Leavin' on a jet plane . . .

I guess it doesn't help that I saw a news story about a plane running off the runway in Colorado but I'm no longer fearless when it comes to flying. There's a lot of water to fly over between Philadelphia and London. So - I guess there's one more thing that you can all pray for - that the plane stays in the air and that I get through it all without having a screaming Mimi fit. (A quiet panic attack would never do.) On the up side, I think my voice is coming around. I've been struggling with a bit of weakness in one vocal cord after a month long battle with bronchitus and a horrible cough. But, after some excellent care and voice therapy I think I will be able to productively use my voice again. I took it for a test drive this weekend at church and I made it through all the services with just a little residual hoarseness afterward. Thank God! My work hinges on using my voice and that would make it so much more difficult to sing with the kids while I'm at the AACT center. I have to trust that God's timing is right on with all of this mostly because I don't think I have the patience to wait much longer to sing in a healthy way. After today I'm depending on internet cafes so the posts may be random, I'm off to buy mosquito repellent! (It's the new scent for 2009, haven't you heard?)

Last week of work . . .

I'm somewhere between feeling relieved and reluctant as I begin my last week of work before the trip. It's difficult to gauge exactly what my clients understand about my leaving. I will certainly miss them, but I also need an opportunity to work differently, in a different place. I'm excited about the possibilities at the AACT and in making music in a country where music means so much. As I bring things at work to a close it's all becoming a reality. I have nine days until I board the plane. Last night I sat up and wrote out all the things I have left to do - it filled a whole legal pad page. I'd tell you about my battle to overcome procrastination here, but I think I'll have to address that later.

Anyway, the response to my talk last weekend at my church has been tremendous. People have encouraged me in so many ways and offered to help with things I hadn't even considered. It's a beautiful thing to join such a committed body of believers.

Sometimes God works in mysterious ways . . .

And sometimes God hits you between the eyes with a healthy dose of holy power! After speaking at three services at my church and mentioning that a laptop is needed I got at least three people who walked up and said they had one or knew where they could get one donated! So - I guess we'll figure out what to do with them and what the school really needs. Perhaps instead of one laptop we can provide an entire computer lab!

It's been great to get some comments posted to this blog and here is a response to one of those from a Bethel family soon to be adopting a little boy from China who wrote to me and asked for the quote I used yesterday while sharing my testimony and so I'll share it here:

"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do. What I can do, I should do. And what I should do, by the grace of God, I will do." -Edward Everett Hale

The countdown starts!

Nineteen days and counting! It's hard to believe that I'm almost at the point where I'll be getting on a plane and heading to Ghana. I am renting a global phone which should arrive right before I leave. I was worried about how to entertain myself during my layover in London on Christmas day but I think I will have plenty to do programming my new phone and texting people. My incoming texts will be free (hint hint) but outgoing texts cost money. :(

All in all, some things are falling into place, some things are falling apart. Sadly I had to put my beloved German Shepherd to sleep two weeks ago. Holly was a sweet dog, totally devoted, and I will miss her terribly. However, I know that she didn't suffer and I'm glad that I was with her until the very end. This now leaves Ruffo as the king of the house. I can't tell if he's depressed and missing Holly or not, he's always had the same sad expression on his face!See ??

And - by the way, if anyone has a spare laptop they'd like to donate, Linking Cultures has asked me to find one for a school they support. The Dzorwulu Community School - you can see a description here : http://www.linkingcultures.org/dcs.html

Hoping to end on a positive note I will share a verse which has been a constant reminder to me that I'm doing the right thing.

1 Peter 4:10-11 (New International Version)

10Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.11If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

I'm glad that I've picked up a few followers on this blog, keep up the comments and the encouragement!

Visa Approved!

Now typically when I use that phrase it's in reference to a credit card purchase, but yesterday I got my passport back from the Ghanaian embassy with my visa stapled inside. woohoooooo!

One more potential barrier down!

So, in my last conversation with the volunteer coordinator at Linking Cultures he mentioned that he was working on my accomodations and getting me a "gas stove and some cooking utensils." I hope this doesn't mean that I won't have electricity. I think I need to clarify this point. On the other hand, the information on the website lists other perks, like my very own mosquito net. I wonder if I can strain pasta with it?

So . . . I have this friend

And her name is Yolanda. She's marrying her fiancee Edwin in December and I'm a bridesmaid. (the man in the photo is not Edwin, just some waiter we met in Paris last year.) The wedding is taking place in Accra and so - this is how I started researching volunteering opportunities in Ghana. I found Linking Cultures through a Google search, they posted a position for a volunteer music therapist at the Autism Awareness care and Training Centre in Accra. And so . . . through divine design I'll be working with kids with autism on the other side of the globe.

Doing this trip is easy, talking about it, well that's another story!

So, I've been asking for prayer and support from my church, Bethel Fellowship located at the Franklin Mills Mall in Philadelphia. http://www.fmchurch.net/ And they have responded in a big way. From the day I started talking about it, a couple who I deeply repect for their love of the Lord encouraged me to think about volunteering at the Autism Centre as ministry.

Now - doing music therapy . . . that I know! And it's not new to me to go into a different country and respond to their needs. I've been back and forth to Honduras several times over the past few years working with kids with special needs and supporting the Gerezim Church in Tegucigulpa, Honduras, C.A. I guess it's just thinking of myself as a missionary that I have a tough time wrapping my head around.

Anyway - I'm just a little more than a month away from departure and I've been asked to speak about this at my church and I'm terrified. General public speaking fear aside, I guess I'm afraid that talking about the gut feeling I have that I'm supposed be doing this makes me sound like a nut. God doesn't speak to me in a deep, booming voice. Perhaps if He did, that would make things a little more concrete and understandable. But what I do believe is that God created a very detailed plan for my life and this trip is a part of it. My previous trips to Honduras have been great preparation. I mean, what are the odds of googling (yes, it's a verb now) music therapy and Ghana and finding a volunteer job posting for a music therapist, working with children with Autism? Autism of all things happens to be a specialty for me. (Although reading this post, you might guess that run-on sentences are my specialty. whatever.) So I guess that there are times when God needs a traditional missionary who learns the language and starts a church where there needs to be one, and then I guess there are some of us with incredibly specialized training and experience who get to fill incredibly specialized needs.

And so, I will plan my (blessedly short) talk about this trip and try not to obsess over my fear of public speaking. More later on how Ghana even crossed my radar. . .