The high temperature today was 102 degrees with a heat index of 115 degrees. Nice balmy weather!
This morning Francis and Samuel came for a visit. Francis is one of the church leaders at Duuni and Samuel is from Simbomni, one of the villages where Francis helped start a church. Francis graduated from the preaching school in Tamale that is run by Bear Valley. We know Francis well but we have only met Samuel a time or two; we do not work with Samuel; he lives far away from our area and is working with some missionaries over on that side. I think Samuel may have finished at the Tamale preaching school too. Francis came seeking financial aid. He said that on Sunday someone started his fields on fire and that the fire burned up his yam hut. A yam hut is a small hut that is made totally from thatch. The farmers keep their yam seed (sort of like seed potatoes) in the huts from year to year to keep them cool. He said that he lost all of his yam seeds. Francis had an accident on his motorcycle a while back and he wanted us to help him repair it. Steve took them to town to the mechanic to see what it would cost to do the repairs. The motorcycle also needed new pistons and rings. Steve paid for the piston and rings; the mechanic said that the body work and headlight repair would have to be done by someone else.
Samuel also said that he needed financial help because of the drought last year he had no yam seeds to plant this year. Thanks to your generous donations for “whatever comes up” Steve was able to help the men with some money to buy yam seeds to start over. Samuel said that he needed a new tire for his motorcycle. These people are just like little kids; you can’t do for one without doing for the other. Steve ended up giving him enough money to buy a used tire for his motorcycle.
While we were in town this afternoon I spied a lady unpacking a 100 kilo bag of used clothing that had been brought into Ghana from India or Pakistan or somewhere. She was hanging up dresses and scarves that had the most beautiful embroidery and trim. I stopped to take a look and ended up buying several things including table clothes and fancy dresses. The prices were very good. A dress costs about $1.75; the trim and embellishments are worth that. Needless to say I made the ladies day! They kept bothering me wanting to know why I was not buying anything for Papa, meaning Steve. I told them it was too costly so Papa got nothing! Oh! How they laughed! I ended up buying him one of those oversized shirts that had no embellishments on it.
Take care and have a great day!
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
