We were up before the alarm went off at 6am this morning. Luckily, we were able to get 95% of our “To do “list finished last night. Red, our part time driver arrived around 7 am. Poor Skeeter was whining for us to come let him out of his cage but we thought it best not to do that.
Thankfully, the drive to Tamale was uneventful. We arrived at the airport in plenty of time. As we were approaching the terminal we noticed cars and pickups lining the road. Today was the first flight out of Tamale to the Hajj (yearly pilgrimage to Mecca) in Saudi Arabia. All Muslims are encouraged to go on the pilgrimage during their lifetime. After getting checked in and going through the scanners we were able to see a huge Airbus jetliner operated by the Lion group from Indonesia that was to transport the pilgrims. They were loading the plane on the tarmac with women that were bused from the holding grounds we had passed while going to the terminal. Most of the women were wearing light green veils. Some of the old women were struggling to walk up the steps. Busloads after busloads of people were loaded on the plane. We felt sorry for the passengers because they had to sit in a hot plane for several hours while they loaded cargo. In fact our plane arrived and we took off and this Hajj plane was still at the terminal. We have been told by past pilgrims the planes are inferior like poor air conditioning and the people “suffer” a lot.
Our plane was on time to go to Accra. All of our luggage arrived so it was a good flight. We were not aware that today was “Mother’s Day” until we were leaving the terminal and someone wished Kandie “A Happy Mother’s Day”. I guess we had not been paying attention to the calendar. Bismark, the driver, met us at the terminal and we drove over to the hotel.
After we got settled in our room we went over to the Lebanese restaurant and had a late lunch/early supper.
Kandie has been catching up on some of the GNCDC paperwork for most of the evening. Tomorrow we will go to the Ministries to turn in our documentation that is required to renew the quota.
Please keep the brethren in your thoughts and prayers that we leave behind in the Yendi area. We look forward to seeing family and friends this coming week. Thank you for your support of the work. May God bless!
In His service,
Stephen and Kandie Taylor
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