Timothy Niligrini came rolling into the compound right on time this morning. I had everything loaded in the pickup. As we passed through town, we stopped to get Timothy some breakfast going south to the village of Kpande (pronounced K-pan-dee). This village is a” fer piece” as some folks may say. It takes 1.5 hours to get there. The majority of the road is good until we have to turn onto the dirt road leading towards the village of Nakpa. It was quite evident the dry season is upon us when traveling down the dirt roads now. I feel sorry for the motorcycle riders that get dusted when I pass them, even when I slow down it doesn’t help much.
We arrived at the church building around 9:30. Some of the men were present but it was going to be some time before services started so we had Brother Samuel, one of the church leaders, take us to the chief’s house and let him know we were in the village. We had enough time to give the chief his greeting and the kola and we headed back to the building.
I was given the responsibility of teaching the bible class and Timothy was given the sermon. I asked before I started the class how much time was allotted for me and I was told 30 minutes. Well, I taught the lesson about the body being the temple of God. This lesson really generates the questions; especially when dealing with fornication and polygamy. We just love having the class participation and asking questions for us to answer. I think the questions and answers help us to really get to the meat of what the congregation is dealing with. Preaching is fine but sometimes we as teachers don’t teach about subjects that are timely for our audiences. Poor Timothy didn’t have as much time to preach due to all the questions that were brought up in the class session.
After services were over, we were provided a meal that consisted of Fufu (pounded yams) and a hot pepper soup that had smoked fish in it. Neither one of us is a lover of fish; especially smoked fish which looked like a catfish. You know I have a reputation for eating most foods set before me but I bypassed the fish and allowed Kandie to eat a little of it. She had me take a photo of the fish head that was in our pan of soup. I love the Fufu so I ate more than my share of it. On top of that we were also presented with a Guinea Fowl and some yams to bring back to Yendi. That was very sweet of them. It is our custom to give the cooks a dash (money) for their hard work. We gave the money to be used to buy food the next time we come to visit. We also gave them some money for the fish. They were very happy!!!
When we got back to the compound around 2:30 this afternoon Timothy discovered the new rear tire that was just put on this past week was flat. I pumped it up but I could see the air bubbles around the valve stem so I knew the new inner tube had a hole in it. I advised Timothy to take the motorcycle back to the fitter and have it checked out. When he returned later, he said the tube had a nail in it so he had to get a new inner tube again. Oh well, such is life when dealing with a vehicle around here.
We went back where the masons had been rebuilding the wall shortly after Timothy left the compound. They should have the job completed by tomorrow if all goes well. That will be one headache eliminated.
Tonight, at Kulkpeni we were lucky to see John, the mason that built the toilets last year. One bath house has the doors falling off and needs repaired. We talked with John about those repairs and we discussed getting an estimate on the cost of building another bath house behind the church building before the seminar in 3 weeks. We will see how that all pans out.
We hope you enjoyed the extra hour of sleep last night. I know we didn’t! Ha! Have a good day and may God bless.
In His service,
Stephen & Kandie Taylor
with Skeeter
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