Full

As I was getting on the plane back in August to come to Ghana my dear friend Kami told me that life would be full in Ghana. Full of challenges, full of joy, full of frustration, full of learning, full of wonderful moments. Of course she was right. Life is quite full here. Of all of the above. It is quite overwhelming at times. I hardly have time to process the things that are going on around me. I can hardly sit down and let my mind rest because as soon as I sit down I think of the lesson plans, the grading, the children who need tutoring, there is a never ending list of needs. The longer I am here the more needs that I see. I wish I had time to properly address them all.

There are spiritual, emotional, physical, and educational needs. It seems that many of the children just go through the motions of the daily devotions and rote prayers. I ache for them to truly experience a genuine relationship with God. There are many children with deep emotional scars from either being trafficked, watching their parents die, or being abandoned by family. There are children in need of basic needs like backpacks, shoes, glasses, etc. And there are many children who desperately need some basic reading and math skills. I wish desperately I could help them all. It all hit me like a brick Saturday morning and I just sat down and cried. I couldn't stop the tears in thinking of all of these precious children and how many things I wish I could do for each of them. I know I can't expect myself to meet every need of every child. I just get overwhelmed sometimes with thinking what I would love to be able to do for them. I know all the cliche phrases about just doing my best, or just doing what I can and knowing that is enough. My current teaching/tutoring/mentoring wears me out as it is physically and emotionally. Pray that my patience and love for these children will be in abundant supply. It seems to be running low by the end of each day.