Divine brough the shelled field corn that we bought from him a couple weeks ago. We bought 660 pounds. He tried his best to get us to buy the other 2 bags he had loaded on his motor king but we declined; storage and bugs are our main concern. The corn looked nice but there were a lot of corn cob pieces in it that were left behind from the corn sheller. Divine said there were some problems with the paperwork he turned in for the churches. Last year the auditor sent the paperwork to Accra because the Tamale office was overworked and the documents were not getting filed in a timely manner. Penalties may be in our future but we hope not! Fortunately, we are not really involved in this problem; Divine is working on it for the churches.
We have been scurrying around trying to get everything ready for our trip to Accra tomorrow afternoon. We are going down to renew our resident visas. We booked the first flight out on Monday morning; we would have to get up at 4:00am to get there in time for our flight and if we had vehicle trouble, we would be late so Steve decided it would be better for us to spend the night in Tamale. We won’t have to get up so early on Monday and we will only be about 30 minutes away from the airport.
This afternoon we went to town and bought some medicine for the Child Center. We only bought what we had to have from one of the smaller pharmacies; when we get back from Accra Steve will place the big order.
Late this afternoon Steve went back out to fill up the truck for tomorrow’s trip to Salankuka for worship. He had not been gone long when he called me and said that the truck would not start; he suspected it was the battery. He said that he called Gomda, the mechanic, and he was bringing him a new battery but he did not have enough money with him to pay for the battery. It took me a moment to find the van keys, get the money and lock up the house. By the time we got to the filling station Gomda was already there with the new battery. It started right up! Gomda is going to take the battery to the battery repair man to see if it can be recharged; they usually can’t but once in a while if they change the water and give it an overnight charge they can live for a little while longer. We usually just give the old batteries away; there is no way we want to be stuck in the middle of nowhere without a battery! But the villagers would have no problem pushing the vehicle to jump start it!
Please keep us in your prayers as we travel and please pray that we are successful in renewing our visa for another 3 years.
In HIS Service,
Steve, Kandie and Skeeter
The Monkeyshines
This afternoon Mom and I had to rescue Dad! He was out and about and the truck he was driving would not start. Mom decided to let me go along for the ride; you know sometimes I can be helpful! I like to ride in the car but I get very nervous! It is those people all over the roads that get me but the worst of the worst are the goats and sheep that are on the road! What are they thinking? Even I am smart enough not to stand in the middle of the road! We were driving the old van; it does not have air conditioning so we had all the windows down. Mom had me on a short leash that she was sitting on so she could have both hands to drive with. The leash was just long enough for me to sit behind Mom’s neck on her shoulders! I had a bird’s eye view of everything that was rushing past me! We got many stares and the kids hollered “Jun-ka, Jun-ka” which means monkey in Dagboni. Mom thought it was a pleasant relief from the constant “Saminga, Saminga” that she normally has to hear. Saminga means “white man”!
I learned a new trick this afternoon. I figured out that if I stretch hard enough, I can get hold of the leg of the metal bookcase that sits by the door in mom’s bedroom. I am now strong enough to move the bookcase. Once I move the bookcase, I can reach the stuff on the bookcase that the parents have pushed out of my reach! You should have seen the looks on their faces when they came back to the room and saw what I could do! Dad is devising a way to anchor it to the wall or put a cement block. He is going to spoil all my fun!
Never leave a monkey unattended!
Love, Skeeter
