Coming Home...

The time has come… for my last blog post in Ghana! Wow. I don’t even know where to start. 

The last four months has been quite a journey.

Before coming to Ghana in August I felt like I had a very narrow view of Africa, and of the world. I don’t think any of us actually realize how big the world actually is. We just go about our daily lives, not really thinking about what might be going on in another country or continent. We are just one person out of BILLIONS on this earth! And oh wow have I realized how many good people there are in this area of the world.

I know that when I get home that people will want to know about my experience here in Ghana. They will ask, “How was Africa?” and my short answers will include, “It was great,” “It was different,” “It was HOT!” I will not be able to really give an accurate description of what changes I have experienced here in just a few short words or sentences. It is similar when you are asked the question, “How was your mission?” Well, if you really want to know about how my mission went or how my experience here in Ghana was like, you will need to take more than three hours for me to even just scratch the surface.

I have contemplated what the biggest lesson that I have learned from this experience is… And I would say that I have learned about the importance of the individual. I know and believe that each person we meet or see is indeed a child of our Heavenly Father. He knows each and every one of us individually and by name. We are important to Him. Do we really understand the value that each person has as we pass by one another? I know that I didn’t. And I still don’t know if I ever will fully understand that. But this experience has taught me that we all need to SLOW DOWN our lives and take the time to get to know, to appreciate, and to love the individual.

There are many individuals who have impacted my life. I have developed relationships here with people that I want to last for a very long time. Although our paths may be taking us away from each other for a while, I know that we will meet again. I know that we will share the memories of this experience and keep them close to our heart.

I don’t know when/if I will ever get the chance to come back to this part of the world. But I know that I will never forget the time that I had here. I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for blessing me with this opportunity to come and to have had so many wonderful experiences with so many wonderful people. I leave on Sunday to fly out to London! I am very excited to spend some time there traveling and seeing some friends. I look forward to reuniting with my family and spending the holidays with them. I thank everyone who has taken the time to read this blog. I know that sometimes I can be long-winded (like today) but I appreciate it anyway. I hope that you have been able to see a little of what I have been experiencing for the last 4 months. I hope to continue to post on this blog and use it to share more about my life experiences. 

May we all find joy in our journey.

24 Years YOUNG!

What an incredible week! So much has happened that it is hard to remember what I did each day this last week. To start… I received an email that I have been selected to present my thesis research on African Drumming at the WRAMTA (Western Region of the American Music Therapy Association ) Conference in Tempe Arizona in April! I will be doing an interactive presentation for music therapy students, interns, and new music therapy professionals! This is something that I have wanted to do for a long time. I think this will be a great opportunity for me to get my foot in the door of the professional world of music therapy. Now comes the hard part… Actually finishing my thesis haha.

On Wednesday I spent the day with my friend Ernest. We went to Madina market early in the morning to shop for food and then we went to the temple site and found a kitchen to cook. He taught me how to make bean stew, cabbage stew, and fried plantains. It was not hard to do and the good turned out to be so delicious! I can’t wait to make it for family and friends at home!

Thursday was the African Ensemble Performance. My group performed mostly singing pieces and I was given the opportunity to sing 3 songs in Twi as a solo! I was really nervous but it all went well. I got to wear a neat outfit and the Ghanaian crowd was pretty impressed that I could sing some of their local songs. I even had one of the master drummers come up and stick some money on my forehead as I was in the middle of the song hahaha!

And then Friday and Saturday I travelled to the Volta Region with my friend Kristen! Our first stop was at Cedi Beads in Kpong. We were able to see how the local beads and jewelry were made. It was such an amazing process to see how much work goes into making every individual bead. Then we travelled to the village of Wli where we hiked up to the lower waterfall! The force coming from the waterfall was so overwhelming that I couldn’t get as close to where the water was falling. It was an incredible feeling to be swimming in a waterfall in the middle of Africa!!! It is an experience that I cannot put in to adequate words. We stayed at the Waterfall Lodge that night and enjoyed delicious food, stargazing, and sitting in a hammock! 

On Saturday we woke up early and travelled to the Tafi Atome monkey sanctuary. We walked into a forested area and saw so many small monkeys hanging from the trees! We held bananas in our hands and they would jump from the trees onto our arms and shoulders. How cool is that?!?! Then the last thing that we did on Saturday is hike Mount Afadjato, the tallest mountain in Ghana. The hike was VERY difficult because the path was almost a straight vertical, instead of switch-backs. As we hiked to the top we had an amazing view of the valley area and we were very close to the mountains that were on the Togo border. After all of those adventures, we finally travelled back to campus. It was a really fun but exhausting weekend and I am glad that I got to spend it with my best friend Kristen :)

Sunday was my 24^th birthday! I celebrated the day by wearing a new beautiful African dress to church, played the organ for sacrament meeting, bore my testimony, taught my CTR primary class about how to show our love for animals, and taught new Christmas songs during singing time! As I was getting ready to leave church I ran into a friend from the USU music therapy program! Kelsie Smalley is here with her husband doing some work with the USU Huntsman School of Business Seed Program. I knew she was in Ghana but I didn’t know when we would meet up. They randomly chose to come to the Madina church building and I got to see her and give her a big hug! It was fun to see someone from back home and catch up. After church I came home, took a nap, and prepared for the big PARTY! You all know, there is always a party with Marti hahaha! I invited all of the ISEP students and the LDSSA students over for some jollof, wache, cake, ice cream, and juice. It was fun to have everyone together and spend the wonderful day with my close friends. Then the best ending to the day was skyping with Dad, Mom, Sandi, Dan, Kelli, Casey, and Grandpa and Grandma Marchand! I am glad that my birthday was on a Sunday so that I had the chance to talk to all of them like I usually do. I felt so much love from everyone that day and I am truly grateful for all of the family and friends that I am blessed to have in my life.

Last week was so busy but it was also so great! I am down to my last two weeks and I am trying to make the most of my time with the people who I have become close with here. I love you all and miss you! I can’t wait to see you in a few weeks!