We have started working on the project at Kulkpeni church! First thing this morning we loaded up the shovels, pick ax, head pans and buckets and headed out to Kulkpeni. Timothy Niligrini, the evangelist, is going to oversee the project again. We are so grateful to have him as a go between! Kwabena, one of the night watchmen, has a motor king; he is the one that we will hire to do the hauling for us. Kwabena was not around this morning so his son did the hauling. He hauled 5 trips of sand and 10 bags of cement. We were fortunate that there was still water in the 4 ft cube water container so we did not have to have water hauled today. This afternoon Red called and said that he had sent a load of sand to the job site. Red made the doors, windows and large gate the last time we were in Ghana; all that remains to complete the doors is for him to spray paint them. He said that he would try to spray them today but it has been very humid and it has drizzled off and on which is not the ideal situation for spraying.
We were so busy with the Kulkpeni project today that we only caught the tail end of the Child Center work. We had planned on washing the corn and soybeans for the weaning mix today but since the sun was not out, we were not able to wash it. If it is not dry tomorrow we will have to buy weaning mix from our neighbor.
We are determined to get the bank to honor the checks we write. This morning we sent Mr. Iddrisu to the bank to pay the taxes and we sent a check with him. We were so happy when he came back and told us that they accepted the check! Maybe we are going to finally get this check writing thing figured out! Last time he went to the bank to withdraw money the bank was out of 5 and 10 Cedi notes and they gave us lots of 200 Cedi notes instead. We sent part of the 200 Cedi notes back to the bank this morning in hopes of getting 5 and 10 Cedi notes. They still did not have any 5 Cedi notes so they gave us 10 and 20 Cedi notes. Can you imagine a bank not being able to make change?
We buy dish washing soap by the gallon. Ladies make the soap and sell it. We have been buying from Mr. Oldman, our neighbor’s daughter. The soap she sells is usually good. But something happened to one of the gallons of soap; it broke down and no longer has the ability to make bubbles or cut grease. We don’t know if they got the formula wrong or what happened to it but we could not use it to wash dishes. I told Amama that she could use it in her mop water to clean the floors. On our way back from Kulkpeni we stopped and bought a couple of gallons.
Take care,
In HIS Service,
Steve, Kandie and Skeeter
P.S. Please pray for my niece Lyndie, she is having surgery today and we know she would like to have your prayers!
The Monkeyshines
When the parents were in town this morning Mom spied a little boy selling guavas! I adore guavas! I think that of all the fruits they are my favorite. The problem with guavas is that they are a very seasonal fragile fruit; they do not transport well. They also are hard to grow in our area because they don’t like drought. I have only had them once in my whole life; that was last year about this time. Mom said that if she can find some she will freeze them for me to have next time they go to the states and leave me to fend for myself! When Mom spotted the guavas she stopped and got out; she was not clear as to whether or not the boy was selling them because he already had them in a plastic bag. That did not stop her; she said, “I need the guavas! How much?” Several other children were standing around; they came up with a price of 50 pesewas (half of a Cedi) each. Mom said that she wanted them all. The kids counted them and told her that it was 10 Cedis; Mom wanted the guavas but she is not an idiot; she recounted the guavas and she only owed them 7 Cedis and 50 pesewas. Before she left, she told the boy that she needed more and told them where we lived. Someone probably has a guava tree in their back yard. Hopefully tomorrow they will come to the mission house with more!
Mom forgot that she had the guavas until we were cooking supper. I had already had ½ a bottle of milk/cereal, a whole banana and some boiled peanuts but when she pulled out that guava I was in heaven! It did not matter that I was as full as a tick; I enjoyed it anyway!
There is always room for a guava!
Love, Skeeter
