YENDI NOTES MONTHLY
January & February 2026
Those of you who receive the daily Yendi Notes know that we are back in Yendi. Our travel from New York to the capital city of Accra was uneventful and we thank the Lord for that. Kandie and I spent several days taking care of business as well as checking out the possibility of ordering a new van. Our present good van was purchased in 2007; we have worked hard to keep it in good shape but it is just a matter of time before it starts to go downhill. We met with a Nissan manager/owner. She is going to beat the bushes for us to see if there are any new 2025 vans left in the system. On Thursday, we went to the town of Koforidua to visit the bead market and on the way back we stopped at the town of Aburi. This is where wood carvers sell their wares so Kandie bought elephant carvings to replenish our supply; we like to have some on hand to give as gifts. The day we arrived in Accra; Kandie came down with a severe chest cold and it lasted for days.
We flew up to Tamale on Saturday which was Valentine’s Day. In the Accra and Tamale airports there was live music playing in honor of the day. It was so loud you could not hear yourself think. We were so glad to get out of the terminals! Our flight was delayed in Accra due to a massive torrential downpour of rain. Domestic flights are boarded the old fashion way; walking out on the tarmac and climbing stairs to get into the plane. Unlike northern Ghana, the south usually has a very short dry season which allows them to have two growing seasons. I’m always amazed at the landscape as we leave Accra. It is usually green and then as we descend into Tamale everything is brown and dusty during the dry season. Upon arrival in Tamale, we were met by our friend and driver Red. On our way through Tamale, we stopped by the vegetable vendors to buy fresh cauliflower, green onions, cabbage, carrots, garlic, beets and anything else that looks fresh.
We arrived in Yendi around 6pm. Skeeter, the monkey, was as glad to see us as we were to see him. We were so tired from traveling we didn’t even worry about eating anything. We didn’t open our luggage for several days.
On Sunday morning we went to Nakpachee to visit the congregation. Timothy Niligrini had already made arrangements with the congregation for us to worship with them. Brother Super, one of the church leaders, commented how happy he was that we wanted to come worship with them even though we had just arrived the day before. Bro. Super (pronounced Supa) had a swollen hand. I gave him some money to buy antibiotics. When he came for the February church leader’s class his hand was back to normal!
We visited the congregation at Yawongdo on the 22nd. This is a struggling congregation and it pleased us to see more in attendance than usual. This may have been due to boarding school students being home on break. They have a church building but it was so hot that we worshipped under the shade trees. A nail was driven into one of the trees where the clock was hung. This clock is the clock that the church received at the seminar last November. The only problem was the clock wasn’t ticking because the battery was dead. No one seemed to care; they hung the clock anyway. I’m going to have to start carrying extra batteries when we visit the churches in case others need batteries.
Timothy Niligrini sent me the results of the January Evangelist/Church Leader’s class last month.
Twenty- three men attended the class in January. The number of baptisms for the month was 10 and 2 people were restored to the church.
At the February monthly Evangelist/ Church leader’s class, I passed the greetings from the American brothers on to the church leaders and evangelists. Greetings are so important in this culture. It was so hot in the building! The men did well listening, considering how hot it was. At least they have electricity and ceiling fans but it feels like standing in front of a furnace.
In February the men reported there were 12 people restored to the Church and 3 people put Christ on in baptism. There were 28 men who attended the class. I began my lesson by encouraging the men to make sure they keep good books for the congregation. The leaders usually are not the treasurers and secretaries but I felt that they needed to encourage the men at their home congregations to take responsibility. The rest of my lesson dealt with the behind-the-scenes jobs that need to be done like paying bills, maintaining the building, having juice and bread for the Lord’s Supper and so on. I also encouraged the church leaders to recruit qualified men to act as assistants to the older church leaders. For instance, some younger men are given jobs that require them to be present each Sunday but due to the fact they are students and away at boarding school, they are not present when they are sorely needed. The churches need more than one church leader.
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We appreciate everyone’s support of the work down through the years. We pray this year will be a blessing to the Lord and for the people that we work with here. Again, we will never be able to thank you enough for your continued support as well as your prayers. The Lord has truly blessed us!
In His service,
Stephen & Kandie Taylor
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