Steve finished the monthly report this afternoon so you should get a copy of that in a few days. We were very busy at the end of last month and we forgot to send out the monthly report for August. Oops! Steve combined August and September’s reports.
This afternoon we went to the village of Sambu to visit the Mion-Lana; the chief of Mion district. The old chief died about a year ago and they had the funeral while we were in the states so we could not attend the funeral. We knew that the funeral was going to be held while we were gone so we left a gift of shelled field corn and money to support the funeral. The workers took the funeral gift and presented it on our behalf with a promise that when we came back to Ghana, we would visit the new chief. Papa Zachariah had expressed an interest in going with us but we found out today that Papa himself would not be able to go because he was a more important chief than the Mion-Lana and it would be a disgrace to him to go to his palace. There is a hierarchy among the chieftaincy and we do not understand the ends and outs of it. We asked how Papa (Gulana) is able to lower himself to come and visit us but he cannot lower himself to visit a fellow chief. They said he could come visit us because we don’t have anything to do with the chieftaincy because we are strangers and have no tribe. Makes perfect sense! NOT!
We took several people with us on our visit. Zorash, Donkey, Matthew (one of the church leaders from Kulkpeni), Timothy and Kwabena (one of the night watchmen). We were well received and they seemed pleased to see us. The name Mion means turtle. The palace is decorated with turtles; the people think the turtles are their ancestors and the turtles are sacred. The pond at Mion is supposed to be filled with turtles; they say there are hundreds of them and that many years ago the old, old Mion-Lana would carry turtles in the trunk of his vehicle when he went to visit other chiefs. Many years ago, when we first heard about the turtles we wanted to see them. We organized an excursion to visit the pond to see the turtles. We got permission and a guide, then we wandered into the bush in search of the pond. We found the pond, it was beautiful but there was not a single turtle in sight. It was a bright sunny day and we should have been able to spot at least one turtle sunning himself. I think the turtles are not as sacred as the people say; I think that someone is eating their ancestors! Ha!
Take care and enjoy your day!
In HIS Service,
Steve, Kandie and Skeeter
The Monkeyshines
Red came to the mission house today to talk to Mom about building an addition onto my jail cell. Mom says that I am getting so big that I need more room to stretch out and exercise especially when I am locked up for 2 months at a time. I like Mom’s new idea; you know she is full of ideas! You should see the look on Dad’s face when she says, “I have an idea!” He knows that means more work for everyone! But this idea is a good one; she wants to make an enclosure for me that is built around a tree. How cool would that be? Now, I might kill the tree by chewing off all the bark but it would be grand fun for me to be able to have an actual tree to sit on instead of cold iron bars. She also said that she wants me to be able to get down to the ground so she does not want to put a bottom in the enclosure; I think this is going to be a win, win situation for me! I am excited but I know that I will also be scared of the new room because that is just the way I am. She is not going to get rid of my old prison; she is going to attach the 2 with a walkover of some sort.
Does anyone know a good realtor? I might want to sell my old cell block when we upgrade!
Love, Skeeter
