The team is now in Tamale; here's what's planned for their weekend.

Saturday morning...the team awakens and after breakfast they will have Orientation based on the theme "respecting and honoring those we have come to live among". They will again review and expand upon the cross cultural skills they need to develop before talking about how to develop good relationships in Northern Ghana, including such topics as eating the local foods and appropriate gift giving and how that affects relationship building. They will take care of some housekeeping (breakfast teams, learning about the need to have a rest time daily after lunch) and then break into 2 groups for language learning. A team leader will then take each group around the neighborhood for an hour before lunch, showing them how to begin learning the language in an informal way by meeting and greeting people in the area. This is an essential skill for them to learn for when they go out to their various assignments.

After lunch they will have free time....but given the fact that this year Ghana will be playing a world cup match during this time, you can be sure a lot of the team will be watching the game and cheering together with the guest house staff and other visitors in the large dining/meeting room.

In the evening, the teams Mentors will arrive for dinner and an evening of games to help them all get acquainted. The Mentors are young adults from several local Dagomba churches who each year agree to take 1-2 Discovery members under their wings, taking them to church with them and then doing whatever they would normally do on a Sunday with them. This usually involves cooking a meal....definitely involves eating a meal. It could include visiting friends, hanging around in Tamale, playing games or watching TV. Last year one of our favorite mentors had prepared a list of controversial faith related topics to discuss with his new friends...and they had quite a rousing conversation! Having mentors gives our participants an opportunity to make a local friend quickly .and for everyone to get a taste of being immersed in Northern Ghanaian culture. Plus it gives the leaders a much needed break; usually John will spend it going to church and visiting dear friends of ours, the Asare family. Maybe he will get an hour or two of quiet in his bedroom before the team comes back after dinner time....when the leaders will make popcorn and break out minerals (sodas) for everyone they hear their stories and have much fun in the sharing.