The month of November is usually a very busy month for us. This is the time we usually have the yearly seminar. We also have to get the mission house closed up because we will be in the states visiting our family and friends during the holidays. Here is a summary of the month’s events.
On November 5th we visited the congregation at Niliyundo southeast of Yendi. Before the worship service we were invited to watch a demonstration from the local health clinic. The short lecture was geared toward the women and older teen girls. It was about the importance of taking iron and folic to curb anemia. After services we presented the congregation with six bags of cement to help them finish the job of plastering the inside walls and floor of the church building.
The following Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we traveled to Kumasi to attend the last funeral of our old family friend Samuel B. Obeng. The family was happy we had made the trip. This was the first time Kandie or I had attending a funeral of the Ashanti tribe of whom Samuel was a descendent. It was a grand affair! Bro. Samuel’s widow, Comfort, has been blind for some years. She was a great helpmeet to her husband. Sister Comfort requested we attend worship with her Sunday morning.
On the 19th we visited the congregation at Jegrido. This is Timothy Niligrini’s home village. His older brother Daniel is a church leader. We met with the chief after services. He is a paramount chief amongst the Konkomba tribe so we made sure to greet him and give our kola.
Kandie and I flew down to Accra on the 20th and met John Colgan and Steve Carr. We had to spend the night in Accra in order to be at the airport when their plane arrived on the morning of the 21st. The men are from West Hobbs Street Church of Christ in Athens, Alabama. They were our keynote speakers for the seminar. They arrived on time. We walked over to the domestic terminal and flew up to Tamale. We spent the first couple of days doing some site seeing before heading to Yendi.
The men did a great job with the teaching. Steve Carr taught a night class at the village of Yawondo on Friday evening, November 24th. It was attended by at least 75 men, women, and children. He taught a lesson from Matthew 13 about the “Sower”.
We “divided and conquered” on Sunday the 26th. John drove the old van to the village of Kpamang with Kandie where they met up with Bro. Divine. Divine interpreted for John. Meanwhile Steve Carr, Timothy Niligrini, and I went to the village of Nyangbaln. We were happy that we were in the 4 wheeled pick-up truck because the road to Nyangbaln is very rough.
The theme of this year’s seminar was “Empowering the Youth”. The lessons John and Steve presented were as follows: Preparing for the Future, Serving God, Committing to Godly Values, and Promote the Gospel. The total number of people registered for the seminar were 524 including children. Surprisingly, things went off very well considering we were not expecting such a big turnout. Kandie and I made several trips back into Yendi to purchase more food because the people just kept coming! That is a good problem to have. This year part of the ingredients we bought and cooked included 900 lbs. rice, 475 loaves of bread, 264 lbs. of chicken (legs, thighs, backs), 5 market size pigs, 130 lbs dried beans, 110 lbs sugar, and 30 gallons of cooking oil.
On Friday evening after John finished his lesson and the audience was dismissed we were informed there were some present that wanted to be baptized. Without hesitation we loaded up the old van with the 9 people that were going to be baptized and drove a half mile over to the Daka River. A brother from the Sobotido congregation baptized them. We thank God for His salvation and pray these new Christians will live for the Lord all their days!
There was no monthly class in November because the seminar took its place. There were thirty-seven church leaders/evangelists present for the seminar. The evangelists reported visiting twenty-one congregations during the month. There were twenty –one baptisms and fifteen souls restore to the Church during the month of November.
Kandie and I would like to thank all of you who remembered me and our family in your prayers during my episode in the hospital to have a stent placed in an artery of my heart due to a blockage. By the grace of God I am doing well.
Please keep Jimmy Stroud in your prayers as well. Jimmy has been struggling with health problems and I know he and his wife Mary would appreciate your prayers.
We would like to take this time to thank all of you for your support of the work this year. Satan is alive and well and doing all he can to pervert the gospel here as well as in Ghana. May God bless you for your efforts whether big or small. As a Ghanaian proverb says: “Drop by drop the oceans are filled!”
We wish you all a Happy New Year and may God bless!
In His service,
Stephen and Kandie Taylor
