During soccer season, Kwesi always liked to make metaphors that related soccer to other real life experiences. His go-to story was about building a cathedral. He would tell us to look at every single game, and even practice, as building another block. He would always try to make the point that we should not always think of it as the journey to winning a championship, but one block at a time; and before you know it, you will have yourself a full cathedral.

This story has stuck with me since soccer season, and now I realize that it relates to our time here in Ghana. Ghana is a cathedral that always seems to be in the process of being built. You rarely see a building here that is completely finished. All of the buildings look really nice, but they have been left for years without being touched. We are also working on building a building on the Heritage Academy campus, so we are literally going step by step, and building the blocks to make a physical, working cathedral.

My time in Ghana has been spectacular, and it has opened my eyes to so many things. We take for granted so much when we are living in the United States. We rely on our water faucets to have clean water no matter what time of the day it is. We rely on our showers to provide us with hot, soothing baths. We rely on our workers to keep the country moving, and supply us with the things we need. We rely on our cell phones and computers, to act as an escape from the outside, and real world.

In the past week or so, I have gotten to know the other 13 kids in the trip, Melissa, Kwesi, and Profe Lauren, so much more than I had before. We have not been hindered by the lack of technology. We have embraced the fact that we have this special time to get away from it all and make a difference.

Now on to the Heritage side of it… school this week has been flying by. My lessons/classes are flowing very nicely. My students are understanding the material, and it is always an amazing feeling when they tell me that they appreciate me teaching them. The students at Heritage have been such a huge welcoming party. Every day I get around 5 letters from kids who attend Heritage. Every night, I have a list of kids in my notebook that I have to write letters for. I have made some great friendships on this trip that will continue even when I make the 12 hour venture back to the United States.