When I got up this morning, I thought I was ready to meet the day head on because yesterday afternoon I had strapped down the church signboard and bench in the green pickup for our journey to the village of Salankuka. Brother Matthew Unidon, from Kulkpeni, was going to take Timothy Niligrini’s place as interpreter while Timothy was tied up with a final funeral of his family at Jagrido. I have been feeling a little strangeness in the steering on the green truck. After checking the radiator level I started looking around on the front end of the truck. Then I kicked the front passenger tire and noticed some unusual play in the wheel. After testing the other front wheel, I suspected there is a problem with that wheel. After telling Kandie about it I kept telling myself it would be alright to drive but it got the better of me so five minutes before Matthew arrived, I decided to change vehicles to the red pickup. Nothing is worse than breaking down in the bush. I am going to have Gomda, the mechanic, take a look at it tomorrow.
The village of Salankuka is east of Yendi about 30km. We have to cross over the Oti River. To our amazement, when we crossed the bridge, we saw a field of corn that had been planted near the river that had already tasseled out. We could see the area had gotten rain earlier in the week but the farmers may be irrigating that field someway to have the plants so mature. Most farmers haven’t even thought about planting corn.
After crossing the river, I asked Matthew if he had ever visited this village? I asked because without Timothy’s directions as to where to turn I wasn’t sure if I would see the turnoff. Matthew said he wasn’t sure how to get there so I kept my eyes peeled for the church’s sign board. We were lucky to see the sign so we made the turn without any problem.
Brother Emmanuel, one of the church leaders, and several others met us upon our arrival. The Church was meeting in their small metal roofed building so we knew it was going to be a hot day as the sun rose higher. The congregation was happy to get the gifts that we gave to them. Instead of a bench, I gave them a soccer ball. The bench would not fit in the back of the newer pickup due to the bed having a cap on it. There were 67 people present for the service. I delivered the same lesson that I taught last week about our bodies are the temple of God. There were quite a few questions asked after services. During this time an event really caught my eye that was not taking place in the church building. It was outside at the chief’s house. I noticed the men were walking single file with one man using a gong-gong and others following him. Then I saw two men carrying two rounded black objects in the procession. Then I understood what was happening. The chief was walking around the house with these men as they carried these stone-like objects that were glossy black from blood sacrifices; these were their gods! This was some ceremony the chief was doing to please the gods. This is straight out of the Old Testament times when men worshiped idols. Kandie asked me what was going on and I told her it was Juju. The audience just chuckled! Since the chief was all tied up with the idols, we gave Emmanuel the kola (monetary gift) to give to the chief after things settled down and we had left.
Before leaving, an older woman stayed behind with the men that were talking with us. She was from a neighboring village. Come to find out the men told us after she left, she said she was learning to be a preacher. I’m sure she wasn’t happy when I quoted
1 Corinthians 14:34 during my closing of my lesson when the Apostle Paul said plainly that women are to keep silent in the Churches.
The church showed their appreciation for our coming by presenting us with a nice rooster. As we were driving away, I told Matthew that we were dashing him the rooster which made him very happy!
Just as we were about to sit down to eat our lunch, Iddrisu told Kandie that Skeeter had gotten tangled up in a small rope in his cage. Both of us went out to see what was happening. Poor Skeeter was all wrapped up and he must have been that way for some time because he was exhausted. Kandie crawled into the cage and cut him free. He had an abrasion under his left arm pit and he was not his usual rambunctious self. Kandie said he made 3 attempts to jump up in the big mango tree but couldn’t so we know he is hurting. I’m sure Skeeter will let you know more about the ordeal in tomorrow’s Notes.
Later in the afternoon we went to town to buy cooking oil and some native rice to give to the workers. The way we understand it, if we give the workers any kind of monetary gift it has to be reported for tax purposes, but giving food to each of the workers is acceptable because food is nontaxable.
That rounds out our Lord’s Day. Hope you have a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day tomorrow. May God bless!
In His service,
Stephen and Kandie Taylor
& Skeeter
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