today’s temp:111 degrees heat index: 136 degrees
Today was monthly class day. Thirty-three men attended the class; if you count me and Steve there would be thirty-five in attendance. The men loved the class material; the flannel story board best of all. I hope more flannel graph stories are in their future! Timothy Niligrini is still not feeling so well; he opted not to interpret for Steve today. Timothy sat through the class but he did a lot of dozing which is another indication that he is not feeling his best. Anthony did a fine job with the interpreting.
Nana Bekum and his wife were at the compound early this morning. Nana is the evangelist that works with six churches in the Chereponi district a couple hours from Yendi. His wife said that she had not seen us since we had come back so she decided to make the trip with him this morning. They usually grow Funio on their farm. Funio is the tiniest grain we have ever seen. It makes a mustard seed look huge. It grows like grass. These tiny seeds have to be thrashed. When the ladies thrash the Funio they hold on to pieces of large tree branches that lay across forked tree branches that have been sunk into the ground; it would remind you of a hitching post in the old western movies. They take off their shoes and stomp on the stalks of grass to dislodge the seeds. They sing and keep time to the music as they stomp. The threshing floor is just hard packed dirt at the edge of the fields. After the seeds are thrashed they are swept up and put into containers and taken to the house where it is washed to remove most of the stones and dirt. Then it is dried in the sun. The men cut as the women thrash. Job # 134 that I do not want! I said all that to say Nana’s wife brought us about 5 pounds of funio; what a special, special gift. The Funio is cooked as a breakfast cereal. If you like cream of wheat you would like Funio.
Today was the day that Steve gave the men bicycle tires and tubes. Each man that attended today’s class got 2 tires and 2 tubes. Steve usually only gives 1 tire and 1 tube every 6 months but since we were in the states so long because of the Coronavirus he gave them 2 each to make up for the one they missed. They were very pleased with the gift. Bicycles are the way most of the people here get from place to place. We have a couple guys that ride their bikes 12 miles to get to the monthly class; now that is dedication! We pay the men that ride their bikes the same money it would have cost them to ride on public transport. They end up with a little something extra in their pockets.
The carpenters did not work on the roof today even though they were supposed to. There was a shortage of trim boards in Yendi. The truck came today and the boards were delivered so they should be back up and working tomorrow.
Thanks to all of you that help with evangelism. Without your efforts we could not help the churches.
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
