The month of May has been a very busy. We have kept the road from Yendi to Tamale hot trying to get the land documents in order to be registered. It has been stressful having to go from this office to that office; paying a fee for this and that. We need to thank the Lord that we live in a country like the U.S. that makes it much easier to work with the government agencies
I was invited to be the guest speaker at a funeral celebration at the village of Nalongni on Saturday the 18th. When the plans were first made I was just going to be speaking to the congregation of the Church but later the elders of the village decided to put all the “Christian” funerals together. There were forty funerals taking place in the village that weekend. There were probably 250-300 in attendance. It is the custom of the Konkomba Tribe to set a large bowl in the midst of the people and ask for monetary donations from the crowd to be given to the families of the deceased. The donations are the reason the elders decided to put all the funerals together so it would not be as costly to have individual funeral all day long.
On Saturday the 25th we held a mini seminar at Jagrido for the congregations of the area. The Churches that attended were Sobitito, Yawondo, Kulkpeni, and Jagrido. Kandie and I took the truck and the van and picked up the members at Kulkpeni that wanted to attend. The total number of people attending numbered 220. With your help we provided the funds to purchase the food items for the meal that was served. I taught a lesson to help the Churches be financially stable. We divided into groups and had a brainstorming session. Right after the groups returned to the church building the Lord sent a much needed rain. It was difficult to hear because of the tin roof but we managed to finish up the lesson. The storm was a large general rain so many villages benefitted.
The conflict between the Konkomba and Chokosi Tribes had relaxed some but then there was renewed fighting; more people’s lives. It has hampered the ability of some of the church leaders to come to the monthly class. Please keep this situation in your prayers so peace will prevail between the tribes.
During the month we visited the churches at Kakpande, Pusuga, Bakpaba, Bagjon, and Kulkpeni. The Church at Pusuga is a relatively new church that was started by Brother Francis who lives in Duuni. He travels across country by motorcycle to visit the church. We want to visit them sooner but for one reason or the other we hadn’t been able to do so. The same can be said for the church at Bagjon. We were glad to be able to see them and give them some encouragement.
Our numbers were lower for the evangelist/church leader class due to the conflict. A total of 25 men attended class this month. We shorten the class so several of the men who came could get home before the curfew went into effect. The curfew is from 4:00 in the afternoon until 6:00 in the morning. They are also not allowed to ride their motorcycles unless they have ID proving they are going to work. Our report is incomplete because these men not being able to come to class. One soul was restored to the Church this month.
Thanks to your generous donations for evangelism and bicycles we were able to get new bicycle tires and tubes for each of the church leaders. The men always need tires and tubes.
By the time you receive this newsletter we will be back in Alabama to report back to our sponsors and enjoy our children and grandchildren. We look forward to attending Limestone Bible Camp while we are back.
Thank you so much for your kindness and support of the work. The brethren appreciate it very much as do we.
In His service,
Stephen and Kandie Taylor
