Back Home!

After 34 hours of travel, we arrived back in Chicago safe and healthy. We have now been home for more than a week and have finally recovered from jet lag.

One thing we didn’t expect to experience when we got home was reverse culture shock. Here are a few of the things that we noticed:

1. Grocery shopping – The variety of food products available in grocery stores in the US is amazing. You can choose from six types of apples, a dozen brands of toilet paper, an entire aisle of cereal, and much, much more!

2. Water – It is great to turn on the faucet and not worry about the quality of the water. We didn’t have problems with access to water while we were in Ghana, but we saw a lot of people drawing water from community wells and from rivers. The availability of clean water is a challenge throughout Africa and much of the developing world. There is a great Christian organization focused on training, equipping and consulting nationals to develop sustainable, participatory water systems. If you’re interested, we’d encourage you to check out Living Water International at http://www.water.cc.

3. Restaurants – In Chicago we can find restaurants with food from almost any country in the world. The US is such a diverse country and we are blessed with the ability to enjoy food from other cultures. This is truly amazing! (However, the first thing we wanted to eat when we got home was a cheeseburger.)

4. Church – We were excited to return to our church, the First Presbyterian Church of Evanston, but the one-hour service seems so short! We really got used to and enjoyed the 3-4 hour services in Ghana, especially the fun worship bands.

Most of all, we miss the good friends we made during our trip to Ghana. Their kindness, hospitality and faith have inspired us to become better people. We are excited to stay in touch and continue to help them however we can. We have challenged ourselves to never forget the invaluable lessons this experience taught us and we dedicate ourselves to a life of mission in the U.S. and around the world.

Since returning we have been catching up with friends and family. It has been wonderful seeing our friends in Chicago and telling them about our experience in Ghana. They have been eager to hear about our adventures and see our photos. Here are links to our online photo albums:

Accra: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2031921&id=1161645550&l=af0bc8a3b3
Cape Coast: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2032684&id=1161645550&l=a0d59526b5

We are now in the process of moving closer to downtown. We had to find a new place when we returned, and we prayed that God would give us a sign for the place where we are meant to live. We saw almost 20 places in three days, and then went to a duplex in Wicker Park. The place was perfect! As we were leaving, we noticed a sign on the front fence that said “Evans Properties”. We immediately started laughing and said “looks like God literally gave us a sign”. We are moving on Sept. 3 before we go back to work on Sept. 8.

We will post blogs occasionally as we continue our work with GHAFES and begin speaking with graduate-level student groups. Please post your comments – we love hearing from you!