I am off to Africa again. I am super excited to see what God has in store for me there. God has taught me a lot since my last excursion. Before I went to Ghana I had a "I can do anything" mindset. I had a savior complex. I thought that I was going to "save" the world. The world is not mine to save nor can it be saved by anything except Jesus. By myself I can do nothing. By myself I am a looser. With God however all things are possible. I firmly believe that God loves to use the people who are not good at anything. No one can look at me and say "That Naomi she is so great" because everyone knows that's not true. One can only look and say "God is doing work there". I need a lot of prayer as I follow God on my next journey. Please pray that I will seek God in every situation and that he will give me the strength to follow him without hesitation.

It has been one year and two days since my arrival back to the States.  I have been thinking back to my time there. Analyzing what I could have done differently and what I need to think about for future adventures. Its hard to remember hard times that I had when I am here. It seems that I am never satisfied with where I am. I am always trying to go places and never stop to appreciate what I have. Paul writes "I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do anything through him who gives me strength." Philippians 4:12-13. I still have a lot to learn before accomplishing this. Maybe that is why I am here doing the same mundane thing day after day. God is constantly trying to teach us we just have to be willing to listen.  

It's christmas break! which means that almost all the kids at the school have left so its really quiet which is quite a change. I am excited for today though because one of the peace corp volunteers that I have met here is having a christmas party!which should be fun. I am not sure what I will do for the break but I think I will probably travel to the coast some. Who knows?

My newest goal is to get the kids really interested in reading. There is a library at the school that is rarely utilized. Also kids here have a really poor reading level and I feel like if they read more it would definitely help a lot. I have been borrowing a lot of books from it. Some for me but some for the kids. We have been having a lot of fun having reading parties in my room. I pretty much have one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish memorized. I also spent most of yesterday thinking in rhyme.. thanks a lot Dr. Seuss!  

After traveling around for the week of Thanksgiving I was really happy to be back at the school. When I arrived all the girls ran out to greet me they are all so cute. The weekend was a lot of fun and we played ALOT of go-fish and I finally bought a phone so they were really interested in that as well. I have been really enjoying working in the preschool class the teacher is a lot of fun and the kids are  both crazy and adorable. I did get sick though this week so I kinda just hung out in my room for a day or so. Prayer for good health would be greatly appreciated. The fact that I have been eating all sorts of food that I am not used to and the fact that I am surrounded by a bunch of kids all day leads to a lot of not feeling well. Also please take a look at this fundraiser that is going on for the school that I am helping at! A donation would be greatly appreciated.
http://www.indiegogo.com/ClassroomforAll?c=home

So I went to the coast this weekend it has been super fun. I love the ocean we spent two nights in cape coast which is a bigger coast town it was very nice and a definitely did more shopping then I had planned. We also went to Elmina Castle which was the first slave castle where they were kept before sent off. It was very interesting. There was two different rooms where they kept the men and the women. They also had a room they would put anyone who resisted and the room was small and all dark and they would leave them there to die of starvation. In the castle there is also the very first church of Ghana. It is really depressing that people could declare that they are Christians and yet enslave and kill so many people.
   On a happier note.. we also went to this little beach town which was gorgeous and I played tag with the little neighborhood boys when I was swimming and that was really fun they were really cute.

I have had a pretty great week. I taught the kids how to play spoons and war and they love it. Though it does get a little crazy at times. The girls are all very sweet the culture here is all about sharing an being helpful. The other day we had a dance party and we all shared cookies and danced like crazy. They are a lot better at dancing than I am. They actually look legit. We had a really good time. Now I am off to the coast! I am pretty excited.