults joined the children's Sunday School classes during the sermon. They enjoyed the children, as always, and the lessons.

Following worship, we lingered for some time in front of the church taking photos with our fellow workers and enjoying the beauty of the moment and the day.

Perhaps you have met Mildred, a Northwestern student from Aburi who attends First Church. Her parents had invited us to a local resort for a traditional Sunday dinner. The setting was lovely with manicured grounds and views of the surrounding hills, valleys, and villages. The food was delicious, especially dessert--fruit salad topped with ice cream. I must admit that one of our food fantasies is ice cream, since it is not easily available in our small town.

Ethelyn taking over -

We were up at 4:30 Monday for a 5 hour trip to Kakum National Park and the canopy walk. The early departure at 5:30 was an attempt to avoid traffic in Accra. The staff at Hephzibah packed boiled eggs, bread, butter and jam for our breakfast which we ate en route at a Methodist church. The Schultze's mega jar of peanut butter was nearly finished! Everyone did the walk and had a smile at the finish. We could hear birds and perhaps a monkey, but didn't see any wildlife. The rainforest was so thick it would have been impossible to see any forest elephants on the ground. From there we made a short trip to the "crocodile restaurant" for a lunch of rice/chips and chicken . The highlight of that stop was the weaver birds who would fly from a tree on a small island to a tree next to the restaurant.

We made a quick stop at Elmina Castle before continuing to Cape Coast Castle, both used to hold captive Africans before being put on ships for the New World. At Cape Coast we had a 45 minute tour that included the male and female dungeons, the cell where the trouble makers were left to starve to death, and the governor's quarters. The conditions described were horrific.

We arrived home exhausted at 10:00.