Day 11: It's the Little Things

As many of you who follow us probably know, today started out with a delicious breakfast of eggs, toast and the best fruit ever! Its one of the many things we know we will miss upon our arrival home. The sweet mango and juicy pineapple is unreal – it’s one of the best things about waking up in Ghana!

With water bottles, Bibles and hankies in hand – we headed to church. Church here is like none other – longer than we are used to – but such a blessing to be a part of. Women dancing to the beat of the drum, the band engulfed in the beat that they give and the congregation worshipping with arms high and voices loud. Watching the members worship God, with no restraint, for the things that they have is truly incredible. After worship we received a great message about pleasing God to the maximum. Every year Manna Mission Church has a theme and this year’s is Maximum Momentum. Each service is geared around reaching that goal and how to better serve God. Maximum Momentum is truly fitting for this time in all of our lives. We are on this trip in the midst of our senior year of nursing school. A time I thought was so far away, but it feels like yesterday that I began. Its truly amazing to watch the growth of every single lady on this trip – we are striving for maximum momentum in accomplishing the call God has on our lives.

the team worshipping in church

The service was concluded with communion, offering and prayer. Because this was a combined service we were asked to perform a blood pressure screening immediately following church. The screening was a great success with about 70 people attending. Blood pressure is something that is not easily controlled here in Ghana so it was neat to see the response we had. The people are so thankful for us putting this time aside and it is such an honor to play a hand in educating them to better health. After the blood pressure screening came to an end we headed back to the mission house for a much-needed meal – all of our stomachs were grumbling! Which of course was followed up by our daily nap. Today’s nap was slightly longer than we intended, but we all agreed that God wanted us to rest! : )

Caren and Kayla taking Joe's (our tailor) blood pressure!

Vanessa being a great director with the people waiting to have their blood pressure taken.

After napping, a group of us headed to the hospital for some Internet research while the other half of us stayed home to work on our teachings for the upcoming week. After about 2 hours of work it was mealtime, yet again. We have become such creatures of routine! They feed us too well! : )

There were two prayers from last night, going in to today:

Prayer #1: Katelyn prayed for no spider bites because Janice and her had seen two spiders in their room earlier that day.

Answer#1: A lizard – yes, a little lizard visited Janice and Katelyn in their room today. While it was not a pleasant sight at first they agreed it was God’s sense of humor and His answer to prayer! : )

Can you find him?? 

Prayer #2: Elsie – this is a woman I have been following since Monday when she visited the ultrasound clinic for a scan. She was nearly to term in her pregnancy and she was experiencing some high blood pressure. The doctor asked her to come back on Tuesday for admission until the baby was born. She had slow labor throughout the days and nights to follow – we checked on her before the end of every shift and in the evenings. I was anxious to see her baby born because I felt close with her. Janice prayed that we would check on her in perfect timing so that we could be involved with delivery and the baby would be healthy.

Answer #2: Following dinner and devotions there were several of us needing to finish some research at the hospital so we headed back to finish up. It was around 9:30 pm, the Internet was being slow and we were all getting tired – it was about time to head back. Before leaving, Lina and I decided to go check in on Elsie. We first checked her bed – she was not there. We then checked with the nurses who told us she was in the laboring room – she was not there. Final check – the delivery room. She was fully dilated, exhausted and almost ready to push. As she saw us, she reached out her hand and asked that we please not leave her. She was tired and asking for God’s help, but with a little assistance from the midwife and the constant flow of the Holy Spirit, her healthy baby boy was born.

Our proud parent picture...we may be biased, but he was absolutely beautiful! : )

Elsie and her baby boy...so precious!

This delivery was different than any other I have been involved in – I had a greater attachment and the presence of God on this situation was undeniable. Jennifer, Lina and I were able to say a prayer over the baby and Mother, Elsie. God placed us in the perfect place at the perfect time – we don’t know what will come of this little boy’s life, but God does.

Today was filled with blessings, peace and grace. We may not yet fully know the callings He has placed on our lives, but it is evident that our purpose for now is to be right where we are.

P.S. I cannot forget to mention the delicious snack we had waiting for us upon our return back to the house. It’s amazing the things that can be created with saltine crackers! Dr. Catts is gifted at fulfilling the little cravings we experience throughout our days here! Saltine crackers topped with peanut butter (with a little added sugar), homemade candied pecans and Nutella – they were SO good and such a great treat to end an awesome day!

Kayli Koger