We were on the road at 7:15 this morning enroute to the village of Mulpido located in the Saboba District north east of Yendi. This is the village where Daniel Batoln , one of the evangelists that work with us lives. Depending on the road conditions it can take anywhere from 1.5-2 hours to get there from the compound.
On the way Kandie was able to get several good photos of Baobab trees . These are the trees that pagans in this area of the country believe house the dwarfs ( like leprechauns). These dwarfs cause evil things to happen in the villages and usually only Fetish priest and priestess claim to keep them in their own houses.
About three or four miles away from Mulpido on the bush road are located some natural cisterns that hold water all year. Unless you are aware of the location of these wells you would have a very difficult time finding them. There is only a two foot round opening at the top of the cisterns . These holes are just big enough for a man to go down and dig them out more to hold more water. I have no idea how deep they actually are. Some people put small diameter notched tree trunks down in the cisterns to use as a ladder. The three wells we looked into still had water in them even though everything else topside is bone dry.
We arrived in good time at Mulpido. Worship service was held outside under a partially leafed out tree. It was still cooler outside than sitting in the small church building with 105 people in it. 76 of those attending were children. Timothy interpreted for me as I preached. We took two sets of gifts with us because Daniel works with two congregations in that area. The dry season is the only time we can actually reach the villages with our vehicles because of flooding.
After the question and answer period we went over to one of the member’s house for a noon meal. Daniel’s wife and her friend had prepared some fufu and light soup for us. They had also made TZ (cornmeal mush dough ball) with some fish soup. Kandie and I enjoyed the fufu but we left the TZ and pork/fish for the others to enjoy. We made sure to thank both ladies for their food and gave them some money. Custom dictates a host isn’t to be paid for preparing a meal for a visitor. We give them something in advance for our next visit. The ladies spend a lot of money preparing these meals . We don’t want their families to suffer or go hungry.
Before we left the village we stopped at the chief’s house and greeted him . He was happy to see us. We gave him some kola which made him very pleased. Timothy also got some guinea eggs from one of the church leaders to put under his old hen that is setting. Maybe he will have some nice guinea fowls to sell or eat later this year.
We were back at the house around 3pm. Kandie worked some on the books then around 5:45 we headed out to Kulkpeni for evening bible study.
After bible study as soon as we entered the compound the wind started blowing hard and we hoped for some rain but so far it has not. Maybe in a few days!
Hope you have a good Lord’s Day. May God bless!
In His service,
Stephen and Kandie Taylor
