It has been a while since I have not preached on a Sunday like today. We are still in the Upper Western Region district capital of Wa. No, I didn’t make a mistake and leave off some letters to the capital’s name “Wa”. We are approximately 50 miles east of the western border that Ghana shares with the country of Ivory Coast. Wa is located northwest of Tamale about four hours the way the crow flies.
We visited the congregation at Wa this morning after eating our breakfast. One handi-capped brother had told us yesterday the starting time was 8am but they usually don’t start until 8:30. We have lived in Ghana too long to think they meet this early so we waited until 8:30 to leave the hotel. When we arrived we noticed the time on their signboard said 9am so we made it just at the right time.
The congregation was very hospitable to us. The church building is divided into three sections for the bible classes and a children’s class was held outside in the shade of the building. This is a congregation that Kandie’s brother Paul visits when he comes to Wa. One of the church members said he has seen Kandie’s face in one of Paul’s photos. Everyone was very friendly. The congregation loves to sing. I think we used more time singing than the brother used to preach. After closing the service a man and his wife that were baptized into the Lord’s Church recently were asked to come forward so all the Church could come up and give them a word of encouragement.
Before we left we were invited to sit down with a couple of the men of the Church and we were asked if we had any questions concerning anything that was done or said in the service that we didn’t understand. I thought that was a great way to help connect with those visiting. That might not go so well back home since some people might feel shy about doing that.
We ate a late lunch and then took a four-five minute rest before going to the market. Today was Wa’s big market day. Kandie was like a kid on Christmas morning looking around for new items. We did find an all aluminum mortar and pestle. Jack found himself a big knife that he bought but then later worried himself whether it was of good quality or not. There’s no return policy in this part of the world!
Supper was late as we had planned it after eating later for lunch. We have now retired to our rooms for the night.
Hope all of you are doing well and have a good Lord’s Day! I will close for today. May God bless.
In His service,
Stephen and Kandie, Jack
