15th November 2018
Yendi Notes
Our first visitor arrived at 7:00 this morning; far too early for those of us whose body clocks are still on Alabama time. If you figure the 6 hour time difference Shaibu Adams arrived in the middle of the night! He had ASV (anti-snake venom medicine) that he wanted to sell and he knew that we are usually on the look for it. He had also heard about Steve’s brother’s death and he wanted to extend his condolences to us. So sweet! But still too early!
Abdulla, the man who is trying to get the VELD (road worthy) sticker for us went back to Tamale this morning but he did not have any success. They told him that since the truck had a 3.2cc engine it fell under the category of a large cargo vehicle and we would have to pay 1,050 GH each year for the VELD renewal. Please! Give me strength! The motor that is in the truck is not even the original engine. The new one is only 2.7cc which is supposed to be in the normal range. After several phone calls it was determined that we had to drive the truck to Tamale and let the “big man” look at it and re-evaluate the truck. We have no choice but to go in the morning and to drive the truck without an updated sticker. Steve asked the man at the VELD office what we should do if the police stopped us. He said we should pay the fine and drive on to Tamale to their office. AND THERE IS THAT! Abdulla said he wanted to go with us to help us with the problem since he is one of their officers. At this point I am not really sure if he is helping the cause or hurting it!
When we found out that we were going to have to go to Tamale tomorrow instead of early next week we rushed around and got all the documents together so we can pay the workers social security tax for next year. It has to be paid in Tamale. We prefer to pay it in bulk once a year instead of running over there every month to pay it. Besides it would be difficult to get it paid when we are in the states on leave.
We also need to buy more Konkomba Bibles because some of the brothers will want to buy them at the seminar. We decided that we will fly out from Tamale when we get ready to leave in December so we are going to try and buy our plane ticket tomorrow too. We need to go to bank so we will be busy all day.
The workers were happy to see us and anxious to hear all about the funeral. Their funeral customs are so different from ours.
Dawda, the mason came by this afternoon and Steve took him out to look at the church building at Kulkpeni and give us an idea about what it is going to take to enclose the veranda. He plans on starting the work on Monday.
Take care and keep us in your prayers.
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
