Kandie, Timothy, and I got into the green pickup this morning as usual and I cranked the engine and it started. That’s where the story takes an abrupt turn. When I pressed the accelerator down there wasn’t the least bit of resistance. I suspect the cable is broken. The truck was already loaded so we quickly got everything out of the truck and moved them over into the old van. The old van started and off we went. Vehicles are wonderful until they aren’t working correctly. Timothy said we are lucky we have another vehicle, because if not, we would not be going anywhere today. Amen!
We visited the congregation at Kpanjamba, located east of Yendi. It takes about 35-40 minutes to get to the village. When we arrived, the chief was nearby so we walked over to him and talked for a few minutes. These chiefs like it when you show them respect. The chief gave us a little of the village history that we hadn’t heard before. He said the village was here when the Germans arrived back in the 1800’ s. The chief has an old German metal vise that she would love to get him to sell to her but not today.
Before services started I gave the people assembled the choice of two subjects to preach about; dreams or the account of Job. They chose Job. I was happy to accommodate their request. I really like telling the story about Satan coming before God and the audiences are always impressed to know how rich Job was. After services a brother asked a question if God wanted us to have lots of children since Job already had ten children and He gave Job ten more after the ordeal was over. We explained that no matter how many children a man has he must be sure he can provide for all of them. We also explained that men designate what sex the children will be. This is an important point because many men here will divorce their wife because she doesn’t have boys or she can’t bare children at all. Information such as this is not communicated to the village people so this was news to most in the audience.
I forgot to mention we had an unexpected visitor come in shortly after I started to speak. It was a man and I thought he might be drunk. He came in and sat down in a chair; was very quiet and paid attention. Before services closed he stood up and said goodbye out loud and walked out. The brothers said he was mentally ill and from a nearby village. God loves us all!
When we came back to Yendi I swung around to Gomda’s mechanic shop and informed him about the accelerator not working. He is going to come to the house tomorrow and check it out.
Tonight, at Kulkpeni, there was a discussion about the church wanting to have a Christian funeral for one of their members that have passed on. Some families refuse to let the church have a Christian funeral because they want to do a traditional funeral so they can hire a soothsayer and do the rituals. There is a belief among the Konkomba tribe that if you don’t do the rituals, the spirit of the person will linger in the village and cause havoc. We told the class not to worry about what the family wants to do, just have their own memorial service and don’t wangle with the family.
Hope you enjoyed the extra hour of sleep last night. Ghana doesn’t have a time change.
Hope you had a good Lord’s Day! May God bless.
In his service,
Stephen & Kandie Taylor
and Skeeter
