The hot weather in northern part of Ghana during the month of March is always the topic of conversation. On March 29th, the high temperature was 119 degrees F with a heat index of 141 degrees F. Too bad we can’t bottle up some of the heat and send it your way during those “blackberry winters”.
I was invited to be one of the speakers at a seminar in Wa, the district capital of the Upper West Region that was held on March 9th. Kandie’s brother Paul sponsored the seminar. My topic was “Demystifying Ghanaian Traditions – Witches, Juju, Special Healings, Dreams, and Folklore”. We invited Timothy Niligrini and Divine Gmalan to join us for this trip. The seminar was well attended by 89 people. This was a one day seminar but it takes between 5 and 6 hours to reach Wa from Yendi thus necessitating us to use two days to travel to Wa and back. I relied heavily on the notes Kandie has kept over the years relating to Ghanaian traditions, witchcraft and Juju. I also used some magic tricks that helped to illustrate how Fetish priests and Soothsayers deceive the people into thinking they have power. They claim to be able to speak to the dead, find out who is a witch, or who is responsible for a tragedy that occurs in the village. The Juju / Fetish people have the ability to destroy people.
On Sunday the 10th rather than meeting with the large church at Wa we had Brother Ali, a man that is from the same tribe as Timothy and Divine, travel with us to a small congregation about 10 miles out of Wa. The assembly met in a large room in one of the member’s house; the congregation was mostly women. Ali suggested I preach a lesson to encourage the Church; since there were so many women present I taught from Proverbs 31 about the virtuous woman. After leaving the Church we traveled on down the road about 5 miles to the Church at Nayiloi. This was another small congregation where Brother Ali preaches. We didn’t stay for services but we stopped and greeted the members and gave the Church a small monetary gift. From there we started our trip back to Yendi and arrived at the mission house about 5pm.
During the month we also visited the congregations located at Mulpido, Nakpachee, Wadiig, Yawondo, Kulkpeni and Nanjuni.
Timothy and I accepted an invitation and traveled to Nyangpala to speak at a naming ceremony on Saturday March 2nd for a couple from the church. The village is about 2 hours from Yendi.
We had planned to visit the congregation at Bungbali March 17th but the brothers called and said it was not safe for us to come to their area because of a conflict between the Konkomba and Chokosi tribes. Since their call we found out that several people have lost their lives and many houses and much property has been destroyed. The area of fighting is located about two hours northeast of Yendi. Please keep this situation in your prayers so peace may return to this area.
At the monthly classes Timothy used the outline from the Wa seminar to teach about church growth and I used my lesson “Demystifying Ghanaian Traditions- Witches, Juju, Special Healings, Dreams, and Folklore”. Of course I showed them the magic tricks.
During the class Timothy’s older brother Daniel told the class when he was young his family had started training him to be a soothsayer. It did not take him long to figure out that all of it was fake. He said that after he was trained he was supposed to be able to find items that were hidden. He said that the master soothsayer put a concoction was put up his nose that was supposed to reveal the whereabouts of the item. They told him he would automatically know where the item was hidden and he should jump up and go find it. He sat and waited but got no revelation so he sat and waited some more. Everyone was waiting and watching. Finally someone got fed up waiting on him and whispered in his ear that he had to get up and start hunting on his own.
Due to the conflict between the Konkombas and the Chokosis Nana Bekum and several other men were not able to come to the class. There are curfews in the towns of Chereponi and Saboba from 6pm to 6am. Twenty-four men attended the class in March. They report that four people were baptized and two were restored to the Lord.
This month at the class we gave sleeveless vests to all those attending the class. These vests are similar to fishing vests; they are made of light weight material and they have a lot of pockets. They are work vests and some even have reflectors. The men were happy with the gift.
Sometimes we are asked if there is anything we specifically need. We really could use some money for bicycle tires/tubes. Most of the evangelists ride bicycles; bi-annually we give the men that attend class a new tire and tube. These men do not receive a salary and this is just a small way we can let them know we appreciate their hard work. We would also like to have a mini one day seminar each month in different sections of the districts to help encourage the brethren. We estimate that each seminar will cost $125. If you can help, please earmark your donation for bicycles or mini-seminar. Thanks in advance for the help!
On behalf of ourselves and the brethren we work with we want to thank you for your continued support of the work. We and our faithful supporters make a very good team. Rest assured we appreciate all you do for us; we will work hard and continue giving God the glory.
In His service,
Stephen and Kandie Taylor
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