This weekend was all about the upcoming Ghana trip for Ralph and Jeffrey.  To help them with funding, I created a powerpoint for the church.  I tried some new techniques and it turned out to be some of the best work I have ever done in powerpoint.  I’ll have to remember what I did!  I hope the visuals, plus mini-testimonials from both guys, really brings in some money.  The trip is super expensive this year because international travel has gone up and because they are going deep into the interior of the country so transportation costs are higher.  Any money not funded for Jeffrey means money I have to pay.  In theory, the deadline for funding for this trip ended yesterday.  I’m holding off on paying because the church has not yet sent their portion for this trip, and because donations keep trickling in.  Any money sent to the trip organizer after I pay in full does not come back to me, but gets donated to future trips – another reason why I’m delaying.  This one way policy of theirs is killing me, and will kill me financially if I pay right now.  I simply can’t afford to fund someone else’s future trip.

On Sunday, the three of us held another training session, this time with two other Ghana team members Skyped in from Connecticut.  They went to Ghana last year, so their information and advice was simply wonderful.  The training session itself was simply stellar this time around.  I didn’t put a great deal of effort into the preparation of it, but it just sort of came together beautifully.  I give all credit to God.  I was also reminded of some of my own past trips as we read sections from my trip journals that applied to the topic of the day (working together as a team & finding the good in the country and people you are visiting).  I don’t know if this is wrong or prideful – probably is – but I was really impressed with how well the journals were written and how well they conveyed my thoughts at the time.