Converting to Islam and Blessing the Rain

Today I felt cold... it was 80 degrees outside...

We've been on a week long outreach with Charity Eye Clinic in a place called Sunyani. It's more in the country than Kumasi and so beautiful here. It's been super fun hanging out with the other clinic workers after our daily outreaches and have small adventures here. 

So a couple fun stories... 

I'm about 75% positive I became a Muslim yesterday. Not really haha. Our clinic set up next to a Mosque in the heart of the Islam district in Sunyani. I was in charge of registration that day which always becomes pretty tiring after a while. No one speaks any English so registering people for the clinic is the hardest job because it means about 4 hours of straight up speaking a mixture of Twi, hand gestures, and speaking loudly in English. It's mostly effective. Anyways, there was a lull in registration and I noticed lots of people coming in and out of the Mosque. I asked one of our workers, Prempee, if I could go inside. He called over some guy next to the church, and had a conversation in Twi in which I had no idea what they said. 

Next thing I know, Shelby and I are being led to a well where we performed ablution, which was a cleaning ceremony. We had to wash our hands, feet, hair, face, and forearms. The man then covered our heads with scarves and led us inside. In very serious, broken English he told us to say exactly what he did, stay behind him, and make the same movements. So we did this prayer ritual in which the words I understood were "Allah Akbar". Afterwards we looked up the ritual for being inducted to the Islamic faith...oddly similar haha. Good times, good times. Don't worry everyone Im still planning to serve a mission!!

Today was our last day in the Sunyani area, which made me quite sad. Not only do I no longer feel as if I'm going to be killed by a creepy Ghanaian hotel owner like i do in Kumasi but this area is so beautiful. This afternoon I was sitting on the wall of this hostel looking out to the street when a bunch of kids started talking to me. They took us to a field closeby to play soccer which was so fun! Michael, Shelby, Prempee and I were on a team and to my surprise won 5-4. I'm pretty sure the goalie for their team was about 6 years old but all the other kids were mid to high teens and meant business so I'm pretty proud of the goals I made. 

From what I have come to understand, "rainy season" does not mean it rains all the time. Rainy season means at night there is thunder and lightening and pelts of rain that feels heavy enough to knock down a building. Then during the daytime the humidity only intensifies. Shelby and I took tonights storm as an opportunity to, as Toto suggests, bless the rains here in Africa. We put on our swimsuits and washed our hair in the downpour. Best shower ever. 

Pictures:

1. The Mosque next to our clinic 

2. View from our hostel, doesn't quite capture the raw beauty of this area 

3/4. Blessing the rains here in Ghana 

5/6. Playing football with our neighbors Ellen, Ephraim, and Hymas... they were pretty impressed that we beat them... or maybe they just said that because we bought them Fanice afterward