We had to go to Tamale today because we have run out of money. We had to spend a boat load when we bought a 1 year supply of formula all at once. There is plenty of money in the bank and we can write checks on the account but the problem is that none of the vendors in Yendi accept checks. The only places that we can write checks are places like Japan Motors, the insurance office and tax office. We don’t know anyone that will accept a debit card. While we were in Tamale we hunted around and found a couple of new tires for the front end of the red truck. We took them to a tire shop to have the old ones removed and the new ones put on. We wanted them to be balanced before they were put on. The mechanic assured us that he would balance them. After he changed the first tire he started to put it on without balancing it. We told him to balance it, he said, “No balance!” He did not even have the machine to balance the tire. He just lied so he could get the job. How annoying. Needless to say he only changed one of the tires. You should have seen the surprised look on his face when Steve put the other tire in the back of the truck and paid him for the tire he changed. He honestly thought that we were going to go ahead and pay him to change the other tire after he had lied about being able to balance the tires. We went to another shop that we knew had a machine for balancing.
We stopped at the Registrar General’s office in hopes of getting the documents for the land lease but the guy that is working on the documents was not in the office today. Imagine that! Steve was told to try back next week and asked to leave his phone number. Steve laughed and said the man knows his number very well because he messages him a couple times every week.
The bank was a madhouse today. There were 10 people in line in front of us and no one seemed to know how to line up (the Ghanaians call it queuing up)! Everyone sits in a chair in rows and when the first person moves to the counter everyone shifts seats. When there are no chairs you just stand at the back of the bank and wait your turn. Those standing try to sneak into a seat as soon as it becomes vacant. After the second person broke in front of the lady that was in front of us I went to the lady and told her that she was in front of me and that she was the next person to move and I was after her and we would help her move when it was her turn. My voice is big and everyone heard me. The man that was after us let the room know by saying, “And I am following HER!” Everyone laughed and Steve said “We are the queuing up police!” We were in the bank for well over an hour and by the time it was our turn the teller did not have enough money to cash our check so we had to wait for them to get money from the vault.
It started raining just minutes after we got back to the mission house at 3:00pm. It has been raining for several hours. Naturally the electricity has gone off but at least we have a generator.
Please keep us and the work in your prayers.
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
