We slept till 8:00 am this morning. It was nice to be sleeping on the waterbed mattress at Yendi rather than the hard one at the hotel. The remnants of brain fog are still with us from the jet lag and I didn’t want to forget anything so I had rounded up the church gifts we usually take to the bush with us last night. Timothy Niligrini planned for us to visit with the Naapaache congregation. That is where we worshipped this morning. I just didn’t feel like trying to get the green pickup started so we took the good blue van. While on the subject of the good van, yesterday when we were going though one of the police barriers we were pulled over and a policeman was looking at the license plate and then looked at the VELD sticker that shows if the vehicle registration is up-to-date. The policeman did a doubletake of both items, then started reading his cell phone. Red, our driver, chuckled and said the policeman was wondering why the license plate, having such an old number, was on a van that looked much newer. After looking at his phone he let us pass through. I have tried my best to keep our newer vehicles in good shape by keeping them in the garage. Enough said!
Timothy showed up around 9am and we headed south of Yendi toward Naapaache. Before leaving town, we stopped so we could purchase some bread for Timothy’s breakfast. Since the road is good it is only a 20-minute drive to the village. We were met by Brother Super and several other church leaders upon arrival. Bro. Super was quick to show us his swollen right hand that he has been dealing with. Having swollen feet/toes and hands/fingers happens quite often here. Sometimes the people tell us they got a puncture wound while at other times they say nothing happened to them that they are aware of. In most cases it usually means it is infected! In Bro. Super’s case, he needs a strong antibiotic soon so he doesn’t have damage to his hand and fingers. I, as a nurse, can’t prescribe an antibiotic but we gave him money so he could go to a chemist and buy the antibiotic.
The Church asked Timothy to teach the bible class. He discussed some of the traditional things that Christians can and cannot do at a funeral. An example he used was people in the village sometimes say that Christians cannot cry at a funeral/burial. He used scriptures to prove it is ok for brethren to cry or weep. There is an alcoholic drink named “Peto” the women make from guinea corn (grain sorghum) used extensively at funeral celebrations. There is a non-alcoholic peto that can be made as well. Timothy suggested it would be better not to drink the non-alcoholic peto because someone might think you were drinking the alcohol type and cause someone to stumble. The congregation was very pleased to hear the message. I taught a lesson using several verses from the book of Ecclesiastes. As Solomon said in chapter 3 there is a time for everything.
As is our custom, we took the church a bench, some paper tablets with pens, a Konkomba language Bible, chalk, bread, juice, and cups. I was also happy to see the congregation had hung the clock that we had distributed to each of the churches that had attended the seminar back in late November.
It took some getting used to the “Hot” church building this morning. Everyone involved was sweating like he/she was in a sauna bath. This afternoon our temperature was 106 degrees F with a heat index of 117 degrees F.
Before leaving the village, we visited the chief. We were told earlier we have a good reputation with the chief because we always come and respectively greet him. Today there were many men under the tree because the chief’s brother’s wife had died. We also noticed the chief had a dressing on his right forearm. He had surgery twice to remove the growth but it appears to be coming back; Not a necessary a good sign.
After eating our lunch Skeeter, the monkey, made his way back to our cool bedroom/office. He is like having a 2-year-old child getting into everything. He’s not spoiled; he just smells that way! Greased lightning can’t keep up with him. His adopted mother adores him.
We have some sick family members back in Athens having colds and the flu. I’m sure there are a lot of folks in the same boat. Tis the season. We pray God will look after everyone!
We hope you had a good Lord’s Day. Thanks for your continued prayers and support.
In His service,
Stephen and Kandie Taylor
With Skeeter
