On our first Sunday back in Yendi we made a 2 hour trip south to the village of Jakpumba in the Nanumba District. Timothy Niligrini and Brother Francis from Duuni had planned to go to the village today without us not realizing that we would be back in Yendi. They were following up on a request made by one of the church leaders that attended the classes last month at Kulkpeni. The brother told them one of the older male members at their congregation told the Church that he now was a practicing soothsayer.
Timothy met Kandie and me at the house and we drove 15 miles and pick up Bro. Francis on the road leading to Jakpumba. The rains have really rutted up the Bimbila road that we had to travel on. In fact this road has been cut off to major traffic for nearly 2 weeks due to flooding over the road.
Upon our arrival to the village we visited the chief with the help of one of the church members. The chief verbalized how much the farmer’s yams seedlings were suffering because they planted them too close to the flooded water ways. His eyes brightened up when we gave him some kola.
The Church asked Timothy to teach the bible class; Francis interpreted for him. He taught a lesson about Joseph from the Old Testament. Timothy in turn interpreted for me as I taught a lesson about Balaam, the soothsayer from Numbers chapters 22-24. After services questions were asked about marriage and divorce. One young guy said he didn’t like the answer that was given to him last week so he asked the same question today hoping for a better answer. He said I think that women grow older faster than men do so a man should be able to divorce the old looking woman and marry a younger, prettier one. You can imagine there was a lot of discussion about this question. After discussing the scriptural grounds for divorce I reminded the men about what Malachi 2:15 said “… deal not treacherously against the wife of his youth”. Another brother asked this question “ If I write a letter and petition another congregation to find me a wife and they find someone am I under obligation to marry her? Of course, he wouldn’t have to marry her. Ghana has been doing arranged marriages for hundreds of years so the people don’t think it would not be all that strange for a church to arrange a marriage, even if it is against Ghana human rights.
We also were told by the brothers of the Church the male church member who was rumored to be a soothsayer was visited by them and he confessed that he was now a fully fledged soothsayer. He had no intentions of returning to the Church but he would allow his wife and children to come. There are three steps to become a fully fledged soothsayer. The process usually takes months to years to complete. Our erring brother did all three steps at once. When I heard this all I could think was how great a loss it is to the Lord and to our brother. I advised the brethren we should not to give up on the brother and always keep him in our prayers for a change of heart.
After closing our meeting with prayer the brothers sent us off with a hen for a gift. They were sorry they didn’t have some yams to give us. Oh please, that chicken was a costly gift . They are such a generous people.
After dropping off Francis we drove on to Nakpachee where I stopped so Timothy and I could look at their newly plastered church building. It looked very good! They still have the inside to plaster but at least the rains can’t spoil it. I took some pictures of it. We left this congregation money for the cement during our hasty departure in May. They used the money wisely!
When we arrived back at the compound after 3pm I was bushed from the drive. We went to Kulkpeni for evening bible class. We got to see all of our friends. I was sure to tell them our American brethren sent them their greetings.
Hope you have a good Lord’s Day. May He bless you richly.
In His service,
Stephen and Kandie Taylor
Email us: taylorsinghana@gmail.com
Website: www.ghanamissionfund.org
