The post you are currently reading is my 4th attempt at conveying the many ways in which three weeks in Ghana impacted me.

Who would have thought that an impulse decision made on a leap of faith would be so significant and completely alter the course of my life.

In all honesty, I didn’t choose Ghana for my HEFY expedition. Although I wanted to go on a trip with HEFY, it didn’t seem logical to spend my last summer at home in a third-world country when I should be studying for the ACT and prepping for senior year and university admissions and adulthood. But sitting in sacrament meeting one rainy Sunday, I thought, “just go”. So I got registered, waitlisted, and left the rest completely up to fate.

It would be 4 weeks before I learned that I would be serving in Cape Coast, Ghana, and I cried because I really felt that was where I was meant to be.

And thus began my love affair with the country and people of Ghana.

Three things learned in three weeks:

Gratitude

The first weekend hit me with a wave of homesickness and anxiety to the point that I spent the second night in Ghana on the bathroom floor vomiting (and having no contact with family and friends made it that much worse).I thought for sure I would be sent home. But thanks to a heartfelt priesthood blessing and the support of my group (truly the greatest group, I lucked out!), I stayed. I’m so grateful I was able to overcome that and carry out the service I had intended to do.

I learned quickly that you really do have to be grateful for what you have. I couldn’t think about the comforts and luxuries I enjoyed at home, because it only intensified the homesickness. I couldn’t think about my warm shower, I had to learn to be grateful to have running water at all (even though it was cold and unclean and I had to shower with a bucket). I learned to be grateful for electricity, even though the rooms were so dimly lit, because there were so many that didn’t even have that. I learned to be grateful for the food, even though the meals were so foreign and some unfavorable, because there were so many who struggled to get even one meal a day. I learned to be grateful for somewhat warm, hose-tasting water, because clean, purified water was a rarity in the area.

When you take the time to recognize it , there is SO much to be grateful for, regardless of however messy the circumstances may be.

“And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions”

— Mosiah 24:14

Building a Foundation

As the first group to tackle this project, we were tasked with building the foundation. We left the site everyday completely exhausted and sore and fatigued from the physical labor. We dug deep to make trenches and exerted so much energy to mix and pour concrete, only to have our hard work leveled out and covered up.

It reminded me of that primary song about the wise man building his house upon a rock. Building your house on a rock isn’t as easy and straightforward as that song makes it seem. You really have to dig deep. You have to dig away the dirt of sins and distractions and temptations until you get to the solid bedrock, and then you can build from there. It’s not a one-time thing or something you can accomplish overnight. It takes strength and endurance and faith and lots of time spent digging and working for it.

It was hard for me to come to terms with the fact that no one would ever actually see the work we had done, and to many, it may look like we did absolutely nothing since it would all eventually just be covered up. But that foundation is the most important part. Without it, nothing else matters, because everything else would fall apart.

It made me wonder. What was my foundation? What was I building my life and my testimony on?

At the end of the day, if we don’t have a firm foundation built on Christ, nothing else matters, because without it, everything else falls apart.

“And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.”

— Helaman 5:12

The Light of Christ

There’s one thing that I will always remember about Ghana, and that’s the light. It’s hard to explain it if you haven’t felt it.

In a place where people have so little, they give so much, and there’s so much light in them.

One lady brought us coconuts on the worksite, which to us just looked like a kind gesture, but to her was a sacrifice. That was her livelihood.

The owner of the restauraunt we visited heard about the service we were doing and didn’t charge us for our meal.

One man came to work with us on the worksite every afternoon, unpaid and usually without shoes because his flip flips had holes in them.

“But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God.”

— Moroni 7:13

I learned so much about love, kindness, sacrifice, and dedication in the three weeks I was there. The kindest, most hard-working people I’ve ever known are in Cape Coast, Ghana, and I’ll forever remember them.

So medaase, Ghana. I love you.