I have a “Language Barrier” story to tell you. Sunday afternoon at the naming ceremony we asked Timothy to find out if the parents had already chosen a name for the baby. Sometimes the parents chose the name and sometimes we chose the name. The parents had chosen a name. Timothy said that this was the first time he had ever heard this name. He said they wanted to call the baby “Joeflyn”. We had never heard of Joeflyn either. We asked if it was a Christian name or a traditional name. The father said that it was a Christian name. He said that it was a Biblical name. We realized that he was mispronouncing the name but we could not figure out what the real name was. We guessed Jonathan, Josiah and Jothan. Finally the father said that he would go and get his book and write the name for us. When he came back he had both the Christian and the traditional name written on a small piece of paper. The name they had chosen was Jonas; they just did not know how to pronounce it. If anyone out there is hunting for a good name for their baby you could always call him “Joeflyn”.
We left the house this morning at 6:15 to go to Tamale. We stopped at Timothy Niligrini, the evangelist house on our way out of Yendi. Timothy needed to buy some sewing supplies and tie-dye for his shop. We thought we only had a couple things to do and that we would be back early but by the time we made out the list it took us most of the day. By the time we picked up payroll, paid the vehicle insurance, hunted down a wheel chair for Abdulai Fusheni, picked up our driver’s licenses, bought motor oil and windshield wipers, checked on the price of a large poly tank, went to the cultural center, bought medicine, paid the phone bill, bought ink cartridges and laminating sleeves, ordered rubber stamps for the churches, stopped by the Nurses and Midwives council and checked for filters for the generator it was 2:00 and time to head back to Yendi. Actually we got all but 2 things marked off the list! Not bad for a day’s work!
The high temperature today was 117 degrees; we were proud that we were riding around in an air conditioned van! On the way back to Yendi we stopped to get gas and got a coke and some snacks to eat on the way back to Yendi. We should sleep good tonight!
Take care and please keep the work in your prayers.
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
