Well the big group of 56 has arrived. They got here tuesday morning while we were gone. We went to the Kakuum Rain Forest and did the canopy walk as well as the slave castle tour in Elmina. It was alot of fun and I think everyone really enjoyed it. Well this big group, we found out, is really a few different groups that all came here at the same time. Some people are from Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas...just everywhere. Pam Cope is here with some of the people. They came to do a health fair for the kids so I kind of in a sense get the rest of the week off because I am usually up at the school helping but they arent really having school now. It's really cool what they are doing and I really hope its beneficial to the kids. They have turned many of the classrooms into stations. I went into one yesterday and it was the oral hygiene(sp?) station. They made the kids eat this purple tablet that turns their mouth purple then they were given their own new toothbrush and toothpaste to brush with. When they were done the purple that was still in their mouth showed them where they needed to work on brushing more. It was actually pretty cool haha and really funny to see their faces when they saw that their mouths were all purple. Some of the other stations at the school was yoga, first aid, malaria prevention...just things like that. While different classes were at different places, a class at a time would go to the clinic and get a checkup then to the dentist to check their teeth and so forth.

    While all that was happening...I was out on the football field helping this guy Andrew with his station...which was just playing soccer. There are like 5 guys here that are about 24 and went to peperdine, 2 of them actually go to ACU right now. I've hung out with them since they've gotten here because their doing the 'excersise' stations. Last night when we were sitting around this girl named Rachel came up to me and said she heard i had quite a power shot...I was really confused about what she was talking about and she said her brother was Andrew and had been telling her about me and apparently compared me to this girl she used to play soccer with. She said it was a pretty good compliment. heyyooo! haha.

So yesterday Karli left to go back home. Me, Michelle and Zach went with her to the airport and to the market because I didnt want her to have to go alone. It was a fun day. The market was as crazy as I remember, people swarm you pulling you into their shops. Its a bit overwhellming. I kept telling them im not here to buy anything because im coming back later so they kept saying well come and look so you can remember to come buy from me next time. I did meet this vendor named David. He was super nice and walked around with us, showed us his shop which had a ton of cool stuff in it, so i will be sure to go back and visit him! We also ate at Frankies before we dropped her off at the airport. It was soooo good. I actually ate a burger and fries. The first burger and fries in 5 weeks. It may have been really awful, but since i havent had one in so long it was extremely tasty!

**We have 16 days left here until we head back to the good ole USofA. Cant believe it, though these past few days have gone by extremely slow, not that im complaining, but i think its because I am awake for so long during the days. I wake up when the kids get up...because they are SO loud in the morning. So im up at around 4:45 and dont go to sleep until about 10. It's a bit rediculous. The other night I was hanging out in Joy Barnett helping (doing) Lebene's notes. He somehow got me to copy his notes into his notebook anyways Hagar told me she loved my smile. She's precious and not a lover of everyone so when she said that it made my day. ALSO fun little fact, at the market yesterday I got a Black Stars (Ghana's soccer team) jersey for Lebene with his favorite player on the back. Im going to give it to him when I leave. Im super excited about it, I just hope he likes it. Zach told me he's going to love it merely because im the one that got it for him, so i hope he's right. **

*So there is a boy here in the touch a life house that I really want to learn more about. I feel a weird pull to him. His name is Raul and he is really quiet. He's that kid that is off to the side watching all the other kids play. When you look at him he seems as if hes just in la la land and not with it mentally. He just stares.When ever im around him he'll come stand in front of my and put my arms criss-crossed around his chest and just hold my wrists. It's really hard to understand him because his english isn't well and he talks funny. I dont know what it is but I really want to learn more about him. I've made it an effort to go give him a hug and ask him how he is everytime I see him. Hopefully if that's all I can do it is making him feel loved.  

Today during breakfast I was sitting in the guest house and one of the ladies was talking to her group and said God put something on her heart to tell them so I listened...and she said that God is sculpting us to fill a certain nitch. Being here, we are filling the gaps in some of the kids hearts. She said some of the doctors here have worked years to finally fill their nitch here. I thought that was really cool and worth sharing.

::Leaving y'all with this::

You have the opportunity to be that one person to someone who needs what you have to offer. And what you have to offer is never small & insignificant. Again, the great picture of what God is doing in our world is incomplete without your unique puzzle piece -- the one that only you posses. But you must choose to place your piece in the puzzle. No one has ever lived the same life as you...and that is one of the things that makes your 'puzzle piece' extraordinary!

Missing everyone back home!

Love you all

Shelby