April Showers Bring More Travels

April showers bring May flowers. We should have lots of flowers here in Norway, come spring!

Experienced only my second funeral as a pastoral person yesterday. A beloved woman of the congregation passed away after a 2 year battle with cancer. It is good that she is no longer in so much pain and suffering, but hard on her family.

This was my first service to go to the cemetery. Interestingly enough, most people in Norway are now cremated - mostly because there is not enough land or space for people to be buried.

When I die, I think I would prefer to be buried as the Vikings, or maybe the Scots, practiced - to be put on a log raft, sent out to sea, and then burned. I don't like how burying someone costs so much money. Its just my physical remains, no one is going to look at them again, I don't think.

In other news, I leave for Ghana (Africa) on Sunday morning. My congregation sponsors / leads a project in Northern Ghana that includes building an orphanage, supporting a school, supporting Bible translation to the Gonja language, and sending children to Bible camp in the summer. The mother/wife of the family who I stayed with here in Oslo when I first arrived is from Ghana. Their family is kind of the leaders of this project.

It will be interesting to see first hand and experience this project. I have met the man who started and runs the orphanage when he visited Oslo in the fall. It sounds like the leaders of the project are working to integrate the projects into the community and make them sustainable - not just people from the North giving money or aid. But instead working to develop relationships and support the local people as they see fit. Will be interesting, for sure!

So, I have my malaria pills ready to go. Have been immunized against Yellow Fever. Been told not to even touch standing water and to drink only bottled water. Bought roll on mosquito repellent and high levels of sunscreen. Borrowed a mosquito net. And finally found a light weight long sleeve shirt (gotta keep those bugs away!) and a hat (keep the sun away!). It took forever to find these last two items. The whole sporting industry of Norway is still in skiing season, not travel clothes. Fleece fleece everywhere!

I think I am about ready to go. Keep me in your prayers! We fly into Accra and then will be driving north to Domongo (near Tamale, if you are looking on a map.)