We had just gotten in bed last night when Timothy Niligrini called. It is not a good sign when he calls so late; usually someone has a problem or is sick. The news he had for us was not good news! James, the church leader from the village of Kulkpanga died. Timothy said that Divine was trying to get in touch with Steve to see if he could go with them to James’ home village to do a Christian burial instead of a Muslim burial. Kulkpanga is the village just before you get to Divine’s village. A very small group of Christians meet at Kulkpanga. The village is a Dagomba village; they are not Konkomba’s like Divine and Timothy. The village is also a Muslim village. Several years ago as we were coming back from Divine’s village we saw a man running across his yard trying to get us to stop the vehicle. We thought that he wanted a ride into Yendi. He did not want a ride. He was begging us to bring the church to his village. He said there was not a church in Kulkpanga because there were so many Muslims. He said that he wanted his family to be Christians. He had heard about the church in Divine’s village and he wanted the church to come to his village. We had several more meetings with him and the church was established. There are only 4 adult members, several young teenagers and lots of children. The church meets in James’ house. We visit them as often as we can and Divine actively engages with the church. James tries to get people from the community to attend the services but they are not interested. They said that James had a boil on his neck and that his face was swollen. He was not at Kulkpanga when he died. He had gone back to his home village to be treated locally. Most of the Ghanaians in our area think that if they go to the hospital for a boil they will get an injection and die so they try to treat it with local medicine. We had no idea that James was sick or we would have encouraged him to go to Tamale for treatment. Steve made several phone calls to Divine and Timothy. The problem is that the village is more than 2 hours from Yendi and Divine wanted Steve to take his vehicles loaded with people to the funeral grounds. That was just too dangerous with the corona virus and the restriction on gatherings. Steve said he would take the green truck and put some benches in the back and take them to the village. They left the mission house around 6:00am this morning. They had a short service and burial then they came back to Yendi. Everyone was hot and tired when they arrived. This is not the end of James’ funerals; they will have something in a week or so then they will probably have a funeral at Kulkpanga and then in one year they will have another funeral.
I could not go to the burial today, lucky me! The roofers started roofing the new building this morning. When Steve left this morning I loaded up the old van with the wood treatment and painted rafters and ceiling boards for a couple hours. Mr. Iddrisu and Nazo finished painting.
I finished putting the flannel on the plywood story boards for the churches. The Bethel ladies made flannel characters for the story of “The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil”. The men enjoyed the class material they got last month and I think they will love this month’s material too, especially the serpent!
Thanks for the love, prayers and support.
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
