Saturday, May 7, 2011

Bonjour,

You haven't heard from us in a couple of days. Joe was too busy to get
an e-mail sent while I was gone. I will try to catch you up on the past
couple days.

On Thursday morning, Joe took me, April, and Kristine to the bus
station. We met the Posts there. Jennifer went with the ladies. Dan
and his boys stayed at the house with Joe and the kids. Both groups of
people had a good time.

Our bus ride was about a four hour ride to Accra. A guy stood at the
front of the bus preaching at the top of his voice. When he finished
his message, he prayed and then got off of the bus. There were some
Ghanaian programs playing on the TV screen after that. We weren't
paying too much attention to it, but we did get some good laughs. When
we got to Accra, we took a taxi to the guest house to leave our stuff
there. Then, we took another taxi to the mall. We explored the mall
for a couple hours. Then, we headed back toward the guest house. When
we got back to the neighborhood of the guest house, we ate at Frankies,
a good restaurant with lots of different choices. Then, we headed back
to the guest house. We stopped at the Italian ice cream shop and had
some ice cream. We then went to the grocery store near the guest house
to get some things for breakfast. When we got back to the guest house,
we watched a movie.

On Friday morning, we ate our breakfast and then headed out in a taxi to
go do more shopping. We went to a big store that has a little bit of
everything. Then, we went to Orca; the taxi driver had a little trouble
finding that place. Orca has toys, dishes, decorations, and all kinds
of things. The Lebanese owner was kind and gave us all a discount on
our purchases. We asked him where a good Lebanese restaurant was. He
stopped a taxi for us and told the taxi driver where to take us. The
food was very good. After a late lunch, we searched for a Christian
bookstore. We have heard that there is a big one there. We found a
small one and settled for that. Then, we headed back to the guest house
with all of our bags. We rested a little bit and then headed out again
on foot. We stopped to get an icy at a place where we had seen an icy
machine. Their flavors were peach or papaya. While we were sitting
there outside, a lady asked if she could take our picture. Then, she
had someone take a picture of her with us. Then, she wanted a picture
of just me and her. I guess she liked my hat. We looked at some of the
roadside shops. We went to Woodin, a fabric and clothing store. We
stopped at a pharmacy. Kristine is a nurse and wanted to see what they
have available here. We went to Chicken Express for supper. We stopped
at the Italian ice cream shop again on our way home. Their ice cream is
delicious! When we got back to the guest house, we played Monopoly Deal.

This morning, we went to Frankies for breakfast. Then, we walked back
to the guest house to get our things. We got in a taxi and went to the
bus station. We had to wait about an hour and a half for the next bus.
There were two "preachers" on our bus today. Before the bus left the
station, a woman was chanting, praying, and passing out booklets. When
she got off, another guy took her place. He stayed on the bus singing
and talking for the first hour of the trip. After he had taken up an
offering, then he had a cure-all that he was trying to sell. We got
back to Takoradi about 3:00. Joe and Dan and the kids met us. The
Posts headed home from there. We took Kristine and April home before we
went home. The kids were excited to see the treasures that I had found.

We had so much fun on our trip. We had some good laughs and great
fellowship.

On Thursday, Joe and Dan and the kids planted pineapples. Then, they
had a hot dog roast in the evening. The Luthers came down for that.
All of the kids had fun playing together.

On Friday, Joe had an early start. For some reason, Dan's watch alarm
went off at midnight. Joe heard it and thought it was time to get up.
He got up, made coffee, did his devotions,and got the cinnamon rolls out
that I had made before I left. He thought the clock had stopped and
that the water filter wasn't working right because not much water had
been filtered. He wondered why no one else was getting up. He looked
at the clock on his phone, and it was 12:47 AM. After all of that, he
went back to bed. When everyone got up when it was actually morning,
they moved some palm trees. The kids played all day. They went to
Captain Hooks for supper.

Dan kept the kids this morning while Joe went visiting. They had some
good visits.

The kids were happy with the new little toys that I brought home. They
have been playing with them all evening. I found a jar of jalapenos and
a jar of sweet relish for Joe. I also found some Kosher dill pickles;
the kids were excited about the "special pickles."

A demain,

Joe, Laura, Gilbert, Danny, and Bonnie