We left for Tamale this morning at 7:15 and we arrived back at the mission house at 6:30 this evening. That is one long day. We had a bunch of things we needed to do in Tamale so we tried to cram them all in one day. We did not get everything marked off of our list but we got lots of things done. We will have to go back next week to finish the list.
We are so happy that we were able to buy Konkomba Bibles. We have been without Bibles for the churches for more than 3 years. This morning we bought 20 cases of Bibles; each case contains 16 Bibles. These Bibles contain both the Old and New Testament. The Bibles doubled in price but the cost of everything is going up in leaps and bounds. Each Bible cost 90 Cedis which is about a little over 6 dollars. That does not sound like much but it is costly for the Ghanaians when the minimum wage is 2 dollars a day. Steve will subsidize the Bibles by half which will make them much more affordable. Steve also gives each church that we visit a Bible for them to use for the service. I wanted to buy 30 boxes but Steve did not think the van would hold them. We plan on picking up another load next week.
The vehicle insurances were due; we went to the office 3 times today before they were finally ready! The insurance office is beyond slow! We have yet to figure out what takes them so long to print an insurance renewal paper and sticker. Steve was about to walk out the door just before closing time when he decided to check to see if he had a policy for all the vehicles and sure enough they had left one out. They argued with Steve about the old van being a commercial vehicle but Steve won out in the end.
We were able to pay the lawyer his retainer fee for the year and Steve successfully renewed his nursing license. After he went to the bank and got the bank draft to pay the license fee he went to the office only to be greeted with a sign that said they had moved. They had the crudest map and partial instructions. After wandering around we finally spied a small sign with an arrow. They are renting one of the offices on the agric property. They are hopeful of one day being able to secure their own property and build an office. Steve always takes them a little gift of office supplies because theirs is a thankless job.
The annual audit paper work for the GNCDC had not come back from Accra. We tried to pick up the Child Center’s Social Welfare License but were not successful. The license has to be renewed every year; we know that it has been renewed because we got a message from the office. We could not pick it up today because it was locked in one of the offices and the person who had the key had not come to work. They told us we could come back on Monday. Really!
We stopped and paid the guy who sent the new tires for the van to Yendi on the transport bus but we ran out of time and were not able to get the tires balanced.
By the end of the day we were able to mark off about ½ the things on our list which is not bad for a day’s work.
An early night is in our future!
In HIS Service,
Steve, Kandie and Skeeter
The Monkeyshines
When the parents were in Tamale they stopped by the vet’s office and bought dewormer for me. This is the kind that is an injection. The vet told Mom to take the medicine to the vet in Yendi and he would give it to me. What! How insulting! I hate that Vet and the office and the smell and those helpers that are no help at all! I hate being tied up in a towel and having my back exposed! I would rather have worms! My life is over!
I was so hungry this evening; I thought that I was going to starve to death! Then I saw the headlights of the van and I knew I had been saved. Mom knew I was hungry! She went immediately into the kitchen and fixed me a bottle of milk and cereal. I was so hungry that I drank the whole thing! It was delicious! After they unloaded the van I snuggled up with Dad and was going to take a nap. When Mom saw me snuggling down she told Dad not to let me go to sleep! When Dad got up I started crying and Mom took pity on me and is letting me sit in her lap while she types the notes. I was happy when I heard her say they were going to have an early night!
Happy sleeping!
Love, Skeeter
