Giving Thanks!!!

This past week has been a great time to remember and be thankful for all that the Lord has done for us. Though Thanksgiving is not a Ghanaian holiday, we try to celebrate the holiday anyway. Our family believes that it is good to teach people to count their blessings. So each year we invite people from our new Ghana family.

Here are a few things that have been a blessing this last week. I am going to mix in a few of our Thanksgiving pictures so that the reader can see our Thursday activities.

1. This last week we had the blessing of leading two people to Christ. Mensah has been attending our Bible study for about six months. On Saturday of last week we where able to led him to Christ. Also on Tuesday of last week, Pastor Andrew and I where able to led a young lady named Mary to Christ. She has attended for about three months. This was very encouraging, and was a great way to start the week of Thanksgiving.

2. Water Supply- The longer that we have lived in Ghana the better the electricity has gotten, but that is not true of the water. Most days our water flows from about 2:00am until 9:00am. That is of course on the day that it does flow. Because of these facts we have become quite good about our water consumption. We have 5 buckets that we fill twice daily. They are used to flush the toilets, put water in the sinks for washing dishes and bathing. Each adult gets one bucket and the girls split one. But, this last week we had a great blessing given to us! Our landlady decided to put two large water containers on the roof. (Each one holds about 2,000 liters of water each). We have one outside, which is wonderful, since even if the water is off for a week, we can still get water from this outside tank. But, since our landlady put these tanks on the roof, we have constant water in the house. We can flush the toilet after every use (YAH!) and even take showers. (I have learned to like cold showers here). Basically while the water is flowing, these tanks refill each night, when the pressure is good. They hold enough water that once the water is off again (normally for 4 to 5 days), we still have water in the house. We are very happy. Now we have almost constant water!

3. Little blessings- Since we have moved here, we have learned to really enjoy little blessings. Things that would be normal or even go unappreciated in the states, become exciting here. This is one of the perks of the mission field. Here are three, OK, four blessings. A. Ritz crackers. They never have these here, but a few weeks ago Andrew and I walked into a store while out visiting, and what do you know, there where boxes of Ritz crackers. They where even fairly cheap. So we snagged a couple of boxes each. They where great with my wife's broccoli casserole that she makes for Thanksgiving. (That is another blessing, a farmer has started growing broccoli here, so we do not have to buy expense imported broccoli now!) B. Stove Top stuffing- a small shop had three boxes of Turkey Stove Top stuffing this year! We bought them, and have been able to use two so far. The Ghanaians loved it at the party! C. Summer Sausage- My sister sent this to us! Not sure how she fit this huge thing in the box, but she did. We are very happy to get to eat this little blessing on New Year's Day. D. Last but not least our Turkey! It is a blessing to be able to buy a local turkey that was large enough to feed all those people and still have leftovers!

4. The Thanksgiving Part- We had a great time! We had a total of 12 people at the party. It was the best party that we have ever had. It was so much fun to eat together and share the meaning of Thanksgiving. After we had games and Pumpkin Pie! (Yes, this is another blessing- they grow here only during the fall months, and Patty makes a WONDERFUL homemade pie!)

These weeks have been filled with blessings! And today I want to say to God, Thank You! I hope that all those out there had a great Thanksgiving weekend too.