I was beginning to think we were going to be late getting to our destination this morning. The reason we were running late was because the man who is helping Iddrisu get his motorcycle registered came this morning at 8:10 and we were scheduled to leave at 8:30. I was tying down a church bench and table in the pickup when Mr. Abdullah arrived. Kandie and I noticed he was having a hard time reading Iddrisu’s motorcycle papers so we asked him if he needed reading glasses. Well, of course he needed reading glasses! We got them out and fitted him with a pair. That helped to get things moving faster. By the time Timothy arrived we were only a few minutes behind schedule.
The congregation that we visited today was Nanjuni, located east of Yendi off of the road to Gnani in the bush about 2 miles. Last month you might remember when we visited the congregation at Bitamondo, near Nanjuni, I offered to restore the table for the Church. It had been sitting on the veranda repaired and painted for several weeks. Long enough the bats left their trademarks all over it to the extent that it needed a good washing before I loaded it this morning. I said all that to say we drop off the table at Bitamondo before turning into the bush to Nanjuni.
As soon as we turn off of the main road we are at Simon’s house. Simon is one of the leaders of the congregation. I drove the pickup because I was unsure of the condition of the bush road and I thought I might need the 4 wheel drive . There were so many people and children loaded in the back of the pickup you couldn’t stir them with a stick. Several times on the way to the church building I told myself I was glad to have the pickup or we would have been digging out the van out of the mud.
The church building is built out of zanna mats (tall grass). They even use zanna mats for the roofing material. The strange thing about the building is a tree is growing through the roof on one side. There is a certain tree the villagers cut nice straight branches off of and planted them during the rainy season. These branches are easily rooted and will go on to grow to a full size tree. When they built the building they used one of the poles from this tree to hold the roof up and the branch rooted and grew.
The Church was tickled to death to get the gift we brought to them; bench, bible ,pad & pen, bread, juice and cups. Brother Simon (pronounced See’mone) taught the bible class and Timothy and I were asked to preach. I taught the lesson that I used last week about the Hadean world and witches/soothsayers. This lesson really hits home because just up the road at Gnani is one of several witch camps located in Ghana. Witches are all too real to these people. It is no joking matter to these folks when you have been brought up to believe witches are real as a pagan worshipper. My lesson was to reassure the audience these people have no power and not to fear them. This may very well have been the case that our Corinthian and Athenian brethren had to deal with in the Churches in New Testament times.
After the question and answer period we were treated to watching the young children sing several songs in their native language and some quoted scriptures for us. Kandie got some video of the children. The children did very well! We praised them for their good work.
From there we went to the chief’s house. Simon led us to the chief’s room where he meets guests. The chief told Simon he knew we would be coming to see him so he was waiting on us to come. This was the first time a chief has told us he knew we would to coming to see him. That is a good reputation for us to have!
Before we left we had a meeting with some of the men of the Church. They wanted to know if we would help them build a more permanent church building. They had already made some cement blocks . We usually don’t push cement block buildings because the cost is so high and our funds limited but we did say we would provide them some matching fund money now so they can continue the work and then we will match with the roofing materials , doors and windows. The brothers were very happy for the assistance. As a parting gift they presented us with some new yams and some guinea eggs.
After off loading what seemed to be a hundred people out of the pickup we drove on toward Yendi. On the way Timothy received a call from his wife Rita saying a female church member at Kulkpeni collapsed during bible study and several of the men sent her to the Yendi Hospital. Before going to the house we stopped at the hospital to see how the sister was doing. They were physically restraining her due to the pain she was experiencing. Her husband Emmanuel was at the hospital. We talked with him and I left him some cash for medicine and treatment. Her insurance card had expired a month ago and they had just renewed it last week so it is not valid for a month. As of 5pm they still didn’t know much about her. Most people do not know or ask what the doctor’s diagnosis is for the patient and most of the medical personnel don’t inform the patient or family. We do thank the people who give us money to help people like this in their time of need. It is appreciated!
That’s it for today. Hope you’re having a good Lord’s Day. Please remember the families that have family/friends in the hospitals and others who are grieving for their loved ones.
In His service,
Stephen and Kandie Taylor
Email us at taylorsinghana@gmail.com
Website www.ghanamissionfund.org
