Saturday

Some days you can do nothing but throw your arms up in the air and laugh. Either that or fall in a heap of frustration born tears. Yesterday was one of those days for me... except there are two distinct halves to it... let's have story time, shall we?

I woke up late (I guess I hit snooze on my phone without really waking up) and didn't have time to shower... I went into my roommates bathroom to wash my face (because the water is off in my bathroom only because of a broken pipe in the wall which produced flood #4 - but that's another story...) and as I walked back to my room I heard a honk... oh dang! My ride was early. I threw on clothes as quickly as I could, grabbed half a bagel (ya, I got some bagels Friday - that was exciting!), and ran down to the car, hair a hot mess.

Pantomime practice was fine... nothing exciting but not as terrible as last Monday's (that is yet another story...). We did a FULL run through of the entire thing... a total of 4.5 hours sitting out in the heat w/ not much of a breeze. I was ready to go to say the least. And very hungry. The other teacher who is also in the play asked if I would like to go to lunch with her and her daughter after practice, and of course I said sure! So, off we went to drop of her son & a few other kids. Just as we got through sitting in 1 1/2 hours of traffic... the car stopped. Just... stopped. On a hill. With all of the traffic behind us. Ug. Sooo... we pushed! I'm sure it was quite a hilarious sight, 6 Obroni's pushing a huge SUV up a hill - the men in the passing trotros called out "obroni, push hard!" or "Oh, Obroni, why, why??". Thanks guys... Eventually about 5 Ghanaian men ran over and took over the pushing and got the truck off the road into a side street. Of course we didn't have any money, so the kids walked on to Youth Group where we were to drop them off, and the other teacher and I + her daughter walked to an ATM... shew - I sure am sweaty!! She was able to get some cash thank goodness, because I was plum out of it (we had to give what little I did have to her driver to be able to buy some water for the overheated car and just in case he had to get a taxi) so we took a taxi to a restaurant nearby and had lunch. Lunch was really good and her husband made the 45 minute drive to come and pick them up. They were kind enough to take me home so I didn't have to walk/taxi, but when we drove up...

The gate was locked... now the gate to the front door is always locked, and I have the key for that... but the gate to the driveway had a padlock on it - a padlock to which only the guard and one of my roommates have a key. And I remembered - the movie theater opened up and they were all going to go see the new James Bond - I couldn't go because I probably wouldn't be back in time. They took the guard with them as a treat for him... but I guess didn't think about the fact that they locked me out... crap... well... uhhhh... OK, can you drive me to... uhhh... where do I go?! I tried calling another teacher but she texted and said her and her husband were at the movie - I texted back immediately and asked if i could go sit at their house till they got back... no response... ummm... uhhh.... OK, closest missionary families house - how about there! I made a call to the daughter of the family, and she said it was no problem to come sit there.

I rang the bell and Rebecca, the intern, came to the gate. She was surprised to see me, and as I started to explain the horrible afternoon I was in the midst of she just smiled, gave me a hug, and asked if I would like a massage... umm ya! Rebecca went to school to be a massage therapist, and is so amazing for giving us all free massages as part of her ministry while she is here... not to mention she is just fun to hang out with :) - I was able to have a massage, cookies and ice cream, watch a movie, and then ended up sticking around even after my roommates got home and had homemade cheeseburgers (which were SO good) and french fries, and even got a ride home.

Isn't it funny how God can take what has been maybe one of the hardest day's I have had here and turn it into a fun and relaxing evening?! While giving me the massage, Rebecca said "I think God just likes to laugh sometimes, so he throws us off by blessing us out of nowhere" - so true!! Thank you Jesus for blessing me with friends who welcome me into their home, a roof over my head to come home to (even when I get locked out sometimes), food to eat, and especially for Rebecca!!