Messages from Africa I

Hi guys!
We're safely settled in Cape Coast Ghana. It's lovely. The temperature was in the high 80s today; high humidity. There IS air conditioning in our room, however. Nice. We've completed our first day of training. I LOVE DCPI! It's so exciting to meet these pastors who are committed to following Christ's call on their lives to plant churches. There are pastors here from Ghana (of course), Liberia, Benin, and Nigeria. (We flew into Lagos, Nigeria last night before landing in Accra.)

So, the trip...

Well, I traveled the majority of it alone, which was ok, actually. In Houston I loaded the Lufsthansa (German) jet, the jet backed out of the loading dock, and then we sat there for 2 hours waiting for a thunderstorm to pass. That meant that what was a 8 1/2 hour flight turned into being on the plane 10 1/2 hours (and there's almost nothing worse than being so ready to go and sitting on a cramped air plane not going anywhere...). But! I sat next to two German business men who do a lot of travel. They weren't talkative but they were friendly. I LOVED being on a German plane, hearing German before English everytime an announcement was made. I asked my neighbor how to say water so I could ask the attendant for it in German when he came around. It kind of backfired on me b/c when I asked for "vaser" he said a string of German to me and my neighbor had to help me out. : ) That's what I get for being curious. So, my plane was supposed to land in Germany at 8:50 and then I was to fly out at 10:25. By being behind two hours, we got in at 10:50. I called mom and dad from the runway asking for prayer that I would make the connecting flight, and then, Praise Jesus, I didn't worry about it again. I knew that if I missed the flight the worst that could happen would be that I stay in Germany a night. And praise the Lord, our plane from Houston was redirected to a gate that was in the same terminal as my Ghana flight, and I got to the Ghana gate just in time. The flight attendant at the gate, when I arrived, said, "Amy Loy!?" And I said, "YES!" When I boarded the plane they shut the door and announced, "boarding completed." Jesus is SO good!

Then, praise the Lord, my luggage got left behind in Germany! So, I smell today, but I had an extra pair of panties and pants in my bag, along with all my shower stuff, and I could technically survive on what I'm wearing for the next week or so (except that I stink). But the luggage is on its way tonight, and we'll send someone to get it tomorrow. Please pray that Jesus sends someone to volunteer for this task, b/c it is a long way to Accra over bad roads...

...bad roads...

There's something amazingly surreal and in retrospect humorous about traveling for 24 hours straight and being so exhausted that you aren't even aware of danger. I guess that's a great thing built in to aid travelers with the driving habits of those in foreign countries. Imagine: drive like you want. Now imagine being so dazed and confused that you don't even realize that you've been on the road for 4 hours. Yeah, that was last night. : )

...last night...

We're staying at the Elmina Golden Beach Resort. Our room is RIGHT on the beach. The sound of the big waves is loud and soothing. There's AC in the room. The water gets hot for the showers. The toilets flush paper. We're in luxury.

I'm getting certified to train so that I can be a trainer at future DCPI events. That's really exciting to me. Seeing how beneficial this training is to national leaders is truly confirming in my heart how important my job is, and how much I want to be a teacher/trainer the rest of my life.

Long email. Praise the Lord! This hotel is great!

Please pray for continued safety for all of the trainees here this week, and that God will confirm and enrich the call in their lives.

Praying for you, brothers and sisters,

~Amy