“Blessed are peaceful! Blessed are merciful!” I hardly flinched as the man sitting next to me on the tro tro stood up and started preaching. I should have, it wasn’t like I had ever seen anything of the sort before. But now, 4 weeks into my stay in Ghana, little surprises me anymore. Most of the sermon was in Twi. I understood random intervals of English. Some of the verses he read I knew well. The beatitudes were not hard to pick out. A few English words thrown in the mix and I was able to identify the list of virtues the man was saying.

Most of the passengers reacted the way I did; tro face, the nickname we have given for the blank stare people have if they don’t wan’t to talk to anyone in the tro tro. Tro face equals silence, so typically the sounds of the radio or the sounds of traffic fills the cabin. Today, we were uniquely blessed with political commentary on the radio and a preacher at the front seat. A two for one deal!!