We were anxious before we left for Ghana on the 25th. The Ghana government required a PCR (lab produced) corona virus test 72 hours before we began our flight to Ghana. Most labs take an average of 4-5 days to get the results thus our reason for the anxiety. By God’s grace and the help of our son-in-law Marcus we were able to get the results in time. Before flying out of JFK airport to Ghana several people were denied access to our flight due to their test being older than 72 hours. Upon arrival at Accra airport we were immediately ushered into a line where we had a rapid Coronavirus test. A negative test was required before we were allowed to leave the airport. We are happy to report our test was negative and all 11 pieces of luggage arrived with us! If our test had been positive we would have been transferred to the Ghanaian quarantine center; not a place we wanted to visit! We were able to get a flight out of Accra to Tamale on Saturday.
On Monday we drove back to Tamale to renew our resident visas only to find out the government now required a medical exam and blood test from me (Steve) to prove I am healthy enough to be in Ghana. The test can only be done in Accra. We went straight to the airline office and purchased plane tickets to fly to Accra the next day. We were in a rush because we only had a week before our resident visas expired. We did not spend the night in Accra when we initially flew in from the US because we were afraid we would catch the virus. We were forced to spend the night in Accra to get our visas renewed. On the bright side we were able to get our visa renewed for two years instead of one year. Having the resident visa allows us to come and go as we need too.
All the workers were glad to see us. We did have a terrible scare the morning we were leaving for Ghana. We were at the ticket counter in Huntsville airport about to begin our trip to Ghana when Zorash, the Child Center receptionist called. She said that Mr. Iddrisu had been held up by armed robbers in his office in the mission compound. One had a handgun and one had a machete. He had been forced to open the safe and give them all the money. They tied him in his chair. He was unharmed but badly shaken up. We have since implemented additional safeguards for security.
It was good to see Timothy Niligrini again. He said the Churches were very pleased with the support given to provide hand washing stations for each congregation.
We arrived late on Saturday the 26th; we worshipped at Kulkpeni Sunday morning. I was asked to speak; I related how the corona virus had affected the churches in our area before I preached. On October 4th we visited the congregation at Kpamang. On the 11th we had planned to visit the congregation at Yowondo but the road was flooded and we could not safely get to the village. We went a short distance and worshiped with the congregation at Jegrido. The next week, Oct.17th we went back to Yowondo. The road was still under water but not nearly so deep; I used the 4 wheel drive and made it successfully through the water 4 times. We were happy to have two young ladies requesting baptism. Timothy taught Brother Daniel, the new church leader, how to baptize the women. On the 25th we traveled northeast to Kpanjamba. This is a small congregation. Timothy had heard the church needed a new communion tray. They definitely needed a new tray. They only had 5 or 6 holes left in it; the rest of the board had broken off. The new metal tray will last for a long time.
During the month of October we repaired the church leader’s bicycle from Kpamang and purchased a good used bicycle for Brother Daniel, a new leader for the congregation Yowondo.
The monthly class was held on the 30th with a total of 27 people in attendance; 29 if you count Kandie and me. At the beginning of class everyone was given a face mask to be worn while in class. I tried to explain how to wear the masks properly and I went on to explain how the churches back home had to deal with the Coronavirus. We started distributing some of the children’s class material that was made by the women from Bethel. The men were given two sets of ringed flip charts with pictures describing the days of creation. They were taught the lesson and questioned just like you would teach younger children so they could understand better how the reach and teach the smaller children in their home congregations.
I am happy to say the brothers reported that 27 people were baptized this month and 5 were restored. The evangelists visited 11 churches during the month. We had several requests for help with church projects like metal doors and hand washing stations. At the end of class Brother Waja Francis acted as spokesperson for the group saying they were very pleased to receive the money to purchase hand washing stations, soap, and masks even though we were out of the country at the time. In his words “Thanks for remembering us!” I gave the Lord credit and our supporters who have been very gracious to supply us with funds to do the work.
Our hearts and prayers go out to all of you for your support. We know these are difficult times and people are suffering due to the pandemic; some have lost family members and/or friends. Let’s all follow after the Lord’s way and make our present situation an opportunity to do good work for our Lord. May God bless!
In His service,
Stephen & Kandie Taylor
