Our son Jordan drove us to the Huntsville Airport on the 16th to begin our trip back to Ghana. We had 8 pieces of luggage along with two roller bags and two backpacks. The TSA line was a little longer than usual but we always try to get to the airport early in case of any problem. We were lucky that our Delta flight agent asked for volunteers to check their carry-ons through their final destination so we sent the 2 roller bags, which just left us with our backpacks. Our only hiccup during the trip was a flight delay out of JFK (New York) to Accra; it was due to a thunderstorm. We arrived in Accra 45 minutes late.
After we arrived in Accra around 8:00am, we retrieved our luggage and passed through customs without any problem. We look like pack rats pushing two carts of luggage. The Customs officers usually like to read the letter we carry that explains what is in the bags and that we run a NGO called the GNCDC in Yendi. Sometimes they like to see what we have in at least one of our bags. The customs counter is just a stone’s throw from the exit door where we were met by Emmanuel, our driver, who took us to the apartment.
We were only in our room long enough to unload the luggage, freshen up and call the Forex Bureau to let them know we were coming to change dollars for Cedis. We headed back out to the street to catch a taxi. The exchange rate when we left in May was around 15 Ghana Cedis per US Dollar. The exchange rate dropped to 11.60 Ghana Cedis per dollar this month. It is good for the Ghanaians economy but then the rate drops it gives us less buying power.
Our next stop was the Interior Ministry Building to check to see if our quota had been approved. We were pleased that it had been approved and was waiting on us. The quota allows us to get resident visas which allow us to have free passage in and out of Ghana. We are grateful to the government for permitting us to have resident visas. From the ministries we went to the domestic airline terminal to purchase our airline tickets to Tamale.
On Friday we did some shopping at the cultural center. On Saturday we flew to Tamale. At the ticket counter it took forever to get our luggage checked in. Why, you might ask? The machines that print out the labels for the luggage were down and the agents had to hand write all the labels. Whew! What a mess! Our flight was fine. Red, our part time driver was waiting for us at Tamale airport. When we passed through Tamale, we stopped and bought fresh fruits and vegetables. At some point Red realized that he had left his cell phone at the airport so we had to go back to the airport. By the time we got to Yendi it was around 6pm. We were sure glad to get to sleep in a familiar bed. Skeeter, the monkey, was very happy we were back!
The next morning (Sunday, July 20th) we traveled south of Yendi to visit the congregation at Nakpache. Timothy Niligrini was pleased to see us again. We went to Kulkpeni for evening class; the brothers asked me to come back the following Sunday, July 27th in the morning and teach about dreams, visions, miracles, and prophets. I used all the class time and then some but they had so many questions; I wanted to try to answer as many of them as I could. Coming from a pagan background, this subject of dreams, etc. are still very fresh in the minds of these 1stgeneration Christians because of the stories their families have told them for generations.
It was good to see the men that attended the evangelist/church leaders’ class on Friday the 25th. There were 26 men present. The men were happy to hear the greeting from the states. We gave each of the men a Polo type three button shirt. Daniel Batoln, one of the evangelists, wasn’t able to attend because his motorcycle broke on the way; he had to stop to get it repaired. The men reported that 25 people were baptized this month and 3 were restored to the Church. That was great news!
For my portion of the class I gave each congregation represented a flip chart of the story of Jacob leaving his home and traveling to his mother’s people. The congregations like to use the flip charts for their children’s classes but they always use them in adult class first.
We would like to remind you that we now have a reliable internet service through Starlink and that we can send out the Yendi Notes on a daily basis as we did before all of our server problems began. If anyone in your congregations or any friends or family would like to receive the daily Yendi Notes, please email your name and email address to taylorsinghana @gmail. com so we can get you on the list. Some people used to get the emails but for some reason they stopped receiving them. Some computers think the Notes are spam and put them in the trash bin. Please don’t hesitate to let us know if you stop getting the Notes. We like for you to know what we are doing here in Yendi.
Thank you for your support; whether it be spiritual or financial. It means a lot to us! Please keep us in your prayers. May God bless!
In His service,
Stephen and Kandie Taylor
