Greetings to our family and friends from Accra, Ghana.  First, we feel we should apologize for not informing you of our activities for the last week or so.  Many of you inquired about our welfare and informed us that your thoughts & prayers were with us.  We are truly grateful for your support.  Knowing that we have many friends that love us and are anxious about our well-being, is truly humbling.  After many fits & starts over the last week we are finally in Ghana where we will most likely spend the next 13 months.  As you can probably imagine, there is a good story to be told about the happenings of the last week.  Unfortunately, this is not the time nor the place for the story. 

We loved spending the last 5 months in Liberia.  We made many good friends, both American and African.  We were accepted by and formed friendships with some truly great people.  People who struggle to obtain food so they can eat one or two meals a day and yet always want to share what little  they have, with us.  People who recognize that their nation and their fellow citizens have many shortcomings but are still fiercely proud to be Liberian.  People, who when the country they loved was being torn apart by a senseless civil war, did whatever it took to protect and preserve their loved ones.  Sometimes, that meant leaving the nation for a safer haven in a neighboring country.  Sometimes it meant taking their children into the bush and hiding out for years.  When the war finally ended, most of those people came back and immediately began to piece together their shattered lives.  Almost without exception, everyone lost family members to the war.  They talk about it very matter-of-factly, without bitterness.  They accept what has happened to them, and with great faith look forward to a better future.  We will always value the friendships we formed in that stunningly beautiful little country.

Just as we look back at the time spent in Liberia with such fondness, we look forward to the time we will spend in Ghana with the anticipation that it will be just as rewarding.  We believe that the people will be just as accepting and loving and that we will form many friendships here with truly great people. 

Again, we thank you for thinking of us and praying for us.