Happy New Year to our friends, family, colleagues and prayer warriors. This is the first post for quite a while and we want to take the opportunity to update all our friends and followers. As some of you are aware we spent Christmas and New Year in Ghana. It was a very pleasant and enriching experience for us.

Glad to be home - back in Ghana

We had a family re-union dinner for the 26^th December which gave us the opportunity to update and encourage each other. We hope it will become an annual event. 

Family reunion meal

We spent a few days with good friends in Akim Oda - Very Rev. Kwame Barffour-Kyei and his family - and rang the New Year in with them. Akim Oda is in the east of Ghana and boasts a vibrant timber and lumber industry. It is believed the biggest tree in the whole of West Africa can be found there. (See www. Ghana.travel. gh - Ghana Tourism Official site or en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akim_Oda ).  Unfortunately we were unable to make the time to visit this interesting site. Maybe next time.

In front of Elmina Castle

After six days and a wonderful New Year’s celebration with our friends in Akim Oda we left to visit another friend in Elmina. We had the opportunity to visit the Elmina Castle (which served as a holding post for slaves shipped to the Americas and Caribbean during the slave trade era). This has an obvious special meaning for us.  We wanted the children to see the castle even though they are too young to understand the full implications of the slave trade.

Spot the Jamaican Flag?

In all the excitement of the travels we also had the blessed opportunity to celebrate Janelle’s 4^th birthday.  It was a beautiful celebration for a special child and a simple, relaxing day.

Jan jan & Joelle admiring birthday cake

Work wise we look forward to another productive year in the Development office.  We hope as we say good bye to a few old projects we will successfully start new ones with new partners.

In the Health and Wholeness Department we look forward to the continuing ‘After Sunday service church clinics’ and a ‘Training of Trainers’ Workshop on Breast feeding in February.

This year 2014 will see the end of our 3^rd 2 year contract with the Methodist Church Sierra Leone – thus making it 6 years as Mission Partners serving the Methodist Church Sierra Leone.

Prayer warriors – we say Merci Beaucoup for all your prayers, kind thoughts and (for those who do get us on the phones) kind words. We sk you to please continue to pray for us as we give thanks for;

-          Travelling mercies over the holiday season

-          Celebrating another birthday for Janelle (Jan 9th), Joanna (April 3^rd), Joelle (Dec 4^th), Michael (Dec 7^th). We pray for many more abundantly blessed years.

-          Celebrating 10 years of our marriage (Dec 11^th). We pray for many more abundantly blessed years.

-          Productive work with the Methodist Church Sierra Leone

-          Continuing good health for the all in the family ( and extended family).

Voodoo shrine in Benin