We are glad to be back in Yendi. The Lord has blessed us with good health. It was great to see some of you as we visited the congregations that support the work here in Yendi. Of course we miss our family which includes the grandchildren!
The only eventful situation this trip was the flight from Accra to Tamale turned around in the middle of the flight due to heavy rain and poor visibility in Tamale. We went back to Accra airport and waited 45 minutes for the weather to clear before we boarded the airplane again. We were fortunate to be on the midday flight because the last flight to Tamale was cancelled. We spent the night in Tamale which allowed us to do some shopping and business before we went to Yendi.
The Lord has blessed the Yendi area with a lot of rain this year which is good for the farmers. The groundnut (peanut) crop didn’t do well this year because of a disease that greatly reduced the number of pods per vine. Groundnuts are one of the farmers cash crops. Our cisterns are full of water which makes us very happy.
We had hoped to be back at Yendi a week or so earlier but I had an appointment with a doctor that kept us in the States longer than we intended.
On the 26th of August , the first Sunday we were back in Yendi we worshiped with the church at Sobitito. We had time to talk with Timothy Niligrini about the work. Timothy had taught a class entitled “The Christian and His Work” the week before at Jakpumba during their mini-seminar. Timothy also told us that Nana Bekum, one of the evangelists who lives 2 1/2 hours north of us has not been able to attend the classes for the past 2 months due to health problems. I have talked with Nana several times. He says that his legs are weak and he has to walk with the aid of a cane but he seems to be getting better. He hopes to be able to attend the monthly classes in September.
Due to Nana’s health and Brother John Nchola resigning his position as an evangelist shortly before we left to the states the number of village churches that were visited this month is down. There were ten churches visited. The brethren at the classes reported that ten people were baptized and nine were restored to the Lord’s Church. Praise the Lord! The total number of men that attended class this month was twenty-seven.
The men attending class this month got a big surprise. For two years Kandie and I have been buying “Bible readers” as we get money to purchase them and carrying them in to Ghana in our luggage. It was a goal of ours to purchase enough of the readers to give one to each of the church leaders for their own personal study. Sometimes when you are struggling to read something you lose the meaning. Well, we finally had enough of the readers to give to the men that came for the classes this month. Before I started distributing the readers I explained to the brothers the need to listen to the readers and follow along in their Bibles so they will become more skilled in their public reading. The men were really happy to receive the readers. The only thing that is recorded on it is the New Testament in a single language. The only ones we distributed this month were in “Likpakpaaln”, the language of the Konkomba tribe. We also purchased some in Anufo and Dagomba but the brothers that speak these languages were not at class. The readers are made with a black plastic case that measures Length 9 inch x Height 4.5inch x Width 2.5inch. They look like old transistor radios. What makes these readers so ideal for the people here is the different power supplies it can use. Most villages don’t have electricity. These machines come with a electrical adapter, small hand crank for self-generating electricity (every 5 minutes generates 20 minutes of playing time), and a solar panel . We would like to thank everyone who contributed money so we could purchase the readers.
The brothers wanted me to be sure and send greetings to everyone back in the States. They do appreciate the help you give to us as they benefit from your contributions too.
Thank you so much for all you do for the work here in Yendi. It does not go unnoticed by the local people or the Churches that we work with. Please keep us and the work in your prayers as we will do the same for you.
In His service,
Stephen & Kandie Taylor
