The trusses were completed, the purlins started and all the tents, chairs and tools were packed away. Ebenezer rents a house nearby and some of his men will continue to stay in the temporary shack built on the property in order to watch over things and complete the church over the next weeks.
Bev, Pat, Linda and I stayed in Carpenter to pack up all the remaining school supplies, clothing and finalize the gift packages for the workers. At 11 we headed to Tinga with Brenda, Carol and Stephen with our final jobsite lunch. Doug prayed a blessing over the food. It was a powerful prayer of thanks...starting with the word 'Wow'. We have enjoyed an incredible trip covered with so much blessing! Health, strength, protection, inspiration, joy, and more!!! The nurse from the local clinic, who is also a Tinga church member, brought each Canadian a bottled Ghana Malt drink. We were very honored by her gift to us, and it looked very refreshing, but once we started taking off the bottle caps and we sipped it, realized it was warm (almost hot), and it quickly failed at being a new favorite. The Ghanaians were more than happy to finish them for us...none of it went to waste. Pictures were taken of the entire group inside the church, and then our Canadian team had photos on the front steps. It became a really fun time as jokes were made as we all stood in the hot, hot sun. Carol carefully took photos with about 10 cameras (I suppose if there were that many taken with so many cameras, we figured we'd get at least one with everyone at their best :))
Some of the kids from our school classes happened by the worksite and were able to see us off. They looked so good in their day clothes! We are so used to seeing them dressed in their ragged orange and brown uniforms. Not one seemed to be able to look at Russ and Jack without automatically starting the actions for the 'Skinner-ma-rinky-dinky-dink' song. (I think we are all concerned that they must think its our national anthem, theme song or a traditional Canadian greeting :)). It's really is one of the funniest things to see!!!
Waving goodbye to the kids that were there, and seeing the building grow distant was tough, but we were quickly distracted with another special Ghanaian scene on the main street while we passed. At the street side outdoor butcher shop, was a cow head laying on the ground...long horns, brains and possible intestines sitting right next to it. As we exited town, we made a quick stop to the medical clinic to thank them for the malt drink and continued on our last trip south back to Carpenter. Most of the men returned on the stake truck as the Ghanaians picked up with the drumming and singing as they had done on the way in that morning, but now they had shovels and aluminum tubing from the tents to use to create more and louder instruments. It was such a joyful way to end our project!
Back in Carpenter by about 1:30, we had the afternoon to rest, reflect, pack our bags, and at 4:30, the most exciting football (soccer) game was on...some of us against some of the Ghanian pastors!!! It was a great time spent in the hot sun, and when it wound down, the score was 2-2...a tie! We'll have to schedule a tie breaking match when we come back :). Russ discovered he wasn't as young as he once was...unfortunately his Achilles tendon 'popped' (those around him heard it...he said it felt like someone kicked him hard in the back of the ankle, but no one was around). He has handled it really well and tonight we all prayed for a speedy recovery, and that travel goes well for him.
All showered and cleaned up, and we had our final banquet in the convention centre with not only us and the Ghanaian pastors like we are used to, but also with Ebenezer, his crew, Tinga volunteers and Carpenter staff. Abraham, the chef, served us at the buffet tables...'Carpenter Vegetable soup' made with only ingredients grown here, Rice, Guinea Fowl, Telapia fillets and fish, and the most exciting part of the table, the opportunity to join in with the Ghanaians if we dared try one of their favorite foods, 'Grasscutters' (kind of like our groundhogs or possums). I didn't hear of anyone who actually did.
After we were all fed, we enjoyed taking time to thank everyone who made this project possible, gave our gifts and were each blessed with a Ghanaian dress or shirt. Many of us put them on and took photos under the centre gazebo, and some played a final card game together.
Not long after we started settling in for the night, the winds came up, thunder and lighting was seen and heard, and then the rains came! They came hard and fast. Another memorable African experience for everyone :)
Due to have our luggage ready for the truck at 5:45am and to be on the bus at 6 the next morning, it was a surprise to hear Stephen backing up the truck to the compound at 4:40, open the squeeky front gate, and turn on the exterior walkway lights. Everyone quickly started to scurry around to get ready sooner than they had planned. Stephen obviously knew that it would take longer than 15 minutes to pack all our suitcases into the back of the small Nissan pick up. We were on the bus several minutes early, drove up to the kitchen, and our breakfast and lunch foods were loaded into the bus. The pastors were standing there, they sang a song of blessing over us, David prayed, and we sadly waved goodbye. Leaving was sad for all of us, but especially for Sam and Jacqueline. Their son Pete was standing with the pastors waving goodbye. He is staying until mid-April to work at the different stations within the compound and to help with upcoming conferences. I asked if he would blog his adventure...it didn't sound promising :(. What an amazing opportunity for him, and I would just love to hear all about it :)
We are safely on our way, enjoying our fried egg sandwiches on fresh baked bread, and beautiful mangoes. Russ is able to put some weight on his foot today and he rested well through the night. God is Good!
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