We just got from evening Bible study. As we were passing through town, I told Steve that we had been driving the truck a lot with the building project and that we probably needed diesel. As I pointed out a filling station. The gas gauge has not worked for years so we just have to guess how much fuel it has. Steve said he did not feel like stopping to get fuel; I replied that I did not feel like running out of fuel! We drove on. As we were getting ready to turn into the lane to the mission house the truck started to sputter; Steve said, “Oh! No! What is wrong with the truck?” We turned into the lane and the truck stopped! We hoped that the problem was that we had run out of fuel and that it was not something worse! Fortunately, we keep a supply of diesel on hand because of the generator. Steve told me to sit with the truck while he walked to the mission house to get the fuel. It did not take Steve long to get back with the diesel; he came down the lane pulling the 5-gallon jerry can of diesel behind him on the 2 wheeled dolly. He remembered to bring a funnel too. After he put in the diesel, he popped the hood of the truck and pumped up the fuel; this truck has a fuel pump that can be manually used to pump fuel up. It took him a couple tries but the truck started; it is safely inside the mission compound. Obviously, it was out of fuel.
Tichak, one of the night watchmen, told Steve that his 10-year-old grandson died yesterday! He said that the child was sick and that they gave him several units of blood before he passed away. So sad! Tichak does not know what was wrong with the child because no one tells the family anything. We suspect that it was malaria. Tichak said that his daughter lives in Sabare (Sab-ar-ee), about 20 miles from Yendi. He said that the funeral would be next week; they usually bury the same day the person dies and have the funeral a few days later. We called Timothy Niligrini to find out what was appropriate for us to do in this case. He said that since it was a child it was not as big of a deal as if it had been an adult. He said that Tichak might go to the funeral himself or he might send someone to go on his behalf. This is just a strange, strange world! We know exactly where we would be if our grandchild died!
The wall is going well. Dauda hired 2 more men and 2 women to help with the wall project. This morning we decided to reinforce the floating foundation with rebar. Red can make the rebar frames but he said it would take him some time to do so we hired a guy that makes them for a living. They got the rebar installed; the frames are now filled with cement mixed with gravel. Dauda told us this afternoon that he had finished installing the grates and wanted to talk about how much we were going to pay him. He was surprised when we told him he was not finished because he had not set the bottom of the grates in cement yet! He agreed that it needed to be done but did not intend to do it right now. Oh! Well, that makes it difficult to agree on a price.
Thank you for all you do for us and the people in Ghana!
In HIS Service,
Steve, Kandie and Skeeter
The Monkeyshines
The people that came in and out of the mission compound today were just too much! It was almost more than a body could bear! The motor king coming and going; the motorcycles carrying strange people; the opening and closing of the gates; the whole thing was enough to make me need to take ½ a nerve pill! I was so anxious that I could not eat; I only had one bottle this morning and that was before all the activity started.
I could not play in the big mango tree today because Dad ordered bagged water and the delivery men were supposed to come early but they did not come until 2:00 in the afternoon which means they interrupted our nap time! I played on the back veranda until it got too hot so I came inside and played in the parents’ air-conditioned bedroom.
Late this afternoon when it was almost time for everyone to go home for the day, we got visitors! Papa Zachariah, who used to be one of the sleeping night watchmen, came for a visit. He is now a chief. His secretary brought him on his motorcycle. Papa is too old to drive a motorcycle. He said that he had come to check on us and the wall. He said that he heard that part of it fell down and that we were in the process of rebuilding it so he came to see how everything was going. He is just like me; he has nose trouble; he is nosey and wants to know what is going on with his people!
Will someone please paint me a sign that says, “NO VISITORS ALLOWED!”
Love, Skeeter
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