(4) Picking up speed

While on vacation I texted another friend, Melissa. She had texted me back when she saw that we were having a fund raiser yard sale and wanted to know more. I finally got back to her 5 days into our vacation, June 23. She asked if I knew Becky Rogers and if we would be anywhere near her family. I knew of  Becky and 2 things about her: she has a daughter that was in a book club with 2 of my daughters 2 years ago, and that their family had moved to Africa. Considering how large Africa is I didn't think the possibility of meeting her was very likely. Even when I found out that they lived in Ghana I wasn't confident we would ever meet. To give some perspective, Ghana is about 8,000 square miles larger that the state of Utah. Then there is the population comparison: Ghana's 28.21 million to Utah's 3.102 million -the chances were slim.
I didn't do anything about contacting Becky until on July 21 a clear and strong feeling came to contact her. My first thought was -I wouldn't even know what to say. The feeling came again. I put my pride aside and acted. I sent a quick message on Facebook saying, "I don't know if you remember me. Our daughters were in a girls club together before you moved to Africa. I have felt for about 6-7 months that we need to move to Africa for anywhere from a few months to a year. We didn't know what part of Africa but that seems to be becoming clear that it is to be Ghana. We have had a few people come into our life that are great connections and resources to help us, but my husband want someone that wouldn't directly be connected to our time there to give some insight. We are wanting to serve in an orphanage. I have had a couple phone calls and lots of messages on Messenger with a man that lives in Ghana. He helps coordinate travel and service opportunities with a professor at BYU. A separate/ different couple came into our lives 2 days later. They came to our home to visit 2 days after that. The wife is from Utah and the husband is from Ghana. This father owns an orphanage in Ghana. My husband have SO many questions. He would like to have insight form someone that would be unbiased. Would you be willing to answer some of his questions: Is it safe? How much are living expenses for a family: food, housing, transportation? How do you provide health care for your family? How do you guard against disease, worms, etc.? Where are you at in Ghana? I'm sure there are many more but these are a couple he has asked frequently. I understand if you don't have time to correspond -just let me know and we'll keep looking and asking others. We are considering coming in early November so we need to get the ball rolling." Then I went to bed.
The next morning there were 2 replies. One was an offer to video message to talk. We Facebook messaged a couple hours later and agreed on a time that worked for both of us for a video call. She warned us that we might not want to get her started because she could go on forever. A few things we will get used to are that when its raining, like it was when we called, that the connection can be delayed or drop; that when the satellite is directly over Ghana the connection is better; and the connections start to get bad after about 10 minutes. So we called back several times to keep a quicker, more clear video. We talked for over an hour. All of our questions were answered. MANY of their faith experiences were shared. Best of all Heavenly Father gave us new friends in Ghana. We messaged back and forth for a couple more hours throughout the day. More  miracles and blessings were discovered. First, her family lives in Kumasi also. second, I find out where the orphanage was located and shared it with Becky, they live 2 1/2 miles from it! Third, they are going to check it out and tell us all about it.
These miracles are all possible by a loving Heavenly Father! Our experiences are a witness that "Obedience brings success, exact obedience brings MIRACLES" as Russel M. Nelson has said.